question in science, one that is central to this book, is how the inert atoms and molecules found in rocks are transformed every day into running, jumping, flying, navigating, swimming, growing, loving, hating, lusting, fearing, thinking, laughing, crying, living stuff. Familiarity renders this extraordinary transformation unremarkable, but it is worth remembering that even in this age of genetic engineering and synthetic biology, nothing living has ever been made by humans entirely from non-living materials.
