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The Secret Body

How the New Science of the Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live

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The Secret Body

By: Daniel M Davis
Narrated by: Jot Davies
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Brought to you by Penguin.

Welcome to a revolution in the science of human health. Imagine...

- Knowing years in advance whether you are likely to get certain cancers
- Having a bespoke understanding of your individual genes, organs and cells
- Following a diet and health regime tailored to your microbiome
- Continuous monitoring of your body's workings and well-being
- Taking drugs that improve your cognition and help to acquire new skills
- Manipulating the genes of your unborn children to eliminate disease or even enhance their capabilities

Traversing six key frontiers of human biology, Daniel Davis shows how these radical possibilities have been made real - thanks to the ingenious, decades-long work of scientists whose breakthrough discoveries are transforming our understanding of how the body works, what it is capable of and how we might manipulate it.

By bringing together the latest understanding of the immune system, the brain, the microbiome, the interaction of cells and the development of the foetus, including developments such as optogenetics, super-resolution microscopy, the Human Cell Atlas and Systems Biology, we arrive at a vision of the human body of dizzying complexity, wonder and possibility.

Written by an award-winning scientist at the forefront of this adventure, The Secret Body is a gripping drama of discovery and a landmark account of the dawning revolution in human health that reveals a hitherto invisible universe within each of us.

'A perfect blend of cutting-edge science and compelling storytelling. Daniel Davis has a rare knack for making complex science comprehensible and thrilling' BILL BRYSON

'A beautifully rendered picture of the startling new discoveries in human biology which are radically altering our understanding of how we function and what our future holds' BRIAN COX

'An extraordinary journey that reveals the magnificence, intricacy and beauty of the human body, fundamentally changing the way we see ourselves. Masterful' ALICE ROBERTS

'What we now know about the human body would seem magical to people just a hundred years ago. Davis takes us on a grand voyage that often reads like a detective story to see how we reached our current state of understanding, along the way interweaving the accounts of amazing discoveries with the very human stories of the many scientists who made them possible' VENKI RAMAKRISHNAN

© Daniel M Davis 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Biological Sciences Biology Physical Illness & Disease Science Physiology
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Critic reviews

A brilliant deep-dive into the latest discoveries of human health. An inspiration! (Tim Spector, No.1 bestselling author of Spoon-Fed)
With this stunning book Daniel M. Davis joins the pantheon of truly great science communicators. It will change the way you think about your self and the people around you. Everyone who has a body will love it (CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN, No.1 bestselling author of Ultra-Processed People)
A big-picture forecast of how medicine stands on the threshold of a revolution that will radically change all of our lives ... Davis is a polar opposite of the typecast propeller-hatted futurologist. He is beguilingly informal and affably humorous
An elegantly written and splendidly concise Cook's Tour of the frontiers of medical biology. It is also an engrossing account of the progress of science
A perfect blend of cutting-edge science and compelling storytelling. Daniel Davis has a rare knack for making complex science comprehensible and thrilling (BILL BRYSON)
An extraordinary journey that reveals the magnificence, intricacy and beauty of the human body, fundamentally changing the way we see ourselves. Masterful (ALICE ROBERTS)
A beautifully rendered picture of the startling new discoveries in human biology which are radically altering our understanding of how we function and what our future holds (BRIAN COX)
What we now know about the human body would seem magical to people just a hundred years ago... It often reads like a detective story and anyone interested in biology will learn much from this enjoyable book (VENKI RAMAKRISHNAN, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry and author of Gene Machine)
Reading The Secret Body is like spending time with an eloquent, well-connected and entertaining enthusiast who has intimate knowledge of the secret worlds that lie within all of us (Roger Highfield)
As David Attenborough opens our goggling eyes to the natural world without, so Daniel Davis brings us face to face with the stunningly clever and, yes, beautiful world within ... One of those books that makes you look at everything human in a new, challenging and thrilling way (Stephen Fry on The Beautiful Cure)
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