Ocean State Libraries

2012 Christy Award finalist, Contemporary series category. Andrew Jones was once one of the few surgeons in the world to have that rare, God-given ability called The Touch. But after failing to save his young fiancée, Faith, at the scene of a car accident, Jones abandons his gift and shuns the operating room. Lara Blair owns a Chicago-based biomedical engineering company developing a surgical tool that will duplicate precisely the movement of a surgeon's...

"Outlines the next technology revolution and how it will change human life, drawing on the latest discoveries in biology and engineering to profile such innovations as computer-engineered crops, protein-based water filters, and cancer-detecting nanoparticles." --

"Biotechnology is moving fast. In the coming decades, advanced pharmaceuticals, bioelectronics, and genetic interventions will be used not only to heal the sick but to boost human physical and mental performance to unprecedented levels. People will have access to pills that make them stronger and faster, informatic devices will interface seamlessly with the human brain, and epigenetic modification may allow people to reshape their own physical and...

"The gripping and revelatory story of the dramatic race to merge the human brain with machines. Leading neuroscience researchers are racing to unlock the secrets of the mind. On the cusp of decoding brain signals that govern motor skills, they are developing miraculous technologies to enable paraplegics and wounded soldiers to move prosthetic limbs, and the rest of us to manipulate computers and other objects through thought alone. These fiercely...

"Meet scientists who are on the verge of breakthroughs in biomedical engineering. From encouraging the body to regenerate damaged bone and muscle tissue to re-routing visual stimuli to the brain to help blind people see, these discoveries will change medicine radically."--

Examines the effects of accelerating technology on the economic system. "In Silicon Valley the phrase "disruptive technology" is tossed around on a casual basis. No one doubts that technology has the power to devastate entire industries and upend various sectors of the job market. But Rise of the Robots asks a bigger question: Can accelerating technology disrupt our entire economic system to the point where a fundamental restructuring is required?...

"Never before in the history of medicine has mankind faced such hope and peril as those of us poised to embrace the radical medical technologies of today. Beyond Human examines the medical technologies taking shape at the nexus of computing, microelectronics, engineering, nanotechnology, cellular and gene therapies, and robotics. These technologies will dramatically transform our lives and allow us to live for hundreds of years. Yet, with these blessings...