Bioverse: How the Cellular World Contains the Secrets to Life's Biggest Questions

by William B. Miller Jr.

Overview

For as long as humans have been on Earth, we have looked up to the stars for clues to our own existence. Medical doctor and evolutionary biologist William B. Miller, Jr. suggests that we may find more meaningful solutions at the end of a microscope rather than a telescope. Using powerful analogies and exacting science, Bioverse explores the wonders of the perpetual partnership between our personal cells and the microbial world, resulting in an entirely new view of our living planet.

To understand life in all its varieties, we must undertake to understand our cells. While the partnership between our cells and our microbes has largely been thought of as that of “host” and “guest,” Millerrevealsthetrue partnership under which both our microbial fraction and our own personal cells conduct a life-long dialogue, redefining our traditional conceptions of intelligence and problem-solving. This radical new approach explains exactly how our human choices are centered within the same cellular rules that enable our cells to seamlessly sustain our lives.

We are now entering the “Era of the Cell,” a time in history during which medical and scientific innovations have spurred growth far beyond ever imagined by our ancestors. For the first time, we are not only building machines to enhance our lives but engineering living organisms to assist our futures. From the biological origins of evolution to the invention of the compound microscope by a Dutch lens maker in the 17th century, to new research that reveals surprising links between our microbiome and our moods and behavior, and surprising stories of the cellular world from the deepest oceans, wildest jungles, and outer reaches of our solar system, Millerintroduces readers to a greater understanding of our impact on the planet and the world’s reciprocal impact on each of us.

By exploring the extent of our deeply integrated cellular world, Bioverse provides profound insights about ourselves, our health and well-being, our social systems, and our permanent relationship to the planet and the cosmos.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633887992
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/15/2022
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	6.32(w) x 9.08(h) x 1.11(d)

About the Author

William B. Miller, Jr. M.D., is a consultant and science writer specializing on the microbiome. After a career in practicing medicine, Dr. Miller became fascinated by evolution upon seeing Sue, a T-Rex skeleton housed in the Chicago Field Museum. Since then, Dr. Miller has become a leading expert in the field of evolutionary biology as the developer of Cognition-Based Evolution, publishing scores of peer-reviewed papers, hundreds of online articles, and books including The Microcosm Within. More recently, a docuseries based on his forthcoming popular science book for general readers, Bioverse, is in development.

Table of Contents

1 As Above, So Below: The Cosmic Dimension 1

2 The Birth of a New Epoch 11

3 Everything Has a Beginning 19

4 The Quantum Realm 25

5 Life's Building Blocks 31

6 Kick-Starter 47

7 Life's Basics … No Matter Its Start 55

8 The Cellular Connectome 71

9 And Our Cells Make Us 83

10 The Surprising Scope of the Human Microbiome 99

11 My Microbes Made Me Do It 109

12 That Was Then: Medical Miseries Yield to New Hope 119

13 This Is Now: New Weapons 125

14 You Are the Environment 137

15 Your Ancestors Shaped Your Microbiome 143

16 Our Long Battle against Infectious Disease 151

17 Our Metabolism Connects to Our Modern Microbiome 159

18 Cultivating an Optimized Microbiome for Your Better Health 175

19 "Nature versus Nurture": Sex and Birthing 181

20 Are You as Smart as a Microbe? 191

21 The Cell Harnessed to Humankind 201

22 Cellular Harmonies: Human Behavior and Our Cells 215

23 Interconnected Ecologies 229

24 Cellular Space-Time 241

Conclusion: It's Not All about You 251

Acknowledgments 263

Notes 265

Index 305

Editorial Reviews

"A stimulating book – truly original." – Frank Ryan, bestselling author of Virus X and Virusphere, among others

“My lifetime has been spent studying the miracles cells perform, and here at last is a wonderful book that celebrates the majesty of the life under the microscope.”

– Brian J. Ford, award-winning research biologist, lecturer, broadcaster, and author of Too Big to Walk, among many others

"A lively and enjoyable tour of cell science, microbiology, and the implications of basal intelligence from medicine to society.” – Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor of Biology and Vannevar Bush Chair, Tufts University

“With brilliant gems on every page, Bioverse is the story of our new scientific ’Era of the Cell,’ or should we say, era of the cognitive cell. Filled with the most up-to-date science on our cells and microbes, and placing it in deep philosophical and cultural context, Miller demonstrates the vast implications of the connectedness of all life on earth. Bioverse provides wisdom for understanding our identity as a superorganism, as well as the meaning of our human life.” – Jon Lieff MD, neuroscientist, neuropsychiatrist, former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and author of The Secret Language of Cells

“Stunning… Bioverse draws the reader into new and surprising aspects of the intelligence of microbial life. Miller has pioneered Cognition-Based Evolution as an alternative to orthodox evolutionary biology that is based almost entirely on blind natural selection. Readers will come to understand themselves better through learning how much we depend on the microbiome. Bioverse shows that every cell in our body exhibits natural intelligence.” – Denis Noble FRS, professor emeritus and co-director of Computational Physiology, University of Oxford, pioneer of systems biology, and author of The Music of Life

“Bioverse offers deep insights into a new understanding of how evolution works its magic, re-focusing on the role of each organism's behaviors, cognition, and desires, down to the level of single cells and the microbes that form our body's microbiome. Miller suggests that cognition, as it is embodied in cells, provides life's evolutionary drive in this cutting-edge approach to evolutionary theory." – Tam Hunt, evolutionary biologist at UC Santa Barbara’s META Lab and author of Mind, World, God: Science and Spirit in the 21st Century

“Remarkable… Miller shows us that microbes are smart. Humans are smart, too, and his Bioverse takes readers on a fabulous ride from those first surprisingly intelligent unicellular species to us, touching on, well, almost everything along the way.”

– Arthur S. Reber, PhD, author of The First Minds: Caterpillars, Karyotes, and Consciousness

"Bioverse contains a universe of rarely contemplated concepts in biology, evolution, virology, the microbiome, cancer, and more. A source of truly revolutionary ideas that will open the doors to innovations in medicine, evolutionary biology, and beyond. It's that important.” – Richard Jacobs, executive director of The Finding Genius Foundation and host & founder of the Finding Genius podcast

“Dr. Miller’s brilliant insights into evolutionary biology are provocative and prescient. Bioverse is a profound work of research, exploration, and contemplation with a message – all cells are intelligent. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in our beginnings and our present understanding of who we are as human beings.”

– LJ Frank, Publisher of Narrative Paths Journal, author, artist, philosopher, and former library director

“An encyclopedic and engaging exploration of the edges of origins to the gut microbiome, to kissing and sex, to plant intelligence and extraterrestrial life. Bioverse is a comprehensive account of what it means to be alive.” – Perry Marshall, author of Evolution 2.0 and founder of the $10 Million Evolution 2.0 Prize

From the Publisher