{"product_id":"how-life-works-a-users-guide-to-the-new-biology-1","title":"How Life Works: A User's Guide to the New Biology","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Bold and intriguing.\"--\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal \u003c\/i\u003e- \"Penetrating. . . . Provocative and profound.\"--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review) - \"Offers plenty of food for thought.\"--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Ball's marvelous book is both wide-ranging and deep. . . . I could not put it down.\"--Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Song of the Cell\u003c\/i\u003e and the Pulitzer Prize-winning \u003ci\u003eThe Emperor of All Maladies\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A new, cutting-edge vision of biology that revises our understanding of what life itself is, how to enhance it, and what possibilities it offers.  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Biology is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Several aspects of the standard picture of how life works--the idea of the genome as a blueprint, of genes as instructions for building an organism, of proteins as precisely tailored molecular machines, of cells as entities with fixed identities, and more--have been exposed as incomplete, misleading, or wrong. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eHow Life Works\u003c\/i\u003e, Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. Ball explains that there is no unique place to look for an answer to this question: life is a system of many levels--genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and body modules such as the immune system and the nervous system--each with its own rules and principles. \u003ci\u003eHow Life Works \u003c\/i\u003eexplains how these levels operate, interface, and work together (most of the time). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With this knowledge come new possibilities. Today we can redesign and reconfigure living systems, tissues, and organisms. We can reprogram cells, for instance, to carry out new tasks and grow into structures not seen in the natural world. As we discover the conditions that dictate the forms into which cells organize themselves, our ability to guide and select the outcomes becomes ever more extraordinary. Some researchers believe that ultimately we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Incorporating the latest research and insights, \u003ci\u003eHow Life Works\u003c\/i\u003e is a sweeping journey into this new frontier of the life sciences, a realm that will reshape our understanding of life as we know it.","brand":"Philip Ball","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47283092750572,"sku":"9780226840062","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9780226840062.jpg?v=1770372271","url":"https:\/\/intl.allstora.com\/products\/how-life-works-a-users-guide-to-the-new-biology-1","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}