The dazzling promise of stem cell medicine: does it work and will it save us? Two experts look at the hype For decades, we've been anticipating the dawn of regenerative medicine. Again and again, we've been promised that stem cells will soon cure just about every ill imaginable. If not tomorrow, then the next day, or the day after that, and so on. We're still waiting. This book is an antidote to hype and a salve to soothe the itch for stem-cell salvation. In it, Professor John Rasko, a leading physician-scientist, and writer-historian Carl Power take us on a wild historical tour of this scandal-prone field. They expose all the dirty little secrets that the hype merchants prefer to ignore - the blunders and setbacks, confusions and delusions, tricks and lies. You'll meet Alexis Carrel, who discovered how to cultivate cells in a test tube: celebrity surgeon, scientific genius and suspected Nazi sympathiser, he opened the field of modern cell science with an experiment so bogus it blocked the way forward for the next 50 years. You'll meet Don Thomas, who developed bone marrow transplantation - the first successful stem-cell therapy - but only after a miserable decade in which most of his patients died. Alongside true stem-cell pioneers, you'll meet charlatans who cooked their data and claimed fake cures - sometimes with fatal consequences. Is there any good news? Which of the many promises of stem-cell research have been kept? And what of the future? Rasko and Power insist that we can only know where we're going if we have a sense of where we've been. Their study tears down the hype surrounding stem cells in order to reveal what's still worth hoping for. PRAISE 'If you love some scandal with your science - or some science with your scandal - this is THE book for you. Brilliant stuff' Adam Spencer, University of Sydney 'Science, skulduggery and snake oil salesmen ... it is a revolution in medicine but who knew the story of stem cell science was such a ripping yarn!' Fran Kelly, ABC Radio National Breakfast 'Science isn't magic: it's a human enterprise. This enthralling book tells of high achievement and astonishing blunders in a vital field of research' Robyn Williams, science journalist and broadcaster 'A masterpiece in myth-busting which helps separate fact from fiction in the world of regenerative medicine. It shines a light on some episodes in medical history many would rather forget but also shows a way forward for stem cell research breakthroughs grounded in solid science' Sophie Scott, national medical reporter, ABC 'The stem cell revolution: myths, mistakes but mighty medical masterpiece' Sir Gustav Nossal, AC CBE FRS FAA, Australian of the Year 2000 'A compelling (and compulsory) read for anyone entranced by the latest media-promoted breakthroughs in medical research, or planning translation of new biomedical research into clinical practice' Ian Frazer, AC, FRCPE, FRCPA, FAA, FTSE Australian of the Year 2006, Australian Living Treasure 2012 'Is it really stem cells' turn to revolutionise health care? When you come across a train wreck, keep reading! You'll discover that stem cells reveal medicine in its most provocative and challenging light' Antony Basten AO FAA FTSE 'Flesh Made New is a revelation for the general reader about what lies beneath the surface of exciting scientific advances ... The book shows the value of patience and trust in robust evidence-based scientific research, and where things go off the rail, for whistleblowers and experts like the authors of this book' Lucy Turnbull AO, businesswoman, urbanist and philanthropist

Most theologians believe that in the human life of Jesus of Nazareth, we encounter God. Yet how the divine and human come together in the life of Jesus still remains a question needing exploring. The Council of Chalcedon sought to answer the question by speaking of one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in divinity and also perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly a human being. But ever since Chalcedon, the theological conversation on Christology has implicitly put Christs divinity and humanity in competition. While ancient (and not-so-ancient) Christologies from above focus on Christs divinity at the expense of his humanity, modern Christologies from below subsume his divinity into his humanity. What is needed, says Ian A. McFarland, is a Chalcedonianism without reserve, which not only affirms the humanity and divinity of Christ but also treats them as equal in theological significance. To do so, he draws on the ancient christological language that points to Christs nature, on the one hand, and his hypostasis, or personhood, on the other. And with this, McFarland begins one of the most creative and groundbreaking theological explorations into the mystery of the incarnation undertaken in recent memory.

The Black Jewels Trilogy established Anne Bishop as an author whose “sublime skill...blend[s] the darkly macabre with spine-tingling emotional intensity”(SF Site). Now, the saga continues in this collection that includes four more adventures of Jaenelle and her kindred… Jaenelle is the most powerful Witch ever known, centuries of hopes and dreams made flesh at last. She has forged ties with three of the realm’s mightiest Blood warriors: Saetan, the High Lord of Hell, who trains Jaenelle in magic and adopts her as his daughter; Lucivar, the winged Eyrien warlord who becomes her protector; and the near-immortal Daemon, born to be Witch’s lover. Jaenelle has assumed her rightful place as Queen of the Darkness and restored order and peace to the realms, but at a terrible cost. Collected here are the beguiling stories about the origin of the mystical Jewels, the forbidden passion between Lucivar and a simple hearth witch, the clash between Saetan and a Priestess, and the choice Jaenelle must make, between her magic and happiness with Daemon...

What happens when persons living in the womb are declared to be legal non-persons? What is transgenderism? And why are so many countries changing the meaning of words such as Female, Husband and Mother? The Flesh Made Word makes visible the invisible thread which connects a redefinition of legal marriage to transgenderism to abortion. In doing so it shows that when the physically impossible is made legally possible the effect is that the physically possible is made legally impossible. By examining the relationships between body, mind, language and law, we can come to see that behind the curtain of language our body has been ushered off the legal stage. For legal purposes we no longer have a sex. From here on in we have only a gender.

In the fourth century a new narrative genre captured the imagination of the faithful--the accounts of the lives of Christian saints. Kleinberg argues that these stories were more than edifying entertainment. By retelling the story of virtue and salvation, by expanding the religious imagination of the West, they were reshaping Christianity itself.

At the beginning of Europe's turbulent seventeenth century, no one knew how the brain worked. By the century's close, the science of the brain had taken root, helping to overturn many common misconceptions about the human body as well as to unseat centuries-old philosophies of man and God. Presiding over this evolution was the founder of modern neurology, Thomas Willis, a fascinating, sympathetic, even heroic figure who stands at the centre of an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers known as the 'Oxford circle'. Chronicled here in vivid detail are their groundbreaking revelations and often gory experiments that first enshrined the brain as the chemical engine of reason, emotion, and madness - indeed as the very seat of the human soul.