FOR some people, stem cells are workers of miracles, a potential panacea for broken-down brains or backs. For others, using them is degenerate and exploitative. Stem cell research is fraught with scientific and ethical struggles. Elizabeth Finkel offers a way through them in Stem Cells (ABC Books, A$27.95).
For something a bit more beguiling, try Ernst Haeckel’s Art Forms from the Ocean (Prestel, £12.99), a facsimile of which is just out. Haeckel, a German zoologist, was fascinated by radiolarians – tiny marine organisms – he made a series of drawings classifying them by their skeletal structures. His work…
