Life Changing

February 1, 2020
An exploration of humans' role as "curators of the planet that we have come to dominate." Transforming plants and animals for our own benefit began in prehistoric times, according to this expert, often unsettling account of this transformation's progress, which accelerated after World War II and will soon reach warp speed with advances that continue to build on those from the past decade. Science writer Pilcher, whose previous book was about de-extinction, writes that it began with the dog, domesticated tens of thousands of years ago. This was accomplished by simple Darwinian natural selection: The most amiable wolves prospered by associating with humans, produced far more offspring than their unfriendly peers, and they now vastly outnumber them. Similarly, by selecting only desirable qualities, our ancestors converted other flora and fauna to more productive crops and domestic animals. After scientists learned the secrets of DNA in the mid-20th century, genetic modification worked its wonders so well that today, there is enough food to feed the world--a goal widely considered impossible 50 years ago. Readers who forget the downside to ordering the Earth for our convenience will squirm as Pilcher chronicles how the world's jungles are being cleared to grow food mostly intended to feed livestock, which make up 60% of the planet's large land animals. Humans come next at 36%. Wildlife brings up the rear, at 4% and dwindling. Chickens are by far the most common bird. We eat more than 65 billion (!) each year, and their massive bone remains will lead future paleontologists to believe that chickens were the 21st-century's dominant life form. Concluding on an upbeat but only mildly uplifting note, Pilcher recounts successful efforts to restore barren countryside to genuine wilderness and the rescue of the cute, flightless New Zealand kakapo from extinction. An impressive rendering of the disturbing history of human tinkering with nature.

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February 10, 2020
Science writer Pilcher (Bring Back the King) delivers an agreeable account of how humans have bred and altered animals throughout history. Cheerfully, she imagines how a Stone Age boy, intent on “mischief” while the adults were out hunting, might have grabbed a wolf puppy from its den as its mother lurked nearby, thus beginning the human program of animal domestication. She proceeds to address opposing theories on how domestication happened, and delves into the complexities of genetic modification. Pilcher maintains a mostly lighthearted tone, with chapter titles such as “Strategic Moos and Golden Gnus” and references to how “evolutionary mischief-making” has resulted in “bald cats, long-haired hamsters” and “goldfish with Elvis-like quiffs.” She portrays the technology for writing genetic code as merely the most recent iteration of a long-established process, and optimistically explores its many applications (such as engineering female goats to produce milk containing strands of spider silk, a material stronger than steel). Taking a wider and more somber view, she reflects on how “in a relatively small slice of geological time—the last 12,000 years or so,” humanity has made... irrevocable changes to the Earth itself.” Popular science readers will find her entertaining work illuminates many of those changes.

March 1, 2020
From cloned sheep to sterilized screwworms, examples of the myriad ways humans have embraced technology in pursuit of improvements to daily life, and lives, are legion. Pilcher (Bring Back the King, 2017) recounts how humanity has entered a postnatural era in which our actions have become the overriding influence on the planet, and relationships with other species have entered realms previously the province of science fiction. Animals, plants, and insects are being selectively bred for increasingly specific characteristics, while, for example, the population of domesticated species, such as chickens, far outnumbers their wild counterparts. Alarm bells may ring over the many ways such molecular manipulation can go wrong, but Pilcher takes great pains to point out examples of how such scientific prowess can helpfully stem such looming crises as extinction. Combining her professional expertise in stem cell biology with an unlikely second career as a stand-up comic, Pilcher's amusing yet grounded excursion into the essential ways humans, animals, plants, and microorganisms must coexist is both a rich and riotous popular science trove well worth contemplating.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)