Scientific experiments using animals have contributed significantly to the improvement of human health. Animal experiments were crucial to the conquest of polio, for example, and they will undoubtedly be one of the keystones in AIDS research. However, some persons believe that the cost to the animals is often high. Authored by a committee of experts from various fields, this book discusses the benefits that have resulted from animal research, the scope of animal research today, the concerns of advocates of animal welfare, and the prospects for finding alternatives to animal use. The authors conclude with specific recommendations for more consistent government action.

Considers (69) S. 2957.

The founder and president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and bestselling author Gene Stone explore the wonders of animal life with “admiration and empathy” (The New York Times Book Review) and offer tools for living more kindly toward them. In the last few decades, a wealth of new information has emerged about who animals are: astounding beings with intelligence, emotions, intricate communications networks, and myriad abilities. In Animalkind, Ingrid Newkirk and Gene Stone present these findings in a concise and awe-inspiring way, detailing a range of surprising discoveries, like that geese fall in love and stay with a partner for life, that fish “sing” underwater, and that elephants use their trunks to send subsonic signals, alerting other herds to danger miles away. Newkirk and Stone pair their tour through the astounding lives of animals with a guide to the exciting new tools that allow humans to avoid using or abusing animals as we once did. Whether it’s medicine, product testing, entertainment, clothing, or food, there are now better options to all the uses animals once served in human life. We can substitute warmer, lighter faux fleece for wool, choose vegan versions of everything from shrimp to marshmallows, reap the benefits of animal-free medical research, and scrap captive orca exhibits and elephant rides for virtual reality and animatronics. Animalkind provides a fascinating look at why our fellow living beings deserve our respect, and lays out the steps everyone can take to put this new understanding into action.

Was Jesus a giant electron? How much does a mouse’s soul weigh? Can women mate with monkeys? As mad as these questions may seem, they have been asked by science in years gone by. Forgotten Science unearths some of the most extraordinary attempts to understand the world around us.