#Microcosm carl zimmer professional

coli is, of course, peritrichous), and antibacterial peptides are positively, not negatively, charged, as Zimmer claims. For example, each chapter is decorated with a figure of a bacterium bearing polar flagella ( E. coli biologist may be distracted by several errors and omissions in the book. The value of Zimmer’s contribution will be greatest to the lay science enthusiast who realizes that no matter how sophisticated our scientific tools, biological systems generate an inexhaustible source of wonder. Recognition of these by the gifted science writer invigorates science and enriches the lay public. Despite, and perhaps because of, the daily immersion of scientists in their experiments, we often lose the grand vision of life’s universal principles. Though a pleasant read, Zimmer’s work leaves us without the bird’s eye insights characteristic of the best science writers, such as Lewis Thomas, Jared Diamond, and the incomparable Hans Zinsser. Regardless of the source, Zimmer’s synthesis provides the texture of humanity for biological research. The acknowledgment section, in contrast, suggests that Zimmer’s theses have been vetted by a brigade of today’s E. Yes, Zimmer complements his reading of the primary scientific literature with other written sources but apparently a relatively small number of personal interviews with the giants whose stories he relishes (judging from his notes). The book has the feel of a personal encounter with great scientists. In an era when the theory of natural selection is under siege politically, exploration of its nuances is welcome. Zimmer declares that selection can be powered by humans individually (e.g., by antibiotic administration), collectively (e.g., by large-scale industrial food production), or inadvertently (e.g., by acting as host to a microbial pathogen). coli genesis, indicating how far we’ve come since Darwin. Zimmer devotes considerable attention to genome plasticity and natural selection in E.

#Microcosm carl zimmer professional

His appreciation of microbial biofilms is similarly clear and current, though the relationship between biofilm formation and intestinal colonization is as murky for Zimmer as it is for the professional microbiologist. coli flagellar function is accurate, as is his discussion of alternative sigma factors. His summary of the complicated regulatory scheme controlling E. coli research, lucidly reviewing complex and still-emerging stories. Zimmer also guides the reader through the highlights of modern E. These discussions are enlightening for the biology watcher. coli’s remarkable nanomachines (particularly the flagellum), though he stops short of surmising how biological machines can initially achieve their astonishing complexity in the face of entropy’s mandate. does indeed reduce its own entropy, but only by consuming energy.” He likewise devotes considerable attention to E. coli’s existence: “There’s a powerful drive throughout the universe, known as entropy, that pushes order toward disorder. Zimmer indicates the improbable paradox of E. coli strain K12 by Edward Tatum, and climaxing with the panorama of Nobel laureates who exploited K12 and its progeny.

coli by the great pediatrician and microbiologist Theodor Escherich, spanning the isolation of the E. Zimmer opens the book with a historical introduction, beginning with the identification of E. He has authored numerous books on topics of biology and medicine, though Zimmer is, impressively, not a professional scientist. He contributes to highly visible publications, including the New York Times, National Geographic, and Scientific American, and he is a winner of the 2007 National Academies Communication Award, the highest honor for science writing. coli’s anvil, and application of these tools to the study of the bacterium itself has illuminated genetic regulation and exchange, virulence, nanomachines, bacterial social behavior, and evolution.Ĭarl Zimmer is an American science writer at the zenith of his profession. The tools of molecular biology were forged on E. coli has been the substratum for an astonishing number of scientific breakthroughs. coli and the new science of life, science writer Carl Zimmer reminds us that E. Escherichia coli is omnipresent in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract, but its life in broad daylight is also a fascinating story.