《塑造生命的4大物理原理》内容简介

　　细菌为什么不能像鲸鱼一样游泳？

　　蚂蚁为什么没有肺？

　　大象为什么有大得多的骨头？

　　新锐生物物理学家揭示了大自然令人惊叹的复杂性背后隐藏的统一性。

　　奔跑的猎豹的身体形状和身体功能与扎根的树木非常不同，人类与细菌或斑马也非常不同。我们生活的世界是一个五花八门的生物王国，但一套共同的物理原理塑造了其中每一种生物的形状和行为。《塑造生命的4大物理原理》表明，新兴的生物物理学正在改变人们对地球生命的理解，并使潜在的可以拯救生命但有争议的技术成为可能，如基因编辑、人造器官和生态系统工程。

　　帕塔萨拉蒂解释了4大物理原理是如何从微观分子尺度到巨型大象尺度塑造生命机器的，这4大物理原理分别是：自组装、调节回路、可预测的随机性和尺度推绎。他描述了生物物理学如何有助于解开一系列自然现象的秘密，比如：你的四肢如何知道在适当的位置长出？为什么人类需要肺而蚂蚁不需要？帕塔萨拉蒂还探索了未来的尖端生物技术如何使我们能够以微妙和深刻的方式改变生物体。

　　作者简介

　　拉古维尔·帕塔萨拉蒂

　　生物物理学领域新锐科学家。现为俄勒冈大学物理学教授，主要研究方向是生物物理学、微生物群落、宿主-微生物相互作用和先进显微技术。

　　2020年，他因在生物物理学，特别是在对肠道微生物群和脂双层的理解方面的创造性和创新性贡献，被选为美国物理学会会员。

　　范克龙

　　贝时璋青年生物物理学家奖、中源协和生命医学创新突破奖、国家级青年人才项目获得者；现为中国科学院生物物理研究所研究员、博士生导师；主要研究方向是疾病靶向药物载体的开发、纳米酶的仿生设计及其生物医学应用等。

The Four Physical Principles that Shape Life

Why can't bacteria swim like whales?

Why don't ants have lungs?

Why do elephants have much bigger bones?

New biophysicists reveal the hidden unity behind nature's breathtaking complexity.

The body shape and body function of a running cheetah is very different from that of a rooted tree, and humans are very different from bacteria or zebras. The world we live in is a diverse kingdom of creatures, but a common set of physical principles shapes the shape and behavior of each of them. 4 Physical Principles that Shape Life shows how emerging biophysics is transforming the understanding of life on Earth and enabling potentially life-saving but controversial technologies such as gene editing, artificial organs, and ecosystem engineering.

Parthasarati explains how four physical principles shape living machines from the microscopic molecular scale to the giant elephant scale: self-assembly, regulatory loops, predictable randomness, and scale inference. He describes how biophysics can help unlock the secrets of a range of natural phenomena, such as: How do your limbs know when to grow in the right place? Why do humans need lungs and ants don't? Parthasarati also explores how the cutting-edge biotechnology of the future will enable us to alter living organisms in subtle and profound ways.

About the author

Raghuvir Parthasarathi

New scientist in the field of biophysics. He is a professor of physics at the University of Oregon, where his research interests include biophysics, microbial communities, host-microbial interactions, and advanced microscopy.

In 2020, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his creative and innovative contributions to biophysics, particularly in the understanding of the gut microbiome and lipid bilayer.

Van Kroen

Bei Shizhang Young Biophysicist Award, Zhongyuan Union Life Medicine Innovation Breakthrough Award, National Young Talent project winner; He is currently a researcher and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His main research interests are the development of disease-targeting drug carriers, the bionic design of nano-enzymes and their biomedical applications.