Siddhartha Mukherjee on New Book “Song of the Cell” & the Age of Anti-Science | Amanpour and Company

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee believes we are living in an anti-science moment, seen particularly starkly during the COVID-19 pandemic – despite new medical breakthroughs helping ill patients defy the odds. He details some of these stories in his new book "The Song of the Cell," and Mukherjee joins Walter Isaacson to share these life-saving discoveries.

Originally aired on November 11, 2022.

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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.

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[leonstenutz]

Thank you Siddhartha, Walter & CNN. So appreciative of the fact that your definition of "news" is broad, positive, and deeply educational.

Amazing times we live in. Great interview, thanks from Bolivia!

[carol]

I just started reading preface of the new book and am already excited. Love Dr Mukherjee's ability to explain very difficult concepts in an accessible way. I've been interested in the immune system since my doctoral work in 1996 and am still learning. Thank you for the great work.

[Tarotreadingisnonsense]

I just finished the book. Mukherjee is the man. Great scientist and lucky for us- writer.

[frankgaertner]

In 2000 my Team and I at Mycogen Corp created a powerful adjuvant. We made a cellular encapsulated form of bovine interferon gamma that increased the activity of the cytokine 1000 fold which eliminated its harmful side effects with an increased efficacy at low microgram dose in cattle. No reason this won’t work in other animals including humans with the specific animal version. We were bought-out by a chemical company and 20 yrs later patents have expired and the invention remains shelved. Bovine interferon gamma Amended Recombinant Cells by Frank Gaertner et al is published in Vaccine 2009.

[paulwarmstrong]

a beautiful interview of an extraordianry man whose elegant metaphors dance though his prose. I am half way thru the Songs of the Cell & Isaacson has illuminated the 2 overarching songs underpinning the title. thank you for these rich insights!

[bhvnraju]

Interesting scientific conversation, Thanks to both of you 🙏🙏

[michaeltrower]

I thought it was a play on Whitman's "Song of Myself" -- song of my cell

[susilemare]

Super interesting and I def want to read it. However, I am not a fan of cell invasion techniques. It does not happen in nature and the unintended consequences and new life forms (that have a life of their own once they have left the genie’s bottle as it were) needs to be acknowledged. We should think long and hard about breaking the cell wall. And in the discussion of cancer and finding it’s cure the causes seem to be woefully missing. Which toxins in our environment are turning the cancer genes on? Polluters should be paying for cleanup and work on not polluting! Please let us have a sane world.

[Raydensheraj]

Owe literally every book he wrote... phenomenal science communication.

[dariomics]

The song of the cell was a masterpiece love Sidds style

[joeblow]

Interesting book, sounds like a good read. Science can definitely lead to physical improvements to the human species living in an imperfect world.

[bennguyen]

Regarding how only the cell understands how to read DNA.. I understand there are 3 basic biology laws:
1) evolution,
2) everything uses the same way of coding genetic information (the tree of life 16S-RNA/DNA), and genetic instruction can be transferred between organisms
3) all life is composed of cell(s).

How does the cell know what to do with DNA? What are Siddhartha's thoughts on panpsychism, consciousness, and "Junk DNA"?

For example, I find it remarkable that using only 4 letters, human DNA only has 3 billion base pairs, and much of it looks like messy assembly-code.. some parts seem to do nothing, other parts are copy-paste from something else, etc. And all of this code will make for about 500 naturally occurring amino-acids. Even more astounding is that all life forms as we know it, from a fish to a banana, only draws upon ~20 of these amino acids to make proteins! So the basic building blocks that generates all the wild diversity of life we see on earth seems minuscule!

BTW, Sadhguru talks about a place (Kailash Manasarovar Lake) where there is life but not as we know it. Even ghosts/spirituality has a signature of what we know as life, but what comes in and out of that place is something entirely different!

[jayachandranthampi]

Song of Cell, sounds like Bhagavad Gita. A combination of various processes combined to give the individuality an advice on reality as a process than a product.

[sasidharanc]

Can communication between, neucleic dna &mitrochonrial dna, in a Eucarotic cell, decide the health quality of human being.

[sasidharanc]

Can external factors through our sensing organs, change the rhythm of cellular song?

[cynicalfairy]

By writing this book on cells and their importance for genes, Dr. Mukherjee is demonstrating his clear anti-virus bias.

[diannemurphy]

So will we have enough DNA to sustain the species

[maxwellsimoes]

My gosh believe me it is bizarre Science shows cells song proceedings in complex system body. Without experience in cells body guys undermines true medicine. In this sense he hipotesy show he Not challatan more interesting in sell his book than in honest medicine proceedings.