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Book Review

Nature 409, 981-982 (22 February 2001) | doi:10.1038/35059158

Open Innovation Challenges

From the monastery to the laboratory

Brian Charlesworth1

Genetics has made the most spectacular progress of any part of biology over the past century, developing from an obscure science practised by a handful of people to one that is referred to almost daily by the media. The concepts and techniques of genetics permeate all fields of biology; the potential benefits and threats of its applications to agriculture and medicine are the objects of often-strident debate.