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Creation
- How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
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Great first listens
Publisher's summary
What is life? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years. But as technology has advanced and our understanding of biology has deepened, the answer has evolved. For decades, scientists have been exploring the limits of nature by modifying and manipulating DNA, cells, and whole organisms to create new ones that could never have previously existed on their own. In Creation, science writer Adam Rutherford explains how we are now radically exceeding the boundaries of evolution and engineering entirely novel creatures - from goats that produce spider silk in their milk to bacteria that excrete diesel to genetic circuits that identify and destroy cancer cells.
As strange as some of these creations may sound, this new, synthetic biology is helping scientists develop radical solutions to some of the world’s most pressing crises - from food shortages to pandemic disease to climate change - and is paving the way for inventions once relegated to science fiction. Meanwhile, these advances are shedding new light on the biggest mystery of all - how did life begin? We know that every creature on Earth came from a single cell, sparked into existence four billion years ago.
As we come closer and closer to understanding the ancient root that connects all living things, we may finally be able to achieve a second genesis - the creation of new life where none existed before. Creation takes us on a journey four billion years in the making - from the very first cell to the ground-breaking biological inventions that will shape the future of our planet.
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Story
Oxygen takes the listener on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death.
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A Story About Pretty Much Everything
- By ZebraBear on 09-09-20
By: Nick Lane
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Biomimicry
- Innovation Inspired by Nature
- By: Janine M. Benyus
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Biomimicry is rapidly transforming life on earth. Biomimics study nature's most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world. Janine Benyus takes listeners into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as they: discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; learn how to create by watching spiders weave fibers; and many more examples.
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Dated but good
- By stephen taylor on 09-05-21
By: Janine M. Benyus
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What Is Life?
- Five Great Ideas in Biology
- By: Paul Nurse
- Narrated by: Paul Nurse
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The renowned biologist Paul Nurse has spent his career revealing how living cells work. In What Is Life?, he takes up the challenge of describing what it means to be alive in a way that every listener can understand. It is a shared journey of discovery; step-by-step Nurse illuminates five great ideas that underpin biology - the Cell, the Gene, Evolution by Natural Selection, Life as Chemistry, and Life as Information.
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Will listen to this again!
- By angela on 10-06-21
By: Paul Nurse
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The Hidden Spring
- A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
- By: Mark Solms
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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For Mark Solms, one of the boldest thinkers in contemporary neuroscience, discovering how consciousness comes about has been a lifetime's quest. Scientists consider it the "hard problem" because it seems an impossible task to understand why we feel a subjective sense of self and how it arises in the brain. Venturing into the elementary physics of life, Solms has now arrived at an astonishing answer. In The Hidden Spring, he brings forward his discovery in accessible language and graspable analogies.
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Fascinating
- By Aston on 04-26-21
By: Mark Solms
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The Story of Earth
- The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet
- By: Robert M. Hazen
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Earth evolves. From first atom to molecule, mineral to magma, granite crust to single cell to verdant living landscape, ours is a planet constantly in flux. In this radical new approach to Earth’s biography, senior Carnegie Institution researcher and national best-selling author Robert M. Hazen reveals how the co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere - of rocks and living matter - has shaped our planet into the only one of its kind in the Solar System, if not the entire cosmos.
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Makes minerals interesting
- By Gary on 07-31-12
By: Robert M. Hazen
What listeners say about Creation
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gary
- 07-11-13
The Goldilocks book on what is life
Most books on this incredibly interesting topic are too difficult to follow fully or too facile to add to my knowledge base. The author nicely hits the sweet spot between the two extremes.
Most of the recently issued popular science books I listened to on audible, I end up thinking I've already listened to the topic better presented in another book, not this time. The author is very good at laying out the narrative and taking my knowledge base one step further toward understanding our place in the universe by covering the topic in such clear terms but never talking down to the listener.
The first part of the book covers what is life and how can it arrive through natural processes. He discusses the three great biological theories from the 19th century, Cell, Evolution and DNA Theory. The second part delves into what does the future hold for further research in these fields.
Not much to not rave about in this short and highly listenable book. The writer is very good (I only wish he wrote a longer book), and the narrator, Walter Dixon, feels like an old friend since I've listened to and liked many of his other books.
Even if you are like me and have read many of the other fine books available on audible on this topic, I would still recommend this fine short book.
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11 people found this helpful
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- RBJOHN
- 08-28-22
Narrator
What makes this audio version so difficult to keep you engaged is the monotonous cadence and dryness of the narrator. Almost like one of those computer driven voices. Not personable at all.
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