My first popular science book is on the topic of ancient DNA, and I am proud to say that it has now been contracted for publication internationally in several countries - in Australia, New Zealand and India it is titled Hunting the Double Helix, and in the US it is called The DNA Detectives. It will also be published in Korea and Brazil in coming months.

The book is a collection of stories about the way DNA is increasingly being used to reveal important, fascinating, and sometimes quirky facts about unsolved murders, deadly diseases, mysterious disappearances, animals that have long been extinct, and even human origins.

Could we re-create a mammoth or thylacine? Could Jurassic Park ever be a reality? Were the Neanderthals our ancestors? What caused the Black Death? What really happened to the Russian Royal Family? Did Anastasia survive the Russian revolution? Could the unnamed victims of the Titanic be returned to their families? Ancient DNA has been found in a wonderful range of sources, and has been used to answer these and other baffling questions.

To read reviews of the book - and I am happy to say there are some rather nice ones - see its page on Amazon.com

To see details of the Australia and New Zealand version: Hunting the Double Helix: How DNA is solving puzzles of the past (Allen & Unwin, 2005), click here

To see details of the US version: The DNA Detectives: How the double helix is solving puzzles of the past (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006), click here

I have also co-written a piece (with Professor David Penny from Massey University) in Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors, a beautifully illustrated new book on the history of Pacific migration.

I am currently working on a new popular science book project, but I shall have to keep the details of this under my hat, for now!

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