Remarkable Discoveries!

Frank Ashall is a Doctor of Medicine, a Doctor of Biochemistry, and a campaigner for human rights in healthcare. He obtained a first-class honours degree in biochemistry and a doctorate from the University of Oxford, then spent thirteen years doing biochemical research to Assistant Professor level. His research involved studies of the biochemistry of cancer cells, then later on, the biochemistry of parasitic organisms, in particular the proteases of Trypanosoma cruzi, the cause of Chagas' disease. He left research to do a medical degree (MD) in the USA, where he did his internship and residency, and practised as a physician in internal medicine there for eleven years. Currently he is working as a Professor of Biochemistry at Addis Ababa University/Black Lion Hospital, as a volunteer with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) UK. He is an enthusiastic supporter for human rights, particularly in healthcare. He is an active campaigner against tobacco, its adverse health effects on people and society, and against the tobacco industry. In particular, he is a strong opponent of the increase in advertising and marketing of tobacco products in developing countries, where smoking rates are generally on the rise, afflicting the world's poor with further health burdens. He has written over thirty-five academic articles and numerous newspaper articles on popular science. He has also given numerous talks to the general public on preventive medicine issues.

'Diverting, readable … but where it scores is in the way it sets discoveries - such as X rays, buckminsterfullerene and DNA in context and also explains them. Very good for project work.' Vivienne Parry, Tomorrow's World web site, March 1997

• Preface; Useful information; 1. The father of electricity; 2. One giant leap for mankind; 3. Medicine's marvellous rays; 4. Things that glow in the dark; 5. Parcels of light; 6. Dr Einstein's fountain pen; 7. The Big Bang, or how it all began; 8. Molecular soccerballs; 9. Jostling plates, earthquakes and volcanoes; 10. Soda pop, phlogiston and Lavoisier's oxygen; 11. Of beer, vinegar, milk, silk and germs; 12. Of milkmaids, chickens and mad dogs; 13. Malaria's cunning seeds; 14. Penicillin from pure pursuits; 15. DNA, the alphabet of life; 16. Cutting DNA with molecular scissors; 17. DNA, the molecular detective; 18. Magic bullets; Further Reading; Index.