The Cell by Jack Challoner
The cell is the basic building block of life. In its 3.5 billion years on the planet, it has proven to be a powerhouse, spreading life first throughout the seas, then across land, developing the rich and complex diversity of life that populates the planet today.
With The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life, Jack Challoner treats readers to a visually stunning tour of these remarkable molecular machines. Most of the living things we're familiar with--the plants in our gardens, the animals we eat--are composed of billions or trillions of cells. Most multicellular organisms consist of many different types of cells, each highly specialized to play a particular role--from building bones or producing the pigment in flower petals to fighting disease or sensing environmental cues. But the great majority of living things on our planet exist as single cell. These cellular singletons are every bit as successful and diverse as multicellular organisms, and our very existence relies on them.
The book is an authoritative yet accessible account of what goes on inside every living cell--from building proteins and producing energy to making identical copies of themselves--and the importance of these chemical reactions both on the familiar everyday scale and on the global scale. Along the way, Challoner sheds light on many of the most intriguing questions guiding current scientific research: What special properties make stem cells so promising in the treatment of injury and disease? How and when did single-celled organisms first come together to form multicellular ones? And how might scientists soon be prepared to build on the basic principles of cell biology to build similar living cells from scratch.
With The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life, Jack Challoner treats readers to a visually stunning tour of these remarkable molecular machines. Most of the living things we're familiar with--the plants in our gardens, the animals we eat--are composed of billions or trillions of cells. Most multicellular organisms consist of many different types of cells, each highly specialized to play a particular role--from building bones or producing the pigment in flower petals to fighting disease or sensing environmental cues. But the great majority of living things on our planet exist as single cell. These cellular singletons are every bit as successful and diverse as multicellular organisms, and our very existence relies on them.
The book is an authoritative yet accessible account of what goes on inside every living cell--from building proteins and producing energy to making identical copies of themselves--and the importance of these chemical reactions both on the familiar everyday scale and on the global scale. Along the way, Challoner sheds light on many of the most intriguing questions guiding current scientific research: What special properties make stem cells so promising in the treatment of injury and disease? How and when did single-celled organisms first come together to form multicellular ones? And how might scientists soon be prepared to build on the basic principles of cell biology to build similar living cells from scratch.
Always frustrated by lack of clarity in books he read as a child, Jack Challoner long felt the need to make the amazing things that science and technology have achieved accessible to a wide audience. After studying physics in London, he trained as a science and math teacher. He then worked at London's Science Museum, in the education department and in their flagship interactive gallery, Launch Pad. Jack left the museum in 1991 to write science and technology books, and to write and perform science shows in museums, libraries, and schools. He's been doing all that ever since, with nearly forty books to his name. He also works as a consultant on other people's science books, and sometimes in television, helping to develop new ideas or work up existing ones. He is also a musician and singer, writing, producing and performing music. He lives in Bristol, England. Curiscope is a UK-based augmented and virtual reality company. They aim to inspire curious kids to develop a love for science and explore the world around them in ways they never thought possible.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780226224183 |
| ISBN 10 | 022622418X |
| Title | The Cell |
| Author | Jack Challoner |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | The University of Chicago Press |
| Year published | 2015-10-16 |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |