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  • Published: 24 July 2013
  • ISBN: 9780141046532
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $24.99

The Spark Of Life




A spectacular account of how people, just like machines, are powered by electricity - right down to the last cell

From before birth to the last breath we draw, from consciousness to sexual attraction, fighting infection to the beating of our hearts, electricity is essential to everything we think and do.

In The Spark of Life award-winning physiologist Frances Ashcroft reveals the secrets of ion channels, which produce the electrical signals in our cells. Can someone really die of fright? How do cocaine, LSD and morphine work? Why do chilli peppers taste hot? Ashcroft explains all this and more with wit and clarity. Anyone who has ever wondered about what makes us human will find this book a revelation.

  • Published: 24 July 2013
  • ISBN: 9780141046532
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $24.99