In Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets—and alien life—beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers begun to discover planets around other stars—thousands in fact. Now they are closer than ever to unraveling distant twins of the Earth. In this book, Jayawardhana vividly recounts the stories of the scientists and the remarkable breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration. He describes the latest findings, including his own, that are challenging our view of the cosmos and casting new light on the origins and evolution of planets and planetary systems. He reveals how technology is rapidly advancing to support direct observations of Jupiter-like gas giants and super-Earths—rocky planets with several times the mass of our own planet—and how astronomers use biomarkers to seek possible life on other worlds.
Strange New Worlds provides an insider’s look at the cutting-edge science of today’s planet hunters, our prospects for discovering alien life, and the debates and controversies at the forefront of extrasolar-planet research.
“Jayawardhana brings the latest cutting-edge science to all those astounding science-fictional visions of alien worlds, showing us that the universe is every bit as exciting as the masters of science fiction have always claimed. It’s no accident that his title invokes the opening of the original Star Trek. In this terrific book, he boldly goes out into the galaxy, showing us strange—and wondrous—new worlds.”—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author
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Living busily on Planet Earth, we rarely remember that we inhabit only a miniscule part of the universe. In The Planets and The Solar System, Jen Green paints the wider picture, and takes us on a journey across billions of kilometres in our galaxy, from our Sun to near and distant planets. Some, like Mercury, have a molten core surrounded with crust and spin quickly; Jupiter, on the other hand, is a big ball of gas. For 2,500 years, mathematicians and scientists, from Pythagoras to Hubble, have investigated our universe and found that the dimensions, the temperatures and the speeds (light years!) are unbelievably extreme. A fascinating introduction for younger listeners.
In this groundbreaking classic, investigative journalist Lynne McTaggart reveals a radical new paradigm, that the human mind and body are not separate from their environment but a packet of pulsating power constantly interacting with this vast energy sea, and that consciousness may be central in shaping our world. The Field is a highly readable scientific detective story presenting a stunning picture of an interconnected universe and a new scientific theory that makes sense of supernatural phenomena. Documented by distinguished sources, The Field is a book of hope and inspiration for today's world.
An insightful guide that shows how habits of behavior are formed, and how we can transform bad habits into positive behaviors in ourselves and others.
Smart Change explores the psychological mechanisms that form and maintain habits in individuals and groups and offers real, accessible and actionable advice for changing habits. In an engaging narrative, Markman covers a wide range of habits, from individual behaviors like eating better and exercising regularly to work-related behaviors such as learning effectively and influencing customers' purchases. He proposes that there are five effective tools to help individuals change behavior and to help people influence the habits of the people around them:
-Tame the "Go" system: Identify the triggers of habits, replace old behaviors with new ones and generate specific plans to deal with obstacles.
-Harness the "Stop" system: Learn to deal with stress and other factors that hinder the development of new and positive habits.
-Optimize your goals. Determine the course of behavior change and how to successfully incorporate those changes for the long term.
-Manage your environment: Change your surroundings to dramatically reduce poor behavior and habits.
-Engage your Neighbors: To affect other people's behavior, understand the shared culture that creates a mutual dependency, and allows neighbors and colleagues to have a profound positive influence on the behavior of other members of their community.
Our understanding of nature's deepest reality has changed radically, but almost without our noticing, over the past twenty-five years. Transcending the clash of older ideas about matter and space, acclaimed physicist Frank Wilczek explains a remarkable new discovery: matter is built from almost weightless units, and pure energy is the ultimate source of mass. He calls it "The Lightness of Being." Space is no mere container, empty and passive. It is a dynamic Grid, modern ether, and its spontaneous activity creates and destroys particles. This new understanding of mass explains the puzzling feebleness of gravity, and a gorgeous unification of all the forces comes sharply into focus.
The Lightness of Being is the first book to explore the implications of these revolutionary ideas about mass, energy, and the nature of;empty space. In it, Wilczek masterfully presents new perspectives on our incredible universe and envisions a new golden age of fundamental physics.
In 1977, NASA launched the space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This book tells of what was known about those planets and their moons before the Voyager missions, as well as what Voyager discovered about those planets and their moons. This book is written for the middle-grade reader, and can be enjoyed by readers age 12 and up.
Booklist
Verba's account is crammed with information about the moons, rings, atmospheres, temperatures, and orbits of these planets . . . the large quantity of information makes this a worthwhile resource. . . .
Science Press
Joan Marie Verba has written a wonderful tale of the craft that have gone where no one has gone before. . . . Geared toward the intermediate student, the books is well written . . . and brimful of information.
Science Books and Films
NASA launched Voyager 1 and 2 in 1977. These flights of exploration greatly expanded our knowledge of the outer planets of the solar system. Verba gives a concise but fairly thorough description of the Voyager project from conception through the completion of the probes' photographic mission. Voyager begins with a brief discussion of the exploration of the solar system prior to the project. . . . Each of the chapters on the outer planets begins by describing what was known before Voyager, followed by what new things we learned as a result of Voyager. . . . The material is appropriate for interested 5th and 6th graders, but the vocabulary level is more at the 7th- and 8th-grade level ... this is a good account of the flights of Voyager 1 and 2 and what we learned from them.
A gripping narrative of nuclear mishaps and meltdowns around the globe, all of which have proven pivotal to the advancement of nuclear science
From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters. Mahaffey, a long-time advocate of continued nuclear research and nuclear energy, looks at each incident in turn and analyzes what happened and why, often discovering where scientists went wrong when analyzing past meltdowns.
Every incident has led to new facets of understanding about the mighty atom—and Mahaffey puts forth what the future should be for this final frontier of science that still holds so much promise.
“Mahaffey, a former senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, employs his extensive knowledge of nuclear engineering to produce a volume that is by turns alarming, thought-provoking, humorous, and always fascinating.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians.
From the acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams and Mr. g comes a meditation on the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
With all the passion, curiosity, and precise yet lyrical prose that have marked his previous books, Alan Lightman here explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by discoveries in science, focusing most intently on the human condition and the needs of humankind. He looks at the difficult dialogue between science and religion, the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature, the possibility that our universe is simply an accident, the manner in which modern technology has separated us from direct experience of the world, and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws. And behind all of these considerations is the suggestion—at once haunting and exhilarating—that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.
“Engrossing…Theoretical physicist and novelist Lightman offers insight into the ways that recent scientific discoveries shape our understanding of ourselves and our world…A thoughtful, straightforward collection of essays that invite readers to think deeply about the world around them.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Detective thriller meets astrophysics in this adventure into neutrinos and the scientists who pursue them.
For more than eighty years, brilliant and eccentric scientists around the world have been searching for the incredibly small bits of matter we call neutrinos. Trillions of these ghostly particles pass through our bodies every second, but they are so pathologically shy that neutrino hunters have to use Olympic-size pools deep underground and a gigantic cube of Antarctic ice to catch just a handful. Neutrinos may hold the secrets to the nature of antimatter and what the universe was like just seconds after the big bang, but they are extremely elusive and difficult to pin down—much like the adventurous scientists who doggedly pursue them.
In Neutrino Hunters, renowned astrophysicist and award-winning author Ray Jayawardhana takes us on a thrilling journey into the shadowy world of neutrinos and the colorful lives of those who chase them. Demystifying particle science along the way, Jayawardhana tells a detective story with cosmic implications—interweaving the tales of the irascible Casanova Wolfgang Pauli; the troubled genius Ettore Majorana, who disappeared without a trace; and Bruno Pontecorvo, whose defection to the Soviet Union caused a Cold War ruckus. Ultimately, Jayawardhana reveals just how significant these fast-moving particles are to the world we live in and why the next decade of neutrino hunting will redefine how we think about physics, cosmology, and our lives on Earth.
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Most of us are unaware of how much we depend on quantum mechanics on a day-to-day basis. Using illustrations and examples from science fiction pulp magazines and comic books, The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics explains the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics that underlie the world we live in.
In the pulp magazines and comics of the 1950s, it was predicted that the future would be one of gleaming utopias, with flying cars, jetpacks, and robotic personal assistants. Obviously, things didn't turn out that way. But the world we do have is actually more fantastic than the most outlandish predictions of the science fiction of the mid-twentieth century. The World Wide Web, pocket-sized computers, mobile phones, and MRI machines have changed the world in unimagined ways. In The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics, James Kakalios uses examples from comics and magazines to explain how breakthroughs in quantum mechanics led to such technologies.
The book begins with an overview of speculative science fiction, beginning with Jules Verne and progressing through the space adventure comic books of the 1950s. Using the example of Dr. Manhattan from the graphic novel and film Watchmen, Kakalios explains the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and describes nuclear energy via the hilarious portrayals of radioactivity and its effects in the movies and comic books of the 1950s. Finally, he shows how future breakthroughs will make possible ever more advanced medical diagnostic devices—and perhaps even power stations on the moon that can beam their power to Earth.
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From science writer Lee Billings, an intimate history of Earth and the quest for life beyond the solar system.
Since its formation nearly five billion years ago, our planet has been the sole living world in a vast and silent universe. Now Earth's isolation is coming to an end. Over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of "exoplanets" orbiting other stars, including some that could be similar to our own world. Studying those distant planets for signs of life will be crucial to understanding life's intricate mysteries right here on Earth.
In a firsthand account of this unfolding revolution, Lee Billings draws on interviews with top researchers. He reveals how the search for other Earth-like planets is not only a scientific pursuit but also a reflection of our culture's timeless hopes, dreams, and fears.
This is a compelling story of the pioneers seeking the meaning of life in the infinite depths of space.
