"The Third Domain" is the untold story of how the discovery of a new form of life - first ridiculed, then ignored for the past thirty years by mainstream scientists - is revolutionizing science, industry, and even our search for extraterrestrial life. Classification is a serious issue for science: if you don't know what you're looking at, how can you interpret what you see? Starting with Carolus Linnaeus in the 17th century, scientists have long struggled to order and categorize the many forms of life on Earth. But by the early 20th century the tree of life seemed to have stabilized, with two main domains of life at its roots: single-celled and multi-celled organisms. All creatures fit into one of these two groups. Or so we thought. But in 1977, a lone scientist named Carl Woese determined that archaea - biochemically and genetically unique organisms that live and thrive in some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth - were a distinct form of life, unlike anything seen on Earth before. This shocking discovery was entirely incompatible with the long-standing classification of life as we know it. But as it turned out, archaea were not life as we know it, and the tree of life had to be uprooted once again. Now, archaea are being hailed as one of the most important scientific revelations of the 20th century. "The Third Domain" tells the story of their strange potential and investigates their incredible history to provide a riveting account of an astonishing discovery.
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The Third Domain is the untold story of how the discovery of a new form of life—first ridiculed, then ignored for the past thirty years by mainstream scientists—is revolutionizing science, industry, and even our search for extraterrestrial life.
Classification is a serious issue for science: if you don’t know what you’re looking at, how can you interpret what you see? Starting with Carolus Linnaeus in the 17th century, scientists have long struggled to order and categorize the many forms of life on Earth. But by the early 20th century the tree of life seemed to have stabilized, with two main domains of life at its roots: single-celled and multi-celled organisms. All creatures fit into one of these two groups.
Or so we thought. But in 1977, a lone scientist named Carl Woese determined that archaea—biochemically and genetically unique organisms that live and thrive in some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth—were a distinct form of life, unlike anything seen on Earth before. This shocking discovery was entirely incompatible with the long-standing classification of life as we know it. But as it turned out, archaea were not life as we know it, and the tree of life had to be uprooted once again.
Now, archaea are being hailed as one of the most important scientific revelations of the 20th century. The Third Domain tells the story of their strange potential and investigates their incredible history to provide a riveting account of an astonishing discovery.
Classification is a serious issue for science: if you don’t know what you’re looking at, how can you interpret what you see? Starting with Carolus Linnaeus in the 17th century, scientists have long struggled to order and categorize the many forms of life on Earth. But by the early 20th century the tree of life seemed to have stabilized, with two main domains of life at its roots: single-celled and multi-celled organisms. All creatures fit into one of these two groups.
Or so we thought. But in 1977, a lone scientist named Carl Woese determined that archaea—biochemically and genetically unique organisms that live and thrive in some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth—were a distinct form of life, unlike anything seen on Earth before. This shocking discovery was entirely incompatible with the long-standing classification of life as we know it. But as it turned out, archaea were not life as we know it, and the tree of life had to be uprooted once again.
Now, archaea are being hailed as one of the most important scientific revelations of the 20th century. The Third Domain tells the story of their strange potential and investigates their incredible history to provide a riveting account of an astonishing discovery.
From the Publisher
The Third Domain is the untold story of how the discovery of a new form of life--one ignored for the past thirty years by mainstream scientists--is revolutionizing science, industry, and even our search for the existence of life beyond Earth.
For most of the history of science, people have been taught that the tree of life consists of two branches--one represented by bacteria and the other by all of the multi-celled organisms, including plants and animals. Few people realize that there is a third branch on that tree, or a third domain of life.
The scientific community was, therefore, shocked when in 1977, a lone scientist named Carl Woese determined that the archaea - biochemically and genetically unique organisms that live and thrive in some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth - were a distinct form of life, unlike anything seen on Earth before. It was an astonishing discovery. Initially labeled as an unimportant and novel form of bacteria, today key leaders of the scientific community are calling the archaea one of the most important scientific revelations of the 20th century.
The Third Domain tells the story of their strange potential - maverick entrepreneur Craig Venter now believes that the archaea holds critical importance to the biotech industry - and investigates their incredible history - many believe that they are the oldest form of life on Earth - to provide a riveting account of an astonishing discovery.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite what I was expecting,
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This review is from: The Third Domain (Hardcover)
Tim Friend's recent book The Third Domain is an odd book on two levels -- first of all, the story that one would think it tells, that of Carl Woese's discovery of the Archaea, the initial hostile reaction that the discovery met with at the hands of the scientific establishment, and its eventual acceptance by the majority -- makes up only one chapter (chapter 3) of the book. The rest of the book mostly follows field microbiologists like Karl Stetter and Eric Mathur as they collect samples (often, but not always, of archaea) from hot springs and thermal vents. Secondly, rather than being one unified whole, each chapter reads as its own story (which it may well have been; Friend is a former USA Today science writer and may be simply fleshing out articles he's already written). I'm of two minds about this book; as a evolutionary microbial genomicist (and one who has had the honor of working with Woese), I'm glad that there's a new book for the general public that acknowledges that microbes are worth studying for things other than their effect on human health; but on the other hand, I can't help but wonder if the story of the Archaea couldn't have been told in a more engaging manner. Bill Bryson, in his A Short History of Nearly Everything managed to tell Woese's story (if a bit too simplified) in an exciting chapter there. In conclusion, The Third Domain is worth a read (especially if you are interested in the subject), but the definitive book on Woese and the archaea has yet to be written.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An introduction to the second era of bacteriology,
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This review is from: The Third Domain (Hardcover)
The first great era of bacteriology was begun when Louis Pasteur proved that fermentation of wine was a biologic process and the organisms responsible could be cultured and identified. He went on to show that disease was also caused by these new creatures and, with Robert Koch, proved that the disease could be prevented by immunizing the population at risk. For the next 60 years, infectious diseases and the prevention of them was the principle focus of medicine. With the discovery of antibiotics, infection was conquered and medicine moved on to the prevention and treatment of degenerative diseases like cancer and heart disease. Bacteriology, which was a formal course when I attended medical school 45 years ago, is no longer part of the curriculum except as part of more general courses on disease.
This book introduces the new era of bacteriology that began with the discovery of Archaea by Carl Woese in 1977. Archaea were originally thought to be rare and to exist only at the extremes of the environment, in hot volcanic vents on the ocean floor and in geysers at Yellowstone Park and other such volcanic fields. In the past few years, random sampling of ocean water by Craig Venter and others has shown that they are ubiquitous. They are not bacteria and show interesting genetic and metabolic features that suggest they may be the oldest form of life. One variety, the parasitic Nanoarchaea, may even represent the origin of the cell nucleus in evolution. The book is, as pointed out by another reviewer, cut up into episodes that emphasize the expeditions the writer participated in. Still, the chapter on the Titanic and the speculation about the role the "rusticles" play in evolution is worthwhile in itself. The writer is a member of the Explorers Club in New York and has had some very interesting experiences, diving on the Titanic in a deep submersible and SCUBA diving in Yellowstone Lake with a scientific expedition. Some of his theories about how all these organisms play a role in the evolution of life are worthwhile. The story is interesting and, while some might wish more detail on Archaea, the introduction is well done. I liked the book and recommend it to those who want to know more about the growing interest in bacteriology that is leading to the second era. One significant note that is not emphasized enough is the fact that Archaea are not pathogens and have never been implicated in any human disease. They appear to be part of an enormous biosphere that will become increasingly important during the rest of this century. This book is a good place to start.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More bugs that you can imagine,
By
This review is from: The Third Domain (Hardcover)
Friend writes on a difficult subject to popularize and this is popularized science. He cycles between tutorials on genetic science and microbes, the state of genetic engineering and technology, brief bios of the principal scientific personalities and adventures in sample collection. The book turns on Archaeia, a new class of microbes differing from bacterial only in subtle but critical elements of their genetic makeup. Friend reveals the surprising disarray in the taxonomy of microbes and attempts to describe the new way (based on genetics) forward in classifying microbes. He describes nanoarchaeia which may be the ur-nucleus which when embedded in bacterial, formed eukaryotes (organism with true nuclei) and describes the Thing that's eating the Titanic, a corporation of many types of bacteria, archaeia and molds that cooperate in the disassembly of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic. It may show what the ur-multicell organism the evolved into us was like.
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