A fascinating exploration of exquisite images captured from natural materials, and of their applications in fashion, environmental design, and apps that anticipate a new era of digitally-driven individual creativity. Data From Nature begins with the chance encounter between an ammonite and a digital scanner and goes on to relate the author's growing immersion in the micro-scale beauty of minerals and--thanks to new digital means of production--their applications in wide areas of design. These include an award-winning range of silk scarves for Liberty of London (also sold in Saks Fifth Avenue); "frocks from rocks"; a striking architectural facade in London, and the transformation of his own house and garden using the latest digital techniques. Along the way we learn about how minerals form in the Earth; ways they have been admired and imagined from ancient civilizations to the dawn of Modernity; and discover how the inlaid surfaces of Renaissance cabinets of curiosity could inspire creative coloring and design apps intended to equip children and adults alike to participate creatively in the Digital Revolution. And as if all this weren't enough, the book ends as improbably as it started with a short biography of a "lost" (for which read "fictional") seventeenth-century artist, Carlo Alcite, whose "works" reveal powers of invention and draftsmanship worthy of a baroque master.

This book is based on the modern conceptual understanding of crystal fields. It clarifies several issues that have historically produced confusion in this area, particularly the effects of covalency and ligand polarization on the energy spectra of magnetic ions. This comprehensive volume provides readers with clear instructions and a set of computer programs for the phenomenological analysis of energy spectra of magnetic ions in solids. Readers are shown how to employ a hierarchy of parametrized models to extract as much information as possible from observed lanthanide and actinide spectra. All computer programs included in the volume are freely available on the Internet. It will be of particular interest to graduate students and researchers working in the development of opto-electronic systems and magnetic materials.

Wasser". Dieser MeBfiihler wird nun irgendwo in der Natur installiert, der Beob- achter befindet sich weit entfemt, vor einem Bildschirm sitzend, auf den die MeB- signale iibertragen werden. Es solI festgestellt werden, ob es regnet oder nicht. 1st nun das MeBintervall zu groB eingesteIlt, etwa alle 12 Stunden ein Signal, so kann der Beobachter bei der Information, Nicht-Wasser" keine Aussage dariiber treffen, ob es regnet oder nicht. Da Regen fUr einen konkreten Raurn betrachtet ein Wechsel von "Wasser" und, Nicht-Wasser", eben die diskreten Regentropfen, darsteIlt, ist die Information, Nicht-Wasser" ebenso fiir Regen wie fUr schOnes Wetter richtig, bei Regen eben nur weniger oft. Nach dieser Erfahrung wird das MeBintervaIl nun verkleinert, alle paar Sekun- den erhiUt nun der Beobachter eine Information iiber "Wasser" und, Nicht- Wasser". Und jeden Abend urn halb Sieben bis Sieben Uhr regnet es, zurnindest meldet der Fiihler abwechselnd "Wasser" und, Nicht-Wasser". Des Ratsels Lo- sung: Jeden Abend wird der Garten gesprengt, in dem sich der MeBfiihler befindet. Der Raurn, der vom MeBfiihler erfaBt wird, ist zu klein, urn eindeutig zwischen natiirlichem Regen und anderen sporadischen Wassertropfenereignissen unter- scheiden zu konnen. Fiir einen an den Bildschirm verbannten Beobachter ist die Feststellung, ob es regnet, nur gegeben, wenn mehrere MeBfiihler iiber einen hin- reichend groBen Raum verteilt in entsprechend kurzen Intervallen eine Information dariiber liefem, ob sie gerade vom Wasser oder von Luft umgeben sind. MeBraurn und MeBzeit bestimmen also die durch die Messungen gewonnene Aussage.

This book is the first systematic treatise of available data and view-points obtained from geological and geochemical studies of the Mo deposits in Qinling Orogen, China. Qinling Orogen has a minimum reserve of 8.7 Mt Mo, ranking the largest molybdenum province both in China and the world. Incorporating all known Mo deposit types in the world, it presents extensive studies of Mo deposits of world-class and unusual types within tectonic settings. The Qinling Orogen was finally formed during continental collision between Yangtze and North China cratons, following the Triassic closure of the northernmost paleo-Tethys. It hosts 49 Mo deposits formed in seven mineralization events since 1850 Ma, with all the world-class deposits being formed during 160-105 Ma, coeval with collisional orogeny. These deposits are assigned to magmatic and metamorphic hydrothermal classes. The magmatic hydrothermal class includes porphyries, skarns, and intrusion-related veins (carbonatite, fluorite and quartz). The porphyry Mo systems in Qinling Orogen are predominated by Dabie-type formed in continental collision setting, followed by Endako- and Climax-types formed in continental arcs and rifts, respectively. The metamorphic hydrothermal Mo deposits are only reported in Qinling Orogen, and thus a new crustal continuum model for the orogenic class mineral systems is proposed. A scientific linkage between ore geology and fluid inclusions is introduced and verified both by theory and case studies. This is the first research book comprehensively displaying continental collision metallogeny. This literature will benefit both Western and Chinese mineral explorers and miners, as well as research scientists and students.

A bold new story of human progress, told through six materials that built our world and will transform our future.

Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. They built our world, and they will transform our future.

These are the six most crucial substances in human history. They took us from the Dark Ages to the present day. They power our computers and phones, build our homes and offices, and create life-saving medicines. But most of us take them completely for granted.

In Material World, Ed Conway travels the globe - from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe, to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan, to the eerie green pools where lithium originates - to uncover a secret world we rarely see. Revealing the true marvel of these substances, he follows the mind-boggling journeys, miraculous processes and little-known companies that turn the raw materials we all need into products of astonishing complexity.

As we wrestle with climate change, energy crises and the threat of new global conflict, Conway shows why these substances matter more than ever before, and how the hidden battle to control them will shape our geopolitical future. This is the story of civilisation - our ambitions and glory, innovations and appetites - from a new perspective: literally from the ground up.