Rob Dunn – författare

Biologists and laypeople alike have repeatedly claimed victory over life. A thousand years ago we thought we knew almost everything; a hundred years ago, too. But even today, Rob Dunn argues, discoveries we can''t yet imagine still await.

In a series of vivid portraits of single-minded scientists, Dunn traces the history of human discovery, from the establishment of classification in the eighteenth century to today''s attempts to find life in space. The narrative telescopes from a scientist''s attempt to find one single thing (a rare ant-emulating beetle species) to another scientist''s attempt to find everything in a small patch of jungle in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. With poetry and humor, Dunn reminds readers how tough and exhilarating it is to study the natural world, and why it matters.

A savory account of how the pursuit of delicious foods shaped human evolutionNature, it has been said, invites us to eat by appetite and rewards by flavor. But what exactly are flavors? Why are some so pleasing while others are not? Delicious is a supremely entertaining foray into the heart of such questions.With generous helpings of warmth and wit, Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez offer bold new perspectives on why food is enjoyable and how the pursuit of delicious flavors has guided the course of human history. They consider the role that flavor may have played in the invention of the first tools, the extinction of giant mammals, the evolution of the world’s most delicious and fatty fruits, the creation of beer, and our own sociality. Along the way, you will learn about the taste receptors you didn''t even know you had, the best way to ferment a mastodon, the relationship between Paleolithic art and cheese, and much more.Blending irresistible storytelling with the latest science, Delicious is a deep history of flavor that will transform the way you think about human evolution and the gustatory pleasures of the foods we eat.

Over the past century, our species has made unprecedented technological innovations with which we have sought to control nature. In A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life''s overlords, but we are instead at its mercy. In the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the surprising life of the London Underground, Dunn finds laws of life that no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops, dump toxic waste, or build communities, we provide new materials for old laws to shape. Life''s future flourishing is not in question. Ours is.A Natural History of the Future sets a new standard for understanding the diversity and destiny of life itself.

Dieses Buch lässt einen das eigene Zuhause mit anderen Augen sehen.Selbst wenn die Böden blitzsauber sind und das Haus leer erscheint, sind unsere Häuser voller Leben. In Nie allein zu Haus stellt uns der Biologe Rob Dunn die fast 200.000 Arten vor, die bei uns zu Hause leben, von den ägyptischen Mehlmotten in unseren Schränken über die Kamelgrillen in unseren Kellern bis hin zum Laktobazillus, der auf unseren Küchenarbeitsplatten lebt. Während wir davon besessen sind, unsere Häuser zu sterilisieren und unsere Räume von der Natur zu trennen, bauen wir unbewusst einen völlig neuen Spielplatz für die Evolution. Der neue Lebensraum beeinflusst die Organismen, die mit uns leben, bringt einige dazu gefährlicher zu werden, und untergräbt gleichzeitig jene Arten, die unserem Körper gut tun oder uns helfen, bedrohlichere Organismen in Schach zu halten.