The Story Of Life In 10 1 2 Species

Download or read book The Story of Life in 10 1/2 Species written by Marianne Taylor and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Souvenirs of the planet: Ten (and a half) life forms, each of which explains a key aspect of life on Earth. If an alien visitor were to collect ten souvenir life forms to represent life on earth, which would they be? This is the thought-provoking premise of Marianne Taylor's The Story of Life in 10 and a Half Species. Each life forms explains a key aspect about life on Earth. From the sponge that seems to be a plant but is really an animal to the almost extinct soft-shelled turtle deemed extremely unique and therefore extremely precious, these examples reveal how life itself is arranged across time and space, and how humanity increasingly dominates that vision. Taylor, a prolific science writer, considers the chemistry of a green plant and ponders the possibility of life beyond our world; investigates the virus in an attempt to determine what a life form is; and wonders if the human—“a distinct and very dominant species with an inevitably biased view of life”— could evolve in a new direction. She tells us that the giraffe was one species, but is now four; that the dusky seaside sparrow may be revived through “re-evolution,” or cloning; explains the significance of Darwin's finch to evolution; and much more. The “half” species is artificial intelligence. Itself an experiment to understand and model life, AI is central to our future—although from the alien visitor's standpoint, unlikely to inherit the earth in the long run.

Download or read book The Story of the World in 100 Species written by Christopher Lloyd and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of What on Earth Happened? offers a radical new look at the story of Earth, seen through the prism of the living things that have had the greatest impacts on the planet.

Download or read book Tinkering with Eden written by Kim Todd and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2002 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bewitching look at nonnative species in American ecosystems, by the heir apparent to McKibben and Quammen.

Download or read book Lost Animals written by John Whitfield and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet the incredible animals that have disappeared due to competition, mass extinctions, hunting, and human activity. Lost Animals brings back to life some of the most charismatic creatures to inhabit the planet. It captures the imagination with more than 200 incredible photographs, artworks of fossils, and scientific drawings of charming creatures like dodos, paraceratherium (the largest land mammal), spinosaurus (the biggest carnivorous dinosaur), placeoderm fishes (the sharks of their day), and more! Lost Animals is a captivating documentation of evolution and extinction. Each chapter focuses on a specific time in Earth's history, from the Cambrian explosion (the most intense surge of evolution the world has ever experienced) to present times, with profiles of the key species that lived then. From long extinct animals to Lazarus species--animals that were thought to be extinct before being rediscovered--this book takes readers on a journey through Earth's natural history, highlighting the world's biggest animal losses and its moments of conservational hope.

Download or read book The Book of Frogs written by Tim Halliday and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-01-29 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A huge, beautiful compendium of 600 frogs from around the world, from the famed poison-arrow variety on up to the intriguingly named plaintive rain frog.” —Wired With over 7,000 known species, frogs display a stunning array of forms and behaviors. A single gram of the toxin produced by the skin of the Golden Poison Frog can kill 100,000 people. Male Darwin’s Frogs carry their tadpoles in their vocal sacs for sixty days before coughing them out into the world. The Wood Frogs of North America freeze every winter, reanimating in the spring from the glucose and urea that prevent cell collapse. The Book of Frogs commemorates the diversity and magnificence of all of these creatures, and many more. Six hundred of nature’s most fascinating frog species are displayed, with each entry including a distribution map, sketches of the frogs, species identification, natural history, and conservation status. Life-size color photos show the frogs at their actual size—including the colossal seven-pound Goliath Frog. Accessibly written by expert Tim Halliday and containing the most up-to-date information, The Book of Frogs will captivate both veteran researchers and amateur herpetologists. As frogs increasingly make headlines for their troubling worldwide decline, the importance of these fascinating creatures to their ecosystems remains underappreciated. The Book of Frogs brings readers face to face with six hundred astonishingly unique and irreplaceable species that display a diverse array of adaptations to habitats that are under threat of destruction throughout the world. “If you are a serious (and I mean serious) fan of the frog, you are in for a real treat.” —Boing Boing

Download or read book The Vital Question written by Nick Lane and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A game-changing book on the origins of life, called the most important scientific discovery 'since the Copernican revolution' in The Observer.

Download or read book Survival written by Julie E. Czerneda and published by Astra Publishing House. This book was released on 2005-05-03 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biologist Mackenzie Connor is charged with protecting the human race after a devastating alien invasion in this first book in the Species Imperative science fiction series Herself a biologist, Julie E. Czerneda has earned a reputation in science fiction circles for her ability to create beautifully crafted, imaginative, yet believably realized alien races. In Survival, the first novel in her new series, Species Imperative, she draws upon this talent to build races, characters, and a universe which will draw readers into a magnificent tale of interstellar intrigue, as an Earth scientist is caught up in a terrifying interspecies conflict. Senior co-administrator of the Norcoast Salmon Research Facility, Dr. Mackenzie Connor, Mac to her friends and colleagues, was a trained biologist, whose work had definitely become her life. And working at Norcoast Base, set in an ideal location just where the Tannu River sped down the west side of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast was the perfect situation for Mac. She and fellow scientist Dr. Emily Mamani were just settling in to monitor this year's salmon runs when their research was interrupted by the unprecedented arrival of Brymn, the first member of the alien race known as the Ohryn to ever set foot on Earth. Brymn was an archaeologist, and much of his research had focused on a region of space known as the Chasm, a part of the universe that was literally dead, all of its worlds empty of any life-forms, though traces existed of the civilizations that must once have flourished in the region. Brymn had sought out Mac because she was a biologist -- a discipline strictly forbidden among his own people -- and he felt that through her expertise she might be able to help him discover what had created the Chasm. But Mac had little interest in alien races and in studies that ranged beyond Earth, and as politely as she was capable of, she tried to make it clear that she was unwilling to abandon her own work. However, the decision was soon taken out of her hands when a mysterious and devastating attack on the Base resulted in the abduction of Emily, and forced Mac to flee for her life with Brymn and the Earth special agents who were escorting him. Suddenly, it appeared that Earth itself might be under attack by the legendary race the Ohryn called the Ro, the beings they thought might be the destructive force behind the Chasm. Cut off from everything and everyone she knew, Mac found herself in grave danger and charged with the responsibility of learning everything she could that might possibly aid Earth in protecting the human race from extinction...