A Planet of Viruses [Format Kindle] Author: Carl Zimmer | Language: English | ISBN:
B004Y6WQTE | Format: PDF, EPUB
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Présentation de l'éditeur
Viruses are the smallest living things known to science, yet they hold the entire planet in their sway. We are most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or the flu, but viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long, in fact, that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in caves miles underground.
This fascinating book explores the hidden world of viruses—a world that we all inhabit. Here Carl Zimmer, popular science writer and author of Discover magazine’s award-winning blog The Loom, presents the latest research on how viruses hold sway over our lives and our biosphere, how viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, how viruses are producing new diseases, how we can harness viruses for our own ends, and how viruses will continue to control our fate for years to come. In this eye-opening tour of the frontiers of biology, where scientists are expanding our understanding of life as we know it, we learn that some treatments for the common cold do more harm than good; that the world’s oceans are home to an astonishing number of viruses; and that the evolution of HIV is now in overdrive, spawning more mutated strains than we care to imagine.
The New York Times Book Review calls Carl Zimmer “as fine a science essayist as we have.” A Planet of Viruses is sure to please his many fans and further enhance his reputation as one of America’s most respected and admired science journalists.
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A Planet of Viruses Zimmer University of Chicago Press Viruses are the smallest living things known to science yet they hold the entire planet in their sway We are most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or A Planet of Viruses Welcome to CarlZimmer com Listen to Carl talk about A Planet of Viruses on National Public Radio s Science Friday About the Book In A Planet of Viruses science writer Carl Zimmer Planet of Viruses Yahoo News May 26 2011 Prolific science writer Carl Zimmer has a new book out A Planet of Viruses from University of Chicago Press Part of a series sponsored by the Planet of Viruses Forbes Information for the World s May 26 2011 Prolific science writer Carl Zimmer has a new book out A Planet of Viruses from University of Chicago Press Part of a series sponsored by the A Planet of Viruses Carl Zimmer Google Books Viruses are the smallest living things known to science yet they hold the entire planet in their sway We are most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or
Interesting things happen when physicists decide to go into biological research. They ask questions that biologists generally won't. For example, viruses have small genomes, but they also have very small storage space in their capsids. Bacteriophages inject their genetic material into the bacteria they infect like a combination of a lunar lander and a syringe. How much force does the coiled bacteriophage DNA have? As it turns out, bacteriophages pack quite a punch. The force required to insert the DNA into the capsid is fairly large, and requires quite a bit of ATP, stolen from the host cells by the infected virus before the cell is killed.
Carl Zimmer's new book, A Planet of Viruses borrows its delivery technique from its subjects: in less than 100 pages, A Planet of Viruses packs quite a punch of information. The eradication of smallpox, the rise of HIV, the immigration of West Nile virus to the western hemisphere, the viruses in our genomes and the recent discovery mysteriously huge mimivirus are all treated here in delightfully short essays describing the impact of viruses on mankind and on life in general. To some of these topics Zimmer brings refreshing perspectives. He proposes that the common cold virus, an unwelcome companion of man since ancient history, should be treated like a wise old tutor rather than an ancient enemy. Then he explains why we haven't truly eradicated smallpox, and probably never will. Viruses, hovering between life and non-life have an impact on life so large it is hard to fathom. Viruses kill about half of marine microbes every day. Their sheer biomass ("...equal to [that of] 75 million blue whales"), huge host range, mind-boggling number of particles in the biosphere and, above all, the genetic diversity which is unmatched by all other life combined. They infect more than our cells: many are contained in our very genomes, transferred from generation to generation.
Having read the book in one sitting, I felt a bit lightheaded when I rose to drink my (now cold) coffee. Like compressed viral DNA injected into the host cell, the movement of this concentration of information from a small book into my brain had an almost palpable effect. As a microbiologist I knew quite a few of these stories about viruses, I just never had them put together in front of me in such a readable and concentrated fashion. Unlike larger books, which may be more elaborate on any single theme, Zimmer's small book delivers its viral DNA in a short, sharp shock. I am happy to have been infected, and I recommend you do the same.
Reproduced from bytesizebio.net under Creative Commons License.
Par shipud
- Publié sur Amazon.com
I enjoyed this slim, short volume. It was well written and took some interesting directions, but in the end I was disappointed with its "Science Lite" approach. Most people who pick up a book like this are science buffs if not scientists and can take a much deeper and rewarding information load on board. I would recommend this volume for a middle school library, nothing more. That said, I would really like to see what this author can do if he explored the world of viruses on a more extensive, demanding level.
Par WesternWilson
- Publié sur Amazon.com
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