Dimensions
128 x 198 x 17mm
A mouse weighs about one ounce, has a heart rate of 700 beats per minute, a gestation period of 21 days and lives for less than three years. A five-ton elephant has a heart rate of 30 beats per minute, a 22-month gestation period and lives for 60 years or more. How are these facts related?
In this fascinating journey through the natural world. Christopher McGowan investigates a wide range of size-related phenomena, from the gliding mechanism of diatoms to the blood-pressure problems of dinosaurs, illuminating various biological problems and providing an intriguing perspective from which to view life.
'McGowan takes his readers on fascinating tours of the animal world... [His] unusual blend of example, precision and anecdote enables him to deliver on a promise often made but rarely fulfilled: that of using ideas from the world of physics to make sense of the biological world.'
New Scientist
