Feldman's Faves: April 19, 2021

Happy Monday everyone. I wanted to thank Suzy G again for her recommendations from last week. I did read Dark Money and it is an eye opener to say the least. I look forward to reading her other suggestions.

This week’s theme is inspired by Thomas Dolby’s 1982 classic, She Blinded me with Science - https://youtu.be/V83JR2IoI8k

The Code Breaker - Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race: By: Walter Issacson – Well, Walter Issacson, famous biographer of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Leonardo Da Vinci, has done it again. Issacson is fascinated by creative people and how their minds work. For example, In his biography on Da Vinci he focused a lot of time and energy in analysing Da Vinci’s obsession with how the tongue of a woodpecker works. As a person who has never had an original thought in my life I too am fascinated by original and creative thinkers and so I love all of Issacson’ s books. His latest foray into interesting people is on point. In October 2020, Jennifer Doudna and her scientific collaborator and partner Emanuele Charpentier won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition for their pioneering work on CRISPR technology. CRISPR which is an acronym for (clustered regularly intespaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms (such as bacteria). The CRISPR arrays allow the bacteria to remember viruses, so if they attack again, the bacteria produce RNA segments from the CRISPR arrays to target the viruses’ DNA. The bacteria then use a protein called Cas9 or a similar enzyme to cut the DNA apart, which effectively destroys the virus. For anyone who has been vaccinated by Pfizer or Moderna you can say thank you to Doudna and Charpentier. Like all of Issacson’ s books The Code Breaker tells the story of his protagonist but also provides a fascinating history of the science leading up to her discoveries starting with the discovery (and related drama surrounding the discovery) of DNA (the good old “double helix), RNA and then ultimately how CRISPR has been used to edit multicellular organisms. The science is interesting, the politics of science is even more interesting (the rivalries that exist on the road to discovery – it was TEAM DOUDNA vs TEAM ERIC LANDER of the Broad Institute) and the ethical questions the book raises are the most interesting (i.e., on the one hand CRISPR can be used to cure sickle cell anemia and to vaccinate us against Covid and on the other hand it can be used to “gene select” which is “complex”, to say the least). I won’t go down that road but suffice it to say with each new scientific discovery comes new issues inside and outside the lab that require input from science, politics, business and ethics – all of whom have people that are chiming in on this issue that remains an open question. What’s cool here is how the Nobel Prize that they won was one of the very few in chemistry won by women only and how Doudna and Charpentier are inspiring a whole generation of girls and young women to want to do science (my daughter Mia being one of them – I am hoping she will save the world while making her dad very rich – fingers crossed….). Issacson believes that where computing was 20-30 years ago is where bioscience is today and it will open world of opportunity as the new “Silicon Valley”. The future of bioscience is something I will be watching with great interest. Here is a review from the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/11/the-code-breaker-by-walter-isaacson-review-a-science-page-turner

The material that could change the world... for a third time | TED-Ed – This series of TED Talks takes its inspiration from Bill Gates’ book on climate change (reviewed previously). In this episode the PODCAST focuses on concrete. Concrete is responsible for 8% of carbon emissions worldwide and creates a HUGE challenge in trying to figure out how to reduce emissions (versus other offenders such as cars and the use of clean energy). The problem with concrete is cement (that along with gravel, sand and water is one of the four ingredients used to make concrete). It is currently impossible to make cement without generating carbon dioxide (every ton of cement produced releases one ton of carbon dioxide). The good news is that this problem has been identified and scientists and inventors are focusing their energies on trying to solve this puzzle with a big focus on carbon capture, changing the chemistry of concrete and/or using different elements altogether (the Romans used volcanic ash and sea water…). I do believe in the power of science and human ingenuity (particularly where a profit motive is involved), so I am optimistic that we will get to a solution here.

Here is the description from the PODCAST itself: Today roads, sidewalks, bridges, and skyscrapers are made of a material called concrete. There's three tons of it for every person on Earth. It's also played a surprisingly large role in rising global temperatures over the last century. So, what exactly makes concrete problematic, and what can we do to fix it? Explore how scientists are working to create a cleaner, more sustainable concrete: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ted-talks-daily/id160904630?i=1000516548158

Thank you for your ongoing participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon