life on the edge jim al khalili and johnjoe mcfadden

'McFadden and Al-Khalili draw readers into a revolutionary new paradigm. McFadden and Al-Khalili give sure footing to the anything-goes bafflement of quantum theory.' 'The elemental provocation of the book lies in the authors' ability to make the complex conceivable.

Life on the Edge is a fascinating and thought-provoking book that combines solid science, reasonable extrapolation from the known into the unknown, and plausible speculation to give an accessible overview of a revolutionary transformation in our understanding of the living world.' Praise for New York Times Bestseller Life on the Edge 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. Guiding the reader through the maze of rapidly unfolding discovery, Al-Khalili and McFadden communicate vividly the excitement of this explosive new field of quantum biology, with its potentially revolutionary applications, and also offer insights into the biggest puzzle of all: what is life? Drawing on recent ground-breaking experiments around the world, they show how photosynthesis relies on subatomic particles existing in many places at once, while inside enzymes, those workhorses of life that make every molecule within our cells, particles vanish from one point in space and instantly materialize in another.Įach chapter in Life on the Edge opens with an engaging example that illustrates one of life’s puzzles – How do migrating birds know where to go? How do we really smell the scent of a rose? How do our genes manage to copy themselves with such precision? – and then reveals how quantum mechanics delivers its answer. Like Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, which provided a new perspective on evolution, Life on the Edge alters our understanding of life's dynamics as Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe Macfadden reveal the hitherto missing ingredient to be quantum mechanics. Are we missing a vital ingredient in its creation? Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe but how does it work? Even in this age of cloning and synthetic biology, the remarkable truth remains: nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material.

Life on the edge jim al khalili and johnjoe mcfadden