Life at the Edge of Sight

Microbes create medicines, filter waste water, and clean pollution. They give cheese funky flavors, wines complex aromas, and bread a nutty crumb. Life at the Edge of Sight is a stunning visual exploration of the inhabitants of an invisible world, from the pioneering findings of a seventeenth-century visionary to magnificent close-ups of the inner workings and cooperative communities of Earth’s most prolific organisms.Using cutting-edge imaging technologies, Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter lead readers through breakthroughs and unresolved questions scientists hope microbes will answer soon. They explain how microbial studies have clarified the origins of life on Earth, guided thinking about possible life on other planets, unlocked evolutionary mechanisms, and helped explain the functioning of complex ecosystems. Microbes have been harnessed to increase crop yields and promote human health.But equally impressive, Life at the Edge of Sight opens a beautiful new frontier for readers to explore through words and images. We learn that there is more microbial biodiversity on a single frond of duckweed floating in a Delft canal than the diversity of plants and animals that biologists find in tropical rainforests. Colonies with millions of microbes can produce an array of pigments that put an artist’s palette to shame. The microbial world is ancient and ever-changing, buried in fossils and driven by cellular reactions operating in quadrillionths of a second. All other organisms have evolved within this universe of microbes, yielding intricate beneficial symbioses. With two experts as guides, the invisible microbial world awaits in plain sight.

From the microbial mats at Grand Prismatic Spring in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park to yeasts, bacteria, and diatoms, the realm of minute life—the foundation of the planetary ecosystem—is ceaselessly compelling. Microbiologists Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter explore it by meshing sumptuous images with sharp text. Their swirling narrative segues through deep time; lingers on slime molds, tardigrades (‘water bears’), rotifers and the microbes driving fermentation; and speculates enticingly on extraterrestrial microbiota., This is a most lovely and profound book about microbes. It is a paean to nature, and to the irrepressible curiosity of those who have explored the obscure byways of our world. Both scholars and armchair enthusiasts will enjoy the journey!, Life at the Edge of Sight offers an inspired journey into microbiology, biodiversity, symbiosis, evolution, and the origin of life, guided by an eminent scientist and an extraordinary photographer., Chimileski and Kolter’s wonderful book tells stories of microbial discovery. It beautifully illustrates the microscopic organisms that have shaped our world., Through stories that are both entertaining and scholarly, this delightful book celebrates the wonders and grand reach of the microbial world. The photography is stunning, and will leave any reader—expert or novice—with a sense of awe.

Scott Chimileski is a science photographer, imaging specialist, and Research Scientist in the Bay Paul Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Roberto Kolter is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of Harvard’s Microbial Sciences Initiative. He is also co-blogger at Small Things Considered. Elio Schaechter is Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Emeritus, at Tufts University School of Medicine. He is the coauthor of Mechanisms of Microbial Disease and Physiology of the Bacterial Cell.