Weird Life: The Search for Life That Is Very, Very Different from Our Own - Brossura

Toomey, David

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0393348261 ISBN 13: 9780393348262

Casa editrice: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2014

Riassunto

But might there be life stranger than the most extreme extremophile? Might there be, somewhere, another kind of life entirely? In fact, scientists have hypothesized life that uses ammonia instead of water, life based not in carbon but in silicon, life driven by nuclear chemistry, and life whose very atoms are unlike those in life we know. In recent years some scientists have begun to look for the tamer versions of such life on rock surfaces in the American Southwest, in a “shadow biosphere” that might impinge on the known biosphere, and even deep within human tissue. They have also hypothesized more radical versions that might survive in Martian permafrost, in the cold ethylene lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan, and in the hydrogen-rich atmospheres of giant planets in other solar systems. And they have imagined it in places off those worlds: the exotic ices in comets, the vast spaces between the stars, and—strangest of all—parallel universes.Distilling complex science in clear and lively prose, David Toomey illuminates the research of the biological avant-garde and describes the workings of weird organisms in riveting detail. His chapters feature an unforgettable cast of brilliant scientists and cover everything from problems with our definitions of life to the possibility of intelligent weird life. With wit and understanding that will delight scientists and lay readers alike, Toomey reveals how our current knowledge of life forms may account for only a tiny fraction of what’s really out there.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

David Toomey is an associate professor of English and director of the Professional Writing and Technical Communication Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0393348261
• ISBN 13: 9780393348262
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 268
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile