Our species has amassed a vast knowledge of nature, which we have used to bend the planet to our will. We may see ourselves as life's overlords, but in the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the surprising life of the London Underground, biologist Rob Dunn finds laws of life that no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops, dump toxic waste, or build communities, Dunn points out, we merely provide new materials for old laws to shape—possibly to our own detriment.