Light
and
Life
Michael Gross:
Light and Life
Oxford University Press
April 2003
Hardback: ISBN 0-1985-6480-5
£ 16.99, pp 161
→ summary
Table of contents
Preface
1) Sun, Earth, and Life
Goldilocks and the three planets
Life and times of a yellow dwarf
Flashback: Helium
The observer that was lost and found
The fire within
Flashback: Neutrinos
A planet in the balance
No life without light?
2) How photosynthesis changed the world
The origin of life on Earth
How to make complex cells
How plant photosynthesis works: a rough guide
Flashback: Melvin Calvin
From sunbathing bacteria to chloroplasts
The mother of all environmental catastrophes: Global change triggered by photosynthesis
The endangered shield: the stratospheric ozone layer
Feed the world: the importance of photosynthesis today
3) Creatures that glow in the dark
Life in the deep dark sea
The idea that nature had 30 times
Just pour and watch it glow
Flashback: Raphael Dubois
Very nice but what’s it for?
Flashback: William McElroy
... and how can we use it?
4) How life is guided by light
Like a moth to the fire
Turning towards the light
Not quite an eye
Getting the rhythm
Flashback: Colin Pittendrigh and Jürgen Aschoff
It's all in the hormones
Flashback: Nils Ryberg Finsen
Getting the right dose
5) Seeing and perceiving
A brighter way of using light
Various ways of building an eye
A lens is for life
Cells with a vision
Flashback: John Dalton and colour blindness
Why your head is not a camera
How to see without seeing
Flashback: Hermann von Helmholtz
How to be seen, and how not to
The limits of light
6) Changing ideas about light and life.
Sun Gods through the ages
Egypt and Europe
South America
Eclipses
Early theories of vision
Goethe's "Farbenlehre"
Outlook
Further reading
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Translations:
For enquiries regarding translation rights contact Adrian Scott: adrian.scott "at" oup.com
last update:
10.02.2008