num_pages: 269
description: The sudden onslaught of AIDS has demonstrated the devastating cost of our ignorance about viruses - the elusive, intrusive, inscrutable parasites composed of genetic material encased in protein. And it is clear that new viruses as potentially destructive as the AIDS virus are constantly evolving and that we are as yet insufficiently prepared to combat them. This book takes us to the cutting edge of current viral research. It is an account of the infinitely urgent struggle to conquer today's epidemic and prevent tomorrow's. Robin Henig makes brilliantly clear what viruses are; how they are transported; under what conditions they thrive; how they inflict damage by invading the nucleus of the cell, commandeering the cell's reproductive machinery and destroying its ability to function normally; and how scientists are trying to protect us from them. She makes us understand how human beings often become infected simply because they have put themselves in some virus's way - by interfering with ecosystems, by moving goods and people around the world with little regard for the effect not only on the balance of nature but on our own health. We are shown how difficult a task health officials face, how every decision made anywhere in any sphere of life - environmental, political, demographic, economic, military - carries implications about disease that reverberate halfway around the world. Having first posed the problems, the author then traces the efforts of contemporary scientists, whose drive to make sense of infectious diseases and anticipate their evolution represents our best defense. We are given an insider's view as researchers - living now during one pandemic and determined never again to be caught unawares - are using genetic engineering in an attempt to arm the cell against viral invasion. Interweaving theory with the dramas of trial and error and of achievement on the frontiers of science, this book chronicles the challenging worldwide battle against mankind's
language: English
title: The Dancing Matrix: Voyages Along the Viral Frontier
titlecomplete: The Dancing Matrix: Voyages Along the Viral Frontier
genres: Nonfiction, Science
ratings_count: 36
awards: awardedAt: 757411200000
name: ASJA Outstanding Book Award, awardedAt: 757411200000
name: June Roth Memorial Award
category: Outstanding Medical Book
publisher: Knopf