Stem cells have the ability to differentiate into cells that are found throughout the body. This fundamental property of stem cells suggests that they can potentially be used to replace degenerative cells within the body, and regenerate the functional capacity of organ systems that have deteriorated because of disease or aging. This authoritative textbook provides an overview of the latest advances in the field of stem cell biology, spanning topics that include nuclear reprogramming, somatic cell cloning, and determinants of cell fate; embryonic stem cells for hematopoietic and pancreatic repair; adult stem cells for cardiovascular, neural, renal, and hepatic repair; and manufacturing of stem cells for clinical use.
Popular associations with chemistry range from poisons, hazards, chemical warfare and environmental pollution to alchemical pseudoscience, sorcery and mad scientists, which gravely affect the public image of science in general. While chemists have merely complained about their public image, social and cultural studies of science have largely avoided anything related to chemistry.This book provides, for the first time, an in-depth understanding of the cultural and historical contexts in which the public image of chemistry has emerged. It argues that this image has been shaped through recurring and unlucky interactions between chemists in popularizing their discipline and nonchemists in expressing their expectations and fears of science. Written by leading scholars from the humanities, social sciences and chemistry in North America, Europe and Australia, this volume explores a blind spot in the science-society relationship and calls for a constructive dialog between scientists and their public.
This substantially revised and updated classic reference offers a valuable overview and myriad details on current chemical processes, products, and practices. No other source offers as much data on the chemistry, engineering, economics, and infrastructure of the industry. The two volume Handbook serves a spectrum of individuals, from those who are directly involved in the chemical industry to others in related industries and activities. Industrial processes and products can be much enhanced through observing the tenets and applying the methodologies found in the book’s new chapters.
Nineteenth-century chemists were faced with a particular problem: how to depict the atoms and molecules that are beyond the direct reach of our bodily senses. In visualizing this microworld, these scientists were the first to move beyond high-level philosophical speculations regarding the unseen. In Image and Reality, Alan Rocke focuses on the community of organic chemists in Germany to provide the basis for a fuller understanding of the nature of scientific creativity. Arguing that visual mental images regularly assisted many of these scientists in thinking through old problems and new possibilities, Rocke uses a variety of sources, including private correspondence, diagrams and illustrations, scientific papers, and public statements, to investigate their ability to not only imagine the invisibly tiny atoms and molecules upon which they operated daily, but to build detailed and empirically based pictures of how all of the atoms in complicated molecules were interconnected. These portrayals of “chemical structures,” both as mental images and as paper tools, gradually became an accepted part of science during these years and are now regarded as one of the central defining features of chemistry. In telling this fascinating story in a manner accessible to the lay reader, Rocke also suggests that imagistic thinking is often at the heart of creative thinking in all fields. Image and Reality is the first book in the Synthesis series, a series in the history of chemistry, broadly construed, edited by Angela N. H. Creager, John E. Lesch, Stuart W. Leslie, Lawrence M. Principe, Alan Rocke, E.C. Spary, and Audra J. Wolfe, in partnership with the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
Images and text capture the astonishing beauty of the chemical processes that create snowflakes, bubbles, flames, and other wonders of nature. Chemistry is not just about microscopic atoms doing inscrutable things; it is the process that makes flowers and galaxies. We rely on it for bread-baking, vegetable-growing, and producing the materials of daily life. In stunning images and illuminating text, this book captures chemistry as it unfolds. Using such techniques as microphotography, time-lapse photography, and infrared thermal imaging, The Beauty of Chemistry shows us how chemistry underpins the formation of snowflakes, the science of champagne, the colors of flowers, and other wonders of nature and technology. We see the marvelous configurations of chemical gardens; the amazing transformations of evaporation, distillation, and precipitation; heat made visible; and more.
Literature and Chemistry: Elective Affinities investigates literary and chemical encounters, from medieval alchemy to contemporary science fiction, in works of the likes of Dante, Goethe, Baudelaire and Dag Solstad as well as in literary writing of scientists such as Humphry Davy, Ludwig Boltzmann and Oliver Sachs. Sixteen authors break new ground in demonstrating chemistry's particular status as one of the sciences in which humanities should interest itself, the overlaps and reciprocities of the two fields, and - perhaps most importantly - chemistry's role in the production of narrative, metaphor, and literary form. The anthology makes the silent presence of chemistry perceptible, uncovering its historical and present appeal to material sensitivity, imagination, and creativity, as well as its call for philosophical and ethical concern, and for wonder.
What is a popular image of science and where does it come from? Little is known about the formation of science images and their transformation into popular images of science. In this anthology, contributions from two areas of expertise: image theory and history and the sociology of the sciences, explore techniques of constructing science images and transforming them into highly ambivalent images that represent the sciences. The essays, most of them with illustrations, present evidence that popular images of the sciences are based upon abstract theories rather than facts, and, equally, images of scientists are stimulated by imagination rather than historical knowledge.
Practicing chemists face a number of ethical considerations, from issues of attribution of authorship through the potential environmental impact of a new process to the decision to work on chemicals that could be weaponised. By keeping ethical considerations in mind when working, chemists can build their own credibility, contribute to public trust in the chemical sciences and do science that benefits the world. Divided into three parts, methodological aspects, research ethics, and social and environmental implications, Good Chemistry introduces tools and concepts to help chemists recognise the ethical and social dimensions of their own work and act appropriately. Written to support chemistry students in their studies this book includes practice questions and examples of relevant situations to help students engage with the subject and prepare for their professional life in academia, industry, or public service.
Sustainable development is now accepted as a necessary goal for achieving societal, economic and environmental objectives. Within this chemistry has a vital role to play. The chemical industry is successful but traditionally success has come at a heavy cost to the environment. The challenge for chemists and others is to develop new products, processes and services that achieve societal, economic and environmental benefits. This requires an approach that reduces the materials and energy intensity of chemical processes and products; minimises the dispersion of harmful chemicals in the environment; maximises the use of renewable resources and extends the durability and recyclability of products in a way that increases industrial competitiveness as well as improve its tarnished image.
