Secret Chambers: The Inside Story of Cells & Complex Life

ISBN-13: 9780199644001 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 256 str.

Martin Brasier

Opis

The appearance of the modern plant cell is one of the most deeply puzzling and unlikely steps in the whole history of life, and as Martin Brasier shows in Secret Chambers, decoding this puzzle has been a great adventure that has mainly taken place over the last fifty years. Covering the period from 1 to 2 billion years ago, Brasier presents the modern understanding of the origin of the complex cell, without which there would be nothing on Earth today except bacteria. Indeed, the formation of this cell was a fundamental turning point in the history of life on Earth. Weaving together several threads, Brasier highlights the importance of single-celled forms to marine ecosystems, describes symbiosis and coral reefs, and examines the architecture and beauty of single-celled Foraminifera and what they tell us about evolution. Throughout the book, he interweaves cutting-edge scientific discussions with lively descriptions of his explorations around the world, from the Caribbean Sea and the Egyptian pyramids, to the shores of the great lakes in Canada, and to the reefs and deserts of Australia.

Recenzje

Bursting with almost boyish enthusiasm, Brasier takes us on an adventure with lively vignettes from his career.

O autorze

Martin Brasier is an English paleontologist made known from his study of microfossils, the Origin of Life, and Precambrian fossils such as the Ediacara biota. He is Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Oxford. He has worked on the Cambrian Explosion and was leader of the UN 's IGCP project on defining the Cambrian geological period. His own book on the subject, Darwin's Lost World: The hidden history of animal life was published in 2009 as part of the Charles Darwin centenary. In 2014 Martin Brasier was awarded the Lyell Medal by the Geological Society for outstanding research contributions.