Life's edge : the search for what it means to be alive Cover Image

Book

Life's edge : the search for what it means to be alive / Carl Zimmer.

Zimmer, Carl, 1966- (author.).

Summary:

"We all assume we know what life is, but the more scientists learn about the living world-from protocells to brains, from zygotes to pandemic viruses-the harder they find it is to locate life's edge"-- Provided by publisher.

What is life? The power seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Zimmer journeys through experiments that have attempted to recreate life; shows how coronaviruses have altered the course of history; and even tries his own had at evolving life in a test tube... with unnerving results. -- adapted from jacket

Record details

ISBN: 9780593182710
ISBN: 0593182715
Physical Description: xx, 348 pages ; 24 cm
Publisher: [New York, New York] : Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2021]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-334) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction: The borderland -- The quickening. The way the spirit comes to the bones ; Death is resisted -- The hallmarks. Dinner ; Decisive matter ; Preserving constant the conditions of life ; Copy/Paste ; Darwin's lung -- A series of dark questions. This astonishing multiplication ; Irritations ; The sect ; This mud was actually alive ; A play of water ; Scripts -- Return to the borderland. Half life ; Data needed for a blueprint ; No obvious bushes ; Four blue droplets.