Sleeping Beauties : The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture

Life innovates constantly, producing�perfectly adapted species - but there's�a catch.�A�TIMES�AND�TELEGRAPH�BEST BOOK OF 2023'Hopeful and fascinating.'�THE TIMESMany animals and plants eke out�seemingly unremarkable lives. Passive,�constrained, modest, threatened. Then, in�a blink of evolutionary time, they flourish�spectacularly. Once we start to look, these�`sleeping beauties' crop up everywhere.�But why?Looking at the book of life, from apex�predators to keystone crops, and informed�by his own cutting-edge experiments,�renowned scientist Andreas Wagner�demonstrates that innovations can come�frequently and cheaply to nature, well�before they are needed. We have found�prehistoric bacteria that harbour the�remarkable ability to fight off 21st-century�antibiotics. And human history fits the�pattern too, as life-changing technologies�are invented only to be forgotten,�languishing in the shadows before they finally take off. In probing the mysteries of these�sleeping beauties, Wagner reveals a crucial�part of nature's rich and strange tapestry.