French research is at the cutting edge when it comes to the health sciences. This success is due in large part to the founding of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), whose role was to coordinate the efforts of medical and biological organizations and research labs toward common goals. In a radically contemporary style, this book tells of the discoveries that changed how we look at living beings. Thanks to multiples entries in fields from the scientific and historical to the aesthetic, this work takes readers on a journey through life in labs. What emerges is a portrait researchers grappling with the social and health issues of their eras, and the resulting stakes.