Provides plenty of gee-whiz moments, but Zimmer needn’t have used every single index card from his formidable research.
The author explains why that bug that lives in your intestine has been a bonanza for biologists.
Though the toxic strain of E. coli is the one that makes news—usually thanks to contaminated food—many strains are weak, harmless and/or helpful, notes seasoned science writer Zimmer (Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins, 2005, etc.). Newborns are infected with E. coli from birth, and after settling in the gut, the bacteria forms an ecosystem with other bugs that helps us digest foods, make useful proteins and fend off pathogens. The bug’s main claim to fame, however, is the debt owed by genetics and the biotech industry to E. coli and the viruses (bacteriophages) that infect it. Ingenious experiments by a constellation of Nobelists including Salvador Luria, Max Delbrück and Joshua Lederberg established the startling fact that bacteria have sex; that’s how they exchange genes and spread useful mutations such as resistance to antibiotics. The phages that infect E. coli can contribute their genes as well. Zimmer goes on at length to describe how E. coli adapts to life’s vicissitudes. Too hot an environment? Make heat-shock proteins. Only lactose and not glucose for food? Switch on genes that make lactose-digesting enzymes. Need to get away fast? Grow flagella. And more. In somewhat confusing order, the author piles on descriptions and digressions into feedback circuitry, bacterial sensors, bacterial and human evolution, specialization of bacteria within colonies and cooperation across species in aggregates of bacteria in “biofilms.” He explains how E. coli became the darling of the biotech industry when geneticists realized that they could splice human genes into the bacteria and generate useful products like insulin. He rehashes the controversies over recombinant DNA and philosophizes about current concerns regarding genetically modified crops and cross-species hybridization. He ends with an excursion into astrobiology and what forms life might take Out There.
Provides plenty of gee-whiz moments, but Zimmer needn’t have used every single index card from his formidable research.Pub Date: May 6, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-375-42430-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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