Borne on the tides of melting polar caps, wafting in the smoke of burning rain forests, the hot wind of death has left its fiery kiss on every nation's cheek. Some are building Arks, self-contained biomes intended to preserve as many species as possible. And others are seeking to destroy them. But one scientist, Stefan Li, refuses to allow his government to complete its destruction of the Earth. Against orders, he activates Liberty, an undersea Ark, and staffs it with as many refugees as he can before its ports are sealed. Li pays for this act of defiance with his life -- his human life. For on board the Ark a computer genius transfers Li's persona into Matrix 101, Liberty's computer net, and Li becomes the Ark. For some 600 years, he will serve as advisor, technician, and unwilling god to the remnants of a once-lovely planet. And his greatest challenge -- and greatest sacrifice -- is yet to come.

    Ranging from the mapping of the ocean floor to the scanning of remote galaxies, from portraits of subatomic collisions to an unprecedented view of the mathematical constant "pi, " this work makes the theoretical compellingly concrete, even as it reminds us that the world is far more vast than we ever dreamed. Photographs throughout.