Emily Anthes
Books by Emily Anthes
Frankenstein's Cat
Frankenstein's Cat
Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts
Fluorescent fish that glow near pollution. Robot-armoured beetles that military handlers can send on spy missions. Beloved pets resurrected from DNA. Scientists have already begun to create these high-tech hybrids to serve human whims and needs. What if a cow could be engineered to no longer feel pain – should we design a herd that would assuage guilt over eating meat?
Popular science writer Emily Anthes travels around the globe to see how humans are inventing the fauna of the future, from the Roslin Institute, the Scottish birthplace of Dolly the Sheep, where scientists are trying to clone an endangered mountain lion to a 'pharm' where chickens are modified to lay eggs laced with cancer-fighting drugs. Frankenstein’s Cat is an eye-opening exploration of weird science – and how we are playing god in the animal world.
"With wit, high intelligence, and a lively writing style, Anthes portrays the new world of biotechnology – in which we control the bodies and brains of other animals – and the moral and philosophical issues so raised."
Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams
"Smart, funny and deep: Frankenstein's Cat is a report from the frontiers of the scientific campaign to re-engineer animals to fulfill human desires. At the same time Anthes, whose love of animals shines through on every page, takes her readers on a rich and challenging quest of self-discovery: what rights do the animal objects of our creativity possess – and what obligations to them and to ourselves must we accept as we reshape (again!) the living world? A great read."
Thomas Levenson, Professor of Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of Newton and the Counterfeiter
"Emily Anthes gets the balance just right... There are brilliant stories of the entrepreneurs who want to bring glowing fish and remote controlled cockroaches to market, contrasted with the potentially lifesaving work of pharmed animals modified to produce medicine in their milk. We got GM crops horribly wrong – and Anthes shows us the approach we should take to avoid making the same mistakes with modified animals. Always enjoyable, a page turner of a popular science book with a surprise awaiting around every corner."
Brian Clegg, author of Inflight Science and The Universe Inside You
"Emily Anthes' creatures are far stranger (and, at times, scarier) than Frankenstein's monster. She compellingly balances the pluses and minuses of science's increasing ability to alter the animals we share the planet with. A fascinating read."
Alex Boese, author of Elephants on Acid and Electrified Sheep
"Frankenstein’s Cat is smart, lucid, and full of surprises. There is hardly a page that doesn't contain something new or unexpected."
Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
"Charming... the science is accessible and so, mercifully, is the ethics... a breezy introduction to a complex and controversial issue."
BBC Focus
"Well-researched, intelligent and concise."
Engineering and Technology Magazine
