Creation: The Origin of Life - Adam Rutherford

Publisher: Penguin - Creation: The Origin of Life - Adam Rutherford

Description:

What is life? In what form did it first appear? And how?

Every creature, plant and cell that has ever inhabited the Earth owes its existence to the emergence, some four billion years ago, of a single living being. From this first, unique life-form, all other life subsequently evolved. What extraordinary circumstances conspired to create such a thing?

The question of life's origin has preoccupied humanity throughout its history. In the last two hundred years, the three cornerstones of biology - the discovery of cells, Darwin's theory of evolution and the workings of DNA - have provided the key clues to an answer. Now, thanks to the recent work of leading contemporary biologists, we have within our grasp a full understanding of this most astonishing event.

Drawing on remarkable recent research, The Origin of Life takes us on a gripping, four-billion year journey of discovery, from interplanetary collisions to the inner workings of cells and genes, to uncover the identity, nature and origin of first life - and all life - offering answers to the grandest of questions before arriving at a thrilling solution to the greatest detective story of them all.