Life Under the Sun
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: March 1, 2001
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9780300088045
Subjects: Biophysics; Life sciences: general issues; Popular science; Photobiology; Science; Science/Mathematics; Essays; Life Sciences - Biology - General; Light; Science / Essays; Life Sciences - Ecology; Photoreceptors; Physiological effect; Vision
Description: "The essays in Peter A. Ensminger's book cover vision, photosynthesis, and phototropism, as well as such unusual topics as the reason why light causes beer to develop a "skunky" odor.

He introduces us to the kinds of eyes that have evolved in different animals, including those in a species of shrimp that is ostensibly eyeless; gives us a better appreciation of color vision; explains how plowing fields at night may be used to control weeds; and tells about variegate porphyria, a metabolic disease that makes people very sensitive to sunlight and may have afflicted King George III of England."--BOOK JACKET.