Here’s how public dissemination of biology is going wrong

Published by leading scientific publisher World Scientific,

“Rethinking Biology: Public Understandings”

sets out in one area of biology after another how complex explanations are often simplified in a misleading way, giving the public a false idea of how biology works.

Core areas of biology like plant biology, genetics and evolution involve complex interactions. This is perhaps especially true of areas of human biology like neuroscience and human evolution, and applied areas like medicine and nutrition. Ecology is central to all biology in emphasising the importance of the environmental context. In every area it is important not just to recognise the relevance of multiple factors, but to get down to the complex and fascinating ways in which they interact.

It sheds light to how the public dissemination of biology is going wrong to study how children and adults understand biology, how journalists write about it, how simplistic biology is misused in legal contexts, and how multi-level biology can shape a religious world view.

Commending the contents of the book, developmental geneticist Ottoline Leyser said, “As part of my profession as a developmental geneticist, I am interested in how a single cell, in this case a plant cell, manages to become a complex multi-cellular organism, with all the cells in the right place, and at the right time, doing the right things to develop into and function as a complex, multi-cellular organism. It is an extraordinary question in biology, which I find completely gripping.”

Preparation of

“Rethinking Biology: Public Understandings”

was supported by grant TWCF0129 from the Templeton World Charity Foundation on “The New Biology: Implications for Philosophy, Theology and Education.”

“Rethinking Biology: Public Understandings”

is the result of close collaboration between 17 authors from the USA, UK and Europe, representing biology and a range of other disciplines.

“Rethinking Biology: Public Understandings”

is sold at major bookstores at US$88 / £75 (hardcover) or US$48/£40 (paperback). More information on the book can be found at

“Rethinking Biology: Public Understandings”

About the author:

The author is a Former Reader in Theology and Science at the University of Cambridge, and former President of the British Psychological Society; now Visiting Professor of Psychology and Religion at the University of Lincoln.

About World Scientific:

World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books annually and 135 journals in various fields. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit

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