Book description
We are all familiar with the idea that machines are powered by
electricity, but perhaps not so aware that this is also true for
ourselves. The Spark of Life is a spectacular account of the
body electric, showing how, from before conception to the last breath
we draw, electrical signals in our cells are essential to everything
we think and do. These signals are produced by some amazing proteins
that sit at the forefront of current scientific research - the ion
channels. They are found in every cell in Earth and they govern every
aspect of our lives, from consciousness to sexual attraction, fighting
infection, our ability to see and hear, and the beating of our hearts.
Ion channels are truly the 'spark of life'.
Award-winning physiologist Frances Ashcroft weaves real-life stories
with the latest scientific findings to explain the fundamental role of
ion channels in our bodies. What happens when you have a heart attack?
Why does an electric eel not shock itself? Can someone really die of
fright? Why does Viagra turn the world blue? How do cocaine, LSD and
morphine work? Why do chilli peppers taste hot? How do vampire bats
sense their prey? Was Mary Shelley right when she inferred that
electricity is the 'Spark of Life?
Frances Ashcroft explains all this and more with wit and clarity.
She introduces a cast of extraordinary personalities whose work has
charted the links between molecule and mind over the centuries. She
recounts the scientific detective stories involved in the development
of our ideas about animal electricity, and shows how these are
intimately entwined with our understanding of electricity itself. And
she describes how the latest advances have led to the identification,
and in some cases the cure, of a new class of disease. Anyone who has
ever wondered about what makes us human will find this book a revelation.
Frances Ashcroft is Professor of Physiology at the University of
Oxford and a Fellow of Trinity College Oxford. Her first book for the
general reader was
Life at the Extremes
, the science of survival.
