reviews

Heroics on the High Seas... Author:  Gabriel García Márquez When Gabriel García Márquez, recipient of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature, died recently at the age of 87, the native of Aracataca, Colombia was declared to be the “greatest Colombian of all time” by Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos.  But why did the funeral ceremony of Colombia’s most famous son take place in Mexico City, rather than his homeland?  Part of the answer lies in a series of newspaper articles the man wrote in 1955, long before he had achieved great fame, which were eventually published in book form, entitled [...]

Playing God?  Or Not... Author:  J. Craig Venter Despite millennia of effort, the greatest minds in science, religion and philosophy have failed to deliver a convincing definition of life.  While we may all think we pretty much know it when we see it, it can be remarkably hard to put into words.  Is life just the summation of innumerable complex biochemical processes?  Or is there some deeper process at play?  Given a supply of basic building blocks, can we actually build life “from scratch”?  Acclaimed molecular biology researcher, J. Craig Venter thinks that “synthetic” life is within our grasp and [...]