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For The Granddaughters
It is to some degree pure coincidence that I am reading two science books at the same time. One is biology, the other is chemistry.
- Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life, Nick Lane, c. 2015
- The Disappearing Spoon: The History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements, Sam Kean, c. 2010
"self-servingly declared that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) would prove improve important in biology. Unfortunately, chemical analysis showed high levels of phosphorous in it. Back then (1869), proteins were considered the only interesting part of biochemistry, and since proteins contain zero phosphorous, DNA was judged a vestige, a molecular appendix."Then, in a most extraordinary endnote, the author writes:
Interestingly, biologists are slowly coming back around to their original view from Miescher's day that proteins are the be-all and end-all of genetic biology. Genes occupied scientists for decades, and [the interest in genes] will never really go away. But scientists now realize that genes cannot account for the amazing complexity of living beings and that far more is going on. Genomics was important fundamental work, but proteomics is where where there's real money to be made.That was written (or at least published/copyrighted) back in 2010.
Quick, fast forward to 2015 and we have Nick Lane's book which is all about the "energy trail" involving proteins and membranes and the complexity of life.
Two books that should be read by high school juniors/seniors planning on majoring in biochemistry or a related field going on to university.
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