Nick Lane

Why is life the way it is Bacteria evolved into complex life just once in four billion years of life on earth and all complex life shares many strange properties from sex to ageing and death If life evolved on other planets would it be the same or completely different In The Vital Question Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history putting forward a cogent solution to conundrums that have troubled scientists for decades The answer he argues lies in energy how all life on Earth lives off a voltage with the strength of a bolt of lightning In unravelling these scientific enigmas making sense of life s quirks Lane s explanation provides a solution to life s vital questions why are we as we are and why are we here at all This is ground breaking science in an accessible form in the tradition of Charles Darwin s The Origin of Species Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene and Jared Diamond s Guns Germs and Steel

Los diez grandes inventos de la evolución es un nuevo y esclarecedor estudio sobre los diez avances principales de la biología, brillantemente explicados por uno de los jóvenes bioquímicos británicos mas destacados. Partiendo de los ultimos hallazgos cientificos en en biologia, geologia, quimica y fisica, Nick Lane reconstruye la maravillosa e increible historia de la vida en la tierra con una minuciosidad soberbia e inesperada que sin duda atraera por igual a los avidos de saber como a los sabios. "Si Charles Darwin saliera de la tumba, le daria este magnifico libro para que se levantara mas rapido." Matt Ridley autor de Genoma "Un escrito fascinante y hermoso que cuenta los grandes misterios de la vida. Es una lectura que da una verdadera vision dentro del pensamiento cientifico de que es el puzzle de la evolucion.¡Imprescindible!" Ian Stewart. "Un escritor que no teme pensar en grande." Frank Wilczek, Premio Nobel de Fisica en 2004

Winner of the 2010 Royal Society Prize for science booksPowerful new research methods are providing fresh and vivid insights into the makeup of life Comparing gene sequences examining the atomic structure of proteins and looking into the geochemistry of rocks have all helped to explain creation and evolution in more detail than ever before Nick Lane uses the full extent of this new knowledge to describe the ten greatest inventions of life based on their historical impact role in living organisms today and relevance to current controversies DNA sex sight and consciousnesses are just four examples Lane also explains how these findings have come about and the extent to which they can be relied upon The result is a gripping and lucid account of the ingenuity of nature and a book which is essential reading for anyone who has ever questioned the science behind the glories of everyday life

Mitochondria are tiny structures located inside our cells that carry out the essential task of producing energy for the cell They are found in all complex living things and in that sense they are fundamental for driving complex life on the planet But there is much more to them than that Mitochondria have their own DNA with their own small collection of genes separate from those in the cell nucleus It is thought that they were once bacteria living independent lives Their enslavement within the larger cell was a turning point in the evolution of life enabling the development of complex organisms and closely related the origin of two sexes Unlike the DNA in the nucleus mitochondrial DNA is passed down exclusively or almost exclusively via the female line That s why it has been used by some researchers to trace human ancestry daughter to mother to Mitochondrial Eve Mitochondria give us important information about our evolutionary history And that s not all Mitochondrial genes mutate much faster than those in the nucleus because of the free radicals produced in their energy generating role This high mutation rate lies behind our ageing and certain congenital diseases The latest research suggests that mitochondria play a key role in degenerative

Oxygen has had extraordinary effects on life Three hundred million years ago in Carboniferous times dragonflies grew as big as seagulls with wingspans ofnearly a metre Researchers claim they could have flown only if the air had contained more oxygen than today probably as much as 35 per cent Giant spiders tree ferns marine rock formations and fossil charcoalsall tell the same story High oxygen levels may also explain the global firestorm that contributed to thedemise of the dinosaurs after the asteroid impact The strange and profound effects that oxygen has had on the evolution of life pose a riddle which this booksets out to answer Oxygen is a toxic gas Divers breathing pure oxygen at depth suffer from convulsionsand lung injury Fruit flies raised at twice normal atmospheric levels of oxygen live half as long as theirsiblings Reactive forms of oxygen known as free radicals are thought to cause ageing in people Yet ifatmospheric oxygen reached 35 per cent in the Carboniferous why did it promote exuberant growth instead of rapid ageing and death Oxygen takes the reader on an enthralling journey as gripping as a thriller as it unravels the unexpectedways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death The book explains far more than the si

Los diez grandes inventos de la evolución es un nuevo y esclarecedor estudio sobre los diez avances principales de la biología, brillantemente explicados por uno de los jóvenes bioquímicos británicos mas destacados. Partiendo de los ultimos hallazgos cientificos en disciplinas como la biologia, la quimica, la geologia y la fisica, Lane reconstruye la maravillosa e increible historia de la vida en la Tierra con una minuciosidad soberbia e inesperada, que sin duda atraera por igual a los avidos de saber y a los sabios.

¿Por que la vida es como es? Las bacterias evolucionaron a formas de vida más complejas sólo una vez en cuatro mil millones de años en la tierra y todas las formas de vida complejas comparten caracteristicas extrañas, desde el sexo al envejecimiento y la muerte. Si la vida ha evolucionado en otros planetas, ¿sera parecida o completamente diferente? El distinguido bioquimico Nick Lane argumenta que la evolucion de la vida multicelular ?aquella que encontramos en hongos, plantas, animales y humanos? se origino a partir de un ºnico evento. Apoyandose sobre los pilares de la teoria evolutiva, Lane examina el vinculo entre genes y energia, y sugiere una novedosa hipotesis sobre la relacion entre la evolucion celular y la vida a gran escala. Tan rigurosas como fascinantes, sus conclusiones no solo explican el vasto impetu de la evolucion, sino tambien proveen una perspectiva valiosa que amplia nuestro entendimiento del sexo, la especiacion y la complejidad de la vida humana.

Coleção Origem. Respostas avançadas para perguntas fundamentais.Por que a vida é como é? As bactérias evoluíram em direção à vida complexa num evento singular, que ocorreu apenas uma vez ao longo de

¿Por qué la vida es como es? Las bacterias evolucionaron a formas de vida más complejas sólo una vez en cuatro mil millones de años en la Tierra y todas las formas de vida complejas comparten caracteristicas extrañas, desde el sexo al envejecimiento y la muerte. Si la vida ha evolucionado en otros planetas, ¿sera parecida o completamente diferente?El distinguido bioquimico Nick Lane argumenta que la evolucion de la vida multicelular aquella que encontramos en hongos, plantas, animales y humanos se origino a partir de un unico evento. Apoyandose sobre los pilares de la teoria evolutiva, Lane examina el vinculo entre genes y energia, y sugiere una novedosa hipotesis sobre la relacion entre la evolucion celular y la vida a gran escala. Tan rigurosas como fascinantes, sus conclusiones no solo explican el vasto impetu de la evolucion, sino tambien proveen una perspectiva valiosa que amplia nuestro entendimiento del sexo, la especiacion y la complejidad de la vida humana.En La cuestion vital, Nick Lane replantea radicalmente la historia evolutiva, proponiendo una solucion convincente a cuestiones que han preocupado a los cientificos durante años.