Table of Contents:
  • Introduction : the molecular-mechanical vision of life
  • Part one : Taking membranes apart, isolating a molecular pump
  • What membranes can tell a historian and philosopher of the life sciences
  • Active matter
  • Part two: Remaking membranes and molecular machines
  • Synthesizing cells and molecules : mechanisms as "plug-and-play"
  • Biochip fever: life and technology in the 1980s
  • Conclusion.