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The Color of North
The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life
Brief Description
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 autumn, a robin begins the long trek north from Gibraltar to her summer home in Central Europe. Nestled deep in her optic nerve,...
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See moreProteins link all life on Earth and enable its most astonishing capacities—from a firefly’s glow to the navigational abilities of migrating birds to human emotional experience. The Color of North explores the curious biology and immense impact of proteins, as well as the potential of engineered proteins to treat disease and restore our planet.
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Description
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 autumn, 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 colours 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.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674292581
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 13 May 2025
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Illustration: 50 illus.
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 21.0mm
Width: 156.0mm
Height: 235.0mm
Weight: 616g
Pages: 288
About the 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.
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