The Tangled Tree

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Nonpareil science writer David Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology can change our understanding of evolution and life s history, with powerful implications for human health and even our own human nature In the mid 1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field the study of life s diversity and relatedness at the molecular level is horizontal gene transfer HGT , or the movement of genes across species lines It turns out that HGT has been widespread and important For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection a type of HGT In TheTangled Tree David Quammen, one of that rare breed of science journalists who blends exploration with a talent for synthesis and storytelling Nature , chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them such as Carl Woese, the most important little known biologist of the twentieth century Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about mosaic creatures proved to be true and Tsutomu Wantanabe, who discovered that the scourge of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a direct result of horizontal gene transfer, bringing the deep study of genome histories to bear on a global crisis in public health Quammen is no ordinary writer He is simply astonishing, one of that rare class of writer gifted with verve, ingenuity, humor, guts, and great heart Elle Now, in The Tangled Tree, he explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of life including where we humans fit upon it Thanks to new technologies such as CRISPR, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition through sideways insertions, as nature has long been doing The Tangled Tree is a brilliant guide to our transformed understanding of evolution, of life s history, and of our own human nature. New Read The Tangled Tree By David Quammen For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Meticulously researched, but Quammen s ability to frame a complex scientific theory in a captivating story is lacking Pick up The Tangled Tree if molecular phylogenetics is what makes your heart go pitty pat.National Book Award Longlist for Nonfiction 2018 Wow where to start Probably the most blow your mind thing is that 8% of the human genome originated in virus genomes This is just one of the insights resulting from scientists studying molecular phylogenetics, where the study of DNA and RNA in different species allows them to discover the evolutionary relationship among them One such retrovirus genome fragment is found in placentas and helps to transfer nutrients between the mother and child National Book Award Longlist for Nonfiction 2018 Wow where to start Probably the most blow your mind thing is that 8% of the human genome originated in virus genomes This is just one of the insights resulting from scientists studying molecular phylogenetics, where the study of DNA and RNA in different species allows them to discover the evolutionary relationship among them One such retrovirus genome fragment is found in placentas and helps to transfer nutrients between the mother and child So this is a retrovirus genome fragment that humans have benefitted from However, other retroviruses aren t so benevolent they are found in some leukemias and HIV.How did viruses get into the human genome Through a process call horizontal gene...I feel so disappointed It was like being a kid and getting a half eaten chocolate Santa on Christmas as your only gift This seems like a book half written When I got the the end, I just sat there in completely disbelief Some parts of this book are exceptional For example, this is an incredibly detailed and informative history of how scientists and the public came to understand the tree of life, how our understanding changed to see it as a web, and finally, merely a starting point with no sh I feel so disappointed It was like being a kid and getting a half eaten chocolate Santa on Christmas as your only gift This seems like a book half written When I got the the end, I just sat there in completely disbelief Some parts of this book are exceptional For example, this is an incredibly detailed and informative...I guess what I really wanted was a magazine article with conclusions This had muchbiographical information than I wanted Actually, it had muchof everything than I wanted I assume that I am not the correct audience for this book.A large part of the book was about Carl Woese, a character who was odd, but about whom I really could not care He used early, difficult sequencing techniques to identify the Archaea, an entirely separate form of life, different from bacteria, plants, and animals But since this was already old news when I had Bio 101 in 1990 91, I already knew about the Archaea, and the details of its discovery and identification just weren t that riveting the way they re presented here.More interesting alth A large part of the book was about Carl Woese, a character who was odd, but about whom I really could not care He used early, difficult sequencing techniques to identify the Archaea, an entirely separate form of life, differen...Horizontal gene transfer is a thing Darwin is overrated This book was fine but pretty nicheScience itself, however precise and objective, is a human activity It s a way of wondering as well as a way of knowing It s a process, not a body of facts or laws Like music, like poetry, like baseball, like grandmaster chess, it s something gloriously imperfect that people do The smudgy fingerprints of our humanness are all over it David Quammen in The Tangled TreeIn The Tangled...This is a book at war with itself, trying to be many things at the same time It is a well written examination of evolution, the inadequacy of the standard tree metaphor for it, and the messiness of gene transfer Quammen explores horizontal gene transfer and the uncertainty in what a species actually is, what an individual is with all the little cells that live in us but don t share DNA This is timely and fascinating stuff.It is also a biography of, and tribute to, Carl Woese I hadn t known This is a book at war with itself, trying to be many things at the same time It is a well written examination of evolution, the inadequacy of the standard tree metaphor for it, and the messiness of gene transfer Quammen explores horizontal gene transfer and the uncertainty in what a species actually is, what an individual is with all the little cells that live in us but don t share DNA This is timely and fascinating stuff.It is also a biography of, and tribute to, Carl Woese I hadn t known of Dr Woese before reading the book I m not a biologist , but he s the one who first expanded the types of life beyond the original two, to include archea He was a pioneer in genomic evolution, i.e studying how closely related organisms are by looking at their DNA His st...Comprehensive, exhaustive, entertaining, at times gossipy, and altogether wonderful Ifscience books were so rich with stories of the scientists,students might be riveted to classes in genetics and evolutionary biology.I cannot imagine the years of research that must have gone into the writing of this book Interviews with authors living or then living, now dead, bring to life the drama and controversies and obstacles that beset even a rational scientist Never mind scientific object Comprehensive, exhaustive, entertaining, at times gossipy, and altogether wonderful Ifscience books were so rich with stories of the scientists,students might be riveted to classes in genetics and evolutionary biology.I cannot imagine the years of research that must have gone into the writing of this book Intervie...There is no one correct way of dividing a world, identity is fleeting and reification leads to oversimplification All of that is within this book as the author looks at where the incredibly interesting world of microbiology stands today and what it means for understanding our current understanding of the world we find ourselves in I have read many stimulating books on the early 20th century development of quantum physics and gravitational theory and this book has that feel to it and lays out t There is no one correct way of dividing a world, identity is fleeting and reification leads to oversimplification All of that is within this book as the author looks at where the incredibly interesting world of microbiology stands today and what it means for understanding our current understanding of the world we find ourselves in I have read many stimulating books on the early 20th century development of quantum physics and gravitational theory and this book has that feel to it and lays out the recent and just as exciting history of why micro and molecular biology s recent discoveries about whom we are and where we came from is just as exciting.I have to expand on my first sentence above because it might not be obvious how this book embraces that sentence in ...

The Tangled Tree
  • English
  • 21 June 2018
  • Hardcover
  • 480 pages
  • 1476776628
  • David Quammen
  • The Tangled Tree