Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook237 pages4 hours
The Long and the Short of It: The Science of Life Span and Aging
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Everything that lives will die. That’s the fundamental fact of life. But not everyone dies at the same age: people vary wildly in their patterns of aging and their life spans—and that variation is nothing compared to what’s found in other animal and plant species. A giant fungus found in Michigan has been alive since the Ice Age, while a dragonfly lives but four months, a mayfly half an hour. What accounts for these variations—and what can we learn from them that might help us understand, or better manage, our own aging?
With The Long and the Short of It, biologist and writer Jonathan Silvertown offers readers a witty and fascinating tour through the scientific study of longevity and aging. Dividing his daunting subject by theme—death, life span, aging, heredity, evolution, and more—Silvertown draws on the latest scientific developments to paint a picture of what we know about how life span, senescence, and death vary within and across species. At every turn, he addresses fascinating questions that have far-reaching implications: What causes aging, and what determines the length of an individual life? What changes have caused the average human life span to increase so dramatically—fifteen minutes per hour—in the past two centuries? If evolution favors those who leave the most descendants, why haven’t we evolved to be immortal? The answers to these puzzles and more emerge from close examination of the whole natural history of life span and aging, from fruit flies, nematodes, redwoods, and much more. The Long and the Short of It pairs a perpetually fascinating topic with a wholly engaging writer, and the result is a supremely accessible book that will reward curious readers of all ages.
With The Long and the Short of It, biologist and writer Jonathan Silvertown offers readers a witty and fascinating tour through the scientific study of longevity and aging. Dividing his daunting subject by theme—death, life span, aging, heredity, evolution, and more—Silvertown draws on the latest scientific developments to paint a picture of what we know about how life span, senescence, and death vary within and across species. At every turn, he addresses fascinating questions that have far-reaching implications: What causes aging, and what determines the length of an individual life? What changes have caused the average human life span to increase so dramatically—fifteen minutes per hour—in the past two centuries? If evolution favors those who leave the most descendants, why haven’t we evolved to be immortal? The answers to these puzzles and more emerge from close examination of the whole natural history of life span and aging, from fruit flies, nematodes, redwoods, and much more. The Long and the Short of It pairs a perpetually fascinating topic with a wholly engaging writer, and the result is a supremely accessible book that will reward curious readers of all ages.
Unavailable
Author
Jonathan Silvertown
Jonathan Silvertown is professor of evolutionary ecology in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of seven previous books.
Read more from Jonathan Silvertown
Dinner with Darwin: Food, Drink, and Evolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Long and the Short of It: The Science of Life Span & Aging Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Comedy of Error: why evolution made us laugh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemons in Eden: The Paradox of Plant Diversity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to The Long and the Short of It
Related ebooks
The Five-Million-Year Odyssey: The Human Journey from Ape to Agriculture Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nature: An Economic History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeasts Before Us: The Untold Story of Mammal Origins and Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cape Cod: "What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eye of the Shoal: A Fishwatcher's Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Space Traveler's Guide to the Solar System Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Extreme Life of the Sea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAustralia's Amazing Kangaroos: Their Conservation, Unique Biology and Coexistence with Humans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Oasis This Time: Living and Dying with Water in the West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Search of Cell History: The Evolution of Life's Building Blocks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ingenium: Five Machines That Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wind in the Willows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Relentless Evolution Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kangaroo: Portrait of an Extraordinary Marsupial Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCataclysms: An Environmental History of Humanity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Summary of Monty Lyman's The Remarkable Life of the Skin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFir and Empire: The Transformation of Forests in Early Modern China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings18 Miles: The Epic Drama of Our Atmosphere and Its Weather Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Re-Origin of Species: a second chance for extinct animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dispatches from the High Country: Essays on the West from High Country News Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurvivors: The Animals and Plants that Time has Left Behind (Text Only) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Tropics: The Caribbean Roots of Biodiversity Science Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Parks and People: Managing Outdoor Recreation at Acadia National Park Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlooded Forest and Desert Creek: Ecology and History of the River Red Gum Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At the Water's Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History Within: The Science, Culture, and Politics of Bones, Organisms, and Molecules Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Biology For You
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ (Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peptide Protocols: Volume One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"Cause Unknown": The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Winner Effect: The Neuroscience of Success and Failure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Gov't Told Me: And the Better Future Coming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Letter to Liberals: Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Woman: An Intimate Geography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy 101: From Muscles and Bones to Organs and Systems, Your Guide to How the Human Body Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dopamine Detox: Biohacking Your Way To Better Focus, Greater Happiness, and Peak Performance Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Blood of Emmett Till Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Obesity Code: the bestselling guide to unlocking the secrets of weight loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Morphic Resonance: The Nature of Formative Causation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Will Make You Smarter: 150 New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Long and the Short of It
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews