In an era when the theory of natural selection is under siege politically, exploration of its nuances is welcome. Zimmer declares that selection can be powered by humans individually (e.g., by antibiotic administration), collectively (e.g., by large-scale industrial food production), or inadvertently (e.g., by acting as host to a microbial pathogen). coli genesis, indicating how far we’ve come since Darwin. Zimmer devotes considerable attention to genome plasticity and natural selection in E.
#Microcosm carl zimmer professional
His appreciation of microbial biofilms is similarly clear and current, though the relationship between biofilm formation and intestinal colonization is as murky for Zimmer as it is for the professional microbiologist. coli flagellar function is accurate, as is his discussion of alternative sigma factors.
His summary of the complicated regulatory scheme controlling E. coli research, lucidly reviewing complex and still-emerging stories. Zimmer also guides the reader through the highlights of modern E. These discussions are enlightening for the biology watcher. coli’s remarkable nanomachines (particularly the flagellum), though he stops short of surmising how biological machines can initially achieve their astonishing complexity in the face of entropy’s mandate. does indeed reduce its own entropy, but only by consuming energy.” He likewise devotes considerable attention to E. coli’s existence: “There’s a powerful drive throughout the universe, known as entropy, that pushes order toward disorder. Zimmer indicates the improbable paradox of E. coli strain K12 by Edward Tatum, and climaxing with the panorama of Nobel laureates who exploited K12 and its progeny. coli by the great pediatrician and microbiologist Theodor Escherich, spanning the isolation of the E. Zimmer opens the book with a historical introduction, beginning with the identification of E. He has authored numerous books on topics of biology and medicine, though Zimmer is, impressively, not a professional scientist. He contributes to highly visible publications, including the New York Times, National Geographic, and Scientific American, and he is a winner of the 2007 National Academies Communication Award, the highest honor for science writing. coli’s anvil, and application of these tools to the study of the bacterium itself has illuminated genetic regulation and exchange, virulence, nanomachines, bacterial social behavior, and evolution.Ĭarl Zimmer is an American science writer at the zenith of his profession. The tools of molecular biology were forged on E. coli has been the substratum for an astonishing number of scientific breakthroughs.
coli and the new science of life, science writer Carl Zimmer reminds us that E. Copyright 2008 Carl Zimmer.Escherichia coli is omnipresent in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract, but its life in broad daylight is also a fascinating story. I also stopped by KUSP when I was in Santa Cruz, CA, last week, and talked on their show, Talk of the Bay.
I jump in at about minute 32:00, but the whole show is worth a listen. My interview on This Week In Science is now online here. Timmer and I also had a talk via Skype recently not just about Microcosm, but about writing about science in general, and he’s posted the interview (page one and two). That’s the introduction of John Timmer’s review of Microcosm over at Ars Technica (a great technology and science site that was recently snatched up by Conde Nast). Still, he handles the challenge extraordinarily well. Covering all of life is a big task, and Zimmer made the challenge that much harder on himself by choosing to target the book to a general audience. For Zimmer, the system that serves as a model of all life, and of humanity’s often uncomfortable relationship to it, is the unprepossessing gut bacteria, Escherischia coli. coli and the New Science of Life, Science writer Carl Zimmer took that reductionist approach and applied it to a pretty big issue: life itself. The field of biology has been wildly successful by taking what’s called a reductionist approach, i.e., you tackle a small problem in isolation in order to gain insight into larger questions.
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