How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology
by Philip Ball (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2023; Picador, 2025; 541 pages)
There is no Blueprint
There is a certain frisson when reading something that overthrows long-held assumptions. And one persistent and still widely taught idea is that our DNA holds the blueprint for everything we are. The DNA code, found in the double-helix structures within our chromosomes at the heart of every living cell in our bodies, seemed to offer the ultimate source of all the heritable traits that make us who we are. And ever since the Human Genome Project (HGP) which concluded in 2003, there was an expectation that this would unlock a new era of medicine in which decoding of the genetic code would provide a panacea, revealing the sources of disease, and ushering in a new age of personalise treatments and elimination of all major illnesses.
It didn’t happen. And the reasons it didn’t, and won’t, happen were already glimpsed before the HGP captured the world’s imagination. But the appeal of a simple model is always going to grab the attention better than messy complex reality. And the simple model was: (1) decoded DNA gives us a map of genes; (2) genes are expressed as proteins which are the building blocks for everything and consequently, (3) the genes determine traits in the organism (technically “genotypes” map onto “phenotypes”); and therefore mutations and errors in the DNA cause disease, so if we can fix those, we can fix diseases!
What Philip Ball brilliantly and patiently reveals from the last few decades of biological research is that this is not only “not the whole story” but is actually not the story at all!
Life in Layers
DNA doesn’t make anything, but is a resource which living cells use to build the many layers of life. Yes, the genes in our DNA are read by the zoo of complex molecules within the cell, starting with several species of RNA, to make proteins. But whether and when they are used is controlled by mechanisms that turn the genes “on” or “off” at different stages of development, and in response to the cell’s environment.
The sensitivity to environment can mean responses to external influences, or to signals exchanged between other cells in proximity, and as structures emerge, as cells divide, the environment can also mean the mechanical distortions of the early embryo as orientation, front/back, left/right, up/down begin to take shape.
And the mechanisms are manyfold, including on/off thresholds set by concentration gradients of certain chemicals, which can give rise to periodicities leading to stripes or digits. And some control and feedback mechanisms are no less than committee decisions amongst numerous complex molecules. And at certain crucial stages need not refer to the DNA at all! And so layer builds on layer, as cells form tissues, tissues assemble into organs, and organs into bodies. This is a gross simplification, of course, but the picture that emerges is that the different levels of developmental biology have the characteristics of “agency”, with their own “goals” in view.
Ultimate Life Hacks
And as if a description of the complexities of the many-layered emergence of a living being is not enough, Ball also delves into the cutting edge of molecular biology with sections on synthetic morphology, where the potential for some stages of development to be exploited to produce new types of living tissue, can be directed towards possible solutions for serious disease.
But of course these projects to grow new organs for transplant patients, or cells that can better produce precise drugs for treatments, have – like many areas of technological breakthrough – other possibilities, including a potential dark side. What could rogue biologists create? Or what do we think of the use of living tissues (e.g. muscles) in robots? Or the creation of new “species”? And lab-grown meat? This is not speculation by current capability. As with other areas of modern medicine there are not only serious ethical considerations, but also the popular “yuk” factor, yet most people have overcome the initial discomfort with organ transplants and IVF treatments. This can too easily overshadow proper consideration of the ethics of the New Biology.
Ball’s book is not speculative, but is reflecting the growing consensus amongst biologists that the key to how life works is not found in genomics, but in the revival of developmental biology which had too long been pushed into the shadow of the HGP and its attendant myths. That for me was the main takeaway. It is not an easy read – I could only manage part of a chapter at one sitting and needed time to think about it. But the sense text is supported by some excellent illustrations and photos. He does not spare us the detail, because it is only in the details that the better picture of How Life Works is found. The effort is well worth it.
Elsewhere on the Bookshelf
Alfonso Martinez Arias Master Builder: How the New Science of the Cell if Rewriting the Story of Life (John Murray Press, 2024) – Prof. Arias’ book covers the same ground as How Life Works. But Arias is himself a developmental biologist, at the cutting edge of stem cell research. I recommend an excellent interview with him on New Books Network conducted by Greg McNiff.
Also by Philip Ball:
- Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another (Arrow, 2004; 656 pages) – in this prize-winning book, Ball looks at how concepts in physics, especially statistical mechanics, are being used to gain insight into human society.
- The Music Instinct (Vintage, 2004; 464 pages) – using the latest research in psychology and brain science, this brilliant book weaves philosophy, mathematics, history and neurology to better understand how all kinds of music move us.