In this revelatory book, professor Jonathan Kennedy argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead, it is the humble microbe that wins wars and topples empires. Drawing on the latest research in fields ranging from genetics and anthropology to archeology and economics, Pathogenesis takes us through 60,000 years of history, exploring eight major outbreaks of infectious disease that...

Investigating two burned bodies connected by a mysterious tattoo and a string of baffling miracle cures, medical examiner Laura Hanning follows leads to a cult that claims to possess a fabled healing substance and a violent brotherhood that believes that God intends for humanity to suffer.

Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil–human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder.
Boston, 1830: In order to pay for his education, medical student Norris Marshall has joined the ranks of local “resurrectionists”–those...

An Ivy League-trained, award-winning young neurosurgeon describes how after receiving a terminal diagnosis with lung cancer he explored the dynamics of his roles as a patient and care provider, the philosophical conundrums about a meaningful life and how he wanted to spend his final days.

Rick Hayden and Laura Fanning investigate the baffling disappearance of Rick's brother, a prominent NYU zoologist whose writings alluded to a mysterious gene marking the evolutionary development of human consciousness.

Documents the story of how scientists took cells from an unsuspecting descendant of freed slaves and created a human cell line that has been kept alive indefinitely, enabling discoveries in such areas as cancer research, in vitro fertilization and gene mapping.

An emotional thrill ride through the day-to-day chaos of the city's most explosive hospital and the courageous team of doctors, nurses, and staff who hold it together. Crossing paths with familiar faces from Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire, this third team of Chicago heroes take on cases inspired by topical events while forging fiery relationships in the pulse-pounding pandemonium of the emergency room.

George Galen is a brilliant scientist, a pioneer in gene therapy. But Galen is dangerously insane. He has created a method to alter human DNA, not just to heal diseases but also to "improve people": make them stronger, make them able to heal more quickly...and make them compliant to his will.

Frank Hartman is also a brilliant virologist, working for the government's ultra-secret biohazard agency. He has discovered how to neutralize Galen's

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Seven-year-old Rachel is forcibly removed from her family's 1890s Honolulu home when she contracts leprosy and is placed in a settlement, where she loses a series of new friends before new medical discoveries enable her to reenter the world.

Raising profound questions about how medical science understands the essential human divide between the brain and the mind, the author recounts his brother's diagnosis of bipolar disorder to examine the evolution of how the human psyche is treated.