Comments on: Book review – A Crack in Creation: The New Power to Control Evolution

By: Book review – Viruses: A Natural History | The Inquisitive Biologist

Book review – Viruses: A Natural History | The Inquisitive Biologist — Tue, 23 May 2023 11:56:24 +0000

[…] numerous biotechnological tools that have been inspired by, or directly stolen from, viruses, CRISPR being a well-known recent […]

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By: Book review – The Curious World of Bacteria | The Inquisitive Biologist

Book review – The Curious World of Bacteria | The Inquisitive Biologist — Wed, 10 May 2023 11:05:36 +0000

[…] very wide species boundaries) and the recent discovery of the bacterial immune system known as CRISPR that has been turned into a biotechnological tool that has taken the world by storm. Wess is […]

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By: Book review – Life as We Made It: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined – and Redefined – Nature | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 09:18:49 +0000

[…] such as the mosquito species that carry malaria. There is an extended discussion about gene drives, CRISPR, and the science and ethics of editing the human […]

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By: Book review – Life Changing: How Humans Are Altering Life on Earth | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 10:18:34 +0000

[…] of the peppered moth evolving in response to changes in air pollution, the gene-editing tool CRISPR, or the stratigraphical definition of the Anthropocene and what marker will be suitable (it might […]

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By: Book review – Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 14:29:55 +0000

[…] is still needed to optimise production processes, though recent gene-editing tools such as CRISPR could greatly […]

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By: Book review – The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator | The Inquisitive Biologist

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 14:37:26 +0000

[…] threatening humanity once more (a pattern that is seen more widely). Winegard briefly discusses CRISPR as the latest weapon in our arsenal and seems hopeful this could go a long way in fighting […]

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By: Book review – More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources – And What Happens Next | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 10:08:59 +0000

[…] support continued scientific research and technological development (I have written about GMOs and other biotech tools before). Still – and I take note here of his remarks about the power and persistence of negative […]

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By: Book review – Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA | The Inquisitive Biologist

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 14:59:29 +0000

[…] Even viruses are not exempt. You might remember that a virus commandeers a host’s biochemical machinery for its own reproduction. Some viral genes can end up in the host’s DNA by accident or, in the case of retroviruses, by design. This viral DNA can be neutered and repurposed, offering another option for rapid evolution (see my reviews of Viruses: Agents of Evolutionary Invention and Discovering Retroviruses: Beacons in the Biosphere). We even have turned this into a powerful biotechnological tool, CRISPR, that allows fine-scale gene editing, rather than the previous blunt tools of genetic modification (see my review of A Crack in Creation: The New Power to Control Evolution). […]

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By: Book review – The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 15:40:22 +0000

[…] of Superbugs: An Arms Race Against Bacteria). Winegard briefly discusses CRISPR (see my review of A Crack in Creation: The New Power to Control Evolution) as the latest weapon in our arsenal and seems hopeful this could go a long way in fighting […]

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By: Book review – Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us | The Inquisitive Biologist

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 10:52:25 +0000

[…] Beyond food, algae can reduce the need for antibiotics in animal husbandry, be used as agricultural fertilizer, or – excitingly – be turned into oil to make plastics or fuel. It was a chance visit to a startup biofuel company that got Kassinger started on this book in the first place, so she spends quite a bit of time going into the particulars of oil. Although biofuel has gotten a bad reputation for the land and water requirements of crops such as corn, algae culture does not need premium agricultural land or freshwater. As with all these novel applications, a lot of research and development is still needed to optimise production processes, though recent gene-editing tools such as CRISPR could greatly help (see also A Crack in Creation: The New Power to Control Evolution). […]

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