Marcus Wohlsen

Biopunk provides an engaging look at what a variety of scientists are doing in their garages or kitchens without backing from universities or wealthy corporations. Of course, some of the contents of the book (published 2011) will be outdated by now, but it still makes for interesting reading. Wohlsen examines how and why these DIY scientists are doing what they are doing - this usually involves working beyond the restrictings involved in the extremely expensive specialized equioment, as well as the politics and rigid environment of universities and biotech corporations. This book also breifly deals with the potential consequences and challenges that are part and parcel of this type of citizen science. The organisation is a bit erratic and the topics covered lacked depth. Each chapter of the book comes across as a separate essay or article about a specific DIY hacker, along with the obligatory interview. The book is written by a journalist, which means you get more human interest stories than a detailed look at exactly what is going on in the kitchen/garage.

I did find the chapter on Indian farmers "hacking" Monsantos GMO seed stock the old fashioned way rather interesting and amusing. The farmers saved the seeds produced by the GMO plants, crossed them with seeds native to India, saved and then traded the resulting native seeds which in the end produced plants that could cope better in the local conditions than the expensive GMO seeds. And they did all this without paying a licensing fee. Of course, Monsanto wasn't happy about this, but due to lack of regulation and motivation by the Indian government to do anything about this "theft" and hacking of GMO seeds, Monsanto couldn't do anything about it.

If you are looking for inspirational stories of citizen scienctists experimenting with DNA in the garage, this book may interest you. In terms of in-depth science this book is rather lacking.

… (mais)

I received this book from Goodreads First Reads for free.

I think it's absolutely hilarious that I won this book, because it's about people deciding to do bio-hacking in their own space and time, rejecting the idea that good science has to come from institutionalized academia or biotech companies; I've worked in both.

I initially thought the book would just be a bunch of case studies of people doing wacky experiments in their kitchens in their spare time and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book is so much more than that. There are several do it yourselfers in the book, and Wohlsen does a great job of describing what they're doing, the science behind it and /why/ they're doing it. Even better, he goes into some of the politics and rigidity presented by academic institutions and biotech corporations and how and why these individuals are working beyond those restrictions. It also deals with the potential consequences and challenges that come with this type of citizen science.

I think he did a great job of describing the motivations behind a lot of the bio-punk/hack/do it yourself movement. Some of it is self-motivated (trying to discover whether or not you have the potential for a deadly disease in your genes without spending the thousands of dollars for a test the insurance companies don't want to pay for) or altruistic (teaching the community about science, or trying to find an inexpensive way to help poor, rural areas detect/differentiate diseases). The ethics and thought processes behind this DIY crowd is quite similar to the rest of the growing DIY movement, but there are more serious ramifications when tinkering with biological systems (especially with fears of bioterrorism abounding) and I think he does do a good job describing them.

The bio-punk/hack movement is intrinsically anti-establishment, and I appreciate that Wohlsen presents the bio-hack vs institutional argument fairly balanced. At first I worried that the book would be very biased against traditional research, but it wasn't and I also feel he could not go into the positives of research in bigger/better funded institutions without removing the focus of the book from biopunks.

What I really enjoyed about the book (and why this book earned an extra star) is that the science in it is fairly solid. As a biologist, I get very tired of uneducated hack-writers making biology (or any science, really) incredibly wrong, either skipping explanations at all or making arguments/explanations wildly inaccurate. The science in this book was not 100% perfect, but it was pretty damn close, and for the lay person, it's probably more than good enough.

I liked this book, it's easy to read, immensely interesting and gratifying if you are a biologist interested in a different side of science. It covers the whole gamut from how someone can build something in their kitchen, how they can fund it, and the dangers and/or inherent risks of doing DIY science. It also debunks hysterical fears and gives a realistic view of what people can really accomplish and how natural curiosity and a drive to do better can turn anyone into a scientist.

… (mais)