{"product_id":"9781611451627","title":"Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Major Medical Breakthroughs in the Twentieth Century","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHappy Accidents\u003c\/i\u003e is a fascinating, entertaining, and highly accessible look at the surprising role serendipity has played in some of the most important medical discoveries in the twentieth century. What do penicillin, chemotherapy drugs, X-rays, Valium, the Pap smear, and Viagra have in common? They were each discovered accidentally, stumbled upon in the search for something else. In the 1990s, Pfizer had high hopes for a new drug that would boost blood flow to the heart. As they conducted trials on angina sufferers, researchers noted a startling effect: while the drug did not affect blood flow to the heart, it did affect blood flow elsewhere! Now over six million American men have taken Viagra in their lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinston Churchill once said, “Men occasionally stumble across the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing has happened.” Within the scientific community, a certain stigma is attached to chance discovery because it is wrongly seen as pure luck. Happy accidents certainly happen every day, but it takes intelligence, insight, and creativity to recognize a “Eureka, I found what I wasn't looking for!” moment and know what to do next. In discussing medical breakthroughs, Dr. Morton Meyers makes a cogent, highly engaging argument for a more creative, rather than purely linear, approach to science. And it may just save our lives!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Arcade Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47037438460144,"sku":"9781611451627","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781611451627_p0.jpg?v=1763845715","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781611451627","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}