Gravity, DNA, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and space exploration were all unimaginable until they became real -- and transformed our lives. This watershed book shows us what we can expect from science in the next series of discoveries and no one but John Maddox could guide us so well.

From his long tenure as editor of 'Nature', the magazine that has broken the story of every great scientific discovery in the 20th century, Maddox is in a unique position to assess the state of our knowledge. He boldly poses the fundamental questions in physics, biology, computer science, and medicine that will challenge our best minds in the coming century: How old is the universe? How did life begin and did it begin only once? Does our world have only three dimensions? Are we at the dawn of an age of plagues? Can we stop the deterioration of the genome that may soon cripple our ability to reproduce? And ultimately, has what we've learned about our world in any way prepared us for these and other mind-bending questions? Maddox's answers will startle and fascinate a wide range of readers.