The frontiers of physics can seem impossibly remote — located in the invisible quantum realm or the farthest reaches of the cosmos. But one of physics’ most exciting frontiers lies much closer than we realize: within our own bodies and other living organisms, which display astonishingly intricate structural patterns and dynamic processes that we don’t yet understand.

In “Living Matter,” leading biophysicist Alex Levine explains why unraveling the mysteries of life may ultimately demand a new physics — one that takes full account of the fundamental differences between living and nonliving matter.