The Breakers Series: Books 1-3

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Jennifer’s father gave her a copy of The Double Helix when she was six, sparking her keen interest in gene research. Later its author, James Watson, said her CRISPR development was “the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA.” stars: 5+ stars for the science community, including Doudna and Charpentier. 2 stars for the extraneous information in telling the story.

Book Review: ‘The Code Breaker,’ by Walter Isaacson - The New Book Review: ‘The Code Breaker,’ by Walter Isaacson - The New

In the history of science, there are few real eureka moments, but this came pretty close. “It wasn’t just some gradual process where it slowly dawned on us,” Doudna says. “It was an oh-my-God moment.” When Jinek showed Doudna his data demonstrating that you could program Cas9 with different guide RNAs to cut DNA wherever you desired, they actually paused and looked at each other. “Oh my God, this could be a powerful tool for gene editing,” she declared. In short, they realized that they had developed a means to rewrite the code of life." Until 2020, only five women, beginning with Marie Curie in 1911, had won a Nobel for chemistry. But 2020 was the year it went to two women, Jennifer Doudna and French colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, for the development of CRISPR, a gene editing technology. Cas9 enzymes together with CRISPR sequences form the basis of a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 used to edit genes within living organisms. One of the concerns is how gene editing thwarts natural evolution. This is a redundant concern: almost every scientific discovery or innovation involves unnatural manipulation of nature. They presuppose that nature can be improved. Many naturalists, romantics, or religion-believers have debated against all types of scientific progress for centuries. Gene editing is undoubtedly going to be their next frontier. However, the answers - to the extent one is not discussing widespread potential damage - are not necessarily for the Code Breakers to debate or provide. The discovery, analysis, and eventual understanding of the mechanism of CRISPR involves a whole host of characters each building on earlier work, so it's a bit puzzling why Walter Isaacson didn't make this a multiple biography like he did in the book, The Innovators. Code Breaker does end up with numerous mini biographies much like The Innovators.As sad as those days were for her, their groundbreaking findings were the catalyst to Doudna and her colleagues putting in place the tools that could edit genes. During a TV interview for a science news show, when explaining what the implications of such technology could be, she said, "One possibility is that we might be able to cure or treat people who have genetic defects." Bradford Hardie III, an American cryptographer during World War II, contributed insider information, German translations from original documents, and intimate real-time operational explanations to The Codebreakers. [ citation needed] CRISPR-Cas9 systems can be ‘programmed’ relatively easily and inexpensively, to conduct ‘germline editing’ (i.e. insertion of designer DNA, or deletion of unwanted DNA) into the organism’s genetic code. The Code Breaker is an incomplete story of science and scientists who are in the throes of creating a fast-unfolding revolution. The book is equivalent of, perhaps, someone writing on Einstein in 1910 - a few years after his first papers on the quanta and special relativity, but way before tens of other more significant discoveries they led to. Doudna si Charpentier au revolutionat domeniul in 2011 demonstrand ca poti tinti, cu ajutorul unui ghid, secventa de ADN pe care vrei sa o tai, inserand in loc o gena preferata, adica este programabil !

The Breakers | Newport Mansions The Breakers | Newport Mansions

I simply have no words to express how much I loved this amazing and historically recorded book. Walter Isaacson! Sir, you have such a diverse taste in science, arts and literature. On March 22, 2021, Isaacson appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss the book. [3] Reception [ edit ]You need to at least like science or be interested in science a little bit to truly appreciate what Isaacson has done here, but I was impressed with his ability to tell this complicated story.

The Code Breaker - Wikipedia The Code Breaker - Wikipedia

As it turned out the CRISPR story includes some tales of lawsuits caused by the final dash—and subterfuge—for patent rights. Scrambling to get findings published first in a science journal made these scientists look like conceded narcissists. Then when things advanced to the awards stage I was sorry to see some old friendships and partnerships chill as a result of jealousy. Nonfiction Book Review: The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson". Publishers Weekly. January 26, 2021 . Retrieved March 18, 2021. The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. One area where I feel the book falls short is in emphasizing personal stories at the expense of explaining the science thoroughly. A topic like this would benefit from a chapter like Melville's on Cetology (well maybe not exactly like Melville's); what I mean is the author should have inserted a chapter that was the equivalent of an introductory college class on mRNA, gene editing, etc, with illustrations. What we get in terms of illustrations is many, many pictures of scientists - replace about half of those with illustrative drawings of the various natural and man-made processes for gene editing, and those who are so inclined (I would be one) could study those and come to a clear understanding of the science and technology involved. Walter Isaacson is at heart a journalist, and he loves human interest stories; I love them to a point, and Doudna's story is inspiring and a great example for women who are interested in science, but Mr. Isaacson would have benefited from the ministrations of a much stricter editor; all that human interest stuff could be cut by a third and the story would not suffer. In my opinion. But then, I am a STEM guy at heart, so my tolerance for human interest stories is inherently limited.....;-)The book finishes with a chapter on SETI. Because of the year of its publication, the book did not cover most of the history concerning the breaking of the German Enigma machine, which became public knowledge during the 1970s. Hence, not much was said of Alan Turing. It also did not cover the advent of strong cryptography in the public domain, beginning with the invention of public key cryptography and the specification of the Data Encryption Standard in the mid-1970s. The book was republished in 1996, and this new edition included an additional chapter briefly covering the events since the original publication. This is an engaging, interesting, informative, and thought-provoking biography cum history. While the focus is on Jennifer Doudna, Isaacson gives almost equal time to the many other researchers who contributed to the scientific discoveries and applications. In prima jumatate a secolului XX fizica a fost revolutionata de teoriile lui Einstein si de mecanica cuantica.