An intriguing look at the possibilities of bringing the passenger pigeon and other currently extinct species back to life.
A British science writer with a doctorate in stem cell biology and a second career as a stand-up comedian, Pilcher examines the possibility of reversing the extinction of our Neanderthal cousins as well as other creatures. “Through interdisciplinary research,” she writes, “it’s now possible to marry the secrets of ancient DNA with cutting edge genetic technology.” This is not an idle fantasy. Although we still have somewhere between 5 and 9 million species on the planet, the author quotes estimates that somewhere between 30 and 150 are becoming extinct every day. As she writes, “over 99 percent of all the species that have ever lived on Earth are no longer with us. They are extinct.” Perhaps scientists could resurrect the king of dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus rex, from fossils, but the author reminds us that T. rex was not a fussy eater; as such, a human could become a “potential entrée.” An even more enticing possibility would be reacquainting ourselves with our cousins, the Neanderthals, “the undisputed King of the Cavemen.” Pilcher reports that anthropologists have unraveled “the genetic secrets of the Neanderthal” from fossil remains. A first step in bringing them back to life might be to inject Neanderthal DNA “into a human egg that had…its only nuclear genome removed.” Modern genetic evidence shows that they have successfully interbred with humans in the path and thus could do so again. However, in Pilcher’s view, their very humanity should preclude engaging in such experimentation. The passenger pigeon is another case in point of why we can’t go back in time. Would our farmers tolerate large flocks of hungry passenger pigeons? A more likely candidate for resurrection might be the northern white rhino: there are only three remaining on Earth.
A unique perspective on our responsibility to preserve the chain of being of which we are only a part.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4729-1225-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury Sigma
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
Categories: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.
Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.
A quirky wonder of a book.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Categories: GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | NATURE | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Did you like this book?
Jahren transcends both memoir and science writing in this literary fusion of both genres.
GET IT
Award-winning scientist Jahren (Geology and Geophysics/Univ. of Hawaii) delivers a personal memoir and a paean to the natural world.
The author’s father was a physics and earth science teacher who encouraged her play in the laboratory, and her mother was a student of English literature who nurtured her love of reading. Both of these early influences engrossingly combine in this adroit story of a dedication to science. Jahren’s journey from struggling student to struggling scientist has the narrative tension of a novel and characters she imbues with real depth. The heroes in this tale are the plants that the author studies, and throughout, she employs her facility with words to engage her readers. We learn much along the way—e.g., how the willow tree clones itself, the courage of a seed’s first root, the symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi, and the airborne signals used by trees in their ongoing war against insects. Trees are of key interest to Jahren, and at times she waxes poetic: “Each beginning is the end of a waiting. We are each given exactly one chance to be. Each of us is both impossible and inevitable. Every replete tree was first a seed that waited.” The author draws many parallels between her subjects and herself. This is her story, after all, and we are engaged beyond expectation as she relates her struggle in building and running laboratory after laboratory at the universities that have employed her. Present throughout is her lab partner, a disaffected genius named Bill, whom she recruited when she was a graduate student at Berkeley and with whom she’s worked ever since. The author’s tenacity, hope, and gratitude are all evident as she and Bill chase the sweetness of discovery in the face of the harsh economic realities of the research scientist.
Jahren transcends both memoir and science writing in this literary fusion of both genres.Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-87493-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Categories: BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | NATURE | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
