Life On The Edge - Couverture rigide

Gross, Michael

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0306457865 ISBN 13 : 9780306457869

Editeur : Basic Books, 1998

Synopsis

This book describes the most hostile habitats of our environment and their most hardened inhabitants. The survival strategies which these so-called extremophiles have developed are analyzed in a way accessible to the lay reader but still in touch with the latest research news, including for instance, research on heat-shock proteins and genome sequencing. Michael Gross describes the significance of extremophiles and extreme conditions for biotechnology, medicine, and research into the origin and early evolution of life. Finally, the book takes us into space to explore the possibility of life on other planets including Mars, and the search for habitable planets in other solar systems.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Can life exist in the Antarctic ice, in the deep subsurface, in dilute sulfuric acid, in hot springs-even on Mars? What degree of high or low temperature, pressure, or salt concentration can living cells tolerate? In recent years, scientists have discovered many single-cell creatures that exist in-in fact, are perfectly adapted to-extreme environments that were considered uninhabitable just one or two decades ago. In Life on the Edge, author Michael Gross explores how microorganisms adapt to their hostile environments and how they affect our current definition of the "normal" conditions for life. He also describes the vast implications of these extremophiles and other amazing creatures-from potential breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology to the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

Biographie de l'auteur

Dr. Michael Gross has studied various aspects of life under extreme conditions throughout his research career. He received his doctorate in physical biochemistry from the University of Regensburg, Germany. After seven years of research in protein biochemistry at the University of Oxford, he has recently switched to writing full time. He lives in Oxford, England, and is the author also of Travels to the Nanoworld.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Basic Books
• Date d'édition: 1998
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0306457865
• ISBN 13: 9780306457869
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 250
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible