Higher Animals

Vaccines, Synthetic Biology, and the Future of Life

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About this listen

In Higher Animals, New Yorker science writer Michael Specter explores how MRNA vaccines have transformed the scientific landscape and helped spark a biotechnology revolution.

Biology is information, and increasingly, that means digital information. We need to think of biology the way we think about computer code, only instead of bits and bytes, we use the genetic letters: ACGT. The widely-used mRNA COVID vaccines offer the most immediate example of this groundbreaking moment in medical and scientific history.

In many ways, the urgency of the pandemic has made the vast potential of mRNA technology obvious. The recent successes of synthetic biology—a field in which scientists seek to combine elements of engineering, chemistry, computer science, and molecular biology—could create highly personalized cancer treatments, energy sources that we can grow rather than dig out of the ground, and ways to save species that are vanishing at an alarming rate.

As is often the case with new technologies, many people remain reluctant to accept these advances. And the stakes could not be higher. We are in the early years of a new evolutionary paradigm. What we do now will decide how we usher in a remarkable—and potentially dangerous—new era.

Michael SpecterMichael SpecterPushkin Industries

Sociology

Most relevant

Great introduction to the potential power of biotech in the coming years. I love the Pushkin approach of making books that are designed for audio from the ground up.

So, it's disappointing the the accompanying music is so awful. Sounds like cheap 70s Sci-fi. 😞

Good but...

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Incredible in depth look at how synthetic DNA and biology is changing the world we live in. Gotta love a Pushkin audiobook they are superior to how they are produced compared to other audiobooks.

MRNA Vaccine and a synthetic biology explained

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Wonderfully put together and like listening to a long Radiolab podcast. A fabulous insight into said title.

Such a great insight

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