Unlocking the Hidden History of DNA
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Narrated by:
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Professor Sam Kean
About this listen
Locked inside the DNA of every species that ever lived are endless stories - about origins, ancestors, fate, and much more. Until recently, these secrets were completely inaccessible. But with the help of new technologies, scientists are now reading the hidden history of DNA, making remarkable discoveries about ourselves and our fellow species. Your gateway to this treasure trove of information is Unlocking the Hidden History of DNA, 12 informative and accessible lectures delivered by New York Times best-selling author Sam Kean. Assuming the viewer has no prior background in science, these detailed but delightful half-hour lectures cover the fundamental properties of DNA, the techniques that have unraveled its mysteries, the exciting revelations that have resulted, and the very human stories of the scientists involved - many of whom won Nobel Prizes and sparked fierce controversies along the way.
You start in the mid-19th century with Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, who pioneered the science of genetics with experiments on pea plants, and the almost-forgotten discovery of DNA by Friedrich Miescher. Proceeding briskly through decades when the connection between genes and DNA were pieced together, you learn about the discovery of DNA, the race to determine its structure, and the Human Genome Project, which mapped all three billion base pairs of our DNA. Then you dig deeply into our genome to mine its secrets, including our surprising relationship to Neanderthals, when we first started wearing clothes, genetic influences on language, and our kinship with viruses. You also excavate new historical details about King Tut, Genghis Khan, King Richard III, and Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Warren Harding. Finally, you examine today’s cutting-edge DNA technology, notably a genetic engineering technique called CRISPR heralded as holding the potential for science fiction-like manipulation of our species. Genetics has come a long way since Gregor Mendel’s humble pea plants.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Over the course of 24 lessons, including the eight meditation checkups within lessons, you will learn both what Zen has traditionally meant for East Asians and what it can mean for contemporary Westerners. Prepare to be challenged as Professor Davis asks you to set aside your preconceptions in order to open yourselves to what Zen masters who lived in the past and in distant lands have to teach you.
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The trick: just sit down and be quiet. Trust me.
- By Kindle Customer on 03-04-21
By: Bret W. Davis, and others
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The Evidence for Modern Physics
- How We Know What We Know
- By: Professor Don Lincoln, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Don Lincoln
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
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In this 24-lesson course aimed at non-scientists, noted particle physicist Dr. Don Lincoln of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory covers more than a century of progress in physics, describing exactly how scientists reach the conclusions they do. He starts with the atom, which was long hypothesized but wasn’t definitively proven until a paper by Albert Einstein in 1905. That was just the beginning, as researchers probed ever deeper into the atom’s complex structure, leading to the weird findings of quantum mechanics.
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Strongly Recommend for Everyone
- By Liam A on 05-23-21
By: Professor Don Lincoln, and others
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The Age of Benjamin Franklin
- By: The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Robert J. Allison PhD Harvard University
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Original Recording
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Why is Benjamin Franklin so compelling? What made him so successful in his day? And why has he continued to influence generations of Americans? Tackle these questions and more in The Age of Benjamin Franklin, a thorough - and sometimes surprising - course that presents a full portrait of a personality that defies easy definition.
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It's a lecture
- By Amazon Customer on 05-17-18
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The Passions: Philosophy and the Intelligence of Emotions
- By: Robert C. Solomon, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert C. Solomon
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
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Conventional wisdom suggests there is a sharp distinction between emotion and reason. Emotions are seen as inferior, disruptive, primitive, and even bestial forces. These 24 remarkable lectures suggest otherwise-that emotions have intelligence and provide personal strategies that are vitally important to our everyday lives of perceiving, evaluating, appraising, understanding, and acting in the world.
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Feel good and be good
- By Gary on 11-24-18
By: Robert C. Solomon, and others
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Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition
- By: Richard Wolfson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Richard Wolfson
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
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"It doesn't take an Einstein to understand modern physics," says Professor Wolfson at the outset of these 24 lectures on what may be the most important subjects in the universe: relativity and quantum physics. Both have reputations for complexity. But the basic ideas behind them are, in fact, simple and comprehensible by anyone. These dynamic and illuminating lectures begin with a brief overview of theories of physical reality starting with Aristotle and culminating in Newtonian or "classical" physics.
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Great primer for hard SF fans and physics laymen
- By David on 01-05-15
By: Richard Wolfson, and others
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The Italians before Italy: Conflict and Competition in the Mediterranean
- By: Kenneth R. Bartlett, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Kenneth R. Bartlett
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Original Recording
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Take a riveting tour of the Italian peninsula, from the glittering canals of Venice to the lavish papal apartments and ancient ruins of Rome. In these 24 lectures, Professor Bartlett traces the development of the Italian city-states of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, showing how the modern nation of Italy was forged out of the rivalries, allegiances, and traditions of a vibrant and diverse people.
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A useful survey, just what I wanted
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-07-16
By: Kenneth R. Bartlett, and others
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The Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy
- By: Edward J. Larson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Edward J. Larson
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Original Recording
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Charles Darwin's theory of organic evolution-the idea that life on earth is the product of purely natural causes, not the hand of God-set off shock waves that continue to reverberate through Western society, and especially the United States. What makes evolution such a profoundly provocative concept, so convincing to most scientists, yet so socially and politically divisive? These 12 eye-opening lectures are an examination of the varied elements that so often make this science the object of strong sentiments and heated debate.
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Little mistakes here and there
- By Daniel on 06-21-16
By: Edward J. Larson, and others
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Roots of Human Behavior
- By: Barbara J. King, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Barbara J. King
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
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While human history is usually studied from the perspective of a few hundred years, anthropologists consider deeper causes for the ways we act. Now, in these 12 engrossing lectures, you'll join an expert anthropologist as she opens an enormous window of understanding for you into the thrilling legacy left by our primate past. In these lectures, you'll investigate a wealth of intriguing, provocative questions about our past and our relationship to primates.
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Strong feminist bias
- By Richard on 05-02-15
By: Barbara J. King, and others
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No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life
- By: Robert C. Solomon, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert C. Solomon
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
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What is life? What is my place in it? What choices do these questions obligate me to make? More than a half-century after it burst upon the intellectual scene - with roots that extend to the mid-19th century - Existentialism's quest to answer these most fundamental questions of individual responsibility, morality, and personal freedom, life has continued to exert a profound attraction.
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Good for even a non-existentialist
- By Gary on 07-24-15
By: Robert C. Solomon, and others
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The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World
- By: Robert Garland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Garland
- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
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Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.
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Tantalizing time trip
- By Mark on 08-21-13
By: Robert Garland, and others
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Food: A Cultural Culinary History
- By: Ken Albala, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Ken Albala
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
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Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history, from prehistoric times to the present. Epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said it best: "Gastronomy governs the whole life of man."
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One of my top 3 favorite courses!
- By Jessica on 12-28-13
By: Ken Albala, and others
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The Foundations of Western Civilization
- By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.
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Not Engaging or Very Interesting
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 03-05-17
By: Thomas F. X. Noble, and others
What listeners say about Unlocking the Hidden History of DNA
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Y123
- 04-25-23
Well written
I found the presentation to be well balanced with enough science mixed with good story.
Highly recommended
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- Pete
- 06-29-24
Fantastic
Have listened to a lot of Great Courses and went into this thinking it might be a little drier than most. Was shocked to find this one of the most gripping and fast-paced of any of them. Felt like my mind was being blown again and again by some of the lectures (especially liked the section about using DNA to unlock the secrets of our past). Absolutely great stuff!
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- MyGrnEyesF
- 04-29-21
Great course
This was an extremely interesting course. The first half is especially interesting. The second half is a bit scary, talking about all of the DNA experimentation that's going on! The lecture is very easy to listen to and very knowledgeable. I enjoyed this book.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Rick B
- 01-19-22
DNA, it's so much more than you think
Sam Kean is an excellent scientific and historical author, who breaks down the invisible of DNA and reveals everything in the greatest of detail, but at a level of high school education. You don't have to a microbiologist to understand this audio. The lessons are simple, straight forward and revealing. From what is gene to what is a chromosome and how are they different. Where do they exist at, and how do they affect who I am. What is "Epigenetics", and can it really change me. These are just a few of the fascinating topics you will learn about. You will learn about a case of Buck Vs Bell in 1927 that Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was famously quoted and became law in 33 states. Here is where a misunderstanding of epigenetics has been used against the will of the people, over 3,000 and counting. Here the mis use of science has brought misery in a very negative way to an unsuspecting public, especially the less fortunate and challenged. There are very important lessons to be understood. Listening to valued lessons such as " Unlocking the Hidden History of DNA" will bring you that much closer to the truth. 5 stars all the way. I also recommend the Bastard Brigade by Sam Kean. To reiterate, Sam is prolific author & historical researcher.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tatras
- 06-22-21
Well Assembled and entertaining.
A bit of history, a bit of science that are explained in a way that layman can easily understand, a pinch of funny interesting curiosities and facts. Pleasurable speech.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Deborah
- 05-01-23
Great book
I covered a lot of territory, very efficiently. Consolidating all recent DNA science. Two thumbs up.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Accretion
- 09-30-20
Very interesting
Sam is a good narrator he kept me engaged throughout all chapters. nice to listen to while during cleaning in quarantine.
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4 people found this helpful
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- John from NorCAL
- 11-28-21
Learned some concepts
Pretty impressive how Professor Sam Kean explained complicated concepts in genetics such that non PHDs can understand. I’ve studied many of the topics described in his book, but his explanations increased by understanding a lot. Good Work!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Chad
- 05-10-22
Great!
This may be my favorite science audiobook from The Great Courses! It was quite interesting, and went over a lot I didn't know before. About the drama surrounding the discovery of DNA. How Gregor Mendel's successor thought so poorly of him that he burned all his notes. That neanderthals aren't the only hominids humans interbred with. That humans have shockingly little genetic diversity compared to other species, which implies a mass extinction event in our past. Lots of great stuff here, and the author does a good job of making it approachable. Recommended!
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1 person found this helpful
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- johnathan
- 02-08-23
Loved it
As always Sam kean puts together a masterpiece! If you love his stuff I recommend
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1 person found this helpful