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Why Size Matters : From Bac...
<p>John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and creativebiologists, here offers a completely new perspective on the role ofsize in biology. In his hallmark friendly style, he explores theuniversal impact of being the right size. By examining storiesranging from Alice in Wonderland to Gulliver's Travels, he showsthat humans have always been fascinated by things big and small.Why then does size always reside on the fringes of science andnever on the center stage? Why do biologists and others ponder sizeonly when studying something else-running speed, life span, ormetabolism? <em>Why Size Matters</em>, a pioneering book of bigideas in a compact size, gives size its due by presenting aprofound yet lucid overview of what we know about its role in theliving world. Bonner argues that size really does matter-that it isthe supreme and universal determinant of what any organism can beand do. For example, because tiny creatures are subject primarilyto forces of cohesion and larger beasts to gravity, a fly caneasily walk up a wall, something we humans cannot even begin toimagine doing. Bonner introduces us to size through the giants anddwarfs of human, animal, and plant history and then exploresquestions including the physics of size as it affects biology, theevolution of size over geological time, and the role of size in thefunction and longevity of living things. As this elegantly writtenbook shows, size affects life in its every aspect. It is auniversal frame from which nothing escapes.</p>
Monografía
monografia
Rebiun36844426
https://catalogo.rebiun.org/rebiun/record/Rebiun36844426
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240623s2024 njua o 001 0 eng d
0-691-25442-7
10.1515/9780691254425
doi
MiAaPQ
eng
rda
pn
MiAaPQ
MiAaPQ
nju
US-NJ
Bonner, John Tyler
author
Why Size Matters
From Bacteria to Blue Whales
John Tyler Bonner
First edition
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton University Press
[2024]
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton University Press
2024
1 online resource (177 pages)
1 online resource (177 pages)
Princeton Science Library
Volume 142
Includes index
Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Human View of Size -- 3. The Physics of Size -- 4. The Evolution of Size -- 5. Size and the Division of Labor -- 6. Size and Time -- 7. Envoi -- Notes -- Index
John Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and creativebiologists, here offers a completely new perspective on the role ofsize in biology. In his hallmark friendly style, he explores theuniversal impact of being the right size. By examining storiesranging from Alice in Wonderland to Gulliver's Travels, he showsthat humans have always been fascinated by things big and small.Why then does size always reside on the fringes of science andnever on the center stage? Why do biologists and others ponder sizeonly when studying something else-running speed, life span, ormetabolism? Why Size Matters, a pioneering book of bigideas in a compact size, gives size its due by presenting aprofound yet lucid overview of what we know about its role in theliving world. Bonner argues that size really does matter-that it isthe supreme and universal determinant of what any organism can beand do. For example, because tiny creatures are subject primarilyto forces of cohesion and larger beasts to gravity, a fly caneasily walk up a wall, something we humans cannot even begin toimagine doing. Bonner introduces us to size through the giants anddwarfs of human, animal, and plant history and then exploresquestions including the physics of size as it affects biology, theevolution of size over geological time, and the role of size in thefunction and longevity of living things. As this elegantly writtenbook shows, size affects life in its every aspect. It is auniversal frame from which nothing escapes.