The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution
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4.6 • 10 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
"Entertaining and prescient…Hockfield demonstrates how nature’s molecular riches may be leveraged to provide potential solutions to some of humanity’s existential challenges." —Adrian Woolfson, Science
A century ago, discoveries in physics came together with engineering to produce an array of astonishing new technologies that radically reshaped the world: radios, televisions, aircraft, computers, and a host of still-evolving digital tools. Today, a new technological convergence—of biology and engineering—promises to create the tools necessary to tackle the threats we now face, including climate change, drought, famine, and disease
World-renowned neuroscientist and academic leader Susan Hockfield describes the most exciting new developments and the scientists and engineers who helped to create them. Virus-built batteries. Cancer-detecting nanoparticles. Computer-engineered crops. Together, they highlight the promise of the technology revolution of the twenty-first century to overcome some of the greatest humanitarian, medical, and environmental challenges of our time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hockfield, president emerita at MIT, is unreservedly optimistic about the future in this data-rich yet accessibly written exploration of potential technological advances stemming from the merging of biology and technology. A fervent proponent of breaking down barriers between academic fields, she describes the research covered in the book as crossing "boundaries between disciplines without any celebration or permission," which is "critical to the rapid translation of new ideas from the lab to the marketplace." Hockfield reports on five dramatic innovations that might indeed have transformative impact: using viruses to build better and more environmentally friendly batteries; developing cheap, reusable water purification systems employing naturally occurring proteins; diagnosing and combating cancer with nanoparticles; integrating neurobiological advances with evolving computer technology to build better prostheses for amputees and paralyzed people; and combining genetics with integrated production technology to accelerate new high-yield crop growth. Along the way, Hockfield clearly and concisely details the basics of, respectively, nucleic acids, protein structure and function, oncology, neuroscience, and genetics. Hockfield does a superb job of sharing the excitement and challenges associated with scientific investigation, while making the prospect of an impending "era of unprecedented innovation and prosperity" seem that much more plausible.
