Elizabeth D Jones

The untold story of the rise of the new scientific field of ancient DNA research, and how Jurassic Park and popular media influenced its development “Fun and thought-provoking. . . . Jones builds a wry, often wise, study of science as a very human endeavor. She makes a powerful case that ancient-DNA research feeds off media attention as much as the media feeds off it.”—Victoria L. Herridge, Nature Ancient DNA research—the recovery of genetic material from long-dead organisms—is a discipline that developed from science fiction into a reality between the 1980s and today. Drawing on scientific, historical, and archival material, as well as original interviews with more than fifty researchers worldwide, Elizabeth Jones explores the field’s formation and explains its relationship with the media by examining its close connection to de-extinction, the science and technology of resurrecting extinct species. She reveals how the search for DNA from fossils flourished under the influence of intense press and public interest, particularly as this new line of research coincided with the book and movie Jurassic Park. Ancient DNA is the first account to trace the historical and sociological interplay between science and celebrity in the rise of this new research field. In the process, Jones argues that ancient DNA research is more than a public-facing science: it is a celebrity science.

Whether one talks about the family support movement, the early childhood movement, or child abuse prevention, program planners struggle with defining their target populations and structuring their interventions. This volume documents the efforts of the William Penn Foundation and its Child Abuse Prevention Initiative. By chronicling the efforts of this unique initiative and its groundbreaking research, the authors provide many useful lessons for practitioners, funders, policymakers and researchers. These lessons are particularly useful as child abuse prevention efforts seek to move beyond isolated demonstration efforts and toward a universal system of support for all parents. Through the lessons learned from the successes and failures of the foundation, this book has many implications for prevention efforts underway across the country, and forms a reservoir of knowledge on how to assess child abuse prevention in urban communities.