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England, Jeremy.
Subjects
Life -- Origin.
Thermodynamics.
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England, Jeremy.
by title:
Every life is on fir...
by call number:
576.83 E58e
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England, Jeremy.
Life -- Origin.
Thermodynamics.
MARC Display
Every
life
is on
fire
:
how
thermodynamics
explains
the
origins
of
living
things
/ Jeremy England.
by
England, Jeremy.
Basic Books, 2020.
Call #:
576.83 E58e
Subjects
Life
-- Origin.
Thermodynamics
.
ISBN:
9781541699014 (hc)
Edition:
1st ed.
Description:
vii, 258 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Bibliography:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:
"Why are we alive? Most
things
in the universe aren't. And if you trace the evolutionary history of plants and animals back far enough, you will find that, at some point, neither were we. Scientists have wrestled with this problem for centuries, and no one has been able to offer a credible theory. But in 2013, at just 30 years old, biophysicist Jeremy England published a paper that has utterly upended the ongoing study of
life
's
origins
. In
Every
Life
Is On
Fire
, he describes, for the first time, his highly publicized theory known as dissipative adaptation. In any disordered system, matter clumps together and breaks apart, mostly randomly, without consequence. But some of the clumps that form are momentarily better at doing one specific job: dissipating energy. These structures are less likely to fall apart. Over time, they become better at both withstanding the disorder surrounding them and creating copies of themselves. From this deep insight, grounded in
thermodynamics
, England is able to isolate the emergence of the first life-like behaviors. Scientists have always thought that
life
began as a stroke of spectacular luck. But in fact,
life
may be inevitable, a product of the iron physical laws of the universe. England is both a world-class physicist and an ordained rabbi, and so his inquiry doesn't end with the physics of
life
. We ask questions like "
How
did
life
begin?" not just for the fun of scientific inquiry, but because we want a deeper understanding of who we are and why we're here. Even if physics can explain
how
life-like behaviors emerged, England doubts that reducing
life
down to the energy flows of a bunch of microscopic particles can ever give us a satisfying answer to what it means to be alive?. He believes that
life
is fundamentally a philosophical distinction, not a natural one. So before we can seriously look for
life
's physical
origins
, we must first make basic choices about what we think
life
means. This is something researchers often fail to recognize, and it is why, throughout In
Every
Life
Is On
Fire
, England informs the premises of his theory with a careful exploration of what
life
is for. For anyone who reads this book, no matter their creed, In
Every
Life
Is On
Fire
offers a rare work of popular science that explores not just what science does, but
how
it imbues our lives with meaning"--Publisher.
Holds:
0
Copy/Holding information
Location
Collection
Call No.
Item type
Status
Cole Harbour Public Library
Adult Nonfiction
576.83 E58e
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