Kurt Andersen talks with novelist Margaret Atwood about how biology grabs headlines — and the imagination of artists. They discuss Atwood’s childhood among scientists, and her most recent novel, Oryx and Crake, in which biotech runs amok with catastrophic consequences.

The daughter of an entomologist, Margaret Atwood grew up in the woods of Canada. She is the author of more than 25 books of fiction, poetry, and essays, including Oryx and Crake, The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Grace, and The Blind Assassin, which won the Booker Prize.