Science writer Richard Francis — author of the awesome counter-sociobiology book Why Men Won't Ask for Directions — has just sealed a deal for his next book with Norton. Coming out in 2010, the book will be called The Well-Instructed Gene, and is all about epigenetics and developmental biology. He'll be exploring the cutting-edge of these fields, looking at how close we are to reprogramming cells as they develop, inducing those cells to become whatever we want them to. [via Publishers Marketplace]