About Life

Concepts in Modern Biology

Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley

244 pages, parution le 22/02/2007

Ajouter à une liste

Indisponible

Résumé

This book uses modern biological knowledge to tackle the question of what distinguishes living organisms from the non-living world. The authors first draw on recent advances in cell and molecular biology to develop an account of the living state that applies to all organisms (and only to organisms). This account is then used to explore questions about evolution, the origin of life, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The novel approach taken by this book to issues in biology will interest and be accessible to both the general reader as well as students and specialists in the field.

Sommaire

Ingredients of the Simplest Cells (Prokaryotes and the Sizes of their Contents).
Bigger Cells (Eukaryotic Cells and their Contents).
Hives of Industry (A Survey of Intermediary Metabolism).
Delights of Transport (Mechanisms by which Cellular Contents are Moved around).
As if Standing Still (Cellular Homeostasis and Regulatory Processes).
Internal State and Gene Expression (Transcription and its Control).
Sustaining and Changing the Internal State (The Interrelationship between Gene Expression and the Cell's Current Composition and Functional State).
Responding to the Environment (Signal Processing and its Relationship to Cell Structure, Metabolism and Gene Expression).
The Living State (A general characterization of "life").
Stability and Change in DNA (Why DNA is highly stable and a Survey of the Mechanisms by which it can Change).
The Spice of Life (Variety, Habitats, Natural Selection, Symbiosis, Ecosystems).
Curriculum Vitae (An Outline History of Life on Earth).
The Origin of Life (Major Ideas and Unanswered Questions).
Other Worlds (Ideas about Extraterrestrial Life, including a Critique of the Assumptions behind the "Drake Equation" and the SETI Project).
Intelligent Behaviour and Brains (The Meaning of "Intelligence").
Human Intelligence (Human Evolution and the Question of Human Uniqueness).
Cells, Brains and Computers: towards a Characterisation of Mind.

Voir tout

Replier

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Springer
Auteur(s)	Paul S. Agutter, Denys N. Wheatley
Parution	22/02/2007
Nb. de pages	244
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	562g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9781402054174
ISBN13	978-1-4020-5417-4