Wonders of Life
What is Life? Where did it come from? Why does it end?In this beautiful and definitive new book, Professor Brian Cox takes us on an incredible journey to discover how a few fundamental laws gave birth to the most complex, diverse and unique force in the Universe – life itself.There are thought to be as many as 100 million different species on Earth – each and every one governed by the same laws. Everything in the Universe, from the smallest microbe to the largest cluster of galaxies, is constructed from the same fundamental building blocks and is subject to the same laws of nature. What is true for a bacterium is true for a blue whale. This is the story of the amazing diversity and adaptability of life told through the fundamental laws that govern it. Through his voyage of discovery, Brian will explain how the astonishing inventiveness of nature came about and uncover the milestones in the epic journey from the origin of life to our own lives.From the vast networks of subterranean freshwater caverns of the Yucatan peninsula to the unique and precious island of Madagascar, Brian will seek out the places where the biggest questions about life may be answered: what is life? Why do we need water and why does life end?Using the latest advances in science as well as the cutting-edge graphics used in The Sunday Times bestsellers Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, Brian will uncover the secrets of life in the most unexpected locations and in the most stunning detail.
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First published in 2013
Text © Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen 2013
Photographs, with the exception of those detailed in the picture credits section © BBC
Infographics, diagrams, design & layout © HarperCollins Publishers 2013
By arrangement with the BBC
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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780007452675
Ebook Edition © 2013 ISBN: 9780007452682
Version: 2018-06-18
All reasonable efforts have been made by the publishers to trace the copyright owners of the material quoted in this book and of any images reproduced in this book. In the event that the publishers are notified of any mistakes or omissions by copyright owners after publication of this book, the publishers will endeavour to rectify the position accordingly for any subsequent printing.
Publishing Director: Myles Archibald
Senior Editor: Julia Koppitz
Cover Design: HarperCollins Publishers
Book interior Design and Art Direction: Zoë Bather, Studio8 Design
Infographics: Nathalie Lees
Production: Stuart Masheter
Colour reproduction by FMG
For George Albert Eagle, a Wonder of Life
Brian Cox
To my beautiful Anna, it’s a precious thing, even more so when you share it.
Thank you for our first ten years and for all your endless love, support and guidance.
Andrew Cohen
CHAPTER 1
HOME
The History of the Exploration of Water
Water: the Essential Ingredient
Treetops to Teardrops: The Magic of Hydrogen Bonds
CHAPTER 2
WHAT IS LIFE?
Energy and the First Law of Thermodynamics
On Professor Cox’s Battery and the Origin of Life
Searching for Eden: A Warm Little Pond…
Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Life
Life and the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Schrödinger’s Paradox
CHAPTER 3
SIZE MATTERS
Of Royal Crowns and Ocean Giants
Broken Men and Splashing Horses
The Smallest Multicellular Life on Earth
CHAPTER 4
EXPANDING UNIVERSE
The Universal Nature of Sensing
The Human Ear: A Wonder of Acoustic Engineering
The Ossicles: One of Nature’s Great Evolutionary Bodges
A Very Human Experience of a Very Human Creature
Compound vs Camera: The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Simple and the Complex
CHAPTER 5
ENDLESS FORMS MOST BEAUTIFUL
The Bird: Collision of a Trillion Suns
The Hoyle Resonance: Are We Lucky to be Here at all?
The Building Blocks of Biology
Mutations: The Spring from which Diversity Flows
Picture credits
Acknowledgements
About the Publisher
The Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman used to tell a story about an artist friend who challenged him about the beauty of a flower. ‘You as a scientist, oh, take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing’ he said. Feynman, after describing his friend as ‘kind of nutty’, went on to explain that whilst the aesthetic beauty of nature is surely open to everyone, albeit not in quite as refined a way, the world becomes more beautiful as our understanding deepens.
