Microcosm: E-coli and The New Science of Life

Microcosm: E-coli and The New Science of Life

by Carl Zimmer (Author)

Synopsis

In 1946, a twenty-year-old medical school student called Joshua Lederberg decided to find out whether microbes make love. Lederberg was motivated not by a displaced libido, but by scientific ambition. At the age of seven, he had declared that he hoped to become 'like Einstein' and to 'discover a few things in science.' The 'few things' Lederberg discovered would revolutionise modern science and earn him a Nobel Prize. He chose to observe the breeding habits of a certain bacterium called Escherichia coli, better known as E coli. His experiments used defective E coli strains lacking the essential molecules to reproduce by cloning which should, by rights, perish in the petri dish.But slowly, a few colonies of survivors began to spread across the dishes. The only possible explanation for their survival was that they were a product of sex. Not only had Lederberg proved that bacteria have sex, he had also proved they have genes. Since then, a bacterium that was once nothing more than a humble resident of the human gut has become our best guide to what it means to be alive. Most of us might only know E coli for its lethal strain that causes food poisoning, but Zimmer uses E coli as a prism to understand what life is, what it was, and what it will become. We learn how E coli microbes talk to each other, how studies of their evolution represent the most powerful evidence in support of natural selection, and how they might just explain life on other planets.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Publisher: William Heinemann
Published: 03 Jul 2008

ISBN 10: 0434016241
ISBN 13: 9780434016242
Book Overview: Acclaimed science writer Carl Zimmer uses the familiar bacterium E coli as a prism to understand what life is, what it was, and what it will become.

Media Reviews
Microcosm could well be entitled Fantastic Voyage. Carl Zimmer, one of our most talented and respected science writers, guides us on a memorable journey into the invisible but amazing world within and around a tiny bacterium. He reveals a life-or-death battle every bit as dramatic as that on the Serengeti and one that offers profound insights into how life is made and evolves. Microcosm expands our sense of wonder by illuminating a microscopic universe few could imagine and instills a sense of pride in the great achievements of the scientists who have discovered and mastered its workings. --Sean B. Carroll, author of Endless Forms Most Beautiful and The Making of the Fittest Written in elegant, even poetic prose, Zimmer's well-crafted exploration should be required reading for all well-educated readers. -- Publishers Weekly
Author Bio
Carl Zimmer writes about science for the New York Times and is the author of five previous books. He was awarded the 2007 National Academies Communication Award, the highest honour in the US for science writing. He lives in Connecticut