Darwin's Ghost

construction are a significant contribu- will require a fairly sophisticated under- Neural Transplantation tion by this book. The chapters range standing of neuroscience and provides from early cell transplant even a knowledgeable sci- by William J. Freed discoveries in Huntington entist in the field with MIT Press, $60.00, 542 pp disease and Parkinson some challenging ideas. ISBN 0-306-45637-0, 2000 disease to recent experi- Basic science is aban- ments of brain stem cell doned in the last chapter REVIEWED BY OLE ISACSON differentiation after trans- called: “Conclusions”, Neuroregeneration Laboratories plantation by yet-to-be dis- which perhaps should be McLean Hospital / Harvard Medical School covered mechanisms. The called “Speculation.” For 115 Mill Street text is detailed and scien- those readers who enjoy Belmont, Massachusetts 02478, USA tific, but has a fairly con- ‘intellectualized’ science Email: [email protected] versational tone, although fiction and biology, this at times similar to a casual chapter will be interest- In Neural Transplantation, William peer review of an article. ing. For readers not inter- Freed delivers a spunky and interesting Freed in no way holds back ested in reading about view of an emerging field with a very his own interpretation of brain cloning or artificial active scientific pioneering spirit very complex experiments, and surveys a downloading of intelligence into among its practitioners, which also very rapidly moving experimental and human brains, this chapter will be of has many detractors in more conserva- clinical field. In many instances his book less value. tive neuropharmacological circles. This

.com 542-page book manages to document the last 20 years of neuroscience re-

.nature search on cell transplantation into the Darwin’s Ghost: The “Recapitulation and Conclusion,” from brain. Neural transplantation to the The Origin of Species. brain was in fact already a scientific Origin of Species Darwin’s Ghost is, however, much tool in the 19th century when, in 1890, more than an updating of Darwin’s W.G. Thompson in New York described Updated original theory. It is also a ringing and brain cell transplantation between systematic rebuttal of creationist non- http://medicine ¥ adult cats and dogs. Even the great by Steve Jones sense that has been set against the the- Cajal used neural transplantation as a Random House, 377 pp, $25.95 ory from the outset and that seems to tool, and his student Tello described ISBN: 0375501037,2000 be gaining legal force, at least in the early in the 20th century how central ‘Bible Belt’ of the United States. nerve fibers grow into implanted tissue. REVIEWED BY ALEXANDER ALLAND, JR. Space limitations make it impossible But it was pioneers like Freed who set Department of Anthropology to provide an adequate sample of the the stage for a revolution in neurology Columbia University vast amount of information in this and neurosurgery that we may not yet New York, New York 10027, USA book. However, I can provide an unnat- have seen the likes of. In the 1960s, the ural selection of nonrandom nuggets 2000 Nature America Inc. understanding of brain chemistry pro- Steve Jones is the not-so-ghostly pres- that please this anthropologist trained © vided a clinical tool for Parkinson dis- ence in this charming, informative and in both cultural and biological anthro- ease by replacing lost dopamine cell very accurate book. He uses his exper- pology. function by a precursor drug (L-dopa). tise in modern genetics (he is a profes- To show how chance mistakes func- Cell transplantation evolved from ear- sor of genetics at University College, tion as the main force in evolution, an lier experiments in the 1980s to be- London) combined with an evident antidote to the teleology in creationism, come clinical pilot studies, which passion for what in other hands might Jones chooses the story of the AIDS during the last decade have proven that be considered the musty domain of old- virus in evolutionary terms: “AIDS is an neuronal cell implantation is a feasible fashioned naturalists: to serve up a de- illness of social change; of travel and of way to treat Parkinson disease and pos- fense of Darwin’s original theory. Jones promiscuity. In the United States most sibly many other neurological disor- claims that he is no more than Darwin’s infections are passed on by homo- ders. The idea is that the brain is a ghostwriter and, true to his word, the sexuals, by drug injectors and by those remarkably adaptive system from a book closely follows Darwin’s original unfortunate enough to receive a trans- structural or hard-wired point of view. The Origin of Species. In fact, it begins fusion of contaminated blood. In Africa, Freed introduces the novice to the won- with a facsimile of the title page and India and Asia almost all cases come ders of the brain by explaining the annotated contents of the first John from sex between men and women or structural biology thereof in the first Murray edition published in 1859. True by transfer from mothers to babies. Like few chapters. The next and main part of to this format throughout, the book’s all diseases—or flowers or songbirds— this substantial book covers detailed chapters follow the outline of Darwin’s the virus is delicately adjusted to the commentary on most of the significant original work, each updated with infor- challenges it must face. HIV is bad at experiments that relate to disease and mation on recent work in evolutionary making exact copies of itself, which is our understanding of brain repair. genetics. These chapters also conclude one reason why it does so well.” “AIDS’ The chapters that describe the struc- with Darwin’s original summaries. ability to cope with human vice is tural biology of brain cell repair and re- The final chapter is Darwin’s own helped by its own sex life. Sex, in all its

NATURE MEDICINE • VOLUME 6 • NUMBER 6 • JUNE 2000 621