Download or read book 10 Questions Science Can t Answer Yet written by M. Hanlon and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considering questions such as 'Where did language come from?' and 'Do animals know they exist?', Michael Hanlon explores possible theories and dispatches a few of the less likely ones in his quest to fill the gaping holes that science is littered with.

Download or read book 10 Questions Science Can t Answer Yet written by Michael Hanlon and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation In the space of 60 seconds a body processes one quadrillion atoms of oxygen, several trillion molecules of carbon dioxide, and the untold products of digestion. After forty years, 90% of the atoms in our body are different. So are you still the same person? Science writer Michael Hanlon takes us into the depths of this and other scientific mysteries, exploring the oft-asked questions of young and old alike. In witty, engaging prose, Hanlon asks: · Does your dog have a soul? · Will we ever be able to live forever? · Are we getting smarter? · Is science really ready to discount the possibility of ghosts? Science may not have all the answers (yet), but while taking us on this grand tour of today's scientific conundrums, Hanlon reveals the complexities behind the mysteries that persist, and shows us that the answers may be coming sooner than we think.

Download or read book The Big Questions in Science written by Hayley Birch and published by . This book was released on 2016-03 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the great scientific questions of our modern age and why don't we know the answers? This volume takes on the most fascinating and pressing mysteries we have yet to crack and explains how tantalisingly close science is to solving them (or how frustratingly out of reach they remain).

Download or read book A Universe from Nothing written by Lawrence Maxwell Krauss and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a provocative account of the astounding new answers to the most basic philosophical question: Where did the universe come from and how will it end?

Download or read book The Language of God written by Francis Collins and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists, working at the cutting edge of the study of DNA, the code of life. Yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God. How does he reconcile the seemingly unreconcilable? In THE LANGUAGE OF GOD he explains his own journey from atheism to faith, and then takes the reader on a stunning tour of modern science to show that physics, chemistry and biology -- indeed, reason itself -- are not incompatible with belief. His book is essential reading for anyone who wonders about the deepest questions of all: why are we here? How did we get here? And what does life mean?

Download or read book The Knowledge Machine How Irrationality Created Modern Science written by Michael Strevens and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Knowledge Machine is the most stunningly illuminating book of the last several decades regarding the all-important scientific enterprise.” —Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex A paradigm-shifting work, The Knowledge Machine revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science. • Why is science so powerful? • Why did it take so long—two thousand years after the invention of philosophy and mathematics—for the human race to start using science to learn the secrets of the universe? In a groundbreaking work that blends science, philosophy, and history, leading philosopher of science Michael Strevens answers these challenging questions, showing how science came about only once thinkers stumbled upon the astonishing idea that scientific breakthroughs could be accomplished by breaking the rules of logical argument. Like such classic works as Karl Popper’s The Logic of Scientific Discovery and Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The Knowledge Machine grapples with the meaning and origins of science, using a plethora of vivid historical examples to demonstrate that scientists willfully ignore religion, theoretical beauty, and even philosophy to embrace a constricted code of argument whose very narrowness channels unprecedented energy into empirical observation and experimentation. Strevens calls this scientific code the iron rule of explanation, and reveals the way in which the rule, precisely because it is unreasonably close-minded, overcomes individual prejudices to lead humanity inexorably toward the secrets of nature. “With a mixture of philosophical and historical argument, and written in an engrossing style” (Alan Ryan), The Knowledge Machine provides captivating portraits of some of the greatest luminaries in science’s history, including Isaac Newton, the chief architect of modern science and its foundational theories of motion and gravitation; William Whewell, perhaps the greatest philosopher-scientist of the early nineteenth century; and Murray Gell-Mann, discoverer of the quark. Today, Strevens argues, in the face of threats from a changing climate and global pandemics, the idiosyncratic but highly effective scientific knowledge machine must be protected from politicians, commercial interests, and even scientists themselves who seek to open it up, to make it less narrow and more rational—and thus to undermine its devotedly empirical search for truth. Rich with illuminating and often delightfully quirky illustrations, The Knowledge Machine, written in a winningly accessible style that belies the import of its revisionist and groundbreaking concepts, radically reframes much of what we thought we knew about the origins of the modern world.

Download or read book The Noughties Brought to Book written by Michael Gross and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2010-05-25 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why music doesn't add up, what The Simpsons can teach us about science, whether Juana la Loca wasn't crazy after all, and what's behind the gaseous veil of Saturn's moon Titan ' these are just some of the questions addressed in the more than 70 reviews and essay reviews from the years 2000 to 2009 collected in this volume. They cover books about science, ranging from the academic to the popularized kind, but there are also books about cultural topics and even a few novels scattered in for good measure. Most of these books reviewed haven't found a massive amount of attention, although some of them should have, at least in the reviewer's opinion. And even if the book under review wasn't all that good, the format of an essay review allows the author to have a go at presenting the subject matter his own way. All in all, a reflection of what happened during the noughties in the worlds of science and culture, and off the beaten track.

Download or read book What We Believe but Cannot Prove written by John Brockman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than one hundred of the world's leading thinkers write about things they believe in, despite the absence of concrete proof Scientific theory, more often than not, is born of bold assumption, disparate bits of unconnected evidence, and educated leaps of faith. Some of the most potent beliefs among brilliant minds are based on supposition alone -- yet that is enough to push those minds toward making the theory viable. Eminent cultural impresario, editor, and publisher of Edge (www.edge.org), John Brockman asked a group of leading scientists and thinkers to answer the question: What do you believe to be true even though you cannot prove it? This book brings together the very best answers from the most distinguished contributors. Thought-provoking and hugely compelling, this collection of bite-size thought-experiments is a fascinating insight into the instinctive beliefs of some of the most brilliant minds today.

Download or read book Why Trust Science written by Naomi Oreskes and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why the social character of scientific knowledge makes it trustworthy Are doctors right when they tell us vaccines are safe? Should we take climate experts at their word when they warn us about the perils of global warming? Why should we trust science when so many of our political leaders don't? Naomi Oreskes offers a bold and compelling defense of science, revealing why the social character of scientific knowledge is its greatest strength—and the greatest reason we can trust it. Tracing the history and philosophy of science from the late nineteenth century to today, this timely and provocative book features a new preface by Oreskes and critical responses by climate experts Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Kowarsch, political scientist Jon Krosnick, philosopher of science Marc Lange, and science historian Susan Lindee, as well as a foreword by political theorist Stephen Macedo.

Download or read book Why Evolution is True written by Jerry A. Coyne and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-01-14 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For all the discussion in the media about creationism and 'Intelligent Design', virtually nothing has been said about the evidence in question - the evidence for evolution by natural selection. Yet, as this succinct and important book shows, that evidence is vast, varied, and magnificent, and drawn from many disparate fields of science. The very latest research is uncovering a stream of evidence revealing evolution in action - from the actual observation of a species splitting into two, to new fossil discoveries, to the deciphering of the evidence stored in our genome. Why Evolution is True weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, palaeontology, geology, molecular biology, anatomy, and development to demonstrate the 'indelible stamp' of the processes first proposed by Darwin. It is a crisp, lucid, and accessible statement that will leave no one with an open mind in any doubt about the truth of evolution.

Download or read book Reproducibility and Replicability in Science written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-10-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the pathways by which the scientific community confirms the validity of a new scientific discovery is by repeating the research that produced it. When a scientific effort fails to independently confirm the computations or results of a previous study, some fear that it may be a symptom of a lack of rigor in science, while others argue that such an observed inconsistency can be an important precursor to new discovery. Concerns about reproducibility and replicability have been expressed in both scientific and popular media. As these concerns came to light, Congress requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conduct a study to assess the extent of issues related to reproducibility and replicability and to offer recommendations for improving rigor and transparency in scientific research. Reproducibility and Replicability in Science defines reproducibility and replicability and examines the factors that may lead to non-reproducibility and non-replicability in research. Unlike the typical expectation of reproducibility between two computations, expectations about replicability are more nuanced, and in some cases a lack of replicability can aid the process of scientific discovery. This report provides recommendations to researchers, academic institutions, journals, and funders on steps they can take to improve reproducibility and replicability in science.

Download or read book The Infinite Universe written by Tim Andersen and published by . This book was released on 2020-05-04 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is for anyone who wants a fresh approach to modern physics. Are you tired of amusing anecdotes about scientists' personal lives and eureka moments? Bored of chronological narratives of scientific progress through the ages? No longer wowed by ideas like string theory? Interested in first principles thinking and what it can do for you? This book is for you. This book is designed to take you step by step through the fundamental principles that underlie the physics of space, time, and matter. It is a how-to guide for building up our universe from first principles. By posing questions and answering them with illustrations and examples, the book shows how we can demonstrate what we know about the universe with simple concepts and thought experiments. With this book, you too can apply first principles to build up your own model of the universe and how it works, one you can take with you, and apply it to other areas of your life such as your job, business, even your relationships. There are no complicated mathematics in this book and I have minimized the amount of jargon. Thus, it is suitable anyone of any educational background from high school on. The book aims to be straightforward about how we get from simple ideas to complex physical theories. So, if you are interested in a new way of looking at the universe and are not afraid to unlearn some of what you have learned, take a look inside.

Download or read book The Vital Question written by Nick Lane and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A game-changing book on the origins of life, called the most important scientific discovery 'since the Copernican revolution' in The Observer.

Download or read book The Grace of Kings written by Ken Liu and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. Hailed as one of the best books of 2015 by NPR. Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice. Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and action will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.

Download or read book Light Years written by Brian Clegg and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-02-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fully updated 2nd edition of this critically acclaimed book covers the exciting developments in light science of the past five years. Light Years is an engaging survey of everything we know of the universe's most enigmatic phenomenon and the remarkable people who have been captivated by it.

Download or read book Probability Theory written by and published by Allied Publishers. This book was released on 2013 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Probability theory

Download or read book Life the Universe and Everything written by Douglas Adams and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘One of the world's sanest, smartest, kindest, funniest voices’ – Independent on Sunday This 42nd Anniversary Edition includes exclusive bonus material from the Douglas Adams archives, and an introduction by Simon Brett, producer of the original radio broadcast. ***** In Life, the Universe and Everything, the third title in Douglas Adams' blockbusting sci-fi comedy series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent finds himself enlisted to prevent a galactic war. Following a number of stunning catastrophes, which have involved him being alternately blown up and insulted in ever stranger regions of the Galaxy, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot get possibly worse, they suddenly do. An eddy in the space-time continuum lands him, Ford Prefect, and their flying sofa in the middle of the cricket ground at Lord's, just two days before the world is due to be destroyed by the Vogons. Escaping the end of the world for a second time, Arthur, Ford, and their old friend Slartibartfast embark (reluctantly) on a mission to save the whole galaxy from fanatical robots. Not bad for a man in his dressing gown . . . Follow Arthur Dent's galactic (mis)adventures in the rest of the trilogy with five parts: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and Mostly Harmless. ***** Praise for Douglas Adams: 'Sheer delight' - The Times 'A pleasure to read' - New York Times 'Magical . . . read this book' - Sunday Express