Waubonsee Community College

Life under the sun, Peter A. Ensminger

eng

Includes bibliographical references

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Life under the sun

bibliography

44681721

Peter A. Ensminger

Publisher Fact Sheet, This entertaining collection of essays explores how various organisms--including fungi, plants, insects, & humans--sense & respond to sunlightAnnotation, Which fungus is as sensitive to light as the human eye? What are the myths and facts about the ozone hole, tanning, skin cancer, and sunscreens? What is the effect of light on butterfly copulation? This entertaining collection of essays explores how various organisms -- including archaebacteria, slime molds, fungi, plants, insects, and humans -- sense and respond to sunlight. 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 introducec 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. These engaging essays present a complicated, yet fascinating subject in an accessible way. The book will be treasured by anyone interested in the wonders of biology

Vision at the threshold -- The five percent solution to vision -- A more delightful vision -- A burning issue -- A sad tale -- The purple disease -- A novel method of weed control -- Light and beer -- Phycomyces, the fungus that sees -- Dictyostelium, the amoeba and the slug -- High hopes for hypericin -- Turning on a butterfly -- Blue moons and red tides -- Photosynthesis and the Great Salt Lake -- Too much of a good thing