Fundamental does for physics what Tim's first book, Elemental, does for chemistry: it demystifies the topic in his trademark humorous, engaging style, including the most recent developments in the field. At the start of the twentieth century, science appeared complete and the laws of nature were almost all discovered, but then we woke a sleeping giant - we discovered quantum mechanics. In the quantum realm, objects can be in two places at once. It's a place where time travel is not only possible, but necessary. It's a place where cause and effect can happen in reverse and observing something changes its state. From parallel universes to antimatter, quantum mechanics has revealed that when you get right down to it, the laws of nature are insane. The scientist J. B. S. Haldane once said, 'Reality is not only stranger than we imagine . . . it's stranger than we can imagine.' Never is this more true than with quantum mechanics; our best, most recent attempt to make sense of the fundamental laws of nature. Fundamental is a comprehensive beginner's guide to quantum mechanics, explaining not only the weirdness of the subject but the experiments that proved it to be true. Using a humorous and light-hearted approach, Fundamental tells the story of how the most brilliant minds in science grappled with seemingly impossible ideas and gave us everything from microchips to particle accelerators. Fundamental gives clear explanations of all the quantum phenomena known to modern science, without requiring an understanding of complex mathematics; tells the eccentric stories of the scientists who made these shattering discoveries and what they used them for; explains how quantum field theory (a topic not covered in detail by any other popular-science book) gave rise to particle physics and why the Higgs boson isn't the end of the story.

Use math in unique ways to analyze things you observe in life and use proof to attain the unexpected. There is quite a wide diversity of topics here and so all age levels and ability levels will enjoy the discussions. You'll see how the author's unique viewpoint puts a mathematical spin on everything from politicians to hippos. Along the way, you will enjoy the different point of view and hopefully it will open you up to a slightly more out-of-the-box way of thinking. Did you know that sometimes 2+2 equals 5? That wheels don't always have to be round? That you can mathematically prove there is a hippopotamus in your basement? Or how to spot four-dimensional beings as they pass through your kitchen? If not, then you need to read this book! Math Mutation Classics is a collection of Erik Seligman's blog articles from Math Mutation at MathMutation.com. Erik has been creating podcasts and converting them in his blog for many years. Now, he has collected what he believes to be the most interesting among them, and has edited and organized them into a book that is often thought provoking, challenging, and fun. What You Will Learn View the world and problems in different ways through math. Apply mathematics to things you thought unimaginable. Abstract things that are not taught in school. Who this Book is For Teenagers, college level students, and adults who can gain from the many different ways of looking at problems and feed their interest in mathematics.

What is 4% of 75? Can you calculate 60 + 60 x 0 + 1? Which is bigger, an 18-inch pizza or two 12-inch pizzas? Join award-winning maths presenter Kyle D Evans on an entertaining tour of viral maths problems that have gone wild on social media in recent years. From the infamous 'Hannah's sweets' exam question to percentages 'life-hacks', viral maths problems seem to capture the public's imagination without fail. In Maths Tricks to Blow Your Mind, Kyle presents over 50 viral maths problems with background information, explanations and solutions to similar problems, all in a humorous, accessible and inclusive manner. Want to dazzle and delight your friends and family? This book shows you how!

Welcome to Human 3.0. Life for early humans wasn't easy. They may have been able to walk on two feet and create tools 4 million years ago, but they couldn't remember or communicate. Fortunately, people got smarter, and things got better. They remembered on-the-spot solutions and shared the valuable information of their experiences. Clubs became swords, caves became huts, and fires became ovens. Collectively these new tools became technology. As the 21st century unfolds, the pace of innovation is accelerating exponentially. Breakthroughs from robotics to genetics appear almost on a daily basis. It's all happening so quickly that it's hard to keep track - but recently there's been a shift. We used to create technology to change the world around us; now we're using it to change ourselves. With vaccinations, in-vitro fertilization, and individual genetic therapy, we're entering a new epoch, a next step, faster and more dramatic than the shift from Australopithicines to Homo Sapiens. The technology that set us apart from our earliest selves is becoming part of the evolutionary process. Advancements in computing, robotics, nanotechnology, neurology, and genetics mean that our wildest imaginings could soon become commonplace. Peter Nowak deftly presents the potential outcomes-both exciting and frightening-of key, rapidly advancing technologies and adroitly explores both the ramifications of adopting them and what doing so will reveal about the future of our species. We've come a long way in 4 million years. Welcome to Human 3.0.

'Probably the most readable, exciting and authoritative writer on science we have. A new Lawrence Krauss book always goes to the top of the curious mind's wish list.' Stephen Fry "I loved the fight scenes and the sex scenes were excellent." (Eric Idle) 'In the span of a century, physics progressed from skepticism that atoms were real to equations so precise we can predict properties of subatomic particles to the tenth decimal place. Lawrence Krauss rightly places this achievement among the greatest of all stories, and his book-at once engaging, poetic and scholarly-tells the story with a scientist's penetrating insight and a writer's masterly craft.' (Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe, and Director, Center for Theoretical Physics, Columbia University) "Unlike some very clever scientists, Lawrence Krauss is not content to bask on the Mount Olympus of modern physics. A great educator as well as a great physicist, he wants to pull others up the rarefied heights to join him. But unlike some science educators, he doesn't dumb down. In Einstein's words, he makes it 'as simple as possible but no simpler.'" (Richard Dawkins, author of The Magic of Reality) "In every debate I've done with theologians and religious believers their knock-out final argument always comes in the form of two questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? and Why are we here? The presumption is that if science provides no answers then there must be a God. But God or no, we still want answers. In A Universe From Nothing Lawrence Krauss, one of the biggest thinkers of our time, addressed the first question with verve, and in The Greatest Story Ever Told he tackles the second with elegance. Both volumes should be placed in hotel rooms across America, in the drawer next to the Gideon Bible." (Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, columnist Scientific American, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author The Moral Arc.) "A Homeric tale of science, history, and philosophy revealing how we learned so much about the universe and its tiniest parts." (Sheldon Glashow, Nobel Laureate, 1979 in physics) "The Greatest Story Ever Told-So Far ranges from Galileo to the LHC and beyond. It's accessible, illuminating, and surprising-an ideal guide for anyone interested in understanding our accidental universe." (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction) "College students, hippies, squares, Christians, Muslims, democrats, republicans, libertarians, theists, even atheists-all of us-sit around BS-ing like: 'So, how did all this, I mean everything, all of us, the whole universe, you know, man, everything, how did this all get here?' While we were doing that, Lawrence Krauss and people like him were doing the work to figure it out. Then Krauss wrote this great book about it. 'Wow, man, you mean, like we're getting closer to really knowing? I guess we'll have to go back to talking about politics and sex.'" (Penn Jillette, author of Presto!) "Discovering the bedrock nature of physical reality ranks as one of humanity's greatest collective achievements. This book gives a fine account of the main ideas and how they emerged. Krauss is himself close to the field, and can offer insights into the personalities who have led the key advances. A practiced and skilled writer, he succeeds in making the physics 'as simple as possible but no simpler.' I don't know a better book on this subject." (Martin Rees, author of Just Six Numbers) "It is an exhilarating experience to be led through this fascinating story, from Galileo to the Standard Model and the Higgs boson and beyond, with lucid detail and insight, illuminating vividly not only the achievements themselves but also the joy of creative thought and discovery, enriched with vignettes of the remarkable individuals who paved the way. It amply demonstrates that the discovery that 'nature really follows the simple and elegant rules intuited by the 20th- and 21st-century versions of Plato's philosophers' is one of the most astonishing achievements of the human intellect." (Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), MIT) "Charming... Krauss has written an account with sweep and verve that shows the full development of our ideas about the makeup of the world around us... A great romp." (Walter Gilbert, Nobel Award, Chemistry, 1980) "History of science with an edge-humorous, personal, passionate, yet intellectually serious and authoritative." (Frank Wilczek, Nobel Laureate, Physics) In the beginning there was light but more than this, there was gravity. After that, all hell broke loose... This is how the story of the greatest intellectual adventure in history should be introduced - how humanity reached its current understanding of the universe, one that is far removed from the realm of everyday experience. Krauss connects the world we know with the invisible world all around us, which is removed from intuition and direct sensation. He explains our current understanding of nature and the struggle to construct the greatest theoretical edifice ever assembled, the Standard Model of Particle Physics -- and then to understand its implications for our existence. Writing in the critically acclaimed style of A Universe from Nothing, Krauss celebrates the beauty and wonders of the natural world and details our place within it and how this shapes our understanding of it. Krauss makes this story accessible through profiles of the scientists responsible for these advances, and clear explanations of their discoveries. Krauss takes us on a tour of science and the brilliant personalities who shaped it, often against political and religious indoctrination, enduring persecution and ostracism. Krauss creates a captivating blend of research and narrative to invite us into the lives and minds of these figures,creating a landmark work of scientific history.

Genetics and its related technologies are revolutionising the world in which we live: The media is regularly dominated by the latest genetically modified (GM) food, human gene therapy or cancer chip technology; maverick scientists are in the process of cloning humans and the human genome sequence is available on the Internet. Fifty years ago we did not know what a gene was - today the awesome power of genetics is being released on an unsuspecting public, and with it a whole series of ethical dilemmas undreamth of even ten years ago. Does the question now become not 'can we?' but 'should we?'
By demystifying genetic engineering and exploring the basic biology underlying the living world, A Terrible Beauty is Born explains how clones and cloning technology are in many ways extensions of processes occurring constantly in nature. Used wisely these processes have the potential to bring enormous benefits; abused, they carry with them potential dangers which we ignore at our peril.

Are you considering to test your own DNA? Do you want to learn more about your health and ancestry? Understand your DNA - A Guide is about what you can use genetics for. For a few hundred dollars, you can now scan your own genes. Millions of people all over the world have already done so. Everyone wants to see what they can get to know about themselves, and the market growing rapidly. But what does it require from you? And what can you really use a DNA test for? Understand your DNA - A Guide helps you put the plots and charts of consumer genetics into perspective and enables you to figure out what's up and down in the media headlines. The book is also a key input for today's debate about what we as a society can and want to do with medical genetics. Genetics will play a growing role in the future. Understand your DNA - A Guide is an easy-to-read and necessary guide to that future. The book is provided with a foreword by Professor Sham Pak-Chung of Hong Kong University.While there are many books about genetics, they typically take the perspective of a scientist wanting to understand the molecular levels. At the same time, direct-to-consumer genetics is a booming market, with millions of people already tested. Very little has been published that will guide them for real, because the need here is more focused on medical and practical understanding, than focussed on molecules.This book therefore aims to hit that vacant spot in the market. It's a walk-through of all concepts that are necessary to understand in your own analysis. Meanwhile, it is also limited in scope to only those concepts - thus distinguishing it from broader works.The book is appropriate for the readerships in modern multi-ethnic metropolises because it mixes European and Asian examples, both from the collaboration between the author from Europe and the foreword-writer, Prof. Pak Sham of Hong Kong University. But also, because many of the examples in the book concerns differences and similarities between Asian and European ethnicities, something the author believes is a trend in time.Related Link(s)

This book offers valuable guidance for science teacher educators looking for ways to facilitate preservice and inservice teachers’ pedagogy relative to teaching students from underrepresented and underserved populations in the science classroom. It also provides solutions that will better equip science teachers of underrepresented student populations with effective strategies that challenge the status quo, and foster classrooms environment that promotes equity and social justice for all of their science students. Multicultural Science Education illuminates historically persistent, yet unresolved issues in science teacher education from the perspectives of a remarkable group of science teacher educators and presents research that has been done to address these issues.  It centers on research findings on underserved and underrepresented groups of students and presents frameworks, perspectives, and paradigms that have implications for transforming science teacher education.  In addition, the chapters provide an analysis of the socio-cultural-political consequences in the ways in which science teacher education is theoretically conceptualized and operationalized in the United States. The book provides teacher educators with a framework for teaching through a lens of equity and social justice, one that may very well help teachers enhance the participation of students from traditionally underrepresented and underserved groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas and help them realize their full potential in science. Moreover, science educators will find this book useful for professional development workshops and seminars for both novice and veteran science teachers. "Multicultural Science Education: Preparing Teachers for Equity and Social Justice directly addresses the essential role that science teacher education plays for the future of an informed and STEM knowledgeable citizenry. The editors and authors review the beginnings of multicultural science education, and then highlight findings from studies on issues of equity, underrepresentation, cultural relevancy, English language learning, and social justice. The most significant part of this book is the move to the policy level—providing specific recommendations for policy development, implementation, assessment and analysis, with calls to action for all science teacher educators, and very significantly, all middle and high school science teachers and prospective teachers. By emphasizing the important role that multicultural science education has played in providing the knowledge base and understanding of exemplary science education, Multicultural Science Education: Preparing Teachers for Equity and Social Justice gives the reader a scope and depth of the field, along with examples of strategies to use with middle and high school students. These classroom instructional strategies are based on sound science and research. Readers are shown the balance between research-based data driven models articulated with successful instructional design. Science teacher educators will find this volume of great value as they work with their pre-service and in-service teachers about how to address and infuse multicultural science education within their classrooms. For educators to be truly effective in their classrooms, they must examine every component of the learning and teaching process. Multicultural Science Education: Preparing Teachers for Equity and Social Justice provides not only the intellectual and research bases underlying multicultural studies in science education, but also the pragmatic side. All teachers and teacher educators can infuse these findings and recommendations into their classrooms in a dynamic way, and ultimately provide richer learning experiences for all students."Patricia Simmons, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA "This provocative collection of chapters is a presentation in gutsiness.  Ingenious in construction and sequencing, this book will influence science teacher educators by introducing them to issues of equity and social justice directly related to women and people of color.  The authors unflinchingly interrogate issues of equity which need to be addressed in science education courses. "This provocative collection of chapters is a presentation in gutsiness.  Ingenious in construction and sequencing, this book will influence science teacher educators by introducing them to issues of equity and social justice directly related to women and people of color.  The authors unflinchingly interrogate issues of equity which need to be addressed in science education courses. It begins with setting current cultural and equity issue within a historic frame. The first chapter sets the scene by moving the reader through 400 years in which African-American’s were ‘scientifically excluded from science’. This is followed by a careful review of the Jim Crow era, an analysis of equity issues of women and ends with an examination of sociocultural consciousness and culturally responsive teaching. Two chapters comprise the second section.  Each chapter examines the role of the science teacher in providing a safe place by promoting equity and social justice in the classroom.   The three chapters in the third section focus on secondary science teachers. Each addresses issues of preparation that provides new teachers with understanding of equity and provokes questions of good teaching. Section four enhances and expands the first section as the authors suggest cultural barriers the impact STEM engagement by marginalized groups.  The last section, composed of three chapters, interrogates policy issues that influence the science classroom." Molly Weinburgh, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, USA

For decades after the identification of the structure of DNA, scientists focused only on genes, the regions of the genome that contain codes for the production of proteins. Other regions that make up 98 percent of the human genome were dismissed as "junk," sequences that serve no purpose. But researchers have recently discovered variations and modulations in this junk DNA that are involved with a number of intractable diseases. Our increasing knowledge of junk DNA has led to innovative research and treatment approaches that may finally ameliorate some of these conditions. Junk DNA can play vital and unanticipated roles in the control of gene expression, from fine-tuning individual genes to switching off entire chromosomes. These functions have forced scientists to revisit the very meaning of the word "gene" and have engendered a spirited scientific battle over whether or not this genomic "nonsense" is the source of human biological complexity. Drawing on her experience with leading scientific investigators in Europe and North America, Nessa Carey provides a clear and compelling introduction to junk DNA and its critical involvement in phenomena as diverse as genetic diseases, viral infections, sex determination in mammals, and evolution. We are only now unlocking the secrets of junk DNA, and Nessa Carey's book is an essential resource for navigating the history and controversies of this fast-growing, hotly disputed field.

We encounter physics before we've even left the house in the morning; an alarm clock tracks time, a mirror reflects light waves and our mobile phones rely on satellites held in their orbit by gravity. Where would we be without the Bernoulli equation to explain how planes fly, electromagnetic waves enabling us to communicate around the world or the discovery of X-rays? In 50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know Joanne Baker will uncover the physics all around us, from basic concepts like gravity, light and energy through to the complexities of quantum theory, chaos and dark energy. Featuring short biographies of iconic physicists, explanatory diagrams and timelines showing discoveries within their historical context, this book is the perfect guide to the fundamental concepts of physics, making even the most challenging theories easy to understand. Contents include: Newton's law of gravitation, Brownian motion, Chaos theory, Fleming's right hand rule, Planck's law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Schrodinger's cat, Superconductivity, Rutherford's atom, Nuclear fission and fusion, The God particle, String theory, Special and general relativity, The big bang and the Anthropic principle.

In this fascinating book, the author traces the careers, ideas, discoveries, and inventions of two renowned scientists, Athanasius Kircher and Galileo Galilei, one a Jesuit, the other a sincere man of faith whose relations with the Jesuits deteriorated badly. The Author documents Kircher's often intuitive work in many areas, including translating the hieroglyphs, developing sundials, and inventing the magic lantern, and explains how Kircher was a forerunner of Darwin in suggesting that animal species evolve. Galileo's work on scales, telescopes, and sun spots is mapped and discussed, and care is taken to place his discoveries within their cultural environment. While Galileo is without doubt the "winner" in the comparison with Kircher, the latter achieved extraordinary insights by unconventional means. For all Galileo's fine work, the author believes that scientists do need to regain the power of dreaming, vindicating Kirchner's view.

Bestselling author Theodore Gray has spent more than a decade dreaming up, executing, photographing, and writing about extreme scientific experiments, which he then published between 2009 and 2014 in his monthly Popular Science column "Gray Matter." Previously published in book form by Black Dog in two separate volumes (Mad Science and Mad Science 2), these experiments, plus 5 more all-new ones, will now be combined in one complete book. Packaged in a smaller, chunkier format Completely Mad Science is 432 pages of dazzling chemical demonstrations, illustrated in spectacular full-color photographs. Some of the completely mad experiments in the book include: Casting a model fish out of mercury (demonstrating how this element behaves very differently depending upon temperature); the famous Flaming Bacon Lance that can cut through steel (demonstrating the amount of energy contained in fatty foods like bacon); creating nylon thread out of pure liquid by combining molecules of hexamethylenediamine and sebacoyl chloride; making homemade ice cream using a fire extinguisher and a pillow case; powering your iPhone using 150 pennies and an apple, and many, many more. It's the ultimate collection for Gray's millions of fans.

Why use expensive beauty products when you can moisturise with jellyfish? Have you ever suspected pollution was to blame for your children's plummeting IQ? Ready to take a sea change . . . on Mars? And how about chopping an onion that doesn't make you cry? This is the perfect present for enquiring minds. Compelling, quirky and packed fully of curious facts, The Naked Scientist: Life Under the Microscope is a treasure trove of cutting-edge research, far-flung factoids and the ability to see into our scientific future, answering those fascinating questions you never thought to ask.

This book puts the debates about the energy-climate continuum on a scientific ground! It is a must-read for everyone, who wants to understand how intimately the energy and climate debates are linked to each other, and who wants to participate in these omnipresent discussions. Antoine Bret explains in his book how fossil fuels became indispensable for our society. He carefully explains how and why this impacts the earth's climate. And he points out that all available fossil fuels will sooner or later be used up. Therefore, he introduces and discusses the alternatives, which are currently considered. The book is divided into three parts. The first part explains the problem and where we stand today, the second part critically discusses possible elements of solution. The third part illustrates historic case studies, containing both warning as well as encouraging examples of societies at turning points. This book is a careful introduction to these topics. The basic science behind the problem and the debates are introduced in an understandable and nicely readable fashion. Facts are illustrated with simple back-on-the-envelope calculations, providing a good feeling for orders of magnitudes. A rich appendix provides additional background information for the interested readers. In this way, the book can even be a valuable resource for introductory university courses in physics, climate science, natural science and many more subjects. This book is a real conversation starter and can be recommended to everyone, specialist or non-specialist, who wants to understand the actual energy-climate debates and maybe even involve.

Alan Turing has long proved a subject of fascination, but following the centenary of his birth in 2012, the code-breaker, computer pioneer, mathematician (and much more) has become even more celebrated with much media coverage, and several meetings, conferences and books raising public awareness of Turing's life and work. This volume will bring together contributions from some of the leading experts on Alan Turing to create a comprehensive guide to Turing that will serve as a useful resource for researchers in the area as well as the increasingly interested general reader. The book will cover aspects of Turing's life and the wide range of his intellectual activities, including mathematics, code-breaking, computer science, logic, artificial intelligence and mathematical biology, as well as his subsequent influence.

The naturalist Gilbert White (1720-93) was known for his meticulous observations of flora and fauna in their natural environment, primarily around his village of Selborne in Hampshire. This posthumous 1795 publication, edited by the physician and writer John Aikin (1747-1822), comprises a collection of extracts from White's previously unpublished papers from 1768 to his death. Presented here for 'lovers of natural knowledge' is a full year of White's observations. Following the month-by-month record of natural events, the book contains brief studies of birds, quadrupeds, insects, plants and the weather. A lifelong lover of the outdoors, White had kept a near daily record of his activities for more than forty years. Regarded as one of the fathers of ecology, inspiring others to appreciate the natural world, White is best known for The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789), which is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

'These minibiographies of women who persisted will move anyone with an avid curiosity about the world.' Publishers Weekly With a foreword by Athene Donald, Professor of Experimental Physics, University of Cambridge and Master of Churchill College. Ten Women Who Changed Science tells the moving stories of the physicists, biologists, chemists, astronomers and doctors who helped to shape our world with their extraordinary breakthroughs and inventions, and outlines their remarkable achievements. These scientists overcame significant obstacles, often simply because they were women. Their science and their lives were driven by personal tragedies and shaped by seismic world events. What drove these remarkable women to cure previously incurable diseases, disprove existing theories or discover new sources of energy? Some were rewarded with the Nobel Prize for their pioneering achievements -Madame Curie, twice - others were not and, even if they had been, many are still not the household names they should be. Despite living during periods when the contribution of women was disregarded, if not ignored, these resilient women persevered with their research, whether creating life-saving drugs or expanding our knowledge of the cosmos. By daring to ask 'How?' and 'Why?' and persevering against all odds, each of these women, in a variety of ways, has helped to make the world a better place. The scientists are: Henrietta Leavitt (United States, Astronomy); Lise Meitner (Austria, Physics); Chien-Shiung Wu (United States, Physics); Marie Curie (France, Chemistry); Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (United Kingdom, Chemistry); Virginia Apgar (United States, Medicine); Gertrude Elion (United States, Medicine); Rita Levi-Montalicini (Italy, Biology); Elsie Widdowson (United Kingdom, Biology); Rachel Carson (United States, Biology).

Creation and access to green spaces promotes individual human health, especially in therapeutic contexts among those suffering traumatic events. But what of the role of access to green space and the act of creating and caring for such places in promoting social health and well-being? Greening in the Red Zone asserts that creation and access to green spaces confers resilience and recovery in systems disrupted by violent conflict or disaster. This edited volume provides evidence for this assertion through cases and examples. The contributors to this volume use a variety of research and policy frameworks to explore how creation and access to green spaces in extreme situations might contribute to resistance, recovery, and resilience of social-ecological systems.

Metaphysics isn't ordinarily much of a laughing matter. But in the hands of acclaimed comedy writer and scholar Eric Kaplan, a search for the truth about old St. Nick becomes a deeply insightful, laugh-out-loud discussion of the way some things exist but may not really be there. Just like Santa and his reindeer. Even after we outgrow the jolly fellow, the essential paradox persists: There are some things we dearly believe in that are not universally acknowledged as real. In Does Santa Exist? Kaplan shows how philosophy giants Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein strove to smooth over this uncomfortable meeting of the real and unreal - and failed. From there he turns to mysticism's attempts to resolve such paradoxes, surveying Buddhism, Taoism, early Christianity, Theosophy and even the philosophers at UC Berkeley under whom he studied. Finally, this brilliant comic writer alights on - surprise! - comedy as the ultimate resolution of the fundamental paradoxes of life, using examples from The Big Bang Theory, Monty Python's cheese shop and many other pop-culture sources. Kaplan delves deeper into what all this means, from how our physical brains work to his own personal confrontations with life's biggest questions: If we're all going to die, what's the point of anything? What is a perfect moment? What can you say about God? Or Santa?

"This is an exquisitely interesting book. It's a deeply serious one too and, for those like me who have little maths, it's delightfully readable" - IAN MCEWAN "Kit Yates is a natural storyteller. Through fascinating stories and examples, he shows how maths is the beating heart of so much of modern life. An exciting new voice in the world of science communication" - MARCUS DU SAUTOY "Used wisely, mathematics can save your life. Used unwisely, it can ruin it. A lucid and enthralling account of why maths matters in everyone's life. A real eye-opener." - Prof Ian Stewart FRS, author of Do Dice Play God? __________ Maths is the story of the world around us, and the wisdom it gives us can be the difference between success and disaster. We are all doing maths all the time, from the way we communicate with each other to the way we travel, from how we work to how we relax. Many of us are aware of this. But few of us really appreciate the full power of maths - the extent to which its influence is not only in every office and every home, but also in every courtroom and hospital ward. In this eye-opening and extraordinary book, Yates explores the true stories of life-changing events in which the application - or misapplication - of mathematics has played a critical role: patients crippled by faulty genes and entrepreneurs bankrupted by faulty algorithms; innocent victims of miscarriages of justice and the unwitting victims of software glitches. We follow stories of investors who have lost fortunes and parents who have lost children, all because of mathematical misunderstandings. Along the way, Yates arms us with simple mathematical rules and tools that can help us make better decisions in our increasingly quantitative society. You will discover why it's always sensible to question a statistic, often vital to ask for a second opinion and sometimes surprisingly handy to stick to the 37% rule...

The main topic of the book is a reconstruction of the evolution of nervous systems and brains as well as of mental-cognitive abilities, in short "intelligence" from simplest organisms to humans. It investigates to which extent the two are correlated. One central topic is the alleged uniqueness of the human brain and human intelligence and mind. It is discussed which neural features make certain animals and humans intelligent and creative: Is it absolute or relative brain size or the size of "intelligence centers" inside the brains, the number of nerve cells inside the brain in total or in such "intelligence centers" decisive for the degree of intelligence, of mind and eventually consciousness? And which are the driving forces behind these processes? Finally, it is asked what all this means for the classical problem of mind-brain relationship and for a naturalistic theory of mind.

In the very successful and widely discussed first volume in the Golem series, The Golem: What You Should Know about Science, Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch likened science to the Golem, a creature from Jewish mythology, a powerful creature which, while not evil, can be dangerous because it is clumsy. In this second volume, the authors now consider the Golem of technology. In a series of case studies they demonstrate that the imperfections in technology are related to the uncertainties in science described in the first volume. The case studies cover the role of the Patriot anti-missile missile in the Gulf War, the Challenger space shuttle explosion, tests of nuclear fuel flasks and of anti-misting kerosene as a fuel for airplanes, economic modeling, the question of the origins of oil, analysis of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the contribution of lay expertise to the analysis of treatments for AIDS.

Quantum physicist Etienne Klein and astrophysicist Marc Lachieze-Rey present and comment on the successive unifications that have marked the fundamental advances in physics. A good deal of modern theoretical physics is lightly and gracefully explained, rooted in a philosophical examination of the motivations that drive physicists and physics. The book is a discourse on the nature of elegance and beauty in physics, seeking to explain how and why beauty is a reliable guide in the ongoing search for Truth in physics.

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize Bias affects us all, every day of our lives. It shapes how we see each other, and how we are seen in turn. It fuels discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, race, age, class and appearance. It robs organizations of talent, science of breakthroughs, politics of insight, individuals of their future and communities of justice. But what if bias is a habit that we can overcome? "Despite revolutions in our understanding of bias, we're still much better at documenting the problem than solving it. When it comes to prevention and cure, Jessica Nordell's powerful book is a breakthrough. With state-of-the-art science and gripping narratives, she reveals steps what individuals, groups, and institutions can take to fight prejudice" - Adam Grant, author of Think Again