Immune: How Your Body Defends And Protects You
by Catherine Carver /
2017 / English / EPUB
4.6 MB Download
The human body is like an exceedingly well-fortified castle,
defended by billions of soldiers--some live for less than a day,
others remember battles for decades, but all are essential in
protecting us from disease. This hidden army is our immune
system, and without it we could not survive the eternal war
between us and our microscopic enemies.
The human body is like an exceedingly well-fortified castle,
defended by billions of soldiers--some live for less than a day,
others remember battles for decades, but all are essential in
protecting us from disease. This hidden army is our immune
system, and without it we could not survive the eternal war
between us and our microscopic enemies.Immune
Immune explores the incredible arsenal that lives within
us--how it knows what to attack and what to defend, and how it
kills everything from the common cold to the plague bacterium. We
see what happens when the immune system turns on us, and
conversely how impossible life is without its protection. We
learn how diseases try to evade the immune system, how they
exploit vulnerabilities and even subvert it to their own
advantage, and we discover how scientists are designing new drugs
to harness the power of the system to advance medicine in the
21st century.
explores the incredible arsenal that lives within
us--how it knows what to attack and what to defend, and how it
kills everything from the common cold to the plague bacterium. We
see what happens when the immune system turns on us, and
conversely how impossible life is without its protection. We
learn how diseases try to evade the immune system, how they
exploit vulnerabilities and even subvert it to their own
advantage, and we discover how scientists are designing new drugs
to harness the power of the system to advance medicine in the
21st century.
Some of the topics explored include why are so many people
allergic to cats, but so few to hamsters? Do transplants ever
reject their new bodies? What is pus? How does your body develop
new weapons for new enemies? Why is cancer so hard for our immune
system to fight? How does our immune system remember? Why did the
1918 flu pandemic kill mainly young, healthy people? Why did the
2009 swine flu outbreak lead to a spike in sleep disorders? Can
we smell someone else's immune system, and does that help us
subconsciously decide who we fall in love with?
Some of the topics explored include why are so many people
allergic to cats, but so few to hamsters? Do transplants ever
reject their new bodies? What is pus? How does your body develop
new weapons for new enemies? Why is cancer so hard for our immune
system to fight? How does our immune system remember? Why did the
1918 flu pandemic kill mainly young, healthy people? Why did the
2009 swine flu outbreak lead to a spike in sleep disorders? Can
we smell someone else's immune system, and does that help us
subconsciously decide who we fall in love with?Immune
Immune provides an entertaining, intriguing, and
accessible account of the body's defenses against disease.
Drawing on everything from ancient Egyptian medical texts to
cutting-edge medical science, the book takes readers on an
adventure packed with weird and wonderful facts about their own
defense mechanisms, making this both informative and great fun to
read.
provides an entertaining, intriguing, and
accessible account of the body's defenses against disease.
Drawing on everything from ancient Egyptian medical texts to
cutting-edge medical science, the book takes readers on an
adventure packed with weird and wonderful facts about their own
defense mechanisms, making this both informative and great fun to
read.