E-Book Overview
<em>A World From Dust describes how a set of chemical rules combined with the principles of evolution in order to create an environment in which life as we know it could unfold. Beginning with simple mathematics, these predictable rules led to the advent of the planet itself, as well as cells, organs and organelles, ecosystems, and increasingly complex life forms. McFarland provides an accessible discussion of a geological history as well, describing how the inorganic matter on Earth underwent chemical reactions with air and water, allowing for life to emerge from the world's first rocks. He traces the history of life all the way to modern neuroscience, and shows how the bioelectric signals that make up the human brain were formed. Most popular science books on the topic present either the physics of how the universe formed, or the biology of how complex life came about; this book's approach would be novel in that it condenses in an engaging way the chemistry that links the two fields. This book is an accessible and multidisciplinary look at how life on our planet came to be, and how it continues to develop and change even today. This book includes 40 illustrations by Gala Bent, print artist and studio faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts, and Mary Anderson, medical illustrator.
E-Book Content
A World from Dust
A World from Dust How the Periodic Table Shaped Life
Ben McFarland Illustrations by Gala Bent and Mary Anderson
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1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2016 First Edition published in 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file at the Library of Congress ISBN 978–0 –19–027501–3 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan, USA
To those who always welcome me home: Laurie (Chapters 5 and 8), Sam, Aidan, Brendan, and Benjamin (Chapters 3 and 12), and Bethany (Chapter 12)
Contents
Acknowledgments ix Author’s Note xi 1. Arsenic Life? 1 2. Predicting the Chemistry inside a Cell 18 3. Unfolding the Periodic Table 40 4. The Triple-Point Planet 60 5. Seven Chemical Clues to First Life 86 6. Wheels within Wheels 110 7. The Risk and Reward of Sunlight 134 8. One Step Back, Two Steps Forward 160 9. Cracked Open and Knit Together by Oxygen 184 10. The Return of the Exiled Elements 208 11. How Chemistry Shaped History 237 12. A Familiar Refrain 254 Glossary 269 References 273 Index 327
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Acknowledgments
The most valuable and scarce resource needed for this book was time. I was generously given time through two sources: the BioLogos Foundation’s ECF grant and conferences, organized by Kathryn Applegate and Deborah Haarsma, and the award of sabbatical time from Seattle Pacific University, organized by Dean Bruce Congdon. All my time would have amounted to much less without the time my colleagues, students, and friends de