With humor, depth, and philosophical and historical insight, this book features a graphic portrayal of a complicated science. This volume covers DNA's many marvels, from its original discovery in 1869 to early twentieth-century debates on the mechanisms of inheritance and the deeper nature of life's evolution and variety. The book elucidates DNA's relationship to health and the cause and cure of disease. It also covers the creation of new life forms, nanomachines, and perspectives on crime detection, and considers the philosophical sources of classical Darwinian theory and recent, radical changes in the understanding of evolution itself. Already these developments have profoundly affected our notions about living things. Illustrations recount the contributions of Gregor Mendel, Frederick Griffith, James Watson, and Francis Crick, among other biologists, scientists, and researchers, and depict the modern controversies surrounding the Human Genome Project and cloning.