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Silica Stories

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Christina De La Rocha

    1. Writer and Visiting Scientist, Department of Geology, Lund University , Fargau-Pratjau, Germany

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Daniel J. Conley

    1. Geologiska institutionen, Lund University Geologiska institutionen, Lund, Sweden

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • First book relating the scientific charms of silica to a general audience
  • Presents a set of ten clearly written chapters on ten independent, multi-disciplinary topics on silica
  • Intended to not only convey up-to-the minute scientific information, but to paint a picture of Earth as an interacting set of geological, biological, and chemical processes
  • Shows Earth's interacting processes as interwoven into the pre-history, history, present, and future of human beings
  • Written by two of the world's leading experts on silica in the biosphere and geosphere
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. A Brief Introduction to the Players

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 1-8

  3. The Origin of Life Was Brought to You in Part by Silicate Rocks

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 9-27

  4. The Making of Humankind: Silica Lends a Hand (and Maybe a Brain)

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 29-47

  5. Mystical Crystals of Silica

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 49-67

  6. Glass Houses and Nanotechnology

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 69-93

  7. Chicks Need Silica, Too

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 95-113

  8. Of Fields, Phytoliths, and Sewage

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 115-133

  9. Silica, Be Dammed!

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 135-156

  10. The Venerable Silica Cycle

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 157-176

  11. Silica Saves the Day

    • Christina De La Rocha, Daniel J. Conley
    Pages 177-201
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Keywords

About this book

Do you know silica, the tetrahedra of silicon and oxygen constituting the crystals of New Agers and the desiccant in a box of new shoes?  It's no mere mundane mineral. As chemically reacting silicate rocks, silica set off the chain of events known as the origin of life. As biomineralized opal, it is the cell wall, skeleton, spicules, and scales of organisms ornamenting numerous lobes of the tree of life. Cryptocrystalline silica made into stone tools helped drive the evolution of our hands and our capability for complex grammar, music, and mathematics. As quartz crystals, silica is impressively electric and ubiquitous in modern technology (think sonar, radios, telephones, ultrasound, and cheap but precise watches). Silica is inescapable when we take a drink or mow the lawn and it has already started to save the Earth from the carbon dioxide we're spewing into the atmosphere. This book tells these scientific tales and more, to give dear, modest silica its due.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Writer and Visiting Scientist, Department of Geology, Lund University , Fargau-Pratjau, Germany

    Christina De La Rocha

  • Geologiska institutionen, Lund University Geologiska institutionen, Lund, Sweden

    Daniel J. Conley

About the authors

Christina De La Rocha
http://www.geology.lu.se/christina-de-la-rocha 

Christina De La Rocha is a Visiting Scientist at the Department of Geology at Lund University, Sweden. She has previously been a Lecturer in Earth Sciences (University of Cambridge, UK), Senior Scientist (Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Research, Germany), and Professor of Marine Science (Université de Bretagne Occidentale, France). She has co-edited a previous book (Work Meets Life: Exploring the Integrative Study of Work in Living Systems) and started to write short science fiction (Pleistocene Brains).


Daniel Conley
http://www.geology.lu.se/daniel-conley

Daniel Conley is Professor of  Biogeochemistry (Lund University, Sweden), Wallenberg Scholar, and Pew Fellow.



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