The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage

The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage PDF Author: Tom Ireland
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324050845
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
How a mysterious, super-powerful—yet long-neglected—microbe rules our world and can rescue our health in the age of antibiotic resistance. At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth. Countless times per second, viruses known as phages attack and destroy bacteria while leaving all other life forms, including us, unscathed. Vastly outnumbering the viruses that do us harm, phages power ecosystems, drive evolutionary innovation, and harbor a remarkable capacity to heal life-threatening infections when conventional antibiotics fail. Yet most of us have never heard of them, thinking of viruses only as enemies to be feared. The Good Virus prompts us to reconsider, and to discover, how these viruses could save countless lives if we can learn to harness their extraordinary abilities. Taking us inside the ongoing quest to use phages’ powers for good, Tom Ireland introduces us to the brilliant, often eccentric, scientists who have fought to realize phages’ potential in the face of doubt and political intrigue. We meet the renegade French-Canadian scientist who discovered phages and pioneered their use as medicine over a century ago, leading them to be hailed as the world’s first genuine antibiotic years before penicillin. We learn why, in some pockets of the former Soviet Union, drinking a vial of phages remains as common as taking an over-the-counter drug. We follow the intrepid scientists and doctors now racing to make “phage therapy” work worldwide as the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grows ever more urgent—even as other researchers uncover how phages bolster our everyday immunity, help generate the oxygen we breathe, and furnish the origins for breakthrough technologies like CRISPR. Unveiling the hidden rulers of the microbial world and celebrating the surprising power of viruses to heal, not harm, The Good Virus forever changes how we see nature’s most maligned life forms.

The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage

The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage PDF Author: Tom Ireland
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324050845
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Get Book Here

Book Description
How a mysterious, super-powerful—yet long-neglected—microbe rules our world and can rescue our health in the age of antibiotic resistance. At every moment, within our bodies and all around us, trillions of microscopic combatants are waging a war that shapes our health and life on Earth. Countless times per second, viruses known as phages attack and destroy bacteria while leaving all other life forms, including us, unscathed. Vastly outnumbering the viruses that do us harm, phages power ecosystems, drive evolutionary innovation, and harbor a remarkable capacity to heal life-threatening infections when conventional antibiotics fail. Yet most of us have never heard of them, thinking of viruses only as enemies to be feared. The Good Virus prompts us to reconsider, and to discover, how these viruses could save countless lives if we can learn to harness their extraordinary abilities. Taking us inside the ongoing quest to use phages’ powers for good, Tom Ireland introduces us to the brilliant, often eccentric, scientists who have fought to realize phages’ potential in the face of doubt and political intrigue. We meet the renegade French-Canadian scientist who discovered phages and pioneered their use as medicine over a century ago, leading them to be hailed as the world’s first genuine antibiotic years before penicillin. We learn why, in some pockets of the former Soviet Union, drinking a vial of phages remains as common as taking an over-the-counter drug. We follow the intrepid scientists and doctors now racing to make “phage therapy” work worldwide as the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grows ever more urgent—even as other researchers uncover how phages bolster our everyday immunity, help generate the oxygen we breathe, and furnish the origins for breakthrough technologies like CRISPR. Unveiling the hidden rulers of the microbial world and celebrating the surprising power of viruses to heal, not harm, The Good Virus forever changes how we see nature’s most maligned life forms.

The Good Virus

The Good Virus PDF Author: Tom Ireland
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1529365260
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY WATERSTONES AND THE TIMES The viruses that do us harm are vastly outnumbered by viruses that can actually save lives. These good viruses are called 'phages', and they are the most abundant life form on Earth. The Good Virus reveals how these weird and wonderful microbes shape our health, support our ecosystems and could be the future of medicine.

The Good Virus

The Good Virus PDF Author: Govind S. Mattay
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 149074682X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
"The Good Virus is a tale replete with humor, adventure, science, and mystery. Through the well plotted narrative, Govind Mattay instills a certain believability in every situation his heroes face. No moment or action is wasted, propelling the reader towards the climactic end." -US Review of Books One year after Samir Guptas mysterious disappearance, his son Veer starts school at Medley Middle. Like many other middle school kids, Veer is worried about bullies, being late to class, and angry gym teachers. He did have one thing to look forward to: winning the end-of-year Medley of Talents competition. But little did Veer know that preparing for the competition would lead him, his brother Jai, and his best friend Vidya on a perilous journey. The journey begins as the trio notices strange signs. They see figures lurking near the house and find small surveillance bugs implanted in their phones. Suddenly they surprisingly overcome their greatest weaknesses and start to uncover fascinating clues. Can their newfound strengths help them with their search for Samir and their attempt to stop the diabolical plan of one of the worlds most powerful corporations?

To Catch a Virus

To Catch a Virus PDF Author: John Booss
Publisher: ASM Press
ISBN: 9781555815073
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Expert storytellers weave together the science, technological advances, medical urgencies, and human stories that chronicle the development of the field of diagnostic virology. Follows a historical discoveries that defined viruses and their roles in infectious diseases over a century of developments, epidemics, and molecular advances, and continuing into the 21st century with AIDS, HIV, and a future that in no way resembles the past. Features the great names and personalities of diagnostic virology, their contributions, their associations, and their challenges to prove findings that some considered fantasy. Describes how scientists applied revolutionary technologies, studying viruses, first in animal models and tissue culture and progressing to molecular and genetic techniques. Appeals to the pioneer and adventure-seeker who is interested in how a scientific field evolves.

The End of October

The End of October PDF Author: Lawrence Wright
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0525658653
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
"This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf"--Copyright page.

The Panic Virus

The Panic Virus PDF Author: Seth Mnookin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439158657
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
A searing account of how vaccine opponents have used the media to spread their message of panic, despite no scientific evidence to support them.

The Good Virus

The Good Virus PDF Author: Emily Greenwell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bacteriophages
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


A Planet of Viruses

A Planet of Viruses PDF Author: Carl Zimmer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022632026X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
For years, scientists have been warning us that a pandemic was all but inevitable. Now it's here, and the rest of us have a lot to learn. Fortunately, science writer Carl Zimmer is here to guide us. In this compact volume, he tells the story of how the smallest living things known to science can bring an entire planet of people to a halt--and what we can learn from how we've defeated them in the past. Planet of Viruses covers such threats as Ebola, MERS, and chikungunya virus; tells about recent scientific discoveries, such as a hundred-million-year-old virus that infected the common ancestor of armadillos, elephants, and humans; and shares new findings that show why climate change may lead to even deadlier outbreaks. Zimmer’s lucid explanations and fascinating stories demonstrate how deeply humans and viruses are intertwined. Viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, are responsible for many of our most devastating diseases, and will continue to control our fate for centuries. Thoroughly readable, and, for all its honesty about the threats, as reassuring as it is frightening, A Planet of Viruses is a fascinating tour of a world we all need to better understand.

The Good Virus

The Good Virus PDF Author: Tom Ireland
Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
ISBN: 9781529365283
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY WATERSTONES AND THE TIMES 'The book that might change the world ... This is luxury-class science writing' TELEGRAPH 'One of the best books of any genre that I've read in 2023, this superbly-written book ... will fascinate absolutely everyone.' FORBES 'A delight. To learn more about phages is to discover fascinating details about a hidden world' NATURE 'Outstanding' CLIVE MYRIE The viruses that do us harm are vastly outnumbered by viruses that can actually save lives. These good viruses are called 'phages', and they are the most abundant life form on Earth. The Good Virus reveals how these weird and wonderful microbes shape our health, support our ecosystems and could be the future of medicine.

The Virus

The Virus PDF Author: Stanley Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781913606305
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Initially published in 1982 as The Marburg Virus, Johnson's The Virusreveals uncanny parallels with the current corona virus: the outbreak of a mysterious and deadly disease, the origins of which are traced to a medical student infected by a green monkey. It features an epidemiologist as its hero and a desperate search for a vaccine...