August 2023 MBR The Science Shelf

The Science Shelf

Inside Science: Revolution in Biology and Its Impact
Benjamin Lewin
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury NY 11797-2924
www.cshlpress.com
9781621825012, $29.50, HC, 340pp

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Science-Revolution-Biology-Impact/dp/1621825019

Synopsis: Looking behind widely held beliefs about the myth of the scientific enterprise, with the publication of "Inside Science: Revolution in Biology and Its Impact", Benjamin Lewin provides a rare examination of how science really functions.

Drawing on his 25 years of experience as the founding editor of Cell, the worlds leading journal in biology, Lewin questions the dogma that scientific papers describe how research was actually done, describes the distortions caused by pressure to publish, and considers the effects of changes in the way science is communicated as we move ever further into the digital era.

The view that science protects itself by identifying and excluding work that is not reproducible is rigorously examined, as is the prevalence of fraud in science. Furthermore, Lewin argues that the move from research done in small teams to the much larger scale of big science has the potential to change the nature of science itself. He asks if science can continue in its present form or if new methods of evaluation will be needed for science to function in the future.

Lewin brings these general principles to life by considering the history of the genetics revolution, from the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA to the sequencing of the human genome and the possibilities of gene editing today.

The history of science shows us that each period of progress in science relied on dogmas that often advanced but sometimes retarded progress, and that views of reality often changed suddenly and dramatically. One example is the current critical reassessment of epigenetics that is raising the possibility that there may be factors in inheritance extraneous to DNA.

"Inside Science: Revolution in Biology and Its Impact" concludes by asking if the reductionist manifesto that has dominated biology for the past half century can continue to hold, and revisits the much-debated question: What is science?

Critique: Fascinating, informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Inside Science: Revolution in Biology and Its Impact" is an extraordinary study that will have immense appeal to academia and the scientific community. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Inside Science: Revolution in Biology and Its Impact" is further informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a five page Glossary, thirty pages of Notes & References, a two page listing of Illustration Sources, and a sixteen page Index. "Inside Science: Revolution in Biology and Its Impact" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Biology & History of Science collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Benjamin Lewin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Lewin) obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Cambridge, England. He became the first Editor of Nature New Biology in 1971, and then worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1972 to 1973. He founded Cell journal in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1974 and remained Editor of Cell until 1999. Cell became the top-ranked journal in the life sciences. Dr. Lewin is also the author of the best-selling Genes textbook and a series of books on wine.

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