Noga Wies – författare

What, exactly, is life?As young children we are taught about animals such as giraffes, lions, elephants and itsy-bitsy spiders with eight legs; we learn about trees and flowers from the plant kingdom, about toadstools in the woods and fish in the sea. This teaches us to think of living things as discrete entities with characteristic distinguishing features. Later, in school, we find out that all organisms are made up of cells, and that they evolve by natural selection. This trains us to consider nature as being full of distinct, multicellular creatures that adapt to their surroundings. But this is actually a very simplistic view of what life is all about.Embarking on a journey to explore the true diversity of life from ten radical perspectives, we discover that parasites are the most common type of organism, that we might all be descended from viruses, and that a single genetic mutation can have devastating consequences.What does masculinity mean, scientifically speaking? How do bacteria dominate our lives? Do individual fungi exist? In what ways is genealogy really about genes and not people? And why can't whales evolve gills? Join Noga Wies on a fascinating quest to uncover the essence of life itself.

What, exactly, is life?As young children we are taught about animals such as giraffes, lions, elephants and itsy-bitsy spiders with eight legs; we learn about trees and flowers from the plant kingdom, about toadstools in the woods and fish in the sea. This teaches us to think of living things as discrete entities with characteristic distinguishing features. Later, in school, we find out that all organisms are made up of cells, and that they evolve by natural selection. This trains us to consider nature as being full of distinct, multicellular creatures that adapt to their surroundings. But this is actually a very simplistic view of what life is all about.Embarking on a journey to explore the true diversity of life from ten radical perspectives, we discover that parasites are the most common type of organism, that we might all be descended from viruses, and that a single genetic mutation can have devastating consequences.What does masculinity mean, scientifically speaking? How do bacteria dominate our lives? Do individual fungi exist? In what ways is genealogy really about genes and not people? And why can't whales evolve gills? Join Noga Wies on a fascinating quest to uncover the essence of life itself.

Darwin doubted that chance alone could explain the variation among life forms - and cutting-edge research is proving him right.Nonrandom: The Secret Life of DNA Mutations challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions in evolutionary biology: that mutations are random events, equally likely to occur anywhere in the genome at any time. According to new research, different species have wildly different mutation rates; neighbouring genes are characterized by different mutational patterns; the 3D architecture of DNA and even the cell type influence where and how mutations arise; and viruses demonstrate mutational preferences when they infect cells. So how can mutations possibly be random?Drawing on the latest findings in genomics, molecular biology and evolutionary theory, Noga Wies guides readers through this rapidly changing field, showing how a more nuanced understanding of mutations illuminates everything from the origin of new genes to the development of cancer. Along the way, a bold, holistic redefinition of what a mutation actually is emerges one that encompasses overlooked sequences, RNA, and long-lost ancient molecules.Written for the curious general reader with an appetite for new science, this is an authoritative and thought-provoking account of how life changes, and why it does so in ways that are anything but random.