Masterminds: Genius, DNA, and the Quest to Rewrite Life
Описание книги
Combining myth, biography, and wit, this is a highly original depiction of cutting-edge science and its profound implications, told through the scientists who are rewriting life on earth.Throughout history, the scientists’ personalities have astonished us. From Galileo to Jonas Salk, they push and stretch society’s boundaries though their great leaps of imagination and originality, providing us with everything from the wheel to rocket ships and penicillin. Today's masterminds in biotechnology promise lifespans up to 400 years, cures for cancer, and an end to pollution. But they are also capable of causing social upheavals with Frankenstein-like nightmare creations, as well as bioweapons.Award-winning writer David Ewing Duncan has written a startling narrative about science and personality, delving into stem cells, cloning, bioengineering, and genetics by telling the stories of the characters at the fulcrum of the science. He uses a unique method of tying in age-old stories and myths – from Prometheus and Eve to Faustus and Frankenstein – to ask the question: can we trust these scientists?
Оглавление
David Duncan Ewing. Masterminds: Genius, DNA, and the Quest to Rewrite Life
DAVID EWING DUNCAN. Masterminds. GENIUS, DNA, AND THE QUEST TO REWRITE LIFE
DEDICATION
EPIGRAPH
CONTENTS
PRELUDE: The Geneticist who Played Hoops with my DNA
THE LANGUAGE OF BIOTECH: A Genetic Primer
1 PROMETHEUS Douglas Melton
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2
3
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5
2 EVE Cynthia Kenyon
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2
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5
3 PAUL Francis Collins
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2
3
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7
8
4 FAUSTUS Craig Venter
1
2
3
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7
5 ZEUS James Watson
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2
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6
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6 PUCK Sydney Brenner
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2
3
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5
7 MOSES Paul Berg
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7
EPILOGUE What if Frankenstein’s Monster had Einstein’s Brain?
If you enjoyed Masterminds, why not try …
P.S. IDEAS, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES …
Q and A with David Ewing Duncan
Top Ten Favourite Authors
Life at a Glance
A Writing Life
The Greatest Story in Human History
If You Loved This, You Might Like …
The Web Detective
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NOTES
PRELUDE: THE GENETICIST WHO PLAYED HOOPS WITH MY DNA
THE LANGUAGE OF BIOTECH: A GENETIC PRIMER
1: PROMETHEUS/ DOUGLAS MELTON
2: EVE/ CYNTHIA KENYON
3: PAUL/ FRANCIS COLLINS
4: FAUSTUS/ CRAIG VENTER
5: ZEUS/ JAMES WATSON
6: PUCK/ SYDNEY BRENNER
7: MOSES/PAUL BERG
EPILOGUE: WHAT IF FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER HAD EINSTEIN’S BRAIN?
PRAISE
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Отрывок из книги
To my mother and father.
fact that most of our society
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Inside deCode, three towers containing labs, computers, and offices are connected by a glass-enclosed atrium four stories high, an airy and expansive space crisscrossed by open bridges between the towers. Hanging down from the ceiling, over the lunchroom, a gigantic model of a double helix turns slowly, picking up the dull, gray light from outside like an elongated disco ball. In one tower a supercomputer that can process a person’s entire genetic code in twenty minutes.
Stefansson’s office suite is across a bridge from the spinning DNA model. His large windows overlook the old Reykjavik airport, and the vast sweep of lava fields and mountains. He’s wearing his trademark tight black T-shirt and is preparing to drink two glasses of a Pepto-Bismol-colored drink he says is a protein supplement. I see Yeats’s Ghosts and the NASDAQ Rule Book, among other volumes, in his bookcase. He’s about to tell me the results of one of the tests run on my DNA.
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