Why do some of nature\'s marvels have to wait millions of years for their time in the sun? Life innovates constantly, producing perfectly adapted species - but there\'s a catch.
In probing the mysteries of these Sleeping beauties, Wagner reveals a crucial part of nature\'s rich and strange tapestry..
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.
We have found prehistoric bacteria that harbour the remarkable ability to fight off 21st-century antibiotics.
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.
Once we start to look, these \'Sleeping beauties\' crop up everywhere.
Then, in a blink of evolutionary time, they flourish spectacularly.
Passive, constrained, modest, threatened.
Many animals and plants eke out seemingly unremarkable lives.
Why do some of nature\'s marvels have to wait millions of years for their time in the sun? Life innovates constantly, producing perfectly adapted species - but there\'s a catch
