Fragile Science: The Reality Behind the Headlines

Robin Baker

11/2011 · Pan Macmillan

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Everyday the headlines bring news of the latest health scare, with worrying predictions for where developments in science will take us. We want and need to understand the phenomena that influence our lives, but science is often more subtle and more complicated than the headlines would suggest.Over a diverse range of subjects, Robin Baker proves that the science we as consumers believe to be true is often an oversimplification - a convenient way of explaining complex subjects which are little understood. His investigations reach their own, startling conclusions. Could it be possible, for example, that using sunscreen is actually increasing our chance of skin cancer? More and more people are taking Prozac, but does science have an easy answer to explain why? We all know the arguments in favour of conservation, but could there be strong biological arguments against it?'A thought-provoking author who forces you to re-examine widely held beliefs' Desmond Morris.

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Robin Baker was Reader in Zoology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Manchester from 1980-1996. He is the author of Sperm Wars, Baby Wars and Sex in the Future. Fragile Science, with its continuous narrative, marks a departure in style from these earlier titles which used fictionalised episodes to illustrate science. His work and ideas on the evolution of human behaviour have been featured in many television and radio programmes around the world.