British virologist Carey tackles epigenetics with a passion to explain a rapidly developing and complex field.
Early on the author reminds us that a surprising finding from human-genome research is that only two percent of the DNA in our cells codes for proteins used in the body. Though it was once fashionable to call the rest “junk” DNA, that’s not the case today. Some of this DNA is transcribed as “non-coding RNA” with various functions, and some codes for proteins that determine which genes are expressed and which genes are silent in a given cell type—a liver or a skin cell, for example—ensuring that when these cells divide, the daughter cells will be the same type. Epigenetics is the study of those DNA controls, the key players for which are proteins that attach methyl groups to selected parts of DNA and proteins that add acetyl groups to histones (proteins associated with DNA on chromosomes). None of these controls is evident when sperm meets egg and undergoes initial cell divisions, which explains why “embryonic stem cells” are prized for their ability to develop into any cell type. As Carey surveys the field, she dwells on early development as a critical period when environmental influences can affect epigenetic controls with long-term effects. Thus women pregnant in the first trimester in the infamous Dutch famine in World War II gave birth to offspring at increased risk for obesity as adults. Similarly, Carey explores epigenetic changes due to childhood abuse as contributing to stress-related illnesses in maturity. Epigenetic effects may also play a role in schizophrenia and chronic diseases, including cancer, and have already inspired new drugs to inhibit epigenetic controls. There is also fascinating research to explain, for example, why feeding honey-bee larvae royal jelly will turn them into queens and not sterile workers. Carey makes clear that debate and controversy attend this rapidly growing field, and she takes pains to explore alternate (non-epigenetic) explanations for various findings.
An exhilarating exploration of an exciting new field, and a good gift for a bright biology student looking for a career choice.Pub Date: March 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-231-16116-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Columbia Univ.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
Categories: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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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. 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Categories: GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | NATURE | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
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Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Categories: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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