Anatomy of a scientific discovery : the race to find the body's own morphine / Jeff Goldberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goldberg, Jeff.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Endorphins--Research--History.

Endorphins.

Endorphins--Research.

History.

Physical Description:

191 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

Twenty-fifth anniversary edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Skyhorse Publishing, [2013]

Summary:

In late 1973, scientists John Hughes and Hans Kosterlitz spent the majority of their time in an underfunded, obscure, and cramped laboratory in Aberdeen, Scotland. While working on the brains of pigs, the duo discovered a nonaddictive narcotic chemical. If they could isolate this chemical in humans, perhaps they could find a way to help the world heal itself. Hughes and Kosterlitz's research inevitably led them to discover endorphins, the body's own natural morphine and the chemical that makes it possible to feel both pain and pleasure. Announcing their findings to the scientific world thrust Hughes and Kosterlitz in the spotlight and made them celebrities. Soon, scientists all over the world were hastily examining the human brain and its endorphins. In a few years' time, they would use the team's initial research to link endorphins to drug addiction, runner's high, appetite control, sexual response, and mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia. In Anatomy of a Scientific Discovery, Jeff Goldberg describes Hughes and Kosterlitz's lives before, during, and after their historic and scientific breakthrough. He also takes a look at the bigger picture, revealing the brutal competition between drug companies to find a way to cash in on this monumental discovery. Book jacket.

Contents:

Slaughterhouse Days 4

Brain Soup 11

Locks and Keys 22

Substance X 39

Breaking the Code 59

Alpha, Beta, Gamma 81

The Madness Factor 94

The Endorphin Business 115

Families 131

Rats and Runners 144

The Symphony and the Orchestra 156.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9781626361935

1626361932

OCLC:

842307561