Research Catalog

The touchstone of life : molecular information, cell communication, and the foundations of life

Title
The touchstone of life : molecular information, cell communication, and the foundations of life / Werner R. Loewenstein.
Author
Loewenstein, Werner R.
Publication
New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

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Description
xviii, 366 pages : illustrations; 25 cm
Summary
  • In The Touchstone of Life, eminent biophysicist Werner Loewenstein seeks answers to ancient riddles by applying information theory to recent discoveries in molecular biology. Taking us into a microscopic world, he lays bare an all-pervading communication network inside and between our cells - a web of extraordinary beauty, where molecular information flows in gracefully interlaced circles.
  • Loewenstein then takes us on a journey along that web and we meet the macromolecules, and see how they capture information from their surrounds.
Subject
  • Information theory in biology
  • Cell interaction
  • Cellular signal transduction
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. [344]-359) and index.
Contents
Pt. 1. Information and the Origins of Life. 1. Information and Organisms. 2. The Cosmic Origins of Information. 3. The Growth of the Cosmic Inheritance on Earth. 4. From Energy to Bonds to Molecular Information: The Information/Entropy Balancing Act. 5. The Three-Dimensional Carriers of Biological Information. 6. The Growth of Biological Information -- Pt. 2. Information Flow Inside Cells. 7. The Two Information Realms. 8. The Game of Seek and Find -- Pt. 3. Information Flow between Cells. 9. Rules of the Intercellular Communication Game. 10. The Broadcasting of Cellular Information. 11. Intercellular Communication Cheek-by-Jowl. 12. Intercellular Communication Via Channels in the Cell Membrane. 13. Neuronal Communication, Neuronal Computation, and Conscious Thought -- Pt. 4. The Science of the Peculiar. 14. How Can You Explain So Wise an Old Bird in a Few Words? App. A Brief Chronicle of "Information"
ISBN
0195118286 (alk. paper)
LCCN
97043408
OCLC
ocm37878713
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries