WE ARE MUCH MORE CONNECTED TO NATURE AND EACH OTHER THAN WE REALISE . . .

• Most of our 37 trillion cells have such a short lifespan that we are essentially made anew every few weeks
• The molecules forming our bodies have been component parts of countless other organisms, from ancient plants to dinosaurs
• The bacteria, fungi and viruses that make up our bodies influence our moods and even manipulate our behaviour
• Every word and every touch we receive from other people transforms the neural networks in our brain and changes our sense of self

Blending scientific fact and sports trivia, Robert Adair examines what a baseball or player in motion does-and why. How fast can a batted ball go? What effect do stitch patterns have on wind resistance? How far does a curve ball break? Who reaches first base faster after a bunt, a right- or left-handed batter? The answers are often surprising -- and always illuminating.

This newly revised third edition considers recent developments in the science of sport such as the neurophysiology of batting, bat vibration, and the character of the "sweet spot." Faster pitchers, longer hitters, and enclosed stadiums also get a good, hard scientific look to determine their effects on the game.

Filled with anecdotes about famous players and incidents, The Physics of Baseball provides fans with fascinating insights into America's favorite pastime.

From the New York Times bestselling creator of Lost in Translation, A Small Illustrated Guide to the Universe is a delicately existential and welcoming exploration of the cosmos - one that examines and marvels at the astonishing principles, laws, and phenomena that we exist alongside, that surround us. Have you ever found yourself wondering what we might have in common with stars or why the Moon never leaves us? Thinking about the precise dancing of planets, the passing of time or the nature of natural things? Our world is full of unshakeable mystery, and although we live in a civilisation more complicated than ever, there is beauty and reassurance to be found in knowing how and why.

"Fascinating and exhilarating-Sean B. Carroll at his very best."-Bill Bryson, author of The Body: A Guide for Occupants From acclaimed writer and biologist Sean B. Carroll, a rollicking, awe-inspiring story of the surprising power of chance in our lives and the world Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world. Like every other species, we humans are here by accident. But it is shocking just how many things-any of which might never have occurred-had to happen in certain ways for any of us to exist. From an extremely improbable asteroid impact, to the wild gyrations of the Ice Age, to invisible accidents in our parents' gonads, we are all here through an astonishing series of fortunate events. And chance continues to reign every day over the razor-thin line between our life and death. This is a relatively small book about a really big idea. It is also a spirited tale. Drawing inspiration from Monty Python, Kurt Vonnegut, and other great thinkers, and crafted by one of today's most accomplished science storytellers, A Series of Fortunate Events is an irresistibly entertaining and thought-provoking account of one of the most important but least appreciated facts of life.

Why do diets fail? Is it because of genetic disposition? A sluggish metabolism? An underactive thyroid?

A behavioural psychologist reveals the truth about dieting, including how she lost over 100lb in one year.

After years of failed diets Dr Nadja Hermann weighed over 23 stone at the age of 30. All her life, she had heard and read about hundreds of reasons why diets wouldn't work for her. But when her weight started to seriously affect her health, she took a hard look at the science and realised that most of what she believed about dieting was a myth. What was more, those very myths were preventing her from losing weight.

Forget clean eating, paleo, or fasting ― it was conquering these elements of ‘Fat Logic’ that finally led to Hermann achieving a healthy weight. One and a half years later, she weighed 10 stone, and has maintained that weight to this day. Now, using humour, the insight she’s acquired, and a dose of science, Hermann debunks widespread lies about weight loss, and shows how it is possible to attain a healthy weight.

Humanity evolved in an Ice Age in which glaciers covered much of the world. But starting about 15,000 years ago, temperatures began to climb. Civilization and all of recorded history occurred in this warm period, the era known as the Holocene-the long summer of the human species. In "The Long Summer," Brian Fagan brings us the first detailed record of climate change during these 15,000 years of warming, and shows how this climate change gave rise to civilization. A thousand-year chill led people in the Near East to take up the cultivation of plant foods; a catastrophic flood drove settlers to inhabit Europe; the drying of the Sahara forced its inhabitants to live along the banks of the Nile; and increased rainfall in East Africa provoked the bubonic plague. "The Long Summer" illuminates for the first time the centuries-long pattern of human adaptation to the demands and challenges of an ever-changing climate-challenges that are still with us today.

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CANNABIS AND YOUR HEALTH Underpinned by his two-year research trial in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, involving up to 20,000 patients, which will create Europe's largest body of evidence on the plant's medicinal qualities - Professor David Nutt and his team of scientists will break the mould on the way we use Cannabis for our health in the future. In David's first ground-breaking book on the subject, he will cover its impact of all areas of the body and the brain and its effective use for treatment of illness from chronic pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and PTSD, to anxiety and depression. This is the essential knowledge that cuts through the noise and give us evidence-based information that will change people's lives.

Evolution is the most creative, all-encompassing force in the universe. It has propelled the development of our world from the moment of the Big Bang through the various wonders of human achievement. Yet our discussion of evolution is often narrowly portrayed as a black-and-white debate between two opposing, entrenched camps, Godless Darwinists versus Creationist Fanatics. But into this rigid ideological warzone, a growing movement of bold, visionary thinkers is stepping out, armed with a set of radically unifying ideas that illuminate a new way of understanding of evolution in both scientific and spiritual terms. Carter Phipps calls them Evolutionaries. As the influential executive editor of "EnlightenNext" magazine, Phipps has made it his life's work to chart the strides in the emerging science and spirituality of evolution. This book will be the first popular guide to the exciting, progressive theories and thinkers that are prompting an explosive expansion of our consciousness about where we come from, who we are, and where we might be going. Is evolution spiritually directed? Does evolution have a purpose? Is human civilization nearing a point where we can take the reigns of evolution into our own hands, consciously shaping our bodies, our psychology, our environment, and our culture? And if so, what road should we take? Offering provocative and inspiring answers to these questions, "Evolutionaries" reveals a much more nuanced, more challenging, and - most importantly - more accurate picture of how evolution is being perceived in the spiritual, philosophical, and scientific circles at the leading edge of contemporary culture.

AN INTRIGUING AND BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF YORICK WILKS' INSIDERS GUIDE TO AI The benefits and potential nightmares of artificial intelligence have long inspired science-fiction writers, but in a world where most of us carry a portable device that knows infinitely more than we do, these are increasingly real concerns. Artificial Intelligence is the essential companion to this unsettling science. It surveys the history, philosophies, and current state of AI, and asks key questions such as how should robots think, and can machines really learn? With subjects ranging from the World Wide Web to artificial companions, the book considers such ethical issues as automated warfare, internet surveillance, and fake news, speculating on just how far robots will infiltrate our future. This illustrated edition combines compelling photographs with 'circuit-board' infographics to lift the curtain on the hidden world of AI.

From breakfast toast to evening wine, yeast is the microscopic thing that we cannot live without. We knew what yeast did as an invisible brewer and baker long before we had a clue about the existence of microorganisms. Ten thousand years ago, our ancestors abandoned bush meat and wild fruit in favor of farming animals and cultivating grain. Leaving the forests and grasslands, our desire for beer and wine produced by the fungus was a major stimulus for agricultural settlement. It takes a village to run a brewery or tend a vineyard. We domesticated wild yeast and yeast domesticated us. With the inevitable escape of the fungus from beer vats into bread dough, our marriage with yeast was secured by an appetite for fresh loaves of leavened bread. Over the millennia, we have adapted the technologies of brewing, winemaking, and baking and have come to rely on yeast more and more. Yeast produces corn ethanol and other biofuels and has become the genetically-modified darling of the pharmaceutical business as a source of human insulin and a range of life-saving medicines. These practical uses of yeast have been made possible by advances in our understanding of its biology, and the power of genetic engineering has been used to modify the fungus to do just about anything we wish. We know more about yeast than any other organism built from complex cells like our own. To understand yeast is to understand life. In this book Nicholas P. Money offers a celebration of our favorite microorganism.

How do "The Matrix", "Avatar", and "Tron" reveal the future of existence? Can our brains recognize where reality ends and virtual begins? What would it mean to live eternally in a digital universe? Where will technology lead us in five, fifty, and five hundred years? Welcome to the future...The coming explosion of immersive digital technology, combined with recent progress in unlocking how the mind works, will soon revolutionize our lives in ways only science fiction has imagined. In "Infinite Reality", Jeremy Bailenson (Stanford University) and Jim Blascovich (University of California, Santa Barbara) - two of virtual reality's pioneering authorities, whose pathbreaking research has mapped how our brain behaves in digital worlds-take us on a mind-bending journey through the virtual universe. "Infinite Reality" explores what emerging computer technologies and their radical applications will mean for the future of human life and society. Along the way, Bailenson and Blascovich examine the timeless philosophical questions of the self and reality that arise through the digital experience; explain how virtual reality's latest and future forms - including immersive video games and social-networking sites-will soon be seamlessly integrated into our lives; show the many surprising practical applications of virtual reality, from education and medicine to sex and warfare; and, probe further-off possibilities like total personality downloads that would allow your great-great-grandchildren to have a conversation with "you" a century or more after your death. Equally fascinating, farsighted, and profound, "Infinite Reality" is an essential guide to our virtual future, where the experience of being human will be deeply transformed.

A groundbreaking and fascinating investigation into the transformative effects of exercise on the brain, from the bestselling author and renowned psychiatrist John J. Ratey, MD.

Did you know you can beat stress, lift your mood, fight memory loss, sharpen your intellect, and function better than ever simply by elevating your heart rate and breaking a sweat? The evidence is incontrovertible: Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.

In SPARK, John J. Ratey, M.D., embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's. Filled with amazing case studies (such as the revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district of 19,000 kids first in the world of science test scores), SPARK is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run---or, for that matter, simply the way you think

Drawing from the horizons of science, today's leading thinkers reveal the hidden threats nobody is talking about--and expose the false fears everyone else is distracted by.

What should we be worried about? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"--The Guardian), posed to the planet's most influential minds. He asked them to disclose something that, for scientific reasons, worries them--particularly scenarios that aren't on the popular radar yet. Encompassing neuroscience, economics, philosophy, physics, psychology, biology, and more--here are 150 ideas that will revolutionize your understanding of the world.

Steven Pinker uncovers the real risk factors for war * Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi peers into the coming virtual abyss * Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek laments our squandered opportunities to prevent global catastrophe * Seth Lloyd calculates the threat of a financial black hole * Alison Gopnik on the loss of childhood * Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why firefighters understand risk far better than economic "experts" * Matt Ridley on the alarming re-emergence of superstition * Daniel C. Dennett and george dyson ponder the impact of a major breakdown of the Internet * Jennifer Jacquet fears human-induced damage to the planet due to "the Anthropocebo Effect" * Douglas Rushkoff fears humanity is losing its soul * Nicholas Carr on the "patience deficit" * Tim O'Reilly foresees a coming new Dark Age * Scott Atran on the homogenization of human experience * Sherry Turkle explores what's lost when kids are constantly connected * Kevin Kelly outlines the looming "underpopulation bomb" * Helen Fisher on the fate of men * Lawrence Krauss dreads what we don't know about the universe * Susan Blackmore on the loss of manual skills * Kate Jeffery on the death of death * plus J. Craig Venter, Daniel Goleman, Virginia Heffernan, Sam Harris, Brian Eno, Martin Rees, and more

AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR From the acclaimed author of The Information and Chaos, a mind-bending exploration of time travel: its subversive origins, its evolution in literature and science, and its influence on our understanding of time itself. Gleick's story begins at the turn of the twentieth century with the young H. G. Wells writing and rewriting the fantastic tale that became his first book, an international sensation, The Time Machine. A host of forces were converging to transmute the human understanding of time, some philosophical and some technological - the electric telegraph, the steam railroad, the discovery of buried civilisations, and the perfection of clocks. Gleick tracks the evolution of time travel as an idea in the culture - from Marcel Proust to Doctor Who, from Woody Allen to Jorge Luis Borges. He explores the inevitable looping paradoxes and examines the porous boundary between pulp fiction and modern physics. Finally, he delves into a temporal shift that is unsettling our own moment: the instantaneous wired world, with its all-consuming present and vanishing future.

Few things are as fundamental to human happiness as sex, and few writers are as entertaining about the subject as Mary Roach. Can a woman think herself to orgasm? Is your penis three inches longer than you think? Why doesn't Viagra help women - or, for that matter, pandas? Does orgasm boost fertility? Or cure hiccups? The study of sexual physiology - what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better - has been taking place behind closed doors for hundreds of years. In this fascinating and funny book, Mary Roach steps inside laboratories, brothels, pig farms, sex-toy R&D labs - even Alfred Kinsey's attic - to tell us everything we wanted to know about sex, and more we'd never even thought to ask.

One of the most popular and widely known characters in all of fiction, Sherlock Holmes has an enduring appeal based largely on his uncanny ability to make the most remarkable deductions from the most mundane facts. The very first words that Sherlock Holmes ever says to Dr. Watson are, "How are you? You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive." Watson responds, "How on earth did you know that?" And so a crime-solving legend is born. In The Scientific Sherlock Holmes, James O'Brien provides an in-depth look at Holmes's use of science in his investigations. Indeed, one reason for Holmes's appeal is his frequent use of the scientific method and the vast scientific knowledge which he drew upon to solve mysteries. For instance, in heart of the book, the author reveals that Holmes was a pioneer of forensic science, making use of fingerprinting well before Scotland Yard itself had adopted the method. One of the more appealing aspects of the book is how the author includes real-world background on topics such as handwriting analysis, describing how it was used to capture the New York Zodiac killer and to clinch the case against the Lindbergh baby kidnapper. Sherlock Holmes was knowledgeable about several sciences, most notably chemistry. Therefore the book takes a close look at Holmes the chemist and discusses, for example, chemical poisons such as carbon monoxide, chloroform, and Prussic acid (the historical name for hydrogen cyanide). The author also debunks Isaac Asimov's famous assertion that Holmes was a blundering chemist. In addition, the book discusses mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy, meteorology, and geology, always in the context of Holmes's exploits. Sherlock Holmes continues to fascinate millions of readers and movie goers alike. The Scientific Sherlock Holmes is a must-read for the legion of fans of this most beloved of all fictional detectives. The paperback version will continue to interest two primary groups: the community of avid Holmes fans who meet regularly to celebrate and discuss the stories, and the scientific community. What scientist would not wish to be "the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen"? Sherlock Holmes, Watson assures us, was precisely that. Scientists admire Holmes's devotion to fact, his intellectual brilliance, and the way he separates emotion from his work, and will be especially attracted by a book that explicitly discusses Holmes from a scientific perspective.

(MOST OF) THE UNIVERSE IS IN YOUR HANDS

"There is a theory in physics that explains, at the deepest level, nearly all of the phenomena that rule our daily lives.... This theory bears the unassuming name "The Standard Model of Elementary Particles," or the "Standard Model," for short. It deserves to be better known, and it deserves a better name. I call it "The Theory of Almost Everything."

The Standard Model has a surprisingly low profile for such a fundamental and successful theory.... In physics news items, the Standard Model usually plays the whipping boy. Reports of successful experimental tests of the theory have an air of disappointment, and every hint of the theory' s inadequacy is greeted with glee. It is the Rodney Dangerfield of physical theories, it "don' t get no respect." But it is, perhaps, the pinnacle of human intellectual achievement to date.

--From the IntroductionPraise for "THE THEORY OF ALMOST EVERYTHING

"In an era when enormous attention is being paid to the promising but highly speculative superstring/M-theory, a great triumph of science has gone nearly unnoticed, except by physicists. Robert Oerter provides here an accessible introduction to the Standard Model--a towering example of human creativity. He outlines how the Standard Model can serve as the launching pad for humanity to--paraphrasing Einstein--see better the secrets of ' the Ancient One.' "

--S. J. Gates Jr., John S. Toll Professor of Physics and director, Center for String and Particle Theory, University of Maryland

"We always hear about black holes, the big bang, and the search for life in the universe. But rare is the book that celebrates the Standard Model ofElementary Particles--a triumph of twentieth-century science that underpins nearly all we know about physical reality. Oerter' s "The Theory of Almost Everything belongs on anyone' s shelf who cares about how the universe really works."

--Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and author of "Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution

The Standard Model is the most important theory in modern physics. It is the tried-and-true theory of all known physical interactions, with the exception of gravity. Outside of scientific circles it is not nearly as well known as string theory or chaos theory. But it is more important than both, and it is absolutely essential to understanding where we are heading next in physics. Now, in a "tour de force of science writing, physicist Robert Oerter reveals the Standard Model to the general public.

Cobbled together by many brilliant minds--including Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann--the Standard Model combines Einstein' s special relativity with quantum mechanics, revealing a bizarre reality beneath the surface of the mundane world that we all experience. Particles pop into existence from pure energy. Light travels to a given destination on all possible paths at the same time. Solid matter--like light--is neither particle nor wave. Making use of rich analogy and metaphor, Oerter illuminates the quantum world of the Standard Model. He shows that although the theory seems absurd from a common-sense point of view, it nonetheless fully agrees with experiment.

Oerter explores the conceptual framework of the Standard Model--what he considers its most fascinating aspect. He shows that different types of symmetry are at the heart ofthe theory. It is these symmetries, which lie deep within the structure of the atom, that give rise to the forces of nature. Oerter reveals that one of these symmetries--or rather, the fact that it was broken only moments after the creation of the universe--is the reason matter as we know it exists.

After lucidly explaining the Standard Model' s implications for the universe as a whole, Oerter takes readers to the edge of physics. He shows how new developments could alter the Standard Model. Experiments now running are searching for neutrino mass and the holy grail of particle physics, the Higgs boson. Grand unified theories, supersymmetry, preon theories, and string theory--although not verified by experiment--could be the next steps in theory.

"The Theory of Almost Everything is essential reading for anyone curious about what modern physics tells us about the nature of the universe.
(c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Martin Stevens explores the extraordinary variety of senses in the animal kingdom, and discusses the cutting-edge science that is shedding light on these secret worlds. Our senses of vision, smell, taste, hearing, and touch are essential for us to respond to threats, communicate and interact with the world around us. This is true for all animals - their sensory systems are key to survival, and without them animals would be completely helpless. However, the sensory systems of other animals work very differently from ours. For example, many animals from spiders to birds can detect and respond to ultraviolet light, to which we are blind. Other animals, including many insects, rodents, and bats can hear high-frequency ultrasonic sounds well beyond our own hearing range. Many other species have sensory systems that we lack completely, such as the magnetic sense of birds, turtles, and other animals, or the electric sense of many fish. These differences in sensory ability have a major bearing on the ways that animals behave and live in different environments, and also affect their evolution and ecology. In this book, Martin Stevens explores the remarkable sensory systems that exist in nature, and what they are used for. Discussing how different animal senses work, he also considers how they evolve, how they are shaped by the environment in which an animal lives, and the pioneering science that has uncovered how animals use their senses. Throughout, he celebrates the remarkable diversity of life, and shows how the study of sensory systems has shed light on some of the most important issues in animal behaviour, physiology, and evolution.

'The Big Questions' series is designed to let renowned experts confront the 20 most fundamental and frequently asked questions of a major branch of science or philosophy. In 'The Big Questions: Mind' the explanations behind the 'mysteries' of our unique minds - including how they differ from our brains and how they create our awareness - are explored. Among the questions discussed are: How do brains come to exist? Is the mind more than the brain? What does it mean to be conscious? What is knowledge? Does the mind play tricks? What is the 'I' in our brain?

'If you want to see what that future might look like, Duncan's book is a fun place to start' NPR 'Intensely readable, downright terrifying, and surprisingly uplifting' Vanity Fair '5 books not to miss . . . A fascinating work of imaginative futurology' USA Today One of Time magazine's '32 Books You Need to Read This Summer' - 'a riveting read' One of David Baldacci and Elizabeth Acevedo's best summer reads, on USA Today's Today programme 'A refreshing variation on the will-intelligent-robots-bring-Armageddon genre . . . this colourful mixture of expert futurology and quirky speculation does not disappoint' Kirkus Reviews What robot and AI systems are being built and imagined right now? What do they say about us, their creators? Will they usher in a fantastic new future, or destroy us? What do some of our greatest thinkers, from physicist Brian Greene and futurist Kevin Kelly to inventor Dean Kamen, geneticist George Church, and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain, anticipate about our human-robot future? For even as robots and AI intrigue us and make us anxious about the future, our fascination with robots has always been about more than the potential of the technology - it's also about what robots tell us about being human. From present-day Facebook and Amazon bots to near-future 'intimacy' bots and 'the robot that swiped my job' bots, bestselling American popular science writer David Ewing Duncan's Talking to Robots is a wonderfully entertaining and insightful guide to possible future scenarios about robots, both real and imagined. Featured bots include robot drivers; doc bots; politician bots; warrior bots; sex bots; synthetic bio bots; dystopic bots that are hopefully just bad dreams; and ultimately, God Bot (as described by physicist Brian Greene). These scenarios are informed by discussions with well-known thinkers, engineers, scientists, artists, philosophers and others, who share with us their ideas, hopes and fears about robots. David spoke with, among others, Kevin Kelly, David Baldacci, Brian Greene, Dean Kamen, Craig Venter, Stephanie Mehta, David Eagleman, George Poste, George Church, General R. H. Latiff, Robert Seigel, Emily Morse, David Sinclair, Ken Goldberg, Sunny Bates, Adam Gazzaley, Tim O'Reilly, Tiffany Shlain, Eric Topol and Juan Enriquez. These discussions, along with some reporting on bot-tech, bot-history and real-time societal and ethical issues with robots, are the launch pads for unfurling possible bot futures that are informed by how people and societies have handled new technologies in the past. The book describes how robots work, but its primary focus is on what our fixation with bots and AI says about us as humans: about our hopes and anxieties; our myths, stories, beliefs and ideas about beings both real and artificial; and our attempts to attain perfection. We are at a pivotal moment when our ancient infatuation with human-like beings with certain attributes or superpowers - in mythology, religion and storytelling - is coinciding with our ability to actually build some of these entities.

An enchanting biography of the most resonant - and most necessary - chemical element on Earth. Carbon. It is the building block of every cell that makes up every living thing. It is the essential component of the food we eat, the fuel we burn, the wood we use and the air we breathe. It is worth billions as a luxury and half a trillion as a necessity, but there are still mysteries to be solved about the element that can be both diamond and coal. Where does it come from, what does it do, and why, above all, does life need it? In Symphony in C, leading carbon scientist Robert M. Hazen takes us on a vibrant journey through the origin and evolution of life's most widespread element. The story unfolds in four movements - Earth, Air, Fire and Water - and transports us through nearly 14 billion years of cosmic history, explaining how carbon is formed in the hearts of stars and why all life forms - earthbound or alien - use it as the basis of their biology. Symphony in C is a sweeping chronicle of carbon from its birth amidst the stars to its unknowable life cycle deep within the Earth's core and its role in the evolution of all life in the universe.

The opening of the Palaeozoic era, some 540 million years ago, coincides with a remarkable burst of evolutionary activity. In British Paleozoic Fossils 443 species from this time, and the following 300 million years, are described and classified and illustrated with accurate line drawings. From Silurian trilobites and Devonian fishes to Carboniferous brachiopods, the book features those animal and plant species that are most commonly found in Britain. Crucially, this new edition has been fully revised and updated by specialists from the world renowned Department of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum, London, reflecting advances in our understanding of the fossil record. The book includes 69 plates of accurate black-and-white line drawings. Each of the species is illustrated with at least one drawing, which is accompanied by details of where it can be found. There are also stratigraphical tables showing the classification of British Palaeozoic rock formations and a comprehensive listing of the geological distribution of each species illustrated, which can be cross-referenced with the appropriate illustration. A brief explanation of the scientific names of fossils and a map of the distribution of Palaeozoic strata are also available.

Exploding myths and providing key takeaway advice for gardeners at any level, this book provides a shortcut to decades of gardening experience by explaining the science behind how a garden grows. How often should I water my plants? What's the most effective slug deterrent? Could I breed my own unique variety of flower? Do plants have intelligence? Does it really matter when and how I prune? And why is my compost heap so slimy? If you find yourself seeking the answers to these questions and many more, then this may be the book for you! The world of gardening can be a mystifying place, with so many instructions to follow and often little explanation as to why. Dr Stuart Farrimond casts his scientific eye over the garden to answer all the horticultural questions you've ever wondered about. Get your gardening gloves on and dive straight in to discover: - An accessible guide structured around the life cycle of the garden, taking you from first shoots to pruning for renewal. - An accessible Q &A format, with stats and infographics to bring the story to life, as well as long-held gardening myths are exploded by new science. - Every way to greener fingers has action points so that you can understand the science, apply your gardening practice, and enjoy a flourishing garden. From hands-on, practical advice, to an exploration of the mental health benefits of gardening, whilst also covering topics such as the positive impact gardening can have on the earth during a time of climate crisis, The Science of Gardening debunks myths, and reveals the latest science often only taught at horticultural college. As a passionate newcomer to gardening, daunted by the mountain of often conflicting advice in gardening manuals, Dr Stuart Farrimond has set about testing the scientific basis of so much conventional wisdom and practice so you too can garden like a pro. A must-have gardening book for keen beginners with a passion for plants but who are daunted by the prospect of trawling through traditional gardening manuals for explanations, as well as experienced gardeners who are intrigued to find out the theory behind their practice and who want to improve on where they might be getting something wrong. At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why stop there? If you like Science of Gardening, then why try Science of Cooking or Science of Spice to complete the collection.

'A quite delightful book on the joys, and universality, of physics. Czerski's enthusiasm is infectious because she brings our humdrum everyday world to life, showing us that it is just as fascinating as anything that can be seen by the Hubble Telescope or created at the Large Hadron Collider.' - Jim Al-Khalili Our world is full of patterns. If you pour milk into your tea and give it a stir, you'll see a swirl, a spiral of two fluids, before the two liquids mix completely. The same pattern is found elsewhere too. Look down on the Earth from space, and you'll find similar swirls in the clouds, made where warm air and cold air waltz. In Storm in a Teacup, Helen Czerski links the little things we see every day with the big world we live in. Each chapter begins with something small - popcorn, coffee stains and refrigerator magnets - and uses it to explain some of the most important science and technology of our time. This is physics as the toolbox of science - a toolbox we need in order to make sense of what is around us and arrive at decisions about the future, from medical advances to solving our future energy needs. It is also physics as the toy box of science: physics as fun, as never before.