What's Next? discussion

Fascinating and timely book. This was my first book by Walter Isaacson. His style intersperses scientific insights with character driven story telling, which
makes for compelling reading.

While the book traces the career of Jennifer Doudna from childhood to her recent award as co-winner of the Nobel prize for Chemistry, the author puts her achievements in the context of scientific discovery and technological advances. The science of gene editing is told through the lives of the pioneers in the field and in the context of the pandemic, including peers and competitors.

As reported broadly in the press, the work to combat the coronavirus dates back to 2005-2006 in the wake of SARs. More interestingly, the battle between bacteria and viruses has been waging for 3 billion years. The discovery that bacteria has its own immune system, informed by new viruses, was a key step in learning how to build immunity in humans via gene editing techniques.

Per the author, the three great revolutions of modern times were built on the three fundamental kernels of our existence: the atom, the byte and the gene.

Sounds like a great read. Will add to my non-fiction list.