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Title details for Life as We Made It by Beth Shapiro - Available

Life as We Made It

How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined--And Redefined--Nature

by Beth Shapiro
Beth Shapiro
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
From the very first dog to glowing fish and designer pigs – the human history of remaking nature.
Virus-free mosquitoes, resurrected dinosaurs, designer humans – such is the power of the science of tomorrow. But this idea that we have only recently begun to manipulate the natural world is false. We've been meddling with nature since the last ice age. It's just that we're getting better at it – a lot better.
Drawing on decades of research, Beth Shapiro reveals the surprisingly long history of human intervention in evolution through hunting, domesticating, polluting, hybridizing, conserving and genetically modifying life on Earth. Looking ahead to the future, she casts aside the scaremongering myths on the dangers of interference, and outlines the true risks and incredible opportunities that new biotechnologies will offer us in the years ahead. Not only do they present us with the chance to improve our own lives, but they increase the likelihood that we will continue to live in a rich and biologically diverse world.
"Shapiro does an excellent job of showing that the realities of genuine science can be as exciting as the fantasies of science fiction." Daily Mail on How to Clone a Mammoth
"The science is fascinating." Financial Times on How to Clone a Mammoth

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 1, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781004065042
      • File size: 278738 KB
      • Duration: 09:40:42

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 30, 2021
      “People have been shaping the evolution of the living things around us throughout our history,” writes biologist Shapiro (How to Clone a Mammoth) in this fun-filled survey. Humans are living in an age filled with biotechnology, she writes, and people are worried—but human interference with nature isn’t as new as it may seem. Shapiro draws on a slew of lively examples to prove her point: bison had to adapt to life with humans, for example, and evolved to be smaller and nimbler to run away quicker, while the transition from wolves to dogs was a relationship formed by proximity that turned into mutualism. Shapiro addresses intervention in the form of genetic engineering and GMOs (breaking down the “knee-jerk yuck factor” GMOs can provoke) and highlights farmers attempting to “improve animal welfare... while at the same time improving the economics of cattle farming” with gene-editing. Shapiro’s anecdotes are full of energy, as when Shapiro is with a museum collections manager who drops a pigeon specimen; when the head pops off, Shapiro reacts: “I, of course, did what every self-respecting early career ancient DNA scientist would do. I took a piece of its toepad and extracted its DNA,” she writes. Perfect for fans of Mary Roach, this is science writing with much to savor.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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