by Matthew D. LaPlante
Welcome to the biggest, fastest, deadliest science book you'll ever read.
The
world's largest land mammal could help us end cancer. The fastest bird
is showing us how to solve a century-old engineering mystery. The oldest
tree is giving us insights into climate change. The loudest whale is
offering clues about the impact of solar storms.
For a long time,
scientists ignored superlative life forms as outliers. Increasingly,
though, researchers are coming to see great value in studying plants and
animals that exist on the outermost edges of the bell curve.
As it turns out, there’s a lot of value in paying close attention to the “oddballs” nature has to offer.
Go
for a swim with a ghost shark, the slowest-evolving creature known to
humankind, which is teaching us new ways to think about immunity. Get to
know the axolotl, which has the longest-known genome and may hold the
secret to cellular regeneration. Learn about Monorhaphis chuni, the oldest discovered animal, which is providing insights into the connection between our terrestrial and aquatic worlds.
Superlative is
the story of extreme evolution, and what we can learn from it about
ourselves, our planet, and the cosmos. It's a tale of crazy-fast
cheetahs and super-strong beetles, of microbacteria and enormous plants,
of whip-smart dolphins and killer snakes.
This book will inspire you to change the way you think about the world and your relationship to everything in it.
