Intraterrestrials - Karen Lloyd ****

Apparently the biogeochemist (who even knew there was such a thing) Karsten Pedersen 'coined the term "intraterrestrials" to describe the abundant life within Earth's crust.' The idea of this book is boldly go and explore new life that is found below the surface and of which we have historically known very little.

I must admit I winced a bit when the introduction yet again featured a diary entry from an author about to set off an expedition of discovery, in this case about to start a deep sea dive. This has become a cliché, which I hope we'll move on from soon. But that doesn't stop the actual content being fascinating. Inevitably we get plenty on extremophiles (living in everything from water well over boiling point to strong acids and alkalis) and the origins of life, something anyone reading this kind of popular science is likely to have come across, but there is plenty more, particularly around life dependent on volcanoes, that was new to me.

Karen Lloyd gives us the basics of DNA that will be necessary to understand the findings, plus an introduction to the view of life from thermodynamics, as a system that is kept away from equilibrium. She finishes by asking 'What can intraterrestrials do for us?' This ranges from keeping oxygen free for use to detoxifying waste. We get a picture of the impact these bacteria may have on climate change and their potential relevance to both carbon capture and storage and deep sea mining.

I don't think I'm a natural audience for this book as for me it veers a little too much into the memoir side of popular science. I'm less interested in experiences and more in the science - but I know for many this kind of approach makes the science more engaging, and as such it's recommended.

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