About this item
To explain the mystery of how life evolved on Earth, Nick Lane explores the deep link between energy and genes.The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.For two and a half billion years, from the very origins of life, single-celled organisms such as bacteria evolved without changing their basic form. Then, on just one occasion in four billion years, they made the jump to complexity. All complex life, from mushrooms to man, shares puzzling features, such as sex, which are unknown in bacteria.
About the Author
Nick Lane is a biochemist and writer. He is Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. "Like his forebears in that same department -- Steve Jones, JBS Haldane -- he's that rare species, a scientist who can illuminate the bewildering complexities of biology with clear, luminous words" (The Observer) . His research focuses on the role of bioenergetics in the origin of life and the evolution of cells. Nick was awarded the first UCL Provost's Venture Research Prize in 2009 and the 2015 Biochemical Society Award. He has published four critically acclaimed books, which have been translated into 25 languages. Life Ascending won the 2010 Royal Society Prize for Science Books. His books have been shortlisted for two other literary prizes and named a book of the year by the Economist, Independent, Times, Sunday Times, Nature and New Scientist. The Independent described him as "one of the most exciting science writers of our time." In 2016 he was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for excellence in communicating science. For more information, visit www.nick-lane.net
