LIFE AS WE MADE IT

A Times Best Book of the Year sub-titled 'How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined and Redefined Nature.' From the very first dog to glowing fish and designer pigs, here is the human history of remaking nature. The book is a detailed exploration of some of the most influential technologies of our time plus a tantalising glimpse of what might be in store when humanity starts to mix things up all over again. Blending science, natural history and first-person experience, Beth Shapiro has pioneered using ancient DNA to understand the diversity of life and her passion about the insane complexities and power of biology leaps from every page. She chronicles the many ways humans have influenced the evolutionary trajectories of other species and tools like CRISPR are just the latest way we have shaped the life on this planet. Virus-free mosquitoes, resurrected dinosaurs, designer humans - such is the power of the science of tomorrow, but the idea that humans have only recently begun to tinker with the natural world is false. Casting aside scaremongering myths about the dangers of interference, new biotechnologies can present us with the chance to improve our own lives and increase the likelihood that we will continue to live in a rich and biologically diverse world. 340pp, paperback.