What Scientists Think

What are leading scientists working on now? What do they think about the working of the brain, climate change, animal experimentation, cancer, and mental illness? Is science progressing or in retreat? Is this century humankind's last?
These are just some of the compelling questions discussed by twelve of world's leading scientists and scientific thinkers in this fascinating book. In engaging and lucid discussion, they clarify many of the complex scientific challenges and dilemmas facing science today. They also explain what drives their interest in science, revealing something of the often-neglected personal side of science.
Steven Pinker Evolutionary Psychology
Robin MurrayPsychiatry and Schizophrenia
Kevin Warwick Cybernetics
Susan Greenfield The Brain and Human Consciousness
Norman Levitt Science under Threat
E.O. Wilson Biodiversity
Steve Jones Genes
Dorothy Crawford Viruses and their Threats
Michael Stratton Cancer Research
Martin Rees Science: Its Dangers and Its Public
Colin BlakemoreMedical Research, Animal Experimentation and Science
John Polkinghorne Science and Religion

What are scientists working on today? What do they worry about? What do they think about the working of the brain, climate change, animal experimentation, cancer, and mental illness? Is science progressing or in retreat? Is this century humankind's last?These are just some of the compelling and provocative questions tackled here by twelve of the world's leading scientists and scientific thinkers. In engaging and lucid discussion, they clarify many of the most urgent scientific challenges and dilemmas facing science today. Essential reading for anyone interested in popular science, What Scientists Think is edited and written by Jeremy Stangroom of the highly successful The Philosopher's Magazine and includes a foreword by Marek Kohn, author of A Reason for Everything: Natural Selection and the British Imagination.

The Scientists Preface. Introduction. The Interviews 1. Darwinism and Genes Steve Jones 2. Evolutionary Psychology and the Blank Slate Steven Pinker 3. The Human Brain and Consciousness Susan Greenfield 4. Science and the Human Animal Kenan Malik 5. Cybernetics and a Post-Human Future Kevin Warwick 6. Psychiatry and Schizophrenia Robin Murray 7. Microbiology, Viruses and Their Threats Dorothy Crawford 8. On Cancer Research Mike Stratton 9. Animal Experimentation, Ethics and Medical Research Colin Blakemore 10. Science Under Threat Norman Levitt 11. Biodiversity Edward O. Wilson 12. Science: Its Dangers and Its Public Martin Rees Further Reading

Jeremy Stangroom is co-editor of The Philosophers' Magazine.