The Color of North
The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life
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An awe-inspiring journey into the world of proteins--how they shape life, and their remarkable potential to heal our bodies and our planet.
Each fall, a robin begins the long trek north from Gibraltar to her summer home in Central Europe. Nestled deep in her optic nerve, a tiny protein turns a lone electron into a compass, allowing her to see north in colors we can only dream of perceiving.
Taking us beyond the confines of our own experiences, The Color of North traverses the kingdom of life to uncover the myriad ways that proteins shape us and all organisms on the planet. Inside every cell, a tight-knit community of millions of proteins skillfully contorts into unique shapes to give fireflies their ghostly glow, enable the octopus to see predators with its skin, and make humans fall in love. Collectively, proteins orchestrate the intricate relationships within ecosystems and forge the trajectory of life. And yet, nature has exploited just a fraction of their immense potential. Shahir S. Rizk and Maggie M. Fink show how breathtaking advances in protein engineering are expanding on nature's repertoire, introducing proteins that can detect environmental pollutants, capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and treat diseases from cancer to COVID-19.
Weaving together themes of memory, migration, and family with cutting-edge research, The Color of North unveils a molecular world in which proteins are the pulsing heart of life. Ultimately, we gain a new appreciation for our intimate connections to the world around us and a deeper understanding of ourselves.
About this Author
Shahir S. Rizk is Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Indiana University South Bend and the Indiana University School of Medicine. The recipient of the Cottrell Scholar Award, he is an illustrator and poet whose work has appeared in Acorn, Modern Haiku, and Twyckenham Notes. He cohosts the podcast Rust Belt Science.
Maggie M. Fink is Adjunct Professor at Indiana University South Bend and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Notre Dame, where she divides her time between science communication and studying bacterial genetics. She is an artist and poet whose work has appeared in Landlocked Lyres and been featured in exhibits at the University of Notre Dame. She cohosts the podcast Rust Belt Science.
Reviews
An accessible look at some of the fascinating ways nature informs, and endlessly inspires, scientists.
Much of our perception of biology revolves around genes and DNA, which ignores the fact that genes code for proteins and that these proteins make life possible. The Color of North corrects this imbalance by taking us on a splendid voyage through the world of proteins and showing us the amazing range of things that proteins do--how they allow us to see, touch, smell, and even remember. This is done in a highly engaging form that interweaves the personal with the scientific.
In this highly readable and exciting book, Shahir Rizk and Maggie Fink have accomplished the miracle of making the invisible visible, and the inscrutable not only understandable but vividly dramatic. Proteins run our lives, and the lives of all the creatures around us. The Color of North takes us on a deep and extremely pleasurable dive into a subject that lies at the beating heart of animate creation.
The Color of North shines a brilliant light on the molecular magic underpinning life in all of its remarkable diversity--from the proteins that allow bacteria to thrive in boiling acid to those that give black mambas their deadly bite. Our increasing understanding of these essential building blocks of life is transforming medicine, agriculture, environmental science, and so much else. This book isn't just a terrific read, it's an essential primer on the past, present, and future of our living world.
This is biochemistry made engaging and personal. From a grandmother's cooking in Egypt to a longhorn beetle's survival in the Arctic cold, The Color of North reads like an illustrated travel journal.
It's always a pleasure when science writing is personal, lyrical, and evocative. This deeply felt and well-researched love letter to proteins is great nerdy fun.
The Color of North is a whirlwind tour through the astounding universe of tiny molecular marvels we call proteins. Shahir Rizk and Maggie Fink vibrantly bring these discoveries to life and weave in personal stories to make this narrative as entertaining as it is enlightening.
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