University of Chicago Press
The Long and the Short of It: The Science of Life Span and Aging
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- Jonathan Silvertown
- University of Chicago Press
- Hardcover
- 9780226757896
- 8.77 X 5.87 X 0.67 inches
- 0.83 pounds
- Nature > General
- English
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Book Description
Everything that lives will die. That's the fundamental fact of life. But not everyone dies at the same age: people vary wildly in their patterns of aging and their life spans--and that variation is nothing compared to what's found in other animal and plant species. A giant fungus found in Michigan has been alive since the Ice Age, while a dragonfly lives but four months, a mayfly half an hour. What accounts for these variations--and what can we learn from them that might help us understand, or better manage, our own aging?
With The Long and the Short of It, biologist and writer Jonathan Silvertown offers readers a witty and fascinating tour through the scientific study of longevity and aging. Dividing his daunting subject by theme--death, life span, aging, heredity, evolution, and more--Silvertown draws on the latest scientific developments to paint a picture of what we know about how life span, senescence, and death vary within and across species. At every turn, he addresses fascinating questions that have far-reaching implications: What causes aging, and what determines the length of an individual life? What changes have caused the average human life span to increase so dramatically--fifteen minutes per hour--in the past two centuries? If evolution favors those who leave the most descendants, why haven't we evolved to be immortal? The answers to these puzzles and more emerge from close examination of the whole natural history of life span and aging, from fruit flies, nematodes, redwoods, and much more. The Long and the Short of It pairs a perpetually fascinating topic with a wholly engaging writer, and the result is a supremely accessible book that will reward curious readers of all ages.
With The Long and the Short of It, biologist and writer Jonathan Silvertown offers readers a witty and fascinating tour through the scientific study of longevity and aging. Dividing his daunting subject by theme--death, life span, aging, heredity, evolution, and more--Silvertown draws on the latest scientific developments to paint a picture of what we know about how life span, senescence, and death vary within and across species. At every turn, he addresses fascinating questions that have far-reaching implications: What causes aging, and what determines the length of an individual life? What changes have caused the average human life span to increase so dramatically--fifteen minutes per hour--in the past two centuries? If evolution favors those who leave the most descendants, why haven't we evolved to be immortal? The answers to these puzzles and more emerge from close examination of the whole natural history of life span and aging, from fruit flies, nematodes, redwoods, and much more. The Long and the Short of It pairs a perpetually fascinating topic with a wholly engaging writer, and the result is a supremely accessible book that will reward curious readers of all ages.
The Long and the Short of It: The Science of Life Span and Aging
Author Bio
I joined the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh in October 2014 and before that I was at the Open University. My research specialism is plant population biology, covering a large number of topics. My H-index on Google Scholar is 68.
Affiliations and Awards
- Founding Chair of Trustees and now Trustee of the Ecological Continuity Trust
- On the Editorial Board of the New Naturalist library
- Recipient of the British Ecological Society's Ecological Engagement Award, 2011.
Education
- BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences, University of Sussex (1975)
- D.Phil. University of Sussex (1979)
Source:jonathansilvertown.com
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