Encyclopedia of Biology

world. The future hope of nanotechnology, using small robots to scurry

through our bodies to fix organs or cure disease, is closer to becoming

reality than it is to fiction. Other former sci-fi issues, like cloning humans,

are on the forefront of discussion, and some have even claimed human

cloning has happened. The mapping of our entire genetic makeup brings

promise to thousands of people who have or carry genetically based dis-

ease. This has led at least one scientist to declare that we are moving into

the “industrial revolution of biology,” anticipating the exciting discoveries

just around the corner from the analysis of all this genetic information.

We are entering a world of molecular understanding of developmental

biology all the way to the enigma of consciousness. But you cannot leap

without first taking small steps. Use this book for the small steps, and

heed the words of Cornell biologist James G. Needham (1888–1957),

who once wrote:

It is a monstrous abuse of the science of biology to teach it only in

the laboratory—Life belongs in the fields, in the ponds, on the

mountains, and by the seashore.

So, armed with this book, consider that your next assignment.

—Don Rittner

Schenectady, New York

xiv Introduction