How To Build A Dragon Or Die Trying: A Satirical Look At Cutting-edge Science
252
How To Build A Dragon Or Die Trying: A Satirical Look At Cutting-edge Science
252Paperback
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Overview
NatureWhat if you could have your own real dragon? While that might seem like just a fantasy, today cutting-edge science has brought us to the point where it might really be possible. This book looks into the possibilities of making living, fire-breathing dragons. The world has been fascinated with dragons for thousands of years. Fictional dragons still have a firm place in pop culture, such as Smaug from The Hobbit as well as the dragons in Game of Thrones and in the How to Train Your Dragon movies. This new book discusses using powerful technologies such as CRISPR gene editing, stem cells, and bioengineering to make real dragons. It also goes through what useful information we can learn from animals such as Pteranodons and amazing present-day creatures in our quest to build actual dragons. The book goes on to discuss the possibility of building other mythical creatures such as unicorns and mermaids. Overall, How to Build A Dragon is also meant as a satirical look at cutting-edge science, and it pokes fun at science hype. Anyone who is interested in dragons or cutting-edge science will enjoy this book! It is written in a humorous, approachable way making science fun and easy to understand, including for young adults.The author is well-known scientist Paul Knoepfler who is familiar to the public for his science, his blog The Niche, and his frequent contributions to lay stories on new science concepts such as stem cells and CRISPR. He also is known for his TED talk on designer babies with more than 1.3 million views, and his two books — . The co-author, his daughter Julie Knoepfler, is a high school student interested in science and writing. She has her own blog on literary and film analysis, and enjoys taking a humorous look at culture through writing.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9789813275935 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 04/03/2019 |
| Pages: | 252 |
| Sales rank: | 1,137,357 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d) |
About the Author
The author is well-known scientist Paul Knoepfier who is familiar to the public for his science, his blog The Niche, and his frequent contributions to lay stories on new science concepts such as stem cells and CRISPR. He also is known for his TED talk on designer babies with more than 1.3 million views, and his two books - Stem Cells: An insider's Guide and GMO Sapiens: The Life-Changing Science of Designer Babies. The co-author, his daughter Julie Knoepfler, is a high school student interested in science and writing. She has her own blog on literary and film analysis, and enjoys taking a humorous look at culture through writing.
Table of Contents
Preface v
Chapter 1 So, you want a dragon? 1
Introduction 1
The dragon or the egg? 4
What is a dragon exactly? 6
The Middle East and Africa 7
Asia 7
Ancient and Eastern Europe 9
Central and Western Europe 10
Dragon history: the big picture 12
Why build a dragon? 13
What kind of dragon should we make? 16
What creatures to start with? 17
Chimeras? 19
Flying dragon 22
Fire is fun for a dragon 24
Brain and temperament 25
Our dragon-building team 27
Expect disasters 28
Why write this book? 29
References 31
Chapter 2 Let there be flight 33
Weight VERSUS flight 34
Engineering flight: where to start? 37
Lessons from two extinct giant fliers 41
Patagia for flight 43
Getting a lift 49
Bird options 50
Birds or dragons of a feather 51
Genes and feathered flight 54
Dragon size 58
Where to call home? 59
What could go wrong with dragon flight? 59
How we could cheat on dragon flight 61
Flying on 61
References 61
Chapter 3 Fire! 63
Kindling a fire-breathing dragon 63
Fueling the flames 66
Farts, burps, and other fuel sources 68
Dragon moonshine? 73
Cheats for fueling fire 74
The dragon diet 74
We have ignition (we hope) 76
Electrical ignition 78
How we could cheat on ignition 81
Protecting the dragon from its own fire 81
Lessons from a beetle's butt 83
Heat as a weapon 85
What could go wrong and how might we die? 89
Take-home on fire 90
References 90
Chapter 4 Dragons on the brain 93
Make up your mind 93
A dragon's brain 97
Picking an unpickled starter brain 101
How to grow a brain 105
Growing a mini-brain or "brain organoid" in the Lab 109
Are brain architecture and intelligence linked? 110
Too dumb 113
Too smart 115
Extra smart on purpose 117
Walk the walk, and talk the talk 118
Teach your dragon well 119
Problems bringing up baby Dragon 121
Cheating with a Cyborg Dragon 123
What could go wrong - and yes, you've guessed - lead to our deaths? 123
Trying to get the dragon brain just right 123
References 124
Chapter 5 From head to tail, other dragon features and power-ups 125
A whole menu of options 125
A head (or heads) up? 127
Taking our dragon by the horn 133
Dragon color: it's not black and white 134
A shocking suggestion 138
Before your very eyes 139
Half a brain on and half off 140
Dragon GPS 141
Going swimmingly 142
A leg or more to stand on 143
And another tiling to ruminate… 144
Dragon skin 144
Not just spitting into the wind 145
Finding its voice 146
Is it a girl or a boy or both? 147
Power-ups 149
Power downs 152
What could go wrong and how might we die? 155
Fun with features 155
References 156
Chapter 6 Sex, dragons, and CRISPR 157
Evolving a dragon at warp speed 157
Dragon sex ed and parenting class 163
The golden egg (and sperm) 163
Stem cells 170
No males or sex needed? 174
Cloning class 175
Chimeric embryos and chimeras 179
CRISPR 182
What exactly is CRISPR gene-editing and how does it work? 183
Using CRISPR to make a dragon 184
What could go wrong and how we might die? 186
Dragon building technology 186
References 186
Chapter 7 After a dragon: building unicorns and other mythical creatures 189
Our next challenge: unicorns and other mythical creatures 189
Unicorns 191
A brief history of unicorns 191
How would we create a unicorn? 195
Taking wing with Pegasus 200
A brief history of Pegasus 200
How would we create a flying horse like Pegasus 200
Hippogriffs and Griffins 201
A brief history of hippogriffs and griffins 201
How to build a hippogriff or griffin? 203
A tail of Mermaids and Mermen 204
A brief history of merpeople 204
Hypothetically, how could we create a mermaid (not that we would ever try)? 207
Why it would be unethical to create a Mermaid 207
Make myths real 208
Reference 209
Chapter 8 The ethics and future of engineering dragons and other new beasts 211
Dragon ethics 211
Too dangerous for humanity? 213
Humans as friends or family, not food 214
Would it be good for dragons if we made them? 215
Risks of making malformed dragons along the way 215
Short-lived or sickly dragon? 216
Dragon blues? 217
Dragon benefits? 218
Benefits to the world? 219
Endangering the already at-risk Komodo? 219
What if our dragons outlive us? 221
Ethics and government regulation 221
Where do we get all the needed money without "selling out"? 223
Where we go, will others follow? 224
References 226
Glossary 227
Index 233