Life Without Genes - Hardcover

Reseña del editor

Can life exist without genes? What happens when evolution itself evolves? Taking us beyond biology and genes, through ground-breaking analysis of all the genetic clues contained in each one of us, Adrian Woolfson broadens and changes our view of the future forever.

This book asks the question: Are genes necessary for life? And it provides the most revolutionary and persuasive of answers.

Genes may, in fact, be neither necessary nor sufficient for life. Woolfson, in ringingly clear and comprehensible fashion, sketches out a putative new history of life on earth, no less. He gives Life three new distinct ages: the geneless, the pre-genetic and the genetic. And then goes on to depict when and how the Geneless World existed, and to go further into the laws of chance and complexity to describe the space of all possible worlds, all possible organisms, all possible lifeforms.

It is mind-bending, genuinely dizzying intellectual fodder. Among its more dazzling implications are that the DNA Age might turn out to be as ephemeral as the Iron Age. So, what comes next, and how soon...?

This is one of the most exciting popular science books of recent years, with a compelling and genuinely original new thesis at its heart, and with an author capable of talking convincingly to specialist and non-specialist alike.

A scientific publishing event.

Contraportada

What is life? What are genes? Can life exist without genes? What will living things be like in the future and how did life evolve in the first place? Taking us beyond biology and genes, through groundbreaking analysis of all the genetic clues contained in each one of us, Adrian Woolfson broadens and changes our view of the future forever.

Crystal clear and jargon-free, 'Life Without Genes' is packed with vivid and surreal examples drawn from the world around us. Could a pufferfish behave like a fly? Might giraffes grow taller than skyscrapers? How are crocodiles able to stay underwater for more than an hour? Is it possible to turn a stickleback into a daffodil, or a tiger into a porcupine? Did the very first creatures lack genes altogether? Woolfson asks us to imagine a hypermarket stocked with every possible type of toy in the universe, to see DNA as a infinitely flexible Lego and then he takes us on swirling Peter Pan-like trips through our own genes and shows us the full scope (and perils) of genetic engineering.

A uniquely accessible work of science, with shades of Huxley, Lewis Carroll and Darwin, 'Life Without Genes' presents a truly startling vision of a future where the consequences of our current genetic experiments turn out to be both stranger and more foreign than we ever imagined. It shows us a world dominated by artificially constructed biological machines, and suggests that the very genetic codes, DNA and protein building block materials of contemporary living things, might themselves one day be supplanted by more modern designs and technologies. Our conception of life, evolution – and genetics – will never be the same again.

"A welcome antidote to the naïve genetic determinism that is all too prevalent in popular science, and a pleasure to read. You have nothing to lose but your genes!"
IAN STEWART, author of 'Does God Play Dice?' and 'Life's Other Secret'

"Be not afraid of the title! Adrian Woolfson loosens the meaning of the terms 'life' and 'genes', to provide us with new toys in the great playground of possibilities – where perhaps we shall come to understand the origins of life. It is serious fun."
GRAHAM CAIRNS-SMITH, author of 'Seven Clues to the Origin of Life'

ADRIAN WOOLFSON was educated in London, Cambridge and Oxford. He is a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow in the Division of Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and a Charles and Katherine Darwin Research Fellow in Molecular Biology at Darwin College, Cambridge.

Can life exist without genes? What happens when evolution itself evolves? Taking us beyond biology and genes, through ground-breaking analysis of all the genetic clues contained in each one of us, Adrian Woolfson broadens and changes our view of the future forever.

Crystal clear and jargon-free, 'Life Without Genes' is packed with vivid and surreal examples drawn from the world around us. How could pufferfish think like flies? Can giraffes grow taller than skyscrapers? How can a crocodile stay underwater for more than four minutes (and how to escape if trapped in its jaws)? Did the first creature have no genes? How can you taste again the most delicious apple you ate as a child? And most importantly, what will happen when creatures evolve in months and not millennia? Woolfson asks us to imagine a hyper-market stocked with every toy in the universe, to see DNA as an infinitely flexible Lego and then he takes us on Swirling Peter Pan-like trips through our own genes. He shows us the full scope (and the perils) of genetic engineering and explains why is there no such thing as a 'selfish' gene?

A uniquely accessible work of science, with shades of Huxley, Darwin and Dawkins, 'Life Without Genes' presents a truly startling vision of a future where the consequences of our current genetic experiments turn out to be both stranger and far more foreign than ever imagined. It shows us a world dominated by biological machines, artificially evolved by a process of accelerated evolution, pointing out that exploration of the library of all possible creatures could result in the discovery of biological creatures which far outstrip current human capacities for consciousness and intelligence. And that the very genetic codes, DNA and protein building block of materials of contemporary life, may themselves be supplanted by more modern designs and technologies. Evolution – and science – will never be the same again.

Adrian Woolfson was educated in London, Cambridge and Oxford. His doctoral thesis was supervised by the Nobel Prize-winning Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He has also worked as a medical doctor at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and worked on behaviour in Madingley, Cambridge. He is currently a Wellcome Research Fellow at Gonville and Caius College and is based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.