The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781541617599)

A groundbreaking argument for why alien life will evolve to be much like life here on Earth

We are all familiar with the popular idea of strange alien life wildly different from life on earth inhabiting other planets. Maybe it's made of silicon Maybe it has wheels Or maybe it doesn't. In The Equations of Life, biologist Charles S. Cockell makes the forceful argument that the laws of physics narrowly constrain how life can evolve, making evolution's outcomes predictable. If we were to find on a distant planet something very much like a lady bug eating something like an aphid, we shouldn't be surprised. The forms of life are guided by a limited set of rules, and as a result, there is a narrow set of solutions to the challenges of existence.
A remarkable scientific contribution breathing new life into Darwin's theory of evolution, The Equations of Life makes a radical argument about what life can -- and can't -- be.

Author: Charles S. Cockell
ISBN-10: 1541617592
ISBN-13: 9781541617599
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 06/19/2018
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.40d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2018
Booklist 05/15/2018 pg. 8
Choice 01/01/2019