Transformer (Hardback)
The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
Buy from
What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end?
'One of my favourite science writers' Bill Gates
For decades, biology has been dominated by information - the power of genes. Yet in terms of information there is no difference between a living cell and one that died a moment ago. What really animates cells and sets them apart from non-living matter? This question goes back to the flawed geniuses and heroic origins of modern biology. The answer could turn our picture of life on Earth upside down.
In Transformer, Nick Lane captures a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight. At its core is a cycle of reactions that transforms inorganic molecules into the building blocks of life, and the reverse - the iconic Krebs cycle that sits at the heart of metabolism. This conflicted merry-go-round of energy and matter has long taunted true understanding. Nick Lane is in the vanguard of scientists now tracing its ramifications across the tree of life.
To grasp the Krebs cycle is to fathom the deep coherence of biology. It connects the first photosynthetic bacteria with our own peculiar cells. It links the emergence of consciousness with the inevitability of death. And it puts the subtle differences between individuals in the same grand story as the rise of the living world itself.
Life is at root a chemical phenomenon: this is its deep logic.
Transformer (Ebook)
The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
Buy from
What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end?
'One of my favourite science writers' Bill Gates
'Hugely important' Jim Al-Khalili
For decades, biology has been dominated by information - the power of genes. Yet there is no difference in information content between a living cell and one that died a moment ago. A better question goes back to the formative years of biology: what processes animate cells and set them apart from lifeless matter?
In Transformer, Nick Lane turns the standard view upside down, capturing an extraordinary scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight. At its core is an amazing cycle of reactions that uses energy to transform inorganic molecules into the building blocks of life - and the reverse. To understand this cycle is to fathom the deep coherence of the living world. It connects the origin of life with the devastation of cancer, the first photosynthetic bacteria with our own mitochondria, sulphurous sludges with the emergence of consciousness, and the trivial differences between ourselves with the large-scale history of our planet.
Transformer (Audiobook)
The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
Buy from
What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end?
'One of my favourite science writers' Bill Gates
For decades, biology has been dominated by information – the power of genes. Yet in terms of information there is no difference between a living cell and one that died a moment ago. What really animates cells and sets them apart from non-living matter? This question goes back to the flawed geniuses and heroic origins of modern biology. The answer could turn our picture of life on Earth upside down.
In Transformer, Nick Lane captures a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight. At its core is a cycle of reactions that transforms inorganic molecules into the building blocks of life, and the reverse – the iconic Krebs cycle that sits at the heart of metabolism. This conflicted merry-go-round of energy and matter has long taunted true understanding. Nick Lane is in the vanguard of scientists now tracing its ramifications across the tree of life.
To grasp the Krebs cycle is to fathom the deep coherence of biology. It connects the first photosynthetic bacteria with our own peculiar cells. It links the emergence of consciousness with the inevitability of death. And it puts the subtle differences between individuals in the same grand story as the rise of the living world itself.
Life is at root a chemical phenomenon: this is its deep logic.
Transformer (Paperback)
The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
Buy from
What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end?
'One of my favourite science writers' Bill Gates
'Hugely important' Jim Al-Khalili
For decades, biology has been dominated by information - the power of genes. Yet there is no difference in information content between a living cell and one that died a moment ago. A better question goes back to the formative years of biology: what processes animate cells and set them apart from lifeless matter?
In Transformer, Nick Lane turns the standard view upside down, capturing an extraordinary scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight. At its core is an amazing cycle of reactions that uses energy to transform inorganic molecules into the building blocks of life - and the reverse. To understand this cycle is to fathom the deep coherence of the living world. It connects the origin of life with the devastation of cancer, the first photosynthetic bacteria with our own mitochondria, sulphurous sludges with the emergence of consciousness, and the trivial differences between ourselves with the large-scale history of our planet.
Reviews for Transformer
Adam Rutherford
New Scientist
New Yorker
Science
Nature
New Humanist
Booklist
Peter Forbes Prospect
Brian Clegg Popular Science
Laura Eme and Courtney W. Stairs Nature Ecology & Evolution
Siddhartha Mukherjee, author The Emperor of All Maladies, The Gene: An Intimate History
Bill Gates
Jim Al-Khalili, author The World According To Physics
Daniel M. Davis, author The Secret Body
Olivia Judson, evolutionary biologist and author
Gaia Vince, author Nomad Century, Adventures in the Anthropocene
Richard Fortey FRS FRSL, author Fossils: The Key to the Past
Mark Solms, author The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
Phillip Ball
John Grunsfeld, former NASA Chief Scientist and Astronaut
Nick Lane
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