Noah Whiteman at Harvard University

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Harvard Library welcome Noah Whiteman—Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development at the University of California-Berkeley—for a discussion of his new book Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature's Toxins―From Spices to Vices. Following the presentation in Jefferson Lab 250, there will be a reception and book signing in the Physics Library in Jefferson 450.

Ticketing

There are two ticket options available for this event.

Free General Admission Ticket: Includes admission for one.

Book-Included Ticket: Includes admission for one and one hardcover copy of Most Delicious Poison.

About Most Delicious Poison

A deadly secret lurks within our spice racks, medicine cabinets, backyard gardens, and private stashes.

Scratch beneath the surface of a coffee bean, a red pepper flake, a poppy seed, a mold spore, a foxglove leaf, a magic-mushroom cap, a marijuana bud, or an apple seed, and we find a bevy of strange chemicals. We use these to greet our days (caffeine), titillate our tongues (capsaicin), recover from surgery (opioids), cure infections (penicillin), mend our hearts (digoxin), bend our minds (psilocybin), calm our nerves (CBD), and even K*ll our enemies (cyanide). But why do plants and fungi produce such chemicals? And how did we come to use and abuse some of them?

Based on cutting-edge science in the fields of evolution, chemistry, and neuroscience, Most Delicious Poison reveals:

• The origins of toxins produced by plants, mushrooms, microbes, and even some animals
• The mechanisms that animals evolved to overcome them
• How a co-evolutionary arms race made its way into the human experience
• And much more

This perpetual chemical war not only drove the diversification of life on Earth, but also is intimately tied to our own successes and failures. You will never look at a houseplant, mushroom, fruit, vegetable, or even the past five hundred years of human history the same way again.

Event Venue

Jefferson Lab 250, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, United States