So simple a beginning : how four physical principles shape our living world / Raghuveer Parthasarathy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parthasarathy, Raghuveer, 1976- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biophysics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2022]

Summary:

A biophysicist reveals the hidden unity behind nature’s breathtaking complexityThe form and function of a sprinting cheetah are quite unlike those of a rooted tree. A human being is very different from a bacterium or a zebra. The living world is a realm of dazzling variety, yet a shared set of physical principles shapes the forms and behaviors of every creature in it. So Simple a Beginning shows how the emerging new science of biophysics is transforming our understanding of life on Earth and enabling potentially lifesaving but controversial technologies such as gene editing, artificial organ growth, and ecosystem engineering.Raghuveer Parthasarathy explains how four basic principles—self-assembly, regulatory circuits, predictable randomness, and scaling—shape the machinery of life on scales ranging from microscopic molecules to gigantic elephants. He describes how biophysics is helping to unlock the secrets of a host of natural phenomena, such as how your limbs know to form at the proper places, and why humans need lungs but ants do not. Parthasarathy explores how the cutting-edge biotechnologies of tomorrow could enable us to alter living things in ways both subtle and profound.Featuring dozens of original watercolors and drawings by the author, this sweeping tour of biophysics offers astonishing new perspectives on how the wonders of life can arise from so simple a beginning.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

PART I The Ingredients of Life

1 DNA: A Code and a Cord

2 Proteins: Molecular Origami

3 Genes and the Mechanics of DNA

4 The Choreography of Genes

5 Membranes: A Liquid Skin

6 Predictable Randomness

PART II Living Large

7 Assembling Embryos

8 Organs by Design

9 The Ecosystem inside You

10 A Sense of Scale

11 Life at the Surface

12 Mysteries of Size and Shape

PART III Organisms by Design

13 How We Read DNA

14 Genetic Combinations

15 How We Write DNA

16 Designing the Future

Acknowledgments

References

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691231617

0691231613

OCLC:

1262672713