Foresight: How the Chemistry of Life Reveals Planning and Purpose

Description

Learn about jumping insects with real gears, and the ingenious technology behind a power-punching shrimp. Enter the strange world of carnivorous plants. And check out a microscopic protein machine in a bird’s eye that may work as a GPS device by harnessing quantum entanglement. Join renowned Brazilian scientist Marcos Eberlin as he uncovers a myriad of artful solutions to major engineering challenges in chemistry and biology, solutions that point beyond blind evolution to the workings of an attribute unique to minds— foresight. (This book is endorsed by Noble Prize winners) Contents Endorsements .5 Dedication .9 1. Foresight in Life .13 2. A World Foreseen for Biochemistry .25 3. The Code of Life .45 4. Life’s Helpers .63 5. Bacteria, Bugs, and Carnivorous Plants .83 6. Birds: A Case Study in Foresight .99 7. Foresight in the Human Form: Reproduction .109 8. Planning for the Senses .123 9. Foresight and the Future of Science .137 Endnotes .149 Acknowledgments .163 Illustration Credits .165 Index .167