New Scientist: The Origin of (almost) Everything

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Author :
Publisher : Nicholas Brealey
ISBN 13 : 1857889398
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (578 download)

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Book Synopsis New Scientist: The Origin of (almost) Everything by : New Scientist

Download or read book New Scientist: The Origin of (almost) Everything written by New Scientist and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2016-10-25 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From what actually happened in the Big Bang to the accidental discovery of post-it notes, the history of science is packed with surprising discoveries. Did you know, for instance, that if you were to get too close to a black hole it would suck you up like a noodle (it's called spaghettification), why your keyboard is laid out in QWERTY (it's not to make it easier to type) or why animals never evolved wheels? New Scientist does. And now they and award-winning illustrator Jennifer Daniel want to take you on a colorful, whistle-stop journey from the start of our universe (through the history of stars, galaxies, meteorites, the Moon and dark energy) to our planet (through oceans and weather and oil) and life (through dinosaurs to emotions and sex) to civilization (from cities to alcohol and cooking), knowledge (from alphabets to alchemy) ending up with technology (computers to rocket science). Witty essays explore the concepts alongside enlightening infographics that zoom from how many people have ever lived, to showing you how a left-wing brain differs from a right-wing one...

New Scientist: The Origin of (almost) Everything

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Author :
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 1473629268
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (736 download)

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Book Synopsis New Scientist: The Origin of (almost) Everything by : New Scientist

Download or read book New Scientist: The Origin of (almost) Everything written by New Scientist and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction by Professor Stephen Hawking. When Edwin Hubble looked into his telescope in the 1920s, he was shocked to find that nearly all of the galaxies he could see through it were flying away from one another. If these galaxies had always been travelling, he reasoned, then they must, at some point, have been on top of one another. This discovery transformed the debate about one of the most fundamental questions of human existence - how did the universe begin? Every society has stories about the origin of the cosmos and its inhabitants, but now, with the power to peer into the early universe and deploy the knowledge gleaned from archaeology, geology, evolutionary biology and cosmology, we are closer than ever to understanding where it all came from. In The Origin of (almost) Everything, New Scientist explores the modern origin stories of everything from the Big Bang, meteorites and dark energy, to dinosaurs, civilisation, timekeeping, belly-button fluff and beyond. From how complex life evolved on Earth, to the first written language, to how humans conquered space, The Origin of (almost) Everything offers a unique history of the past, present and future of our universe.

This Book Will Blow Your Mind

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Author :
Publisher : Nicholas Brealey
ISBN 13 : 1473685044
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (736 download)

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Book Synopsis This Book Will Blow Your Mind by : New Scientist New Scientist

Download or read book This Book Will Blow Your Mind written by New Scientist New Scientist and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You don't need a spaceship to travel to the extremes of science. You just need this book. What's the nature of reality? Does the universe ever end? What is time and does it even exist? These are the biggest imagination-stretching, brain-staggering questions in the universe - and here are their fascinating answers. From quantum weirdness to freaky cosmology (like white holes - which spew out matter instead of sucking it in),This Book Will Blow Your Mind takes you on an epic journey to the furthest extremes of science, to the things you never thought possible. This book will explain: Why is part of the universe missing (and how scientists finally found it) How time might also flow backwards How human head transplants might be possible (in the very near future) Whether the universe is a hologram And why we are all zombies Filled with counterintuitive stories and factoids you can't wait to share, as well as lots of did-you-knows and plenty of how-did-we-ever-not-knows, this new book from the bestselling New Scientist series will blow your mind - and then put it back together again.

The Illustrated Theory of Everything

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Author :
Publisher : Phoenix Books
ISBN 13 : 1614670323
Total Pages : 142 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (146 download)

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Book Synopsis The Illustrated Theory of Everything by : Stephen W. Hawking

Download or read book The Illustrated Theory of Everything written by Stephen W. Hawking and published by Phoenix Books. This book was released on 2011-05-03 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen W. Hawking, widely believed to have been one of be one of the world’s greatest minds, presents a series of seven lectures— covering everything from big bang to black holes to string theory—. These lectures not only capture the brilliance of Hawking’'s mind, but his characteristic wit as well. In The Illustrated Theory of Everything, Hawking begins with a history of ideas about the universe, from Aristotle’s determination that the Earth is round to Hubble’s discovery, more than 2,000 years later, that the universe is expanding. Using that as a launching pad, he explores the reaches of modern physics, including theories on the origin of the universe (e.g., the Big Bang), the nature of black holes, and space-time. Finally, he poses the questions left unanswered by modern physics, especially how to combine all the partial theories into a “unified theory of everything.” “If we find the answer to that,” he claims, “it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason.” A great popularizer of science as well as a brilliant scientist, Hawking believes that advances in theoretical science should be “understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists.” In this book, he offers a fascinating voyage of discovery about the cosmos and our place in it. It is a book for anyone who has ever gazed at the night sky and wondered what was up there and how it came to be.

The Evolution of Beauty

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Author :
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0385537220
Total Pages : 436 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (855 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Beauty by : Richard O. Prum

Download or read book The Evolution of Beauty written by Richard O. Prum and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world. In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature? Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum—reviving Darwin's own views—thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change. Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time. The Evolution of Beauty presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves.

This Book Could Save Your Life

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Author :
Publisher : Nicholas Brealey
ISBN 13 : 1529362083
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (293 download)

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Book Synopsis This Book Could Save Your Life by : Graham Lawton

Download or read book This Book Could Save Your Life written by Graham Lawton and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You are what you eat. Food and diet have an enormous influence on your health and well-being, but eating the right amount of the right things - and not too much of the wrong things - isn't easy. But, as in most walks of life, knowledge is power. This book will empower you to eat healthily, lose weight, and sort the fads from the science facts. This is the New Scientist take on a "New Year, New You" book: an eye-opening and myth-busting guide to everything from sugar to superfoods, from fasting to eating like a caveman and from veganism to your gut microbiome. Forget faddy diet books or gimmicky exercise programs, this is what is scientifically proven to make you live longer and to be healthier and happier.

Until the End of Time

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Author :
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 1524731684
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (247 download)

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Book Synopsis Until the End of Time by : Brian Greene

Download or read book Until the End of Time written by Brian Greene and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose, from the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe. "Few humans share Greene’s mastery of both the latest cosmological science and English prose." —The New York Times Until the End of Time is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning—Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.

A Brief History of Timekeeping

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Author :
Publisher : BenBella Books
ISBN 13 : 1953295940
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (532 download)

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Book Synopsis A Brief History of Timekeeping by : Chad Orzel

Download or read book A Brief History of Timekeeping written by Chad Orzel and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2022 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNER — HISTORY: GENERAL ". . . inherently interesting, unique, and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and academic library Physics of Time & Scientific Measurement history collections, and supplemental curriculum studies lists.” —Midwest Book Review "A wonderful look into understanding and recording time, Orzel’s latest is appropriate for all readers who are curious about those ticks and tocks that mark nearly every aspect of our lives." —Booklist “A thorough, enjoyable exploration of the history and science behind measuring time.” —Foreword Reviews It’s all a matter of time—literally. From the movements of the spheres to the slipperiness of relativity, the story of science unfolds through the fascinating history of humanity’s efforts to keep time. Our modern lives are ruled by clocks and watches, smartphone apps and calendar programs. While our gadgets may be new, however, the drive to measure and master time is anything but—and in A Brief History of Timekeeping, Chad Orzel traces the path from Stonehenge to your smartphone. Predating written language and marching on through human history, the desire for ever-better timekeeping has spurred technological innovation and sparked theories that radically reshaped our understanding of the universe and our place in it. Orzel, a physicist and the bestselling author of Breakfast with Einstein and How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog continues his tradition of demystifying thorny scientific concepts by using the clocks and calendars central to our everyday activities as a jumping-off point to explore the science underlying the ways we keep track of our time. Ancient solstice markers (which still work perfectly 5,000 years later) depend on the basic astrophysics of our solar system; mechanical clocks owe their development to Newtonian physics; and the ultra-precise atomic timekeeping that enables GPS hinges on the predictable oddities of quantum mechanics. Along the way, Orzel visits the delicate negotiations involved in Gregorian calendar reform, the intricate and entirely unique system employed by the Maya, and how the problem of synchronizing clocks at different locations ultimately required us to abandon the idea of time as an absolute and universal quantity. Sharp and engaging, A Brief History of Timekeeping is a story not just about the science of sundials, sandglasses, and mechanical clocks, but also the politics of calendars and time zones, the philosophy of measurement, and the nature of space and time itself. For those interested in science, technology, or history, or anyone who’s ever wondered about the instruments that divide our days into moments: the time you spend reading this book may fly, and it is certain to be well spent.

Where the Universe Came From

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Author :
Publisher : Nicholas Brealey
ISBN 13 : 1857889592
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (578 download)

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Book Synopsis Where the Universe Came From by : New Scientist

Download or read book Where the Universe Came From written by New Scientist and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did it all begin? Where is it all going? WHY GENERAL RELATIVITY LEAVES UNFINISHED BUSINESS WITH THE COSMOS A little over a century ago, a young Albert Einstein presented his general theory of relativity to the world and utterly transformed our understanding of the universe. He overturned centuries of thinking about gravity by revealing how it arises from the curvature of space and time. Yet general relativity has had far greater consequences. It has revealed that our universe has been expanding from a hot dense state called the big bang. It has changed our understanding of space and time. And it predicts that the universe is an extreme place, containing black holes and possibly wormholes. Using Einstein's insights, today's cosmologists have come to realize that most of the universe is missing in the form of mysterious dark matter and dark energy. In Where The Universe Came From leading cosmologists and New Scientist explain that while we have made great progress, we still have plenty of unfinished business with the cosmos. How does the dark universe shape our cosmic destiny? What is really happening near black holes? Are we any closer to discovering the ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein? Why is relativity not the final answer? ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

How Numbers Work

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Author :
Publisher : John Murray
ISBN 13 : 1473629756
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (736 download)

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Book Synopsis How Numbers Work by : New Scientist

Download or read book How Numbers Work written by New Scientist and published by John Murray. This book was released on 2018-03-21 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Think of a number between one and ten. No, hang on, let's make this interesting. Between zero and infinity. Even if you stick to the whole numbers, there are a lot to choose from - an infinite number in fact. Throw in decimal fractions and infinity suddenly gets an awful lot bigger (is that even possible?) And then there are the negative numbers, the imaginary numbers, the irrational numbers like pi which never end. It literally never ends. The world of numbers is indeed strange and beautiful. Among its inhabitants are some really notable characters - pi, e, the "imaginary" number i and the famous golden ratio to name just a few. Prime numbers occupy a special status. Zero is very odd indeed: is it a number, or isn't it? How Numbers Work takes a tour of this mind-blowing but beautiful realm of numbers and the mathematical rules that connect them. Not only that, but take a crash course on the biggest unsolved problems that keep mathematicians up at night, find out about the strange and unexpected ways mathematics influences our everyday lives, and discover the incredible connection between numbers and reality itself. ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

The Neuroscience of Emotion

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Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 140088991X
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis The Neuroscience of Emotion by : Ralph Adolphs

Download or read book The Neuroscience of Emotion written by Ralph Adolphs and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new framework for the neuroscientific study of emotions in humans and animals The Neuroscience of Emotion presents a new framework for the neuroscientific study of emotion across species. Written by Ralph Adolphs and David J. Anderson, two leading authorities on the study of emotion, this accessible and original book recasts the discipline and demonstrates that in order to understand emotion, we need to examine its biological roots in humans and animals. Only through a comparative approach that encompasses work at the molecular, cellular, systems, and cognitive levels will we be able to comprehend what emotions do, how they evolved, how the brain shapes their development, and even how we might engineer them into robots in the future. Showing that emotions are ubiquitous across species and implemented in specific brain circuits, Adolphs and Anderson offer a broad foundation for thinking about emotions as evolved, functionally defined biological states. The authors discuss the techniques and findings from modern neuroscientific investigations of emotion and conclude with a survey of theories and future research directions. Featuring color illustrations throughout, The Neuroscience of Emotion synthesizes the latest in neuroscientific work to provide deeper insights into how emotions function in all of us.

Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?

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Author :
Publisher : John Murray
ISBN 13 : 147365131X
Total Pages : 175 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (736 download)

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Book Synopsis Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? by : New Scientist

Download or read book Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? written by New Scientist and published by John Murray. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? is the latest compilation of readers' answers to the questions in the 'Last Word' column of New Scientist, the world's best-selling science weekly. Following the phenomenal success of Does Anything Eat Wasps? - the Christmas 2005 surprise bestseller - this new collection includes recent answers never before published in book form, and also old favourites from the column's early days. Yet again, many seemingly simple questions turn out to have complex answers. And some that seem difficult have a very simple explanation. New Scientist's 'Last Word' is regularly voted the magazine's most popular section as it celebrates all questions - the trivial, idiosyncratic, baffling and strange. This new selection of the best is popular science at its most entertaining and enlightening.

Nothing

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Author :
Publisher : John Murray
ISBN 13 : 1473642698
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (736 download)

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Book Synopsis Nothing by : New Scientist

Download or read book Nothing written by New Scientist and published by John Murray. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zero, zip, nada, zilch. It's all too easy to ignore the fascinating possibilities of emptiness and non-existence, and we may well wonder what there is to say about nothing. But scientists have known for centuries that nothing is the key to understanding absolutely everything, from why particles have mass to the expansion of the universe; without nothing we'd be precisely nowhere. With chapters by 22 science writers, including top names such as Ian Stewart, Marcus Chown, Helen Pilcher, Nigel Henbest, Michael Brooks, Linda Geddes, Paul Davies, Jo Marchant and David Fisher, this fascinating and intriguing book revels in a subject that has tantalised the finest minds for centuries, and shows there's more to nothing than meets the eye.

The Theory of Almost Everything

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101126744
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis The Theory of Almost Everything by : Robert Oerter

Download or read book The Theory of Almost Everything written by Robert Oerter and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-09-26 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are two scientific theories that, taken together, explain the entire universe. The first, which describes the force of gravity, is widely known: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. But the theory that explains everything else—the Standard Model of Elementary Particles—is virtually unknown among the general public. In The Theory of Almost Everything, Robert Oerter shows how what were once thought to be separate forces of nature were combined into a single theory by some of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century. Rich with accessible analogies and lucid prose, The Theory of Almost Everything celebrates a heretofore unsung achievement in human knowledge—and reveals the sublime structure that underlies the world as we know it.

How Evolution Explains Everything About Life

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Author :
Publisher : Nicholas Brealey
ISBN 13 : 1473658446
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (736 download)

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Book Synopsis How Evolution Explains Everything About Life by : New Scientist

Download or read book How Evolution Explains Everything About Life written by New Scientist and published by Nicholas Brealey. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did we get here? It's the journey of a lifetime. All cultures have a creation story, but a little over 150 years ago Charles Darwin introduced a revolutionary new one. We, and all living things, exist because of the action of evolution on the first simple life form and its descendants. We now know that it has taken 3.8 billions of years of work by the forces of evolution to turn what was once a lump of barren rock into the rich diversity of into plants, animals and microbes that surround us. In the process, evolution has created all manner of useful adaptions, from biological computers (brains) to a system to capture energy from the sun (photosynthesis). But how does evolution actually work? In How Evolution Explains Everything, leading biologists and New Scientist take you on a journey of a lifetime, exploring the question of whether life is inevitable or a one-off fluke, and how it got kick-started. Does evolution have a purpose or direction? Are selfish genes really the driving force of evolution? And is evolution itself evolving?

New Theories of Everything

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019954817X
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis New Theories of Everything by : John D. Barrow

Download or read book New Theories of Everything written by John D. Barrow and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cosmology & the universe.

Nature's Clocks

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Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520933443
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Nature's Clocks by : Doug Macdougall

Download or read book Nature's Clocks written by Doug Macdougall and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Radioactivity is like a clock that never needs adjusting," writes Doug Macdougall. "It would be hard to design a more reliable timekeeper." In Nature's Clocks, Macdougall tells how scientists who were seeking to understand the past arrived at the ingenious techniques they now use to determine the age of objects and organisms. By examining radiocarbon (C-14) dating—the best known of these methods—and several other techniques that geologists use to decode the distant past, Macdougall unwraps the last century's advances, explaining how they reveal the age of our fossil ancestors such as "Lucy," the timing of the dinosaurs' extinction, and the precise ages of tiny mineral grains that date from the beginning of the earth's history. In lively and accessible prose, he describes how the science of geochronology has developed and flourished. Relating these advances through the stories of the scientists themselves—James Hutton, William Smith, Arthur Holmes, Ernest Rutherford, Willard Libby, and Clair Patterson—Macdougall shows how they used ingenuity and inspiration to construct one of modern science's most significant accomplishments: a timescale for the earth's evolution and human prehistory.