What Is Life Five Great Ideas In Biology

Download What Is Life Five Great Ideas In Biology full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online What Is Life Five Great Ideas In Biology ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

What Is Life?

Author : Sir Paul Nurse
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781922310262
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (12 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis What Is Life? by : Sir Paul Nurse

Download or read book What Is Life? written by Sir Paul Nurse and published by . This book was released on 2020-11 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life is all around us, abundant and diverse. It is truly a marvel. But what does it actually mean to be alive, and how do we decide what is living and what is not? After a lifetime of studying life, Nobel Prize-winner Sir Paul Nurse, one of the world's leading scientists, has taken on the challenge of defining it. Written with great personality and charm, his accessible guide takes readers on a journey to discover biology's five great building blocks, demonstrates how biology has changed and is changing the world, and reveals where research is headed next. To survive all the challenges that face the human race today - population growth, pandemics, food shortages, climate change - it is vital that we first understand what life is. Never before has the question 'What is life?' been answered with such insight, clarity, and humanity, and never at a time more urgent than now. 'Paul Nurse is about as distinguished a scientist as there could be. He is also a great communicator. This book explains, in a way that is both clear and elegant, how the processes of life unfold, and does as much as science can to answer the question posed by the title. It's also profoundly important, at a time when the world is connected so closely that any new illness can sweep from nation to nation with immense speed, that all of us - including politicians - should be as well-informed as possible. This book provides the sort of clarity and understanding that could save many thousands of lives. I learned a great deal, and I enjoyed the process enormously.' -Sir Philip Pullman 'A nearly perfect guide to the wonder and complexity of existence.' -Bill Bryson 'Nurse provides a concise, lucid response to an age-old question. His writing is not just informed by long experience, but also wise, visionary, and personal. I read the book in one sitting, and felt exhilarated by the end, as though I'd run for miles - from the author's own garden into the interior of the cell, back in time to humankind's most distant ancestors, and through the laboratory of a dedicated scientist at work on what he most loves to do.' -Dava Sobel

What is Life?

Author : Paul Nurse
Publisher : David Fickling Books
ISBN 13 : 1788451414
Total Pages : 123 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (884 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis What is Life? by : Paul Nurse

Download or read book What is Life? written by Paul Nurse and published by David Fickling Books. This book was released on 2020-09-03 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life is all around us, abundant and diverse, it is extraordinary. But what does it actually mean to be alive? Nobel prize-winner Paul Nurse has spent his career revealing how living cells work. In this book, he takes up the challenge of defining life in a way that every reader can understand. It is a shared journey of discovery; step by step he illuminates five great ideas that underpin biology. He traces the roots of his own curiosity and knowledge to reveal how science works, both now and in the past. Using his personal experiences, in and out of the lab, he shares with us the challenges, the lucky breaks, and the thrilling eureka moments of discovery.To survive the challenges that face the human race today - from climate change, to pandemics, loss of biodiversity and food security - it is vital that we all understand what life is.

Life Ascending

Author : Nick Lane
Publisher : Profile Books
ISBN 13 : 1847652220
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (476 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Life Ascending by : Nick Lane

Download or read book Life Ascending written by Nick Lane and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2010 Royal Society Prize for science books Powerful new research methods are providing fresh and vivid insights into the makeup of life. Comparing gene sequences, examining the atomic structure of proteins and looking into the geochemistry of rocks have all helped to explain creation and evolution in more detail than ever before. Nick Lane uses the full extent of this new knowledge to describe the ten greatest inventions of life, based on their historical impact, role in living organisms today and relevance to current controversies. DNA, sex, sight and consciousnesses are just four examples. Lane also explains how these findings have come about, and the extent to which they can be relied upon. The result is a gripping and lucid account of the ingenuity of nature, and a book which is essential reading for anyone who has ever questioned the science behind the glories of everyday life.

Concepts of Biology

Author : Samantha Fowler
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781739015503
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (155 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Concepts of Biology by : Samantha Fowler

Download or read book Concepts of Biology written by Samantha Fowler and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black & white print. Concepts of Biology is designed for the typical introductory biology course for nonmajors, covering standard scope and sequence requirements. The text includes interesting applications and conveys the major themes of biology, with content that is meaningful and easy to understand. The book is designed to demonstrate biology concepts and to promote scientific literacy.

What is Life?

Author : Addy Pross
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191650897
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis What is Life? by : Addy Pross

Download or read book What is Life? written by Addy Pross and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-09-27 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrödinger posed a profound question: 'What is life, and how did it emerge from non-life?' This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists ever since. Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology? What could have led the first replicating molecules up such a path? Now, developments in the emerging field of 'systems chemistry' are unlocking the problem. Addy Pross shows how the different kind of stability that operates among replicating molecules results in a tendency for chemical systems to become more complex and acquire the properties of life. Strikingly, he demonstrates that Darwinian evolution is the biological expression of a deeper, well-defined chemical concept: the whole story from replicating molecules to complex life is one continuous process governed by an underlying physical principle. The gulf between biology and the physical sciences is finally becoming bridged. This new edition includes an Epilogue describing developments in the concepts of fundamental forms of stability discussed in the book, and their profound implications. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

Evolution in Four Dimensions, revised edition

Author : Eva Jablonka
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262525844
Total Pages : 577 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Evolution in Four Dimensions, revised edition by : Eva Jablonka

Download or read book Evolution in Four Dimensions, revised edition written by Eva Jablonka and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2014-03-21 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering proposal for a pluralistic extension of evolutionary theory, now updated to reflect the most recent research. This new edition of the widely read Evolution in Four Dimensions has been revised to reflect the spate of new discoveries in biology since the book was first published in 2005, offering corrections, an updated bibliography, and a substantial new chapter. Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb's pioneering argument proposes that there is more to heredity than genes. They describe four “dimensions” in heredity—four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act. Jablonka and Lamb present a richer, more complex view of evolution than that offered by the gene-based Modern Synthesis, arguing that induced and acquired changes also play a role. Their lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors refine their arguments against the vigorous skepticism of the fictional “I.M.” (for Ipcha Mistabra—Aramaic for “the opposite conjecture”). The extensive new chapter, presented engagingly as a dialogue with I.M., updates the information on each of the four dimensions—with special attention to the epigenetic, where there has been an explosion of new research. Praise for the first edition “With courage and verve, and in a style accessible to general readers, Jablonka and Lamb lay out some of the exciting new pathways of Darwinian evolution that have been uncovered by contemporary research.” —Evelyn Fox Keller, MIT, author of Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines “In their beautifully written and impressively argued new book, Jablonka and Lamb show that the evidence from more than fifty years of molecular, behavioral and linguistic studies forces us to reevaluate our inherited understanding of evolution.” —Oren Harman, The New Republic “It is not only an enjoyable read, replete with ideas and facts of interest but it does the most valuable thing a book can do—it makes you think and reexamine your premises and long-held conclusions.” —Adam Wilkins, BioEssays

The Vital Question

Author : Nick Lane
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781781250372
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (53 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Vital Question by : Nick Lane

Download or read book The Vital Question written by Nick Lane and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A game-changing book on the origins of life, called the most important scientific discovery 'since the Copernican revolution' in The Observer.

Beyond Mechanism

Author : Brian G. Henning
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 0739174371
Total Pages : 488 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (391 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Beyond Mechanism by : Brian G. Henning

Download or read book Beyond Mechanism written by Brian G. Henning and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that new discoveries and developments in the human, social, and natural sciences hang “in the air” (Bowler, 1983; 2008) prior to their consummation. While neo-Darwinist biology has been powerfully served by its mechanistic metaphysic and a reductionist methodology in which living organisms are considered machines, many of the chapters in this volume place this paradigm into question. Pairing scientists and philosophers together, this volume explores what might be termed “the New Frontiers” of biology, namely contemporary areas of research that appear to call an updating, a supplementation, or a relaxation of some of the main tenets of the Modern Synthesis. Such areas of investigation include: Emergence Theory, Systems Biology, Biosemiotics, Homeostasis, Symbiogenesis, Niche Construction, the Theory of Organic Selection (also known as “the Baldwin Effect”), Self-Organization and Teleodynamics, as well as Epigenetics. Most of the chapters in this book offer critical reflections on the neo-Darwinist outlook and work to promote a novel synthesis that is open to a greater degree of inclusivity as well as to a more holistic orientation in the biological sciences.

What is Life?

Author : Edward Regis
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0195383419
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis What is Life? by : Edward Regis

Download or read book What is Life? written by Edward Regis and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2009 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an introduction to the work of the scientists who were attempting literally to create life from scratch, starting with molecular components that they hope to assemble into the world's first synthetic living cell. The book also examines how scientists have unlocked the "three secrets of life," describes the key role played by ATP ("the ultimate driving force of all life"), and outlines the many attempts to explain how life first arose on earth, a puzzle that has given birth to a wide range of theories.

What Makes Biology Unique?

Author : Ernst Mayr
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521700344
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (3 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis What Makes Biology Unique? by : Ernst Mayr

Download or read book What Makes Biology Unique? written by Ernst Mayr and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-16 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, a collection of essays written by the most eminent evolutionary biologist of the twentieth century, explores biology as an autonomous science, offers insights on the history of evolutionary thought, critiques the contributions of philosophy to the science of biology, and comments on several of the major ongoing issues in evolutionary theory. Notably, Mayr explains that Darwin's theory of evolution is actually five separate theories, each with its own history, trajectory and impact. Natural selection is a separate idea from common descent, and from geographic speciation, and so on. A number of the perennial Darwinian controversies may well have been caused by the confounding of the five separate theories into a single composite. Those interested in evolutionary theory, or the philosophy and history of science will find useful ideas in this book, which should appeal to virtually anyone with a broad curiosity about biology.

The Science of Life

Author : Herbert George Wells
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1544 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (89 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Science of Life by : Herbert George Wells

Download or read book The Science of Life written by Herbert George Wells and published by . This book was released on 1934 with total page 1544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Life Organic

Author : Erik Peterson
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN 13 : 082298198X
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (229 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Life Organic by : Erik Peterson

Download or read book The Life Organic written by Erik Peterson and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2016-12-23 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As scientists debated the nature of life in the nineteenth century, two theories predominated: vitalism, which suggested that living things contained a "vital spark," and mechanism, the idea that animals and humans differed from nonliving things only in their degree of complexity. Erik Peterson tells the forgotten story of the pursuit of a Third Way in biology, known by many names, including "the organic philosophy," which gave rise to C. H. Waddington's work in the subfield of epigenetics: an alternative to standard genetics and evolutionary biology that captured the attention of notable scientists from Francis Crick to Stephen Jay Gould. The Life Organic chronicles the influential biologists, mathematicians, philosophers, and biochemists from both sides of the Atlantic who formed Joseph Needham's Theoretical Biology Club, defined and refined Third-Way thinking through the 1930s, and laid the groundwork for some of the most cutting-edge achievements in biology today. By tracing the persistence of organicism into the twenty-first century, this book also raises significant questions about how we should model the development of the discipline of biology going forward.

Philosophy of Biology

Author : Peter Godfrey-Smith
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691174679
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Philosophy of Biology by : Peter Godfrey-Smith

Download or read book Philosophy of Biology written by Peter Godfrey-Smith and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential introduction to the philosophy of biology This is a concise, comprehensive, and accessible introduction to the philosophy of biology written by a leading authority on the subject. Geared to philosophers, biologists, and students of both, the book provides sophisticated and innovative coverage of the central topics and many of the latest developments in the field. Emphasizing connections between biological theories and other areas of philosophy, and carefully explaining both philosophical and biological terms, Peter Godfrey-Smith discusses the relation between philosophy and science; examines the role of laws, mechanistic explanation, and idealized models in biological theories; describes evolution by natural selection; and assesses attempts to extend Darwin's mechanism to explain changes in ideas, culture, and other phenomena. Further topics include functions and teleology, individuality and organisms, species, the tree of life, and human nature. The book closes with detailed, cutting-edge treatments of the evolution of cooperation, of information in biology, and of the role of communication in living systems at all scales. Authoritative and up-to-date, this is an essential guide for anyone interested in the important philosophical issues raised by the biological sciences.

Behave

Author : Robert M. Sapolsky
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143110918
Total Pages : 801 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Behave by : Robert M. Sapolsky

Download or read book Behave written by Robert M. Sapolsky and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 801 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestseller • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • One of the Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year “It’s no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” —David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal "It has my vote for science book of the year.” —Parul Sehgal, The New York Times "Immensely readable, often hilarious...Hands-down one of the best books I’ve read in years. I loved it." —Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post From the bestselling author of A Primate's Memoir and the forthcoming Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will comes a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do? Behave is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted. Moving across a range of disciplines, Sapolsky—a neuroscientist and primatologist—uncovers the hidden story of our actions. Undertaking some of our thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, and war and peace, Behave is a towering achievement—a majestic synthesis of cutting-edge research and a heroic exploration of why we ultimately do the things we do . . . for good and for ill.

The Great Ideas of Biology

Author : Paul Nurse
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 34 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Great Ideas of Biology by : Paul Nurse

Download or read book The Great Ideas of Biology written by Paul Nurse and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Nurse focuses on four discoveries in The Great Ideas of Biology the cell, the gene, evolution by natural selection, and life as chemistry. The development of good microscopes made the discovery of the cell possible, although it was not until the later nineteenth century that it was accepted that all living organisms, regardless of their complexity, emerged from a single cell. The discovery of the gene followed the idea that all living organisms have the ability to reproduce and generate offspring that resemble their parents. Gregor Mendel's crosses with plants and analyses of the outcomes in the 1860s led him to become the father of genetics, and in the mid-twentieth century DNA was shown to be the genetic material. Natural selection, the idea of the survival of the fittest, is one of the best-known ideas of biology, proposed by Charles Darwin in 1859. The idea that many of life's activities can be understood in terms of chemistry had its origins in studies of fermentation, and biochemistry was born when it was shown that an enzyme from yeast cells, i.e. a living organism, was responsible for the chemical reactions that turned grape juice into alcohol. At that point it was postulated that cells should be understood as a chemical machine. Paul Nurse concludes that the current challenge for biologists is to focus on biological organization which works on a range of levels, from cells through to organisms and ecosystems.

Signs Of Life

Author : Ricard Sole
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 9780465019281
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (192 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Signs Of Life by : Ricard Sole

Download or read book Signs Of Life written by Ricard Sole and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2002-01-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Signs of Life applies the mathematics of order and disorder, of entropy, chance, and randomness, of chaos and nonlinear dynamics to the various mysteries of the living world at all levels. This book is an entirely new approach to understanding living systems and will help set the agenda for biology in the coming century.

The Lives of a Cell

Author : Lewis Thomas
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101667052
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (16 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Lives of a Cell by : Lewis Thomas

Download or read book The Lives of a Cell written by Lewis Thomas and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1978-02-23 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elegant, suggestive, and clarifying, Lewis Thomas's profoundly humane vision explores the world around us and examines the complex interdependence of all things. Extending beyond the usual limitations of biological science and into a vast and wondrous world of hidden relationships, this provocative book explores in personal, poetic essays to topics such as computers, germs, language, music, death, insects, and medicine. Lewis Thomas writes, "Once you have become permanently startled, as I am, by the realization that we are a social species, you tend to keep an eye out for the pieces of evidence that this is, by and large, good for us."