Twenty years ago, scientists were starting to study evolution in a new way: by picking apart the genes that govern the development of animals. Reporting on their work for Discover at the time, I was incredibly excited to watch the research unfold. Scientists could generate hypotheses about genetic changes that occurred millions of years ago, giving rise to new structures like limbs and wings. This new field of "evo-devo," as it was sometimes called, helped inspire me to write my first book, At the Water's Edge.
This kind of science depends for its progress not just on new ideas but also new tools. In just the past few years, the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR has turned out to be a tremendously powerful tool for the evo-devo crowd, allowing them to find new secrets about evolution.
On the front page of Thursday's New York Times, I reported on a new study in which scientists used CRISPR to discover a hidden evolutionary link between our hands and fish fins. The research I wrote about this week was led by Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago. Two decades ago, when I was writing At the Water's Edge, I spent a few pages recounting the adventures of a young, up-and-coming evo-devo expert. His name was Neil Shubin.
Much to the regret of science writers everywhere, Shubin turned out to be an excellent author himself. For more on the evolution of limbs from fins, check out his book, Your Inner Fish, or the PBS series of the same name which he hosted.
While working on my Game of Genomes series, I learned that I have a mutation in a heart-muscle gene that's been linked to sudden cardiac death. But I haven't been crying myself to sleep at night, because I also learned that the studies linking the mutation to the disorder were almost certainly wrong. A database called ExAC brought me that peace of mind. This week in STAT, I wrote about ExAC, and a new study by its creators on just how much it tells us about what we do and don't understand about the human genome.
September 8: University of Nebraska. Lecture: A Journey to the Center of the Brain. Details here.
September 15: Washington DC. “The Emergence of Life: On the Earth, in the Lab, and Elsewhere.” Panel discussion at a daylong public conference at the Library of Congress.
September 18: Brooklyn Book Festival. I'll be joining Ed Yong and others. Details to come.
October 6: University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Details to come.
January 28-29, 2017 Rancho Mirage Writers Festival
March 2-3, 2017 San Diego. The Future of Genome Medicine. Details to come.
You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook , LinkedIn, and Google+. And there's always carlzimmer.com.
Best wishes, Carl
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