| Description |
xi, 370 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-349) and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction. A fish and murcury story -- Your host -- Checkup with my internist (the plan and three rules) -- 1. Genes. Not a genetic virgin -- Predicting the future -- I'm doomed. Or not -- A tale of two brothers -- My gene pool (mother, father, brother, and daughter) -- Rollo the Viking and me -- My dinosaur DNA -- You show me yours, I'll show you mine - Genes 'r' us -- Ready for prime time? -- 2. Environment. Light my fire -- Three-thousand-mile trail of blood -- Idyllic childhood in Kansas, except for the toxic waste dump -- Hotspot on the Hudson -- Whose body burden? -- Do my genes protect me? -- Immortal cells bathed in murcury -- The rise of envirogenetics -- 3. Brain. the incredible shrinking brain -- Remember the moon over the mountain, forget the blonde -- A brain half my age -- High anxiety and the saber-toothed editor -- Does my brain believe in God? -- Greed, gambling, and why my brain loves Dodgeball, the movie -- Building a new superbrain -- Meta-neuroscience and the elusive whole -- 4. Body. Predicition: heart attack in 2017? -- Raging lipids -- Bumps on my kidneys...oh no! -- Life at age 122 (the gene that regulates forever) -- Epilogue: Eternity. Experimental children. |
| Summary |
Why would an arguably normal, healthy individual submit himself to hundreds of blood tests, body scans, brain scans, and other medical tests? Have his DNA, and his family's, analyzed for genetic diseases, as well as for genes that affect personality, intelligence, physical and mental abilities, and more--then publish the results for all to see? Journalist David Ewing Duncan's mission, as perhaps the most tested healthy person in history, is to discover what cutting-edge medical technology can tell him, and us, about our future health; the effects of living in a toxin-soaked world; and how genes, proteins, personal behavior, and an often-hostile environment interact within our bodies. These tests and more will soon be available to millions--but will knowing the intricate details put our minds at ease or make us paranoid? Will this information be used against us? Duncan explores these and many other questions about the nature of life in the twenty-first century.--From publisher description. |
| Subject |
Health risk assessment.
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Environmental health.
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Medical innovations.
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Medical genetics.
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Environmental Exposure.
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Environmental Pollutants -- adverse effects.
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Genetic Predisposition to Disease.
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| ISBN |
9780470176788 cloth |
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0470176784 cloth |
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