Junk DNA

A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the Genome

By: Nessa Carey

Narrated by: Cat Gould

For decades after the identification of the structure of DNA, scientists focused only on genes, the regions of the genome that contain codes for the production of proteins. Other regions that make up 98 percent of the human genome were dismissed as "junk," sequences that serve no purpose. But researchers have recently discovered variations and modulations in this junk DNA that are involved with a number of intractable diseases.

Junk DNA can play vital and unanticipated roles in the control of gene expression, from fine-tuning individual genes to switching off entire chromosomes. These functions have forced scientists to revisit the very meaning of the word "gene" and have engendered a spirited scientific battle over whether or not this genomic "nonsense" is the source of human biological complexity. Drawing on her experience with leading scientific investigators in Europe and North America, Nessa Carey provides a clear and compelling introduction to junk DNA and its critical involvement in phenomena as diverse as genetic diseases, viral infections, sex determination in mammals, and evolution. Nessa Carey's book is an essential resource for navigating the history and controversies of this fast-growing, hotly disputed field.

©2015 Nessa Carey (P)2020 Tantor

lamarck: 1 darwin: 0...

the last half century of biology owes an apology
apparently God don't make no junk after all.
this book is a snapshot of the tip of the iceberg from miles away. what a time to be alive

Higher Understanding

You need to have higher education to fully grasp this book. Otherwise, it is a great book!

A great update

As a physician, this was a great update about advances in genetics. This was a great detailed basic science update. It had a mixture of many different Concepts mixed with clinical examples.

As with many great books, you can start with the appendix to get you fascinated.

I have a neighbor working in pharmaceuticals who mentioned in passing some of the technologies mentioned and this book helps to connect a lot of dots.

Pretty good science!

I loved listening to this lightly. My research is on this topic and it was fun to listen to something I can actually thoroughly understand for a change! :) Needs a little updating.

Don't bother with the audiobook

This book is a worse version of The Epigenetics Revolution by the same author. It is puzzling to me why a new book, with largely overlapping content and much worse editing, was needed.

The audiobook is particularly bad, no effort has been made into making it easier to follow for those who don't have access to the text. Figures keep being referenced, but no accompanying material was provided (this is perfectly possible, see for example Why We Sleep, which provides an accompanying PDF with all the relevant figures).

So I would stay away from this and instead read/listen to the previous, much better book The Epigenetics Revolution.