Book ID: CBB975478886

What Is Regeneration? (2022)

unapi

Two historians and philosophers of science offer an essential primer on the meaning and limits of regeneration. In punishment for his stealing fire, the Greek gods chained Prometheus to a rock, where every day an eagle plucked out his liver, and every night the liver regenerated. While Prometheus may be a figure of myth, scholars today ask whether ancient Greeks knew that the human liver does, in fact, have a special capacity to regenerate. Some organs and tissues can regenerate, while others cannot, and some organisms can regenerate more fully and more easily than others. Cut an earthworm in half, and two wiggly worms may confront you. Cut off the head of a hydra, and it may grow a new head. Cut off a human arm, and the human will be missing an arm. Why the differences? What are the limits of regeneration, and how, when, and why does it occur? In this book, historians and philosophers of science Jane Maienschein and Kate MacCord explore biological regeneration, delving into a topic of increasing interest in light of regenerative medicine, new tools in developmental and neurobiology, and the urgent need to understand and repair damage to ecosystems brought on by climate change. Looking across scales, from germ, nerve, and stem cells to individual organisms and complex systems, this short and accessible introduction poses a range of deep and provocative questions: What conditions allow some damaged microbiomes to regenerate where others do not? Why are forests following a fire said to regenerate sometimes but not always? And in the face of climate change in the era called the Anthropocene, can the planet regenerate to become healthy again, or will the global ecosystem collapse?

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB975478886/

Similar Citations

Book Scott Lidgard; Lynn K. Nyhart; (2017)
Biological Individuality: Integrating Scientific, Philosophical, and Historical Perspectives (/isis/citation/CBB108117531/)

Article Aaron Wells; (2020)
Kant, Linnaeus, and the economy of nature (/isis/citation/CBB872058525/)

Chapter Grene, Marjorie; (2007)
La vie des sciences et les sciences de la vie (/isis/citation/CBB001022495/)

Article Pallitto, Nahuel; Folguera, Guillermo; (2012)
Cambios y continuidades: la ecología del comportamiento y su relación con la síntesis biológica extendida (/isis/citation/CBB001212026/)

Book Maureen O'Malley; (2014)
Philosophy of Microbiology (/isis/citation/CBB986238734/)

Article Robin, Libby; (2013)
Histories for Changing Times: Entering the Anthropocene? (/isis/citation/CBB001201439/)

Book Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent; (2021)
Temps-paysage: Pour une écologie des crises (/isis/citation/CBB340667042/)

Article Melissa Charenko; (2020)
Reconstructing Climate: Paleoecology and the Limits of Prediction during the 1930s Dust Bowl (/isis/citation/CBB047701192/)

Article Takacs, Peter; Ruse, Michael; (2013)
The Current Status of the Philosophy of Biology (/isis/citation/CBB001252311/)

Article Baranski, Marci; Peirson, B. R. Erick; (2015)
Introduction: Contexts and Concepts of Adaptability and Plasticity in 20th-Century Plant Science (/isis/citation/CBB001422119/)

Article Raymond Pierotti; (2020)
Historical Links between Ethnobiology and Evolution: Conflicts and possible resolutions (/isis/citation/CBB321466457/)

Book Sagarin, Rafe; Pauchard, Aníbal; (2012)
Observation and Ecology: Broadening the Scope of Science to Understand a Complex World (/isis/citation/CBB001421416/)

Book Canguilhem, Georges; Marrati, Paola; Meyers, Todd; (2008)
Knowledge of Life (/isis/citation/CBB000951047/)

Book Justin Garson; (2019)
What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter (/isis/citation/CBB516539310/)

Essay Review Bock, Walter J.; (2000)
Towards a New Metaphysics: The Need for an Enlarged Philosophy of Science (/isis/citation/CBB000110319/)

Article Daniel C. Burnston; (2016)
Data graphs and mechanistic explanation (/isis/citation/CBB555220713/)

Article Isabel Gabel; (2018)
La biologie, la réflexivité et l’histoire: Réinscrire Canguilhem dans son milieu (/isis/citation/CBB085805175/)

Book Martins, Lilian A.-C. Pereira; Regner, Anna Carolina K. P.; Lorenzano, Pablo; (2006)
Ciências da Vida: Estudos Filosóficos e Históricos (/isis/citation/CBB000820180/)

Authors & Contributors
Pierotti, Raymond
Burnston, Daniel C.
Isabel Gabel
Charenko, Melissa
O'Malley, Maureen A.
Wells, Aaron
Concepts
Philosophy of biology
Ecology
Biology
Philosophy of science
Evolution
Climate change
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, early
Modern
20th century, late
19th century
Places
Strasbourg (France)
Argentina
Brazil
Institutions
Université de Strasbourg
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment