Life Is Complicated Summary

“Life is Complicated,” by Erika Check Hayden, explores the depths of biology and the many challenges biologists face. Hayden, a reporter for “Nature,” writes about how the technology and genetic information boom has impacted biologists, asserting that biology has become more difficult, yet more promising. Hayden discusses how genetics and technology have shown biologists that their knowledge is not as extensive as they thought it was, leaving the doors open for more exploration. “Has the Revolution Arrived” by Francis Collins, also speaks of a genetic and scientific revolution yet to come. Collins also discusses the technological advances that have changed the face of genetics, making it a more widely available subcategory of biology and medicine. Collins also outlines the important lessons we have learned from the first decade of the “genome era” and how we can use these lessons to keep the momentum going in the future decades. He cites technology, education, privacy, academic and private sector cooperation, and large-scale research projects,

Craig Venter also discusses the increase in genetic knowledge over the last decade. Venter focuses on the differences between the expected results that would come from mapping genomes and the actual results that came from genome mapping. Scientists found that peoples’ genomes varied more than they expected, but that the technology is still not where it needs to be to completely draw these conclusions (or use the technology for diagnostic/predictive purposes). Overall, Hayden, Collins, and Venter conclude that the revolution is just beginning and that the ability of doctors to use genetic information is both far off and very near at the same time. Many more advances need to happen, but between all the scientists in the whole world, we have the tools to make this happen. They all agree that we will only know with time what the positive and negative consequences of such advances will