Wild Solutions: How Biodiversity is Money in the Bank

ISBN-13: 9780300105063 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 276 str.

Andrew Beattie;Paul R. Ehrlich;Christine Turnbull

Opis

In this fascinating and abundantly illustrated book, two eminent ecologists explain how the millions of species living on Earth-some microscopic, some obscure, many threatened-not only help keep us alive but also hold possibilities for previously unimagined products, medicines, and even industries. In an Afterword written especially for this edition, the authors consider the impact of two revolutions now taking place: the increasing rate at which we are discovering new species because of new technology available to us and the accelerating rate at which we are losing biological diversity. Also reviewed and summarized are many "new" wild solutions, such as innovative approaches to the discovery of pharmaceuticals, the "lotus effect," the ever-growing importance of bacteria, molecular biomimetics, ecological restoration, and robotics. "An easy read, generating a momentum of energy and excitement about the potential of the natural world to solve many of the problems that face us."-E. J. Milner-Gulland, Nature "Must-reading for everyone."-Simon A. Levin, author of Fragile Dominion: Complexity and the Commons "An engaging book clearly intended to impress upon a lay audience the practical value of biological diversity. . . . An outstanding work."-Ecology "A most stimulating read for all those budding science students from secondary through graduate schools."-Science Books & Films

O autorze

Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) war einer der vielseitigsten deutschen Medizinforscher. Im Jahre 1908 erhielt er den Nobelpreis (zusammen mit Ilja Iljitsch Metschnikow) für seine bahnbrechenden immunologischen Arbeiten. Ehrlich war aber auch Wegbereiter der Hämatologie und natürlich der Chemotherapie mit dem ersten, klinisch wirksamen Antibiotikum 'Salvarsan'. 1891 war er mit Robert Koch an das neugegründete Institut für Infektionskrankheiten in Berlin berufen worden. Wenige Jahre später wurde das Institut nach Frankfurt am Main verlegt und zum Königlichen Institut für experimentelle Therapie erweitert. Neben seiner Honorarprofessur in Göttingen war Ehrlich Direktor des neu gegründeten Georg-Speyer-Hauses in Frankfurt und wurde1914 Ordinarius an der neuen Frankfurter Universität.