Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrodinger posed a profound question: 'What is life, and how did it emerge from non-life?' This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists ever since. Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology? What could have led the first replicating molecules up such a path? Now, developments in the emerging fie...

Biomedical scientists are the foundation of modern healthcare, from cancer screening to diagnosing HIV, from blood transfusion for surgery to food poisoning and infection control. Without biomedical scientists, the diagnosis of disease, the evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment, and research into the causes and cures of disease would not be possible. The Fundamentals of Biomedical Science series has been written to reflect the challenges of practicing biomedical science today.