Darwin's radio
by Greg Bear · first published 1999
63% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A science-fiction novel built around a viral or genetic idea, with an engaging story, scenes set within the NIH and its bureaucracy, and a fun, creative approach. Well suited to sci-fi fans who enjoyed Eon.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Virus hunter" Christopher Dicken is a man on a mission, following a trail of rumors, government cover-ups, and dead bodies around the globe in search of a mysterious disease that strikes only pregnant women and invariably results in miscarriage. But when Dicken finds what he's looking for, the answer proves to be stranger--and far deadlier--than he ever could have imagined. Something that has slept in human DNA for millions of years is waking up.Molecular biologist Kaye Lang has spent her career tracing ancient retroviruses in the human genome. She believes these microscopic fossils can come
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…humans see in color vision when many animals don’t? ... My hypothesis was that it was about sensing emotions or health on the skin of others." Reminds me of one of my favorite books since childhood: "Darwin's Radio" by Greg Bear.
on “Why Humans Have Color Vision” ↗Greg Bear wrote a fun sci-fi novel Darwin's Radio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Radio) featuring these viruses.
on “The Lurker: How a Virus Hid in Our Genome for Six Million Years (2013)” ↗This idea is a plot device in Greg Bear's 'Darwin's Radio'. Good yarn and it dates OK. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64923.Darwin_s_Radio
on “DNA Is a Fractal Antenna in Electromagnetic Fields (2011)” ↗For sci-fi readers, I recommend Greg Bear's "Darwin's Radio" and the sequel "Darwin's Children".
on “The human genome is full of viruses” ↗It’s not a science book, but this did bring to mind an enjoyable sci-fi book by Greg Bear called Darwin’s Radio, for reasons that’ll be obvious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Radio
on “How the placenta evolved from an ancient virus” ↗If you pick up any book by Greg Bear, there's a good chance it's won an award, just make sure it isn't a sequel of a previous work of his. Check out: Darwin's Radio, The Forge of God, Queen of Angels, Eon, The Man Who Would Be Kzin, Blood Music, City at the End of Time
on “Ask HN: Sci-Fi Book Recommendations” ↗Read 'Darwin's Radio' by Greg Bear.
on “Ancient Viruses Buried in DNA” ↗Yes, Eon! Amazing book. Darwin's Radio is a really fun idea too. Definitely recommend that if you enjoyed Eon. Very different, but equally creative and fascinating.
on “Greg Bear has died” ↗…eye-opening. I may be hot-shit technically, and able to hold my own in a meeting, but there's this whole other world of bureaucracy that I must admit I know almost nothing about. P.S. I found the NIH parts of Darwin's Radio fascinating. The book doesn't have much action. In fact, a lot of the character interaction is between government scientists, and happens in meetings. Nonetheless, I felt as though it gave me an insight…
on “The Founder Visa” ↗Haven't quite finished the article and know nothing about biology but sounds similar to the novel Darwin's Radio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Radio). Very interesting novel and unlike a lot of comments on the web I found it a really engaging read.
on “Ancient Viruses Are Buried in Our DNA (2017)” ↗Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio is an interesting scifi take on the idea that some junk DNA could be just one evolutionary step away from being activated.
on “New Chips Loaded With Dummy Parts” ↗I'm reminded of a series by Greg Bear, "Darwin's Radio" and "Darwin's Children", where the central premise is that there's a sudden and major evolutionary change in newborn humans. One of the traits of the newly-evolved humans is that they have a pervasive…
on “Holy Shit, I Interviewed the President” ↗…posts here that too much science makes for fiction that I enjoy less. Blindsight was an exception for me. I liked the science ideas and the fiction. If you like this kind of thing you may also like Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear. He wrote an article about the science ideas here: http://gregbear.com/pages/newbiology.php I didn't enjoy this one as much, but the hard-science part was done fairly well.
on “Science Fiction by Scientists” ↗I'll add one more sci-fi reference involving HERVs: Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Radio
on “Evidence that addictive behaviors have links with ancient retroviral infection” ↗…physics/maths backgrounds while the really 'cool' stuff is happening in biology. Hard SF generally focuses on physics, not biology. Greg Bear had some interesting novels around retroviruses in the 90s, Darwin's Radio, and I've read some solarpunk stories that went into the right direction. Peter Watts has a PhD in Zoology which is maybe why Blindsight is so good.
on “Scientific and Technological Breakthroughs Created a New Kind of Fiction” ↗