[close] Regenerative medicine and human life extension are among the most cutting-edge pursuits in science, and potentially among the most profitable. In Merchants of Immortality, Stephen S. Hall offers both an expose of this fascinating science and a case study of the billion-dollar industry that has grown up around it. At the center of the field are stem cell research and cloning -- topics of continuous ethical debate -- and the stem cell legislation that has unintentionally created a strange and thriving private-sector business niche. Merchants of Immortality is a captivating, incisive account of a new frontier at the intersection of biology and business. [close]