Susan Hockfield

Every once a while I like to read a feel-good story about technology.

Susan Hockfield is an outstanding scientist and by the accounts I’ve read highly respected as a higher-learning administrator, having led MIT and been Provost of Yale University.

This book is fuelled by her passion for collaborative learning across disciplines, belief in the scientists behind bioengineering, and a cry for optimism about the future.

This book catalogues the genius of scientists finding ways to turn technology to our favour, and the stories are amazing.

On many levels though technology has helped push humankind to the edge of self-extinction.

We have not treated our planet well.

Hockfield thinks we can pull ourselves back from the brink, but the “ifs” include getting the political will to cooperate with one another across nations.

These days I see little evidence this is about to happen during my lifetime.… (més)

Combination memoir of how Hockfield became president of MIT and report on cutting edge molecular biology innovations. I like the positive tone of this book. It gives us hope for the future in making progress toward solving global problems.

Hockfield addresses such topics as using viruses to produce more efficient (and ecologically sound) batteries, producing lower cost water purification, developing earlier detection methods for cancer, connecting prosthetics directly to the brain, and genetically engineering improvements in food production.

I was previously unaware of some of these topics and found it fascinating. At times the author employs rather technical terminology. This is not an exhaustive analysis of risks and benefits – it is more for raising awareness of areas where microbiology is currently being pursued to improve our world.
… (més)

A well-written science book. The author shows a great sign of intelligence by being able to take highly scientific specific subjects to a level of explanation that the layperson can understand. I am not so sure about the safety of Roundup and scientists takes on agriculture. I am more about diversity in lieu of monoculture. MIT takes a lot of money from Koch Industries. To say that does not play into MIT's culture is to be naive. It seems like MIT believes that engineering will solve all the planet's problems especially climate change.… (més)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT is considered to be one of the best colleges in the world. They have been at the forefront of technology for a long time, ever since World War II when they improved their curriculum for Physics and other fields of study. I have never been there, and I never considered studying there; I was never a good enough student for that. Susan Hockfield is a former President of MIT and the author of this book.

With The Age of Living Machines Hockfield discusses how the new forefront of technology is paired with Biology. From water filtration to targeted cancer diagnoses this field has a lot of promise. Hockfield describes these new technologies by talking about the underlying mechanisms behind them. She never goes into too much jargon and the illustrations serve the book well.

The first portion of the book focuses on five inventions that utilize our understanding of molecular biology. So the first one is making a Virus that builds batteries. It goes into how it was done in a friendly conversational style that is easy to understand. The next breakthrough is using Aquaporin to filter water without using so much energy. The third breakthrough is using nanoparticles to aid in cancer diagnosis. The fourth breakthrough goes through prosthetics and robotic limbs. The fifth breakthrough talks about improving crop yields to feed our increasing population. The last chapter of the book talks about what would aid in our quest to stay at the forefront of what Hockfield calls Convergence 2.0.

The book is pretty good. As I said, it doesn’t use too much jargon and does explain the technology behind each breakthrough. It is also short, weighing in at only 167 pages of content.… (més)