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Quote by Elizabeth Kolbert

“If Faustian restlessness is one of the defining characteristics of modern humans, then, by Pääbo’s account, there must be some sort of Faustian gene. Several times, he told me that he thought it should be possible to identify the basis for our “madness” by comparing Neanderthal and human DNA. “If we one day will know that some freak mutation made the human insanity and exploration thing possible, it will be amazing to think that it was this little inversion on this chromosome that made all this happen and changed the whole ecosystem of the planet and made us dominate everything,” he said at one point. At another, he said, “We are crazy in some way. What drives it? That I would really like to understand. That would be really, really cool to know.”

Quote by Elizabeth Kolbert

Work

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

This book delves into the ongoing sixth mass extinction event, analyzing the various factors contributing to it, such as habitat destruction, climate change, and pollution. It discusses the ecological and evolutionary implications of this crisis, offering insights into the future of life on Earth. more

Author

Elizabeth Kolbert
Elizabeth Kolbert

Elizabeth Kolbert is an American journalist renowned for her in-depth reporting on environmental issues. Born in 1961, she graduated from Columbia University and has worked as a journalist for The New Yorker. Her work has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for her book 'The Sixth Extinction', which provides a detailed account of the loss of biodiversity on Earth. more

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