More Random Walks in Science is an anthology of fascinating and frequently amusing anecdotes, quotations, illustrations, articles, and reviews that reflect the more lighthearted aspects of the scientific world and the less serious excursions of the scientific mind. The book is guaranteed to delight anyone who has a professional or amateur interest in science.

This book combines a description of about fifty important textile machines with an analysis of their evolution. Each machine is dealt with in the context of its time, showing the impact that even a simple device like the fulling stocks had on textile production. The greater organisation of the domestic system in the eighteenth century gave impetus to the development of machines like the dandy loom and the spinning jenny. The author examines the revolutionary inventions of the late eighteenth century and how they led to the industrialisation of the textile industry.

With the recent biomedical discovery on the human genome, what lies in store for new medicine? In LIFE SCRIPT, Nicholas Wade claims that medicine is still in its dark age. We think of our medicine as sophisticated but a few decades from now much of it may be regarded with the same horror as we view the barber-surgeons of the 18th century. But with the human genome now in hand, we can begin to lay the foundation for understanding the body. Decoding genomic information is leading to a revolution -- the genome and new cell biology will create the basis for a new medicine. Consider a new way of healing the body: instead of cutting the flesh with scalpels, poisoning it with chemical drugs or burning it with radiation, the physician would gently treat the body with nothing but cells and proteins, seeking to mend like with like; instead of depending only on his own knowledge, the physician would seek to tap the information in the genome, and to exploit the fact that the body's cells are designed to be a self-assembling system, when given the right signals. LIFE SCRIPT will explore how we will be affected, from the benefits of cancer treatments and immunisation to the grey moral areas of genetic engineering and longevity. Possession of the genome, states Wade, is a loss of innocence, in that it puts an unprecedented kind of power into our hands; sooner or later we will have to choose whether to use it, and to what end.

Change in education is too often a process which enthusiasts, ranging from top policy makers to groups of teachers, plan and drive forward, but in which they all find unexpected pitfalls. Every innovation depends on the commitment of schools and teachers to make it work. But often that commitment is lacking, or is less than total, or it turns to fustration as events develop. This book is based on a set of stories from teachers and education professionals in thirteen OECD countries. Twenty-three case studies of educational innovation in science, mathematics and technology have involved school teachers, inspectors, academics (both subject specialists and educational researchers), policy makers and advisors. The case studies come from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland and the USA. Drawing on this rich variety of material the authors concentrate on the origins and purposes of innovation within and across the science, mathematics and technology curricula. They consider the conceptions of the three subjects, along with issues of teaching, learning and assessment, and explore the involvement of both teachers and students. They reflect on the various strategies adopted to cope with or bring about change, and offer valuable insights to advisors, developers, policy makers and practitioners, both in schools and outside. The writing team includes Paul Black, King's College London; Mike Atkin, Stanford University; Raymond Duval, University of Lille; Edwyn James, Consultant, OECD; John Olson, Queen's University of Kingston, Ontario; Dieter Pevsner, Consultant, London; Senta Raizen, National Centre for Improving Science Education, Washington; Maria Saez, University of Valladolid, Spain; and Helen Simons, Southampton University. Published in association with the OECD