1. The talented Dr Wakeford
2. COMPETITION TIME: win a free copy of LIAISONS of LIFE
3. A book that will change the way we think about evolution - publisher's press release
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1. The talented Dr Wakeford
Tom Wakeford will be known to many as a scientist prepared to lacerate the science establishment for having gotten into bed with big business, as a key contributor to the UK's 'Genetics Forum' (publishers of 'SPLICE'), and as a social scientist who helped pioneer the use of citizens' juries in relation to the GM crops debate, not least through his ground breaking ActionAid project with famers in India.
But the talented Dr Wakeford is also a biologist and has a new book out on symbiosis and evolution, to be launced in Oxford in just over a week's time.
Although the book tackles the broad issue of evolutionary biology, it is of great relevance to the GM controversy, and its final chapter explains why GM crops are inherently unsustainable.
Encouragingly, for an author who has previously had his column pulled from a scientific journal for fear of its giving offence to the Royal Society, Tom's book, although praised by Gaia-author Jim Lovelock, has already been condemned as 'garbage' by pro-GM scientists, via the NY Times. (http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/15/reviews/010415.15ridleyt.html)
The book launch is at an Oxford cafe scientifique (http://www.cafescientifique.org/) on May 8th (all warmly welcome) and Tom will be awarding a free copy of the book to the winner of the following competition!
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2. COMPETITION TIME: win a free copy of 'LIAISONS of LIFE
From Hornworts to Hippos, How the Unassuming Microbe Has Driven Evolution'
Here's how to win a free copy of Tom Wakeford's new book.
All you have to do is send NGIN <mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> answers to the following 3 questions:
1. How many GM crops have been designed to be grown without chemical fertilisers or pesticides? (50, 10, 0)
2. What %age of India's poor eat basmati rice? (50, 10, 0)
3. Who was the pioneering agronomist who worked to empower marginal rice farmers in India and recorded around 17,000 traditional cultivars of rice?
Don't forget to include your name and full postal address with your answers.
The winner will be the first name Tom picks out of a hat that has the answer right to at least two of the three questions above.
Closing date midday (UK time) *May 7th*
The prize will be drawn in Oxford at the launch on the 8th.
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3. A book that will change the way we think about evolution - publisher's press release
For Immediate Release Tanya Barone
212-850-6339
A book that will change the way we think about evolution.
"Tom Wakeford's book is a remarkable and charmingly written excursion across the field of symbiotic interactions among plants, animals and fungi. He makes the case that an understanding of symbiosis is essential to an understanding of evolution, and succeeds." ””Christopher Wills, author of Children of Prometheus
LIAISONS of LIFE
From Hornworts to Hippos, How the Unassuming Microbe Has Driven Evolution
by Tom Wakeford
Suppose Darwin's theory of evolution is incomplete. Imagine that the missing link in this major scientific theory is one-thousandth of a millimeter long - a fraction of the size of a pinhead. Biologist and award winning writer Tom Wakeford explains how microbes ”” the collective term for bacteria, fungi and a disparate assortment of single-celled organisms called protists ”” have in fact been innovative players in the evolutionary process.
His new book, LIAISONS OF LIFE: From Hornworts to Hippos, How the Unassuming Microbe Has Driven Evolution (Wiley; April 6, 2001; Cloth; $24.95) is a fascinating and accessible exploration of the microworld of bacteria and other microscopic creatures. The book provides a compelling defense of symbiosis, the name used to describe long-term intimate associations between different organisms, usually involving microbes. It is the vital role of microbes, which were denounced by biologists long ago, that is now growing in popularity and forcing scientists to rethink the Darwinian theory of evolution.
Drawing on new evidence from creatures found in underwater volcanoes, termite mounds and the gaps between our teeth, LIAISONS OF LIFE suggests that staying alive is as much about bonding with your neighbors as it is about growing and reproducing. It shows how germs blazed the trail that was later followed by plants and animals.
Despite having been first proposed over a hundred years ago, the idea that liaisons with microbes were the driving force behind evolution has taken over a century to reach center stage. Wakeford states, "It is no surprise that out of the three diseases virtually defeated by modern medicine ”” smallpox, polio, and measles ”” none are microbial (they are viral), whereas of the three biggest current killers ”” malaria, TB, and AIDS ”” two are." The reason for this is quite simple. Not enough research has been conducted on the microbe. Two of the microbe's biggest obstacles were its minuscule size and the manner in which it received notoriety. Instead of appreciating its contribution to cheese and wine and its insurance in the fertility of crops, the microbe was immortalized by medical research, where its presence was seen as a sure sign of disease.
LIAISONS OF LIFE explores the mixture of political prejudice, technological backwardness and blind ignorance that lead the revolutionary ideas of a handful of pioneers to be condemned as heresies, only to be celebrated today as some of the greatest discoveries in the history of science. Some of the precarious fortunes of the pioneers charted in the book include Beatrix Potter, H.G. Wells, Louis Pasteur, and Lynn Margulis.
Wakeford points out how three of the most important breakthroughs of the past century -- symbiogenesis theory, microbe-mediated immunity, and the Gaia hypothesis -- have all challenged traditional biological theories by uncovering the hidden powers of the microbial realm. The importance of this microscopic organism can be seen by asking the following questions:
* Why do garden lawns grow back to the same length even when they have been cut unevenly?
* Why air pollution may not be the real cause of the rise in respiratory diseases such as asthma?
* Why are there so many species (biodiversity) of insects on Earth?
LIAISONS OF LIFE is the first account of the symbiotic revolution in biology that has been written in a form accessible to everyone. This latest research poses exciting challenges that adds a new dialect to the language of Darwinism.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Tom Wakeford, a biologist and writer based at the University of Sussex, studied evolution at the University of Cambridge, planetary biology for NASA, and received his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of York. His first book, SCIENCE FOR THE EARTH, was published by Wiley in 1995. He was awarded the Young Science Writer of the Year in 1996.
LIAISONS OF LIFE
From Hornworts to Hippos, How the Unassuming Microbe Has Driven Evolution
by Tom Wakeford
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Publication Date: April 6, 2001; $24.95; Cloth; ISBN: 0-471-39972-8
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