About Life
Concepts in Modern Biology
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Beschreibung
This book uses modern biological knowledge to tackle the question: "What distinguishes living organisms from the non-living world?" In the first few chapters, the authors draw on recent advances in cell and molecular biology to develop an account of the "living state" that applies to all organisms, but only to organisms. Subsequent chapters use this account to explore questions about evolution, the origin of life and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Towards the end of the book the authors consider human evolution, intelligence and the extent to which our species can be regarded as biologically unique. About Life is written as far as possible in non-technical language; all scientific terms are explained straightforwardly when they are introduced. It is aimed at the general, non-specialist reader, but the novel approach that it takes to general issues in biology will also interest students of the life sciences.
This book uses modern biological knowledge to tackle the question of what distinguishes living organisms from the non-living world. The authors first draw on recent advances in cell and molecular biology to develop an account of the living state that applies to all organisms (and only to organisms). This account is then used to explore questions about evolution, the origin of life, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The authors also consider human evolution, intelligence, and the extent to which our species can be regarded as biologically unique. About Life makes modern cell biology comprehensible to the non-specialist. Non-technical language is used throughout and all scientific terms are clearly explained when they are introduced. The novel approach taken by this book to issues in biology will interest both the general reader as well as students and specialists in the field.
Makes modern cell biology comprehensible to the non-specialist Integrates cell biology with origin-of-life theories Adopts a distinctive position in respect of extraterrestrial life and human uniqueness
Autor*in
Paul S. Agutter
Themen in »About Life«
DNA Homeostasis biology ecosystems environment evolution extraterrestrial life gene expression genes life sciences molecular biology natural selection origin of life prokaryotes the origin
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From the reviews:
I have read some of the chapters and I am most impressed. It is well written, scholarly and deals with the subject in "4-D" i.e. not as we know it now but as knowledge developed in time. For me, who has lived through the development of the subject since the late 1960s and reviewed the literature as far back as Hippocrates, it was like reading a novel that I could not put down.
Prof. A Nicolaides MS FRCS
"This delightfully written book addresses major questions and some of the biggest ideas in biology today. … The book is moderately well-illustrated with photomicrographs and line drawings … . The book includes numerous insightful analogies and covers somewhat offbeat topics that an instructor could easily adapt to enliven classroom presentations. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above." (P. E. Hertz, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (2), 2007)
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