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Abstract:
I read much of Antonio Fontdevila's The Dynamic Genome in a plane while the engineers performed the aeronautical equivalent of a quadruple bypass on the engines. As I mused about the age of the plane, its piecemeal replacement and its purported sky-worthiness, it felt immensely reassuring that we were still on the ground.
The genome has no such luxury as a scheduled maintenance. Implausibly clumsy (to some, ‘irreducibly complex’), the genome has an uncanny resemblance to a roving, formless mess. Yet the genome does not just manage. It adapts, on the fly. This mind-boggling adaptation has long fascinated generations of biologists, and is the central focus of the book.
