The Serengeti Rules

The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters - With a new Q&A with the author

Sean B. Carroll

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780691175683, 9780691167428
• eBook ISBN: 9781400885541
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Physiology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Now the subject of an Emmy Award–winning film the New York Times calls "spellbinding"

How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions, and shows how their discoveries matter for our health and the health of the planet we depend upon.

One of the most important revelations about the natural world is that everything is regulated—there are rules that regulate the amount of every molecule in our bodies and rules that govern the numbers of every animal and plant in the wild. And the most surprising revelation about the rules that regulate life at such different scales is that they are remarkably similar—there is a common underlying logic of life. Carroll recounts how our deep knowledge of the rules and logic of the human body has spurred the advent of revolutionary life-saving medicines, and makes the compelling case that it is now time to use the Serengeti Rules to heal our ailing planet.

A bold and inspiring synthesis by one of our most accomplished biologists and gifted storytellers, The Serengeti Rules is the first book to illuminate how life works at vastly different scales. Read it and you will never look at the world the same way again.

NOTES

FRONTMATTER EPIGRAPH

Page

viiSuppose it were perfectly certain: “Professor Huxley’s Hidden Chess-Player.” Spectator Archive, January 11, 1868. http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/11th-january-1868/9/professor-huxleys-hidden-chess-player.

INTRODUCTION

Page

4Scourges such as smallpox: World Health Organization (2011) “Chapter 1: Smallpox: Eradicating an Ancient Scourge.” In Bugs, Drugs and Smoke: Stories from Public Health. Geneva: World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/about/history/publications/public_health_stories/en/.

4Similar gains occurred for wheat: Paarlberg and Paarlberg (2000), p. 34.

5Every kind of molecule in the body: Anderson and Anderson (2002).

6Indeed, the majority: King, S. (2014) “FirstWord Lists—Pharma’s 50 Biggest Selling Drugs: AbbVie’s Humira Joins the $10 Billion Club.” FirstWord Pharma, March 7, 2014. http://www.firstwordpharma.com/node/1194000#axzz37MHaRznr.

7The criteria for approval: Ledford (2011).

8Tanzania now holds 40 percent: Riggio et al. (2013).

8Now, 26 percent: Dulvy et al. (2014).

9As the authors: “World Footprint.” Global Footprint Network. http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/.

10“a near infinitude of particulars”: Stent (1985), p. 2.

CHAPTER 1

Page

15“The living being”: Cannon (1929), p. 399.

17The hypothalamus also: Everly and Lating (2013), Chapter 2; “Understanding the Stress Response.” Harvard Mental Health Letter, March 2011. http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2011/March/understanding-the-stress-response.

17Coined and described: Cannon (1927).

18In a classic series of studies: Benison, Barger, and Wolfe (1987), p. 56.

18Noticed sev times: Benison, Barger, and Wolfe (1987), p. 62.

18“It has long been common knowledge”: Cannon (1898), p. 381.

18His talent, rigor: Benison, Barger, and Wolfe (1987), pp. 70–71.

19Cannon knew that: Cannon (1927), pp. 26–27.

19These results showed that the inhibition: Cannon (1909); Cannon (1911a), p. 219.

19Cannon wondered: Cannon (1927), pp. 40–41.

19“made use of the natural enmity”: Cannon (1927), p. 44.

21[Cannon] discovered that the blood: Cannon and de la Paz (1911).

21This was the same: Cannon (1927), pp. 49–54; Benison, Barger, and Wolfe (1987), p. 62.

21epinephrine sped up heart rate: Cannon (1927), pp....

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Introduction: Miracles and Wonder
• I. Everything is Regulated
• II. The Logic of Life
• III. The Serengeti Rules
• Afterword: Rules to Live By
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Conversation with the author