2024/080: Life as We Made It — Beth Shapiro

2024/080: Life as We Made It — Beth Shapiro

...it is clear that our actions not only alter the evolutionary trajectories of the species that go extinct (as an understatement), but also fundamentally change the evolutionary landscape in which other species, including our own, live. [loc. 1096]

This book -- subtitled 'How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined — and Redefined — Nature' -- is very much a book of two halves: first, Shapiro (an evolutionary biologist specialising in ancient DNA) explores the ways in which human activity has affected ecosystems for millennia; then she describes recent advances in genetic engineering and editing, discusses the notion of de-extinction, and suggests ways in which biotechnology could revolutionise food production, benefit the environment and save endangered species.

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