How life works : a user's guide to the new biology / Philip Ball.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2023Description: 541 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780226826684
- 0226826686
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | New | 571.8 B187 | Checked out | 06/01/2024 | 33111011226798 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
"Bold and intriguing."-- Wall Street Journal * "Penetrating. . . . Provocative and profound."-- Publishers Weekly (starred review) * "Offers plenty of food for thought."-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Ball's marvelous book is both wide-ranging and deep. . . . I could not put it down."--Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Song of the Cell and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies
A cutting-edge new vision of biology that will revise our concept of what life itself is, how to enhance it, and what possibilities it offers.
Biology is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Several aspects of the standard picture of how life works--the idea of the genome as a blueprint, of genes as instructions for building an organism, of proteins as precisely tailored molecular machines, of cells as entities with fixed identities, and more--have been exposed as incomplete, misleading, or wrong.
In How Life Works , Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. Ball explains that there is no unique place to look for an answer to this question: life is a system of many levels--genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and body modules such as the immune system and the nervous system--each with its own rules and principles. How Life Works explains how these levels operate, interface, and work together (most of the time).
With this knowledge come new possibilities. Today we can redesign and reconfigure living systems, tissues, and organisms. We can reprogram cells, for instance, to carry out new tasks and grow into structures not seen in the natural world. As we discover the conditions that dictate the forms into which cells organize themselves, our ability to guide and select the outcomes becomes ever more extraordinary. Some researchers believe that ultimately we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined.
Incorporating the latest research and insights, How Life Works is a sweeping journey into this new frontier of the life sciences, a realm that will reshape our understanding of life as we know it.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The end of the machine: a new view of life -- Genes: what DNA really does -- RNA and transcription: reading the message -- Proteins: structure and unstructure -- Networks: the webs that make us -- Cells: decisions, decisions -- Tissues: how to build, when to stop -- Bodies: uncovering the pattern -- Agency: how life gets goals and purposes -- Troubleshooting: rethinking medicine -- Making and hacking: redesigning life.
"Biology is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Several aspects of the standard picture of how life works-the idea of the genome as a blueprint, of genes as instructions for building an organism, of proteins as precisely tailored molecular machines, of cells as entities with fixed identities, and more--have been exposed as incomplete, misleading, or wrong. In How Life Works, Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. Ball explains that there is no unique place to look for an answer to this question: life is a system of many levels--genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and body modules such as the immune system and the nervous system--each with its own rules and principles. How Life Works explains how these levels operate, interface, and work together (most of the time). With this knowledge come new possibilities. Today we can redesign and reconfigure living systems, tissues, and organisms. We can reprogram cells, for instance, to carry out new tasks and grow into structures not seen in the natural world. As we discover the conditions that dictate the forms into which cells organize themselves, our ability to guide and select the outcomes becomes ever more extraordinary. Some researchers believe that ultimately we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined. Incorporating the latest research and insights, How Life Works is a sweeping journey into this new frontier of the life sciences, a realm that will reshape our understanding of life as we know it"-- Provided by publisher.