Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself

[Bill's]

Discussion for March 2018 book Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself. We have 2 books this month.

[Vidya]

Creation was interesting albeit wordy. There were many places where I felt 'A picture would have spoken thousand words'. The descriptions seemed endless.

And there seemed gaps too - like nowhere is the difference between archaea and bacteria fleshed out. Although the fact that they are different is mentioned many times.

The first part deals with the origin of life and the second part with the changing the nature of life via synthetic biology.

The lead up via various theories on how life could have originated, to finding the LUCA (last universal common ancestor) was excellent.

However it was the 2nd part that was fascinating. This section deals with genetic engineering, synthetic biology.

Some intriguing topics

- A hypothetical, synthetic circuit with the ability to oscillate in its production of insulin to mimic the natural pulse
- 'Golden rice' - a form of rice that produces high level of beta-carotene to treat people with Vitamin A deficiency
- Diesel producing bacteria
- Restriction enzymes which act like DNA scissors
- Spider silk in goat's milk
and many more

The mechanism of DNA, RNA and proteins working is explained beautifully. The ethical implications are also touched upon.

All in all a good read in an easy engaging style.