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More than three centuries ago, peering through his homemade
microscope at a few drops of murky lake water, Antony von Leeuwenhoek drew back
the veil on the mysterious lives of nature's smallest living organisms. With this
new volume from the Scientific American Library, readers will have their own close-up
encounters with some of the most fascinating and influential inhabitants of the
unseen microworlds both within our bodies and all around us -- the bacteria, fungi,
protozoa, and other organisms characterized as microbes. Microbes
are essential participants in the web of life and have a profound impact on humankind
and our environment. They cause diseases such as cholera and are the source of
such remedies as penicillin. They help transform grape juice into vintage wine
and milk into fine cheese. They decompose matter, playing a leading role in nature's
extraordinary recycling program. And they offer scientists the opportunity to
study life at an infinitesimal scale, where in order to survive organisms must
adapt to laws of physics in ways much different than our own. In
Life at Small Scale, noted biophysicist David B. Dusenbury describes how
microbes obtain and use information from their environments to meet the fundamental
challenges all organisms face -- getting food, avoiding predators and competitors,
and dispersing progeny. As Dusenbury demonstrates, these organisms are hardly
as simple as is often presumed. Despite their size (or rather because of it),
microbes develop some surprisingly complex behaviors, all in response to the physical
demands of the worlds they inhabit. Thus the pages of this captivating, richly
illustrated volume are filled with descriptions of organisms that have devised
remarkably sophisticated, often bizarre ways of moving, navigating, communicating,
eating, resisting enemies, besting rivals, and reproducing. From
fungi that launch their spores as projectiles, to "magnetic" bacteria
that align like compass needles with the Earth's magnetic field, to the microbes
that disperse when we sneeze, Life at Small Scale introduces an intriguing
cast of characters, exploring their lives and environments in exquisite detail.
It also shows how knowledge gained from the study of microbes helps us understand
life on human and global scales as well. Here then is definite proof: there is
more to life than what meets the eye. David B. Dusenbery
is a professor of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The holder of
a Ph.D. in biophysics, he has studied the behavior of nematodes and other simple
organisms for two decades, publishing numerous scientific papers. His interest
in how physical laws influence behavior led him to write the acclaimed book Sensory
Ecology. Dr. Dusenbery has also developed software programs to simultaneously
track hundreds of moving organisms, test models of behavioral mechanisms, and
generate informative images. Several of these unique images appear in Life
at Small Scale. |
