'What I like best about this fascinating book is the detail. Brian Butterworth doesn't just tell us stories of animals with numerical abilities: he tells us about the underlying science. Elegantly written and a joy to read' - Professor Ian Stewart, author of What's the Use? and Taming the Infinite 'Full of thought-provoking studies and animal observations' - Booklist 'Enlightening and entertaining' - Publishers Weekly The Hidden Genius of Animals: Every pet owner thinks their own dog, cat, fish or hamster is a genius. What makes CAN FISH COUNT? so exciting is the way it unveils just how widespread intelligence is in nature. Pioneering psychologist Brian Butterworth describes the extraordinary numerical feats of all manner of species ranging from primates and mammals to birds, reptiles, fish and insects. Whether it's lions deciding to fight or flee, frogs competing for mates, bees navigating their way to food sources, fish assessing which shoal to join, or jackdaws counting friends when joining a mob - every species shares an ability to count. Homo Sapiens may think maths is our exclusive domain, but this book shows that every creature shares a deep-seated Darwinian ability to understand the intrinsic language of our universe: mathematics CAN FISH COUNT? is that special sort of science book - a global authority in his field writing an anecdotally-rich and revelatory narrative which changes the way you perceive something we take for granted.

Human evolution explains how we have found ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Issues of modern living; depression, obesity, and environmental destruction, can be understood in relation to our evolutionary past. This book shows how an awareness of this past and its relation to the present can help limit their impact on the future.

What is Science? A Guide for Those Who Love It, Hate It, or Fear It, provides the reader with ways science has been done through discovery, exploration, experimentation and other reason-based approaches. It discusses the basic and applied sciences, the reasons why some people hate science, especially its rejection of the supernatural, and others who fear it for human applications leading to environmental degradation, climate change, nuclear war, and other outcomes of sciences applied to society.The author uses anecdotes from interviews and associations with many scientists he has encountered in his career to illustrate these features of science and their personalities and habits of thinking or work. He also explores the culture wars of science and the humanities, values involved in doing science and applying science, the need for preventing unexpected outcomes of applied science, and the ways our world view changes through the insights of science. This book will provide teachers lots of material for discussion about science and its significance in our lives. It will also be helpful for those starting out their interest in science to know the worst and best features of science as they develop their careers.

Why do twins look alike? How are we similar to our parents? What is the genetic code? Professor Lin He, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shares his childhood stories and knowledge of genetics in this vividly illustrated popular science book.

Some have seen philosophy embedded in episodes of The Simpsons; others have detected elements of psychology and religion. Simon Singh, bestselling author of Fermat's Last Theorem, The Code Book and The Big Bang, instead makes the compelling case that what The Simpsons' writers are most passionate about is mathematics. He reveals how the writers have drip-fed morsels of number theory into the series over the last twenty-five years; indeed, there are so many mathematical references in The Simpsons, and in its sister program, Futurama, that they could form the basis of an entire university course. Using specific episodes as jumping off points - from 'Bart the Genius' to 'Treehouse of Horror VI' - Simon Singh brings to life the most intriguing and meaningful mathematical concepts, ranging from pi and the paradox of infinity to the origins of numbers and the most profound outstanding problems that haunt today's generation of mathematicians. In the process, he introduces us to The Simpsons' brilliant writing team - the likes of Ken Keeler, Al Jean, Jeff Westbrook, and Stewart Burns - who are not only comedy geniuses, but who also hold advanced degrees in mathematics.This eye-opening book will give anyone who reads it an entirely new mathematical insight into the most successful show in television history.

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2021 'To compare any book to a Sacks is unfair, but this one lives up to it . . . I finished it feeling thrillingly unsettled, and wishing there was more.' - James McConnachie, Sunday Times In Sweden, refugee children fall asleep for months and years at a time. In upstate New York, high school students develop contagious seizures. In the US Embassy in Cuba, employees complain of headaches and memory loss after hearing strange noises in the night. These disparate cases are some of the most remarkable diagnostic mysteries of the twenty-first century, as both doctors and scientists have struggled to explain them within the boundaries of medical science and - more crucially - to treat them. What unites them is that they are all examples of a particular type of psychosomatic illness: medical disorders that are influenced as much by the idiosyncratic aspects of individual cultures as they are by human biology. Inspired by a poignant encounter with the sleeping refugee children of Sweden, Wellcome Prize-winning neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan travels the world to visit other communities who have also been subject to outbreaks of so-called 'mystery' illnesses. From a derelict post-Soviet mining town in Kazakhstan, to the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua via an oil town in Texas, to the heart of the Maria Mountains in Colombia, O'Sullivan hears remarkable stories from a fascinating array of people, and attempts to unravel their complex meaning while asking the question: who gets to define what is and what isn't an illness? Reminiscent of the work of Oliver Sacks, Stephen Grosz and Henry Marsh, The Sleeping Beauties is a moving and unforgettable scientific investigation with a very human face. 'A study of diseases that we sometimes say are 'all in the mind', and an explanation of how unfair that characterisation is.' - Tom Whipple, The Times Books of the Year

Every night, above our heads, a drama of epic proportions is playing out. Diamond planets, zombie stars, black holes heavier than a billion Suns. The cast of characters is extraordinary, and each one has its own incredible story to tell. We once thought of our Earth as unique, but we have now discovered thousands of alien planets, and that's barely a fraction of the worlds that are out there. And there are more stars in the Universe than grains of sand on every planet in the Solar System. But amid all this vastness, the Milky Way Galaxy, our Sun and the Earth are home to the only known life in the Universe - at least for now. With a foreword from Professor Brian Cox, and access to all the latest stunning NASA photography, Andrew Cohen takes readers on a voyage of discovery, via the probes and telescopes exploring the outer reaches of our galaxy, revealing how it was formed and how it will inevitably be destroyed by the enigmatic black hole at its heart. And beyond our galaxy, the expanding Universe, which holds clues to the biggest mystery of all - how did it all begin? We now know more about those first moments of existence than we ever thought possible, and hidden in this story of how it all began are the clues to the fate of the Universe itself and everything in it.

'This book is not just about life, but about discovery itself. It is about error and hubris, but also about wonder and the reach of science. And it is bookended with the ultimate question: How do we define the thing that defines us?' - Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Gene We all assume we know what life is, but the more scientists learn about the living world - from protocells to brains, from zygotes to pandemic viruses - the harder they find it to locate the edges of life, where it begins and ends. What exactly does it mean to be alive? Is a virus alive? Is a foetus? Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can't answer that question here on earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society's most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead. Life's Edge is an utterly fascinating investigation by one of the most celebrated science writers of our time. Zimmer journeys through the strange experiments that have attempted to recreate life. Literally hundreds of definitions of what that should look like now exist, but none has yet emerged as an obvious winner. Lists of what living things have in common do not add up to a theory of life. It's never clear why some items on the list are essential and others not. Coronaviruses have altered the course of history, and yet many scientists maintain they are not alive. Chemists are creating droplets that can swarm, sense their environment, and multiply - have they made life in the lab? Whether he is handling pythons in Alabama or searching for hibernating bats in the Adirondacks, Zimmer revels in astounding examples of life at its most bizarre. He tries his own hand at evolving life in a test tube with unnerving results. Charting the obsession with Dr Frankenstein's monster and how Coleridge came to believe the whole universe was alive, Zimmer leads us all the way into the labs and minds of researchers working on engineering life from the ground up.

Former NASA Astronaut Harrison Schmitt advocates a private, investor-based approach to returning humans to the Moon-to extract Helium 3 for energy production, to use the Moon as a platform for science and manufacturing, and to establish permanent human colonies there in a kind of stepping stone community on the way to deeper space. With governments playing a supporting role-just as they have in the development of modern commercial aeronautics and agricultural production-Schmitt believes that a fundamentally private enterprise is the only type of organization capable of sustaining such an effort and, eventually, even making it pay off.

Who wore the first pants? Who painted the first masterpiece? Who first rode the horse? This madcap adventure across ancient history uses everything from modern genetics to archaeology to uncover the geniuses behind these and other world-changing innovations. In this book, writer Cody Cassidy digs deep into the latest research to uncover the untold stories of some of these incredible innovators (or participants in lucky accidents). With a sharp sense of humor and boundless enthusiasm for the wonders of our ancient ancestors, Who Ate the First Oyster? profiles the perpetrators of the greatest firsts and catastrophes of prehistory, using the lives of individuals to provide a glimpse into ancient cultures to show how and why these critical developments occurred, and educate us on a period of time that until recently we've known almost nothing about.

What is Science? A Guide for Those Who Love It, Hate It, or Fear It, provides the reader with ways science has been done through discovery, exploration, experimentation and other reason-based approaches. It discusses the basic and applied sciences, the reasons why some people hate science, especially its rejection of the supernatural, and others who fear it for human applications leading to environmental degradation, climate change, nuclear war, and other outcomes of sciences applied to society.The author uses anecdotes from interviews and associations with many scientists he has encountered in his career to illustrate these features of science and their personalities and habits of thinking or work. He also explores the culture wars of science and the humanities, values involved in doing science and applying science, the need for preventing unexpected outcomes of applied science, and the ways our world view changes through the insights of science. This book will provide teachers lots of material for discussion about science and its significance in our lives. It will also be helpful for those starting out their interest in science to know the worst and best features of science as they develop their careers.

Breaking down the complicated concepts of speed, acceleration, torque, fluid mechanics, and surface physics, Physics of Sailing provides a lively, easily accessible introduction to the basic science underlying the sport of sailing. It illustrates the many ways physics can be used to understand the principles of sailboat propulsion and how a scientific understanding of the boat, wind, and water can lead to more skillful sailing. After a brief but insightful tour of the history of sailing, the book explores the physics involved in making faster sailing crafts for both upwind and downwind sailing, including Newton's impact theory of fluid resistance and lift and drag phenomena. It compares possible sail shapes, presents measurements of hull smoothness, and describes wind turbulence, the nature of water waves, and the structure of wakes. Using the physics of optics, the author also explains the connection between water's appearance and the wind. Along with a glossary of sailing terms, he includes many examples throughout to illustrate the concepts in practice. Avoiding unnecessary formalisms, this book skillfully applies the principles of fluid mechanics to sailboat technology and the art of sailing. It should help you become a more knowledgeable sailor.

'A book that would have had Darwin swooning - anyone seriously interested in who we are and how we function should read this.' Guardian At the beginning of this century enormous progress had been made in genetics. The Human Genome Project finished sequencing human DNA. It seemed it was only a matter of time until we had all the answers to the secrets of life on this planet. The cutting-edge of biology, however, is telling us that we still don't even know all of the questions. How is it that, despite each cell in your body carrying exactly the same DNA, you don't have teeth growing out of your eyeballs or toenails on your liver? How is it that identical twins share exactly the same DNA and yet can exhibit dramatic differences in the way that they live and grow? It turns out that cells read the genetic code in DNA more like a script to be interpreted than a mould that replicates the same result each time. This is epigenetics and it's the fastest-moving field in biology today. The Epigenetics Revolution traces the thrilling path this discipline has taken over the last twenty years. Biologist Nessa Carey deftly explains such diverse phenomena as how queen bees and ants control their colonies, why tortoiseshell cats are always female, why some plants need a period of cold before they can flower, why we age, develop disease and become addicted to drugs, and much more. Most excitingly, Carey reveals the amazing possibilities for humankind that epigenetics offers for us all - and in the surprisingly near future.

A highly rigorous, yet original and entertaining book that explores the connection between food and science.Why has science forcefully entered the kitchen from a certain moment in history?Why do scientists often use images and metaphors drawn from gastronomy?What is the common thread that connects scientific experiments to mouth-watering recipes?What has futurist cooking got in common with molecular gastronomy?Experiments with coffee, controversies over beer and chocolate recipes guarded as if they were secret patents are the ingredients of this original, surprising account of the intersections between gastronomy and research, between laboratories and kitchens.Related Link(s)

In this follow up to Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century, Jean-Pierre Fillard brings together diverse perspectives to address the recurring theme of rivalry between man and machine.Accelerated by recent events such as the Covid-19 pandemic that caught the world by surprise and brought it to a standstill, the use of technology has become more relevant than ever. What new conclusions can we draw in this debate featuring humans (brain) on the one side, and artificial intelligence (computer) on the other? Featuring brand new content including a complementary perspective from the arts, the author balances the argument from the traditional scientific approach of logic, rationality, and computation with instinct, intuition, and emotion. Read together with his latest offerings Longevity in a 2.0 World and Transhumanism: A Realistic Future? this trilogy culminates in an attempt to answer one of the most exciting questions of our time.

Quantum physicist, New York Times bestselling author, and BBC host Jim Al-Khalili offers a fascinating and illuminating look at what physics reveals about the world Shining a light on the most profound insights revealed by modern physics, Jim Al-Khalili invites us all to understand what this crucially important science tells us about the universe and the nature of reality itself. Al-Khalili begins by introducing the fundamental concepts of space, time, energy, and matter, and then describes the three pillars of modern physics-quantum theory, relativity, and thermodynamics-showing how all three must come together if we are ever to have a full understanding of reality. Using wonderful examples and thought-provoking analogies, Al-Khalili illuminates the physics of the extreme cosmic and quantum scales, the speculative frontiers of the field, and the physics that underpins our everyday experiences and technologies, bringing the reader up to speed with the biggest ideas in physics in just a few sittings. Physics is revealed as an intrepid human quest for ever more foundational principles that accurately explain the natural world we see around us, an undertaking guided by core values such as honesty and doubt. The knowledge discovered by physics both empowers and humbles us, and still, physics continues to delve valiantly into the unknown. Making even the most enigmatic scientific ideas accessible and captivating, this deeply insightful book illuminates why physics matters to everyone and calls one and all to share in the profound adventure of seeking truth in the world around us.

Technoscientific developments often have far-reaching consequences, both negative and positive, for the public. Yet, because science has the authority to decide which judgments about scientific issues are sound, public concerns are often dismissed because they are not part of the technoscientific paradigm they question. This book addresses the role of science popularization in that paradox; it explains how science writing works and argues that it can do better at promoting public discussions about science-related issues. To support these arguments, it situates science popularization in its historical and cultural context; provides a conceptual framework for analyzing popular science texts; and examines the rhetorical effects of common strategies used in popular science writing. Twenty-six years after Dorothy Nelkin's groundbreaking book, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, popular science writing is still not meeting its potential as a public interest genre; Communicating Popular Science explores how it can move closer to doing so.

Flash crashes. Speed dating. Instant messaging. From the devices we carry to the lives we lead, everything is getting faster, faster. But where did this great acceleration come from? And where will it lead? In this vitally important new book, Robert Colvile explains how the cult of disruption in Silicon Valley, the ceaseless advance of technology and our own fundamental appetite for novelty and convenience have combined to speed up every aspect of daily life. Drawing on the latest research, this book traces the path of this acceleration through our working and social lives, the food we buy and the music to which we listen. It explains how it's transforming the media, politics and the financial markets - and asks whether our bodies, and the natural environment, can cope. As we race towards the future - into a world packed with new technologies, new ideas and new discoveries - this scintillating and engrossing book is an invaluable, must-read guide to the wonders and dangers that await us.

This book is a collection of chapters reflecting the experiences and achievements of some of the Fellows of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE). The book comprises essays that look at reminiscences, eureka moments, inspirations, challenges and opportunities in the journey of an engineering professional. The chapters look at the paths successful engineering professionals take towards self-realisation, the milestones they crossed, and the goals they reached. The book contains 38 chapters on diverse topics that truly reflect the way the meaningful mind of an engineer works.

Coronavirus, AIDS, and Ebola: Viruses are normally defined as pathogens. Most viruses are, however, not enemies or killers. Well-known virologist and cancer researcher Karin Moelling describes surprising insights about a completely new and unexpected world of viruses. Viruses are ubiquitous, in the oceans, our environment, in animals, plants, bacteria, in our body, even in our genomes. They influence our weather, can contribute to control obesity, and can surprisingly be applied against threatening multi-resistant bacteria. The success story of the viruses started more than 3.5 billion years ago in the dawn of life when even cells did not exist. They are the superpower of life. There are more viruses on earth than stars in the sky. Viruses are everywhere. Some of them are incredibly ancient. Many viruses are hundredfold smaller than bacteria, but others are tenfold bigger and they were discovered only recently - the giant viruses, even deep within the permafrost where they were reactivated after 30,000 years.The author talks about a completely new world of viruses, which are based on the most recent, in part her own research results. Could viruses have been our oldest ancestors? Have viruses even 'invented' social behavior, do they lead to geniuses such as Mozart or Einstein - or alternatively to cancer? They can help to cure cancer. In this book, the author made a clear distinction between what is fact and what is her vision. This book is written for a general audience and not just for the experts. Its aim is to stimulate thinking, and perhaps to attract more young scientists to enter this field of research.This revised edition is brought up to date by a new chapter on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Related Link(s)

Coronavirus, AIDS, and Ebola: Viruses are normally defined as pathogens. Most viruses are, however, not enemies or killers. Well-known virologist and cancer researcher Karin Moelling describes surprising insights about a completely new and unexpected world of viruses. Viruses are ubiquitous, in the oceans, our environment, in animals, plants, bacteria, in our body, even in our genomes. They influence our weather, can contribute to control obesity, and can surprisingly be applied against threatening multi-resistant bacteria. The success story of the viruses started more than 3.5 billion years ago in the dawn of life when even cells did not exist. They are the superpower of life. There are more viruses on earth than stars in the sky. Viruses are everywhere. Some of them are incredibly ancient. Many viruses are hundredfold smaller than bacteria, but others are tenfold bigger and they were discovered only recently - the giant viruses, even deep within the permafrost where they were reactivated after 30,000 years.The author talks about a completely new world of viruses, which are based on the most recent, in part her own research results. Could viruses have been our oldest ancestors? Have viruses even 'invented' social behavior, do they lead to geniuses such as Mozart or Einstein - or alternatively to cancer? They can help to cure cancer. In this book, the author made a clear distinction between what is fact and what is her vision. This book is written for a general audience and not just for the experts. Its aim is to stimulate thinking, and perhaps to attract more young scientists to enter this field of research.This revised edition is brought up to date by a new chapter on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Related Link(s)

When historians of the future come to examine western civilization in the twentieth century, one area of intellectual accomplishment will stand out above all others: more than any other era before it, the twentieth century was an age of science. Not only were the practical details of daily life radically transformed by the application of scientific discoveries, but our very sense of who we are, how our minds work, how our world came to be, how it works and our proper role in it, our ultimate origins, and our ultimate fate were all influenced by scientific thinking as never before in human history. In The Age of Science, the former editor and publisher of Scientific American gives us a sweeping overview of the scientific achievements of the twentieth century, with chapters on the fundamental forces of nature, the subatomic world, cosmology, the cell and molecular biology, earth history and the evolution of life, and human evolution. Beautifully written and illustrated, this is a book for the connoisseur: an elegant, informative, magisterial summation of one of the twentieth century's greatest cultural achievements.

In this follow up to Brain vs Computer: The Challenge of the Century, Jean-Pierre Fillard brings together diverse perspectives to address the recurring theme of rivalry between man and machine.Accelerated by recent events such as the Covid-19 pandemic that caught the world by surprise and brought it to a standstill, the use of technology has become more relevant than ever. What new conclusions can we draw in this debate featuring humans (brain) on the one side, and artificial intelligence (computer) on the other? Featuring brand new content including a complementary perspective from the arts, the author balances the argument from the traditional scientific approach of logic, rationality, and computation with instinct, intuition, and emotion. Read together with his latest offerings Longevity in a 2.0 World and Transhumanism: A Realistic Future? this trilogy culminates in an attempt to answer one of the most exciting questions of our time.

'This brief book offers an interesting, fun, and widely accessible first-person tour of CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. The facilities at CERN include the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27-kilometer particle accelerator that straddles the border between Switzerland and France. The LHC was famously used to discover the Higgs boson, a long-sought fundamental particle. Physics historian Depambour (University of Paris) is enthusiastic about all aspects of CERN, especially its role as an agent for peace and international cooperation. The book focuses mainly on the physical layout of the CERN campus and its experimental facilities, but Depambour also includes an introduction to the standard model of particle physics and a history of the search for the Higgs boson. Supporting illustrations and interviews help convey the atmosphere and culture of CERN. The book can be read and enjoyed by virtually anyone interested in modern science, starting with students currently in high school. It will also be welcome as a useful orientation for undergraduates and graduate students whose research interests might eventually take them to CERN. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.'CHOICEWhat lies within CERN's entrails? What is the path followed by the particles that are accelerated before they collide? What does the ATLAS detector look like? Does research at CERN find applications in everyday life?From the accelerator control room to the huge Computing Centre, via the auditorium where the discovery of the Higgs boson was announced in July 2012, I invite you to experience for one day an immersion in the world of research in particle physics! Discovering emblematic installations at CERN, walking through the places where people spend every working day, meeting with researchers in various fields, descending into the ATLAS cavern ... Our visit, whose path will mimic that of the particles during their journey, will be full of anecdotes and surprises.Follow me for a guided tour of CERN, the largest scientific collaboration in the world!

'The physical form of this new title is pleasing, including good paper, readable font, and durable binding ... The book is not a collection of practical ideas. Rather, it is intended for those curious about pure mathematical tidbits. The flavor is light, as opposed to pedantic. Among the numerous books of this type, this title is significantly better than most. It should be considered for private collections and for libraries that can afford to serve a small, unique readership.Summing Up: Recommended. General readers.'CHOICEThis book demonstrates to the general audience that mathematics can be entertaining and fun, rather than the sad reputation it has gained over decades from uninspired school instruction that is often devoid of enrichment or motivational considerations.The book is designed in such a way that a reader will need almost no special preparation in mathematics, but to recall some of the most basic concepts that were taught at the lower-secondary-grade level.Yet, by the same token, the book will hopefully open up doors for those less motivated in mathematics - to interest readers to investigate some of the topics presented and thereby enhance their knowledge of mathematics - something most general readers will not initially find possible, but we hope will be an end product of this book.