494 BOOKS in BRief OPINION l collapse in Washington state and such as the Tacoma also gives insight into famous failures, stories of past great bridge builders. what makes a good bridge and tells the to generate its strength. it conducts the forces along its length design and construction — and how how to ‘read’ a bridge — its form, great powers through history. has played a part in the rise and fall of is key to national security; and how it water and those who do not; how water between those who have access to flooding and drought; social divisions change including melting glaciers, examines trends caused by climate manage water supplies. (Jonathan Cape, 2009). s the development — the books by writers who travelled across comes on the heels of two other recent industry sprawl. Emmerson’s analysis expeditions and history and landscape, from polar the h being eyed by surrounding nations. the region’s oil and mineral wealth is global-risk specialist, explains how Charles Emmerson, a writer and ondon’s wobbly Millennium ara Wheeler’s e reveals the forces that will shape i a a ce rctic to witness the region’s rctic this century, looking at its ( h arperCollins, 2009) and t r a (Public h stage. become a geopolitical the and Earth warms, resources dwindle a he Magnetic North struggle to obtain and history of civilization’s offers a sweeping s 2010), journalist ( scarce. Water is becoming ussian gulags to oil- h lun account, he explains clear, no-nonsense structures. praises of spanning b engineer David Univ. Press, 2010), i teven istory of the s global natural n lockley sings the arperCollins, n Bridges a a arrows bridge rctic is set to i nderson’s n a h h s i n olomon olomon t ffairs, 2010), e describes is synthesis Water he Future (Oxford b i a n a ridge. rctic

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h e e exposed exposed to an electrical discharge. hydrogenmixturewas the waterand when created amino acids from methane, ammonia, 1952 in their ‘primordial soup experiments’ that Urey tested this at the University of Chicago in molecules. Chemists Stanley Miller and Harold other sources could generate several organic plus energy from ultraviolet light, lightning or reducing environment of the primitive Earth der Oparin. They suggested that the chemically J. was independently reached by British geneticist are related in the book. One such is an idea that or before which lies the RNA world”. the Last Universal Common Ancestor, “behind three kingdoms of life. He introduces LUCA, the cell — are used to classify it into one of the — part of the protein-making machinery of of the RNA found in an organism’s ribosomes He explains how differences in the sequence evolution, in which the “secret is selection”. author is a proficient guide. reads like a collection of philosophical essays, its the various forms of RNA. Although the book evolutionary time, concentrating on the roles of gateway. He then takes us on a journey through on molecular biology, Yarus uses evolution as a with the central dogma and attendant teachings tional book about RNA. Rather than opening support to this notion for the origin of life. considerations and lab experiments that lend chemist Michael Yarus marshals the theoretical organism, or ribocyte, has yet been found, bio RNA molecules. Although no such RNA-based earlier ones that were onbased much simpler today’sDNA-based life forms evolved from RNA-worldThe thatproposeshypothesis Evidence for cago has been a wonderful experience,” says the conservators at the Art Institute of Chi “Workingunderstandingour art. of with methods show how science can transform Matisse modified the reliefs. of bouncing points of laser light off bronze casts $24.95, £18.95, €22.50 Harvard University Press: 2010. 208 pp. by Michael Yarus Within Life From an RNA World: The Ancestor ©

B. Various hypotheses about the origin of life Yarus first describes the basis of Darwinian Life From an RNA World These fresh insights into Matisse’s working

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origins omal and transfer RNAs provide the scaffold structures, it can assume many roles. Ribos formcomplexandabletosingle-stranded talents of RNA. As a molecule that is stable, e-mail: [email protected] Josie Glausiusz to art conservation. laborations applying advanced image analysis that the exhibition will stimulate further col the microstructure of materials. He hopes simulations of fluid dynamics Erdmann, who usually generates computer e-mail: [email protected] Frederick, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA. Tim Harris that this book captures. conjecture, based on powerful observations vents. But at present, the RNA world remains exotic locations, such as in deep-sea volcanic populationsacid frommicroorganisms in platforms that allow deep sampling of nucleic- could come from next-generation sequencing organisms today. structural and metabolic machinery found in tem that evolved to produce the protein-based making short chains of amino acids — a sys andthat RNAs were primitivea systemfor was RNA that generated subsequent life forms, viruses. It is a key part of the argument that it changeable pathogens, such as the influenza the genome of some of the most difficult and may be why it is the nucleic acid of choice for rado, Boulder. This evolutionary adaptability in Gold’sLarry lab at the University of Colo strated in the elegant SELEX experiments done evolve pressure,under selection as demon a precursor RNA world. catalogue of forms is insufficient evidence for RNA. But the fact that RNA can adopt this vast ling gene expression and translating messenger RNAs, that are intimately involved in control the existence of small RNAs, including micro ecules. Other recent discoveries have revealed these can cut themselves out from larger mol ered by US molecular biologist Thomas Cech, catalytic activity, known as ribozymes. Discov tion, and there are RNAs that have their own make up RNA are essential for enzyme func DNA. The ribonucleotide building blocks that information the itselftranscribes in coded information held in messenger RNA, which ing to help make proteins and translate the The writing picks up when Yarus lays out the Further proof for the primitive RNA world More compelling is abilitythe of RNA to is chief technology officer at SAIC- is a journalist based in New York. NATURE

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| 25 March 2010

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