Editorial Penguin Books Ltd
Fecha de edición enero 2019 · Edición nº 1
Idioma inglés
EAN 9780241309599
320 páginas
Libro
encuadernado en tapa dura
When Darwin set out to explain the origin of species, he made no attempt to answer the deeper question: what is life? For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense of this fundamental question. Life really does look like magic: even a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling that no human engineer can match it. And yet, huge advances in molecular biology over the past few decades have served only to deepen the mystery.
So can life be explained by known physics and chemistry, or do we need something fundamentally new?In this penetrating and wide-ranging new analysis, world-renowned physicist and science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new and fast-moving that it lacks a name, a domain where computing, chemistry, quantum physics and nanotechnology intersect. At the heart of these diverse fields, Davies explains, is the concept of information: a quantity with the power to unify biology with physics, transform technology and medicine, and even to illuminate the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe. From life's murky origins to the microscopic engines that run the cells of our bodies, The Demon in the Machine is a breath-taking journey across the landscape of physics, biology, logic and computing.
Weaving together cancer and consciousness, two-headed worms and bird navigation, Davies reveals how biological organisms garner and process information to conjure order out of chaos, opening a window on the secret of life itself.
x{0026}lt;p Paul Davies es físico, cosmólogo y astrobiólogo de prestigio internacional. Trabaja en la Universidad Estatal de Arizona, donde dirige el Beyond Center, un centro pionero dedicado a abordar las grandes cuestiones de la ciencia y la filosofía. También preside el grupo de trabajo posterior a la detección de vida extraterrestre inteligente, de modo que si SETI logra encontrar vida inteligente él será de los primeros en saberlo. El asteroide 1992 OG se rebautizó oficialmente Pauldavies en su honor. En 1995 recibió el Templeton Prize por su trabajo sobre la ciencia y la religión. Es autor de más de una veintena de libros.x{0026}lt;/p
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