Author Description

Product Description We are all familiar with the popular idea that strange alien life is wildly different from life on Earth. Maybe it's made of silicon! Maybe it has wheels! Or maybe it doesn't. In The Equations of Life, biologist Charles S. Cockell makes the forceful argument that the laws of physics narrowly constrain how life can evolve, making evolution's outcomes predictable. If we were to find something very much like a lady bug eating something very much like an aphid on a distant planet, we shouldn't be surprised. The forms of life are guided by a limited set of rules, and, as a result, there is a narrow set of solutions to the challenges of existence. A remarkable scientific contribution breathing new life into Darwin's theory of evolution, The Equations of Life makes a radical argument about what life can-and can't-be. About the Author Charles S. Cockell is a professor of astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh and the director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology. He lives in Edinburgh. Ian Porter is an actor and voice artist who has worked extensively on radio, television, film, and stage (West End, Regional, and Europe) and who voices computer games and narrates audiobooks. Born in the UK, his family moved to Los Angeles when he was only a year old. He lived in Redondo Beach, California, until graduating from Long Beach State University and has since lived and worked in Britain.