Kai Kupferschmidt – författare

Blue is our favorite color globally—the darling of artists since the time of the pharaohs. So it’s startling to turn to the realms of nature and discover that“true” blue is truly rare. The sea and sky are blue, but we can’t bottle this trick of physics. And the few creatures, plants, and minerals that appear blue are almost all deceiving us. There’s no blue pigment in a blue jay—it would be brown but for how its feathers distort light.Kai Kupferschmidt has been enraptured by blue since childhood. In Blue, he invites readers on his globe-trotting quest to understand his favorite color— from Kyoto, where scientists are trying to engineer a blue rose, to Brandenburg, where conservationists hope to save the “little blue macaw.” Deep underground where blue crystals grow and miles overhead where astronauts gaze at our “blue marble” planet-wherever he finds this alluring color, it has a story to tell.

Seuchen sind die Geißeln der Menschheit. Die Pest entvölkerte ganze Landstriche, Choleraepidemien forderten bis ins 20. Jahrhundert hinein Millionen Tote, mit HIV trat in den achtziger Jahren eine völlig neue, zunächst unbeherrschbare Krankheit auf, heute versetzen uns Ebola, Sars oder Vogelgrippe in Angst.Woher kommen die Erreger dieser Seuchen, warum führen manche von ihnen zu Epidemien? Aber vor allem: Was können Medizin und Forschung dagegen tun?Fachlich fundiert erzählt Kai Kupferschmidt die lange, teils krimiartige Geschichte eines vielgestaltigen Phänomens, deren Ende – man ahnt es – nicht absehbar ist.