Creation: The Origin of Life / The Future of Life

Creation: How Science is Reinventing Life Itself by Adam Rutherford"Creation: How Science is Reinventing Life Itself" is a fascinating journey from the origins of all life and the origins of new artificial life. Science writer, Adam Rutherford takes the reader through the golden age of biology and explores the pathways to life on Earth and how to re-create it. What sets this book apart is the author's innate ability to make complex topics accessible, enlightening and entertaining. This excellent 288 page-book is composed of two halves: the first half covers the origin of life, while the second half covers how scientists are designing, engineering and building new life-forms for a purpose.Positives:1. A well-written, engaging, entertaining and accessible book on modern biology.2. A fascinating topic in the hands of an author with great communication skills.3. What a wonderful way to learn about the history of biology.4. The origin of cells. Cell theory. "Our understanding of the origin of new cells can be largely attributed to Robert Remak--a lost hero of biology, and a victim of politics and race."5. The grand theory of evolution. An excellent explanation of what a theory constitutes in science.6. This book stands out in making complex biological topics accessible; a positive worth repeating. "There are no life-forms we know of that do not employ and entirely depend upon it: DNA, made of four letters, translates into proteins, made of twenty amino acids. It is known as the central dogma: DNA makes RNA makes protein. The fact that all known life is utterly dependent on this system makes it seem almost inconceivable that it is not related by a single, common origin."7. Fascinating facts abound, "For reasons we don't fully understand, proteins only use left-handed amino acids."8. A dose of cosmology. "Theia's glancing blow may be what shifted the earth's axis from vertical to its off-kilter stance of 23.5 degrees." How cool is that?9. Describing life. Great use of converging sciences like physics and chemistry to describe biology.10. The origin of the code, "Evolution has given us a comprehensive description of how the wild spectrum of species has arisen from this simple code, but very little about how it came to be."11. Understanding ribozymes.12. Interesting theories on origin-of-life. The author does a wonderful job of differentiating between degrees of probability.13. Many interesting science experiments including Nick Lane's bioreactor.14. Understanding of proteins.15. The future of biology, synthetic biology. Fascinating look! "What Craig Venter and his team did was to re-create a life-form synthetically. That is undoubtedly a huge achievement in itself. It's another incremental step on the pathway to having total control over DNA, and our ability to manipulate life."16. Some truly remarkable studies underway in synthetic biology.17. Electrical engineering and how it relates to synthetic biology.18. A discussion on the challenges of bringing synthetic biology into society.19. Touches upon issues like genetically modified food, and viruses.20. Annotated bibliography.Negatives:1. No explicit mention of epigenetics.2. Mentions that one magazine puts Venter as the fourteenth-most influential person on Earth, sandwiched between David Cameron and Sarah Palin. Really??3. No use of graphs or illustrations that could have added value.In summary, I really enjoyed this book. It's a fresh and interesting look at modern biology. Adam Rutherford has provided an enlightening gift for the public. It provides a fascinating look at the history of life and its future through synthetic biology. Don't miss this one, I highly recommend it!Further suggestions: " Wonders of Life: Exploring the Most Extraordinary Phenomenon in the Universe " by Brian Cox, " The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution " by Sean B. Carroll, " Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors " by Nicholas Wade, " The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People " by Neil Shubin, " Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health (Vintage) " by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, "Life Ascending" by Nick Lane, " The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer " by Siddhartha Mukherjee, "The 10,000 Year Explosion" by Gregory Cochran, " Why Evolution Is True " by Jerry A. Coyne, " Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA " by Daniel J. Fairbanks, " The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution " by Richard Dawkins, "Written in Stone" by Brian Switek, "Molecular & Cell Biology for Dummies" by Rene Fester Kratz, " Evolution For Dummies " by Greg Krukonis, "Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters" by Donald R. Prothero, "The Universe Inside You: The Extreme Science of the Human Body From Quantum Theory to the Mysteries of the Brain" by Brian Clegg, "The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code" by Sam Kean.

This is an exceptionally good book. It is authoritative, scientifically accurate yet clearly written and easy to comprehend.It is in two parts. The first part describes the cell and genetics of life on Earth, lays out the evidence that all current life has a common ancestor, and discusses what we know of how that ancestor originated. Most of this can be found in other sources but the account here is the best that I have encountered and well worth reading even if you are familiar with story. The second part is an up-to-date discussion of research into synthetic biology, that is, the engineering of DNA material not found in natural life forms and even of new DNA coding systems. This material was entirely new to me.In the second part of the book, Dr. Rutherford takes on the arguments of people who oppose genetic modification in all its modern forms and makes a case for the continuation and expansion of the work because of its potential benefits. To a large extent, I think that his arguments are powerful ones and the risks of unintended consequences are low. However, I do not think that he has adequately addressed the possibility of malicious use of these new technologies. As a comparable example, consider the internet, which has created a quantum leap in access to information, a huge benefit to mankind. However, in parallel with the benefits has come an equally huge problem of theft of valuable information ranging from state secrets and corporate intellectual property to personal identity and individual privacy; a problem for which we have no satisfactory answer at present. Synthetic biology is at a much earlier stage. At this point, the potential benefits and dangers cannot be defined in detail but, in my opinion, we would be wise to demand that the problem posed by malicious misuse be raised to a much higher level of visibility and incorporated into regulatory policy as the technology evolves.

Biology is now an engineering art with a new name: Synthetic Biology. This 10 year old child of Genetic Engineering, per the author, is the attempted industrial application of the last 150 years of Biological Science in traditional fields like agriculture and medicine and new fields like bio-fuels and GMO foods.This wonderful book is divided into 2 parts: the second being the story of Synthetic Biology, It is an up-to-date, informed description of where we are headed and should be read by anyone concerned with the future.But, my real interest in reading the book is the first half. After struggling through many dry books and articles on Biology, Genetics, Evolution (and even the "Origin of Species" itself), I finally feel I have attained a certain big-picture understanding of this vast field (at the level of the interested layman, of course.) Starting at the still-unsolved problem of the origin of life, Dr.Rutherford brings us all the way up to the discovery of our Neanderthal genes. He lays out the milestones of biology from Darwin to Watson & Crick to Stanley Miller's iconic experiment, while explaining how it is that life/evolution does NOT violate the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. (And if you are one of those creationists who believe that, you really, REALLY need to read this book!)Dr. Rutherford is a wonderful, natural writer who has created an easy to read and follow exposition while resetting the bar in Science writing. His book is free of hyperbole, being a straightforward account of the facts as currently understood (at least, I didn't catch any). Overall, I give this book my highest recommendation.

Great Book

*A full executive summary of this book is available at newbooksinbrief dot com.As the blueprint of all that lives, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) may be said to be the key to understanding life itself. It is incredible to think, then, that the structure of DNA was only discovered some 60 years ago (thanks especially to the work of James Watson and Francis Crick). Since that time, many significant advances in genetics have been made—including the deciphering of the genomes of numerous species (including our own); and, even more impressively, the successful manipulation of the genetic code to introduce the features of one species to another (for example, having a goat produce spider’s silk out of its milk).As impressive as these feats are, though, they are but the beginning of what promises to come from the study of genetics. Indeed, compared with other sciences, such as physics and chemistry, genetics is still in its infancy, and we can be assured that the most significant discoveries and applications are yet to come. Even now, geneticists are making significant progress in uncovering the origin of life—meaning answering the question of just how life may have sprung out of lifeless chemistry—and are also making advancements in turning genetic manipulation into a standardized engineering science that is capable of churning out technological solutions in everything from food production to energy to medicine (a field that has been dubbed ‘synthetic biology’). It is these recent advances in genetics that are the main topic of Creation: How Science is Reinventing Life Itself by science writer Adam Rutherford.Rutherford begins by giving us a refresher in basic biology, by way of running through the 3 ideas that stand at the heart of biology: 1) cell theory; 2) Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection; and 3) the structure and operation of DNA. Each of these ideas leads us to the conclusion that life began at a single point, but does not address the question of how life began in the first place. Now, though, this question is being addressed, and Rutherford updates us on the progress.A living organism requires both a structure that can be replicated, and some energy to carry out this replication; thus the question of the origin of life comes down to the question of how this structure originally came to be organized, and where the energy came from to allow for the replication. With regards to the first part of this question, scientists have been able to trace out the likely original constituents of the first organism, and have also established that many of these original constituents readily self-organize into the form that they take when the right molecules and conditions are present—thus while the question of the original structure of life has not yet been solved entirely, geneticists are hot on the trail of doing just this.Second, with regards to the energy problem, it has been established that, originally, the energy needed for replication could well have come from outside of the biological structure itself—the most likely candidate at this point being the energy from hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean. Experiments are currently underway that recreate the physical and chemical conditions at the bottom of the ocean near hydrothermal vents—but the hit and miss nature of this procedure means that there are no guarantees these experiments will be successful in procuring life.When it comes to creating life from scratch, the better bet might be that this will come from synthesizing the basic biological parts and manipulating them into the organization that is needed for them to carry on into perpetuity. This is the domain of a new science called synthetic biology. Of this domain we learn that geneticists have already been able to synthesize many biological structures—and have even synthesized DNA and introduced it into a cell where it functions normally, like any other DNA.While creating life form scratch is one goal of synthetic biology, it is subordinate to a much larger goal, which is to take full control of genetic information in order that it may be used for any number of purposes, from incapacitating viruses, to creating synthetic biofuel, to fabricating food stuffs that carry any biological feature we may want. Scientists have in fact already made considerable progress in these areas. However, they have also run into some significant barriers along the way—largely having to do with the sheer complexity of biological systems. Still there is hope that this complexity will ultimately be tamed.One part of this taming effort comes from the endeavor to create standardized genetic components that are capable of carrying out a specific function. The spirit of this enterprise is captured in the iGEM competition—an international competition that brings together teams of university students from every corner of the planet with one goal: to demonstrate a unique biological function using standard genetic parts, called ‘BioBricks’ (drawn from a library of these BioBricks that the students are themselves encouraged to add to in the course of their projects). The iGEM competition has already churned out some very impressive applications, and the speed of progress is very encouraging.Rutherford does a very good job of covering some of the most significant recent advances in genetics, and of explaining the science behind it. The author also does well to capture the promise of the recent advances, while at the same time acknowledging the significant obstacles that stand in the way of future progress. The offering is certainly more readable than George Church's latest book  Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves --to which this book will no doubt be compared. However, Rutherford (despite having a solid background in biology himself) does not have quite the insider's perspective that someone like Church does, which is the only drawback I see here. All in all a very good popular science book on a very important topic. A full executive summary of the book is available at newbooksinbrief dot com; a podcast discussion of the book will be available soon. Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves

Quite a task for Rutherford this one! Not sure if he completely nailed it, but certainly I personally learnt a lot and helped me to think about life from a different prospective. Not giving the full mark only because it is a complex topic, and possibly should have a bit easier to read. But that might just be my limitations.

I would probably have liked this book better if I wasn't already reasonably familiar with evolution, DNA, cell function etc. The author's views on the genetically modified organism controversy (he is pro-GMO) are naive IMO and largely miss the point. GMO skeptics are portrayed as wild-eyed Luddites. His speculations on the "future" of "life" are shallow. This book would work better squeezed into a magazine article.

Have read a few books on the origin of life - this is by far the best. Clearly written, with complex subjects presented in a very accessible way. I got further in my understanding of many aspects of biology and chemistry - and the link between the two - than ever before. I really loved the book.