The architects of life (Alfonso Martínez Arias)

When we talk about life on earth, it is often said that what differentiates some species from others is their genetics. Genetic differences and similarities would approach or separate each other, as occurs between chimpanzee and human being, or ourselves and a modest being unicellular. And while the complexity of this genetic code would not be completely related to the size or intelligence of the members of these species, it has been accepted that, in essence, the characteristics of each of them depend on the DNA.

Now, there are certain unknowns that biologists have long investigated, since they believe that DNA does not explain absolutely everything in the form and structure of a living being. For example, in our case, the reasons that we have five fingers and no more or less, the position of the heart, etc. There is more than makes us different among the species, and that could be even more important than DNA.

Alfonso Martínez Arias, a very renowned ICREA and Biologist researcher, has worked on this issue and has concluded that they are the cells, with their particular relationship between them, those responsible for much of those characteristics that we cannot explain through DNA.

The cells, the basic biological unit of every living creature, are interconnected with each other, collaborating to make possible an optimal functioning of each body. In “Architects of life”, Martínez Arias makes this radical proposal for which the definition of who we are is closer to our cells than of the DNA that house, and aim the theory about this fundamental cell interconnection, authentic driving force of all this .

Naturally, the author relationships cells and genes, but making it clear what the real engine that defines each living being would be. Martínez Arias will also expose us how the cells (and genes) cooperate to shape the primal embryo of each. In addition, it would be the cells that use genes to communicate and cooperate, giving rise to the emergence of multicellular organisms such as plants and animals.

According to all this, and despite our DNA, we would be constantly evolving organisms, different, cellularly speaking, every year that passes. The new paradigm should also help science, as in the case of stem cells, to revolutionize the medical field with the creation of new tissues or replacement organs.

In summary, according to the author, the cells are not only bricks that shape a body, but are entities that actively intervene in said construction, so they can be described, as indicated by the title of the book, of life architects.

Undoubtedly, a revolutionary vision of Alfonso Martínez, in this book originally published in English and now available in our language, shaping a surprising job that will not leave any reader indifferent.

Paidós. 2025. Soft cover, 362 pages. ISBN: 978-84-4934-332-2