What if the future of life could be written—not in words, but in proteins? In this episode of Rust Belt Science, authors Shahir Rizk and Maggie Fink talk about their new book, The Color of North: The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life. Together, they unpack how proteins act as a hidden code shaping everything from the cells in our bodies to the possibilities of synthetic biology.

We dive into how their collaboration blends hard science with human narrative, why the language of proteins matters now more than ever, and how this molecular perspective could transform medicine, agriculture, and even how we define life itself.