Table Of ContentMAGIC UNIVERSE
Nigel Calder began his writing career on the original staff of New Scientist, in 1956.
He was Editor of the magazine from 1962 to 1966, when he left to become an
independent science writer. His subsequent career has involved spotting, reporting,
and explainning to the general public the big scientific discoveries of our time.
He reached audiences worldwide when he conceived, scripted, and presented many
ground-breaking science documentaries for BBC television. His pioneering role in
taking viewers to the frontiers of discovery was recognized with the award of the
UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science.
Nigel Calder lives in Sussex with his wife Lizzie.
M A G I C
U N I V E R S E
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A Grand Tour of Modern Science
P
NIGEL CALDER
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3
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contents
Introduction
1
Welcometo thespider’s web
Alcohol
4
Geneticrevelations of when yeastinvented booze
Altruism and aggression
6
Looking for the origins ofthose human alternatives
Antimatter
15
Does the coat that Sakharovmade really explain itsabsence?
Arabidopsis
24
The modest weedthatgaveplantscientists the big picture
Astronautics
29
Will interstellarpioneersbe overtaken bytheir grandchildren?
Bernal’s ladder
35
Pointers
Big Bang
37
The inflationary Universe’s sleight-of-hand
Biodiversity
46
The mathematics ofco-existence
Biological clocks
55
Molecularmachinery thatgoverns life’s routines
Biosphere from space
61
‘I want to do the whole world’
Bits and qubits
68
The digital world and itslooming quantum shadow
Black holes
72
The awesome engines ofquasars and activegalaxies
Brain images
80
What doall thevivid movies really mean?
Brain rhythms
86
The mathematics ofthe beat wethink to
v
contents
Brain wiring
91
How doall those nerve connections know where to go?
Buckyballs and nanotubes
95
Doing very much morewith very much less
Cambrian explosion
103
Easy come and easy go, among theearlyanimals
Carbon cycle
107
Exactly how does it interact with the globalclimate?
Cell cycle
114
How and when one living entity becomes two
Cell death
118
How life makes suicide part ofthe evolutionary deal
Cell traffic
122
Zip codes,stepping-stones and the recognition of life’s complexity
Cereals
126
Geneticboosts for the most cosseted inhabitants ofthe planet
Chaos
133
The butterfly versus the ladybird, and the Mercury Effect
Climate change
141
Shall wefreeze or fry?
Cloning
149
Why doingwithout sex carriesa health warning
Comets and asteroids
155
Snowydirtballs and their rocky cousins
Continents and supercontinents
163
Collage-making sincetheworldbegan
Cosmic rays
169
Where dothe punchiest particlescome from?
Cryosphere
174
Icesheets, sea-ice and mountain glaciers tell a confusing tale
Dark energy
181
Revealing the powerofan accelerating Universe
vi
contents
Dark matter
187
A wind ofwimpsor the machinations of machos?
Dinosaurs
193
Why small was beautiful in theend
Discovery
197
Why thetop experts are usually wrong
Disorderly materials
205
The wondersof untidy solids and tidy liquids
DNA fingerprinting
208
From parentage cases to facialdiversity
Earth
211
Why isit so very different from all theotherplanets of the Sun?
Earthquakes
219
Why they may never be accuratelypredicted, or prevented
Earthshine
226
How bright clouds reveal climatechange, and perhaps drive it
Earth system
232
Pointers
Eco-evolution
233
New perspectives onvariability and survival
Electroweak force
238
How Europe recoveredits fading glory in particle physics
Elements
244
A legacy from stellar puffs, collapsinggiants and exploding dwarfs
El Nin˜o
253
When a warm seawobblesthe globalweather
Embryos
257
‘Think of thecontrol genesoperatinga chemical computer’
Energy and mass
263
The cosmic currencyofEinstein’s most famous equation
Evolution
268
Why Darwin’s natural selection was never the wholestory
vii
contents
Extinctions
277
Were theynearly all due to bolts from the blue?
Extraterrestrial life
283
Could we be all alone in the Milky Way?
Extremophiles
291
Creatures that thrivein unexpectedplaces
Flood basalts
297
Can impacting comets set continentsin motion?
Flowering
302
Colourful variations ona theme of genetic pathways
Forces
306
Pointers
Galaxies
308
Looking for Juno’s milk in the infant Universe
Gamma-ray bursts
312
New blackholes being fashioned every day
Genes
317
Words ofwisdom from our ancestors,in four colours
Genomes in general
325
The wholehistory oflife in a chemical code
Global enzymes
333
Why they now fascinate geologists, chemists and biologists
Grammar
341
Does it stand between computersand the dominion of the world?
Gravitational waves
347
Shaking the Universe with weighty news
Gravity
350
Did Uncle Albertreally get itright?
Handedness
360
Mysteries ofleft versus right that won’t go away
Higgs bosons
367
The multi-billion-dollar quest for the mass-maker
viii
contents
High-speed travel
373
The commonsense ofspecialrelativity
Hopeful monsters
380
How they herald a revolution in evolution
Hotspots
388
Are therereally chimneys deep insidetheEarth?
Human ecology
393
How to progressbeyond eco-colonialism
Human genome
401
The industrializationoffundamental biology
Human origins
409
Why most ofthoseexhumationsare only ofgreat-aunts
Ice-rafting events
417
Glacial surges insudden changes of climate
Immortality
423
Should we be satisfiedwith 100 years?
Immune system
428
What’sme,what’s you, and what’sa nasty bug?
Impacts
438
Physicalconsequences of collisionswith cometsand asteroids
Languages
445
Why women often set thenew fashions in speaking
Life’s origin
451
Will theanswer to the riddlecome from outer space?
Mammals
459
Tracing our milk-making forebears in a world ofdriftingcontinents
Matter
465
Pointers
Memory
466
Trackingdownthe chemistryof retentionand forgetfulness
Microwave background
473
Looking for the pattern on the cosmic wallpaper
ix
