Wonders of Life: Exploring the Most Extraordinary Phenomenon in the Universe

By Brian Cox

Life

What is Life? Where did it come from? Why does it end?

In this beautiful companion book to the Science series Wonders of Life, professor Brian Cox takes us on an incredible journey to discover how a few fundamental laws gave birth to the most complex, diverse, and unique force in the universe—life itself.

Earth is home to an estimated one hundred million species—yet each one is governed by the same laws. Light, gravity, time, matter, and energy are the building blocks of everything, from the smallest microbe to the biggest galaxy. What is true for a bacterium is true for a blue whale. This is the story of the amazing diversity and adaptability of life, told through the fundamental laws that govern it. Through his voyage of discovery, Brian explains how the astonishing inventiveness of nature came about and explores the milestones in the epic journey from the origin of life to modern civilization.

From the vast networks of subterranean fresh-water caverns of the Yucatan peninsula to the unique and precious island of Madagascar, Brian brings readers on a thrilling adventure to the earth's most remote locations, where the wonders of life are on spectacular display. Along the way, the biggest scientific questions are answered: What is life? Where did it come from? Why does it end?

Relying on the latest advances in science as well as the cutting-edge graphics used in the visually stunning bestsellers Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, Brian uncovers the secrets of life in revolutionary detail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9780062241788

Brian Cox

Brian Cox, Ph.D., is Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester. Dr. Cox is also a Royal Society research fellow and a researcher on the ATLAS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. He is perhaps best known as a science broadcaster and host of the BBC’s hugely popular Wonders series. He is the coauthor of three companion books to these series, which have become #1 Sunday Times bestsellers, as well as two narrative works of popular science, The Quantum Universe and Why Does E = mc2? In the 1990s he played keyboards for the UK pop band D:Ream.