The Neck
A 300-million-year tour of the prominent role of the neck in animal evolution and human culture. Humans give a lot of attention to the neck. We decorate it with jewelry and ties, kiss it passionately, and use it to express ourselves in word and song. Yet, at the neck, people have also shackled their prisoners, executed their opponents, and slain their victims. Beyond the drama of human culture, animals have evolved their necks into a staggering variety of shapes and uses vital to their lifestyles. The Neck delves into evolutionary time to solve a living paradox--why is our neck so central to our survival and culture, but so vulnerable to injury and disease? Biologist Kent Dunlap shows how the neck's vulnerability is not simply an unfortunate quirk of evolution. Its weaknesses are intimately connected to the vessels, pipes, and glands that make it so vital to existence. Fun and far-reaching, The Neck explores the diversity of forms and functions of the neck in humans and other animals and shows how this small anatomical transition zone has been a locus of incredible evolutionary and cultural creativity.
Dynamic Relationality Theory of Creative Transformation
Dynamic Relationality Theory of Creative Transformation: Grounding Machinic Ecosystems in Life Experiences introduces a visionary approach to understanding the evolving relationship between technology and human experiences. It delves into the transformative potential of Machinic Generalized Intelligence (MGI), where AI and human intelligence converge harmoniously, creating a new paradigm of interactive, machinic life experiences. This book challenges the traditional tech-centric view, advocating for a life and experience-first perspective. It presents the Dynamic Relationality Theory (DRT), a novel conceptual framework that redefines our interaction with technology, emphasizing cocreative, emergent experiences over mere digital platformization. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining philosophical insights and social theories with practical applications, this book navigates the complexities of digitalized life ecosystems, employing concepts and tools from assemblage theory, category theory, sheaf theory, differential topology, and gauge theory. For readers grappling with the complexities of AI and its societal implications, this book offers clarity and direction. It provides a robust theoretical framework to understand the changing landscape of human-technology interaction. Furthermore, it integrates philosophical insights and ethical considerations into the discussion of AI and technology, providing a well-rounded perspective that aids in ethical decision-making and responsible innovation. It also delves into practical applications and future implications of AI, aiding readers in applying these concepts in real-world scenarios. By moving beyond a purely technological focus, this book equips readers with the insights needed to navigate the ethical, philosophical, and practical challenges posed by the integration of AI into daily life. A crucial resource for academics, professionals, and policymakers, this book serves as a guide to making informed decisions and fostering responsible innovation in the age of AI.
Into the Great Emptiness
By 1930, no place in the world was less well explored than Greenland. The native Inuit had occupied the relatively accessible west coast for centuries. The east coast, however, was another story. In August 1930, Henry George Watkins (nicknamed "Gino"), a twenty-three-year-old British explorer, led thirteen scientists and explorers on an ambitious expedition to the east coast of Greenland and into its vast and forbidding interior to set up a permanent meteorological base on the icecap, 8,200 feet above sea level. The Ice Cap Station was to be the anchor of a transpolar route of air travel from Europe to North America.The weather on the ice cap was appalling. Fierce storms. Temperatures plunging lower than -50簞 Fahrenheit in the winter. Watkins's scheme called for rotating teams of two men each to monitor the station for two months at a time. No one had ever tried to winter over in that hostile landscape, let alone manage a weather station through twelve continuous months. Watkins was younger than anyone under his command. But he had several daring trips to the Arctic under his belt and no one doubted his judgement.The first crisis came in the fall when a snowstorm stranded a resupply mission halfway to the top for many weeks. When they arrived at the ice cap, there were not enough provisions and fuel for another two-man shift, so the station would have to be abandoned. Then team member August Courtauld made an astonishing offer. To enable the mission to go forward, he would monitor the station solo through the winter. When a team went up in March to relieve Courtauld, after weeks of brutal effort to make the 130-mile journey, they could find no trace of him or the station. By the end of March, Courtauld's situation was desperate. He was buried under an immovable load of frozen snow and was disastrously short on supplies. On April 21, four months after Courtauld began his solitary vigil, Gino Watkins set out inland with two companions to find and rescue him.David Roberts, "veteran mountain climber and chronicler of adventures" (Washington Post), draws on firsthand accounts and archival materials to tell the story of this daring expedition and of the epic survival ordeal that ensued.
Simply Science
Understanding science has never been easier. Combining bold graphics with easy-to-understand text, Simply Science is the perfect introduction for those who are short on time but hungry for knowledge. The book covers not only the core sciences--physics, biology, and chemistry--but also Earth science and astronomy. Assuming no previous scientific knowledge, it covers more than 100 cornerstone ideas, ranging from photosynthesis to chemical reactions, the laws of motion, and the general theory of relativity. Pared-back entries each focus on a single concept and use a combination of clear text and simple graphics to explain it as directly and concisely as possible. Whether you are studying science in school or college, or simply want a jargon-free overview of the subject, this essential guide is packed with everything you need to understand the basics of science quickly and easily.
Stretchable Electronics
Stretchable electronics is a dynamic field of research with the potential to revolutionize human health, robotics, cameras, energy storage, and even building construction. Electronics with rubber-like form factors can integrate with irregularly shaped moving substances in a seamless manner; electronic skins for prosthesis is a good example. The field of stretchable electronics has evolved and matured over the past 20 years, training generations of researchers in the development of novel materials and structures to enable robust integration of miniaturized electronic components. This book presents the work and perspective of this next generation of innovators and disruptors who are driving an exciting phase of diversification and growth in the field.
Milieus of Minutiae
The long history of tiny matter(s) in the sciences, thought, and culture Winner of the Modern Language Association Prize for an Edited CollectionFrom catastrophic weather and steady warming caused by the accumulation of carbon particles in the Earth's atmosphere to societies brought to a standstill by microscopic viruses, the new millennium has reminded us of how the minutest of phenomena can have outsized effects. This notion is one that has preoccupied the European and Anglo-American cultural imaginary since at least early modernity. Milieus of Minutiae brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to investigate various forms and appearances of minutiae prior to and beyond the advent of magnification. The collection illuminates connections between the empirical practices and technologies with which minutiae have come to be associated and the broader, more diffuse discourses--from the philosophical to the artistic--that have attended theories of smallness before and after Hooke's Micrographia. Placing essays on Renaissance poetry, Romantic fiction, and matters of punctuation alongside essays on early modern germ theory and the optics of microscopic technology, this rigorously framed volume extends from sixteenth-century pathology to twentieth-century architectural theory, natural science to literature and art.
Quantitative Social Science Research in Practice
Applying quantitative methods, quantitative behavioral science (QBS) researchers collect and analyze data to uncover patterns and relationships that drive human behaviour. QBS studies involve exploring existing theories to generate new causal models. The book offers an approach for generating novel, parsimonious, and actionable models.
Bergson's Scientific Metaphysics
This volume brings Bergson's key ideas from Matter and Memory into dialogue with contemporary themes on memory and time in science, across analytic and continental philosophy. Focusing specifically on the application of Bergson's ideas to cognitive science, the circuit between perception and memory receives full explication in 15 different essays. By re-reading Bergson through a cognitive lens, the essays provide a series of alternative analytic interpretations to the standard continental approach to Bergson's oeuvre, without fully discounting either approach. The relevance of philosophies of mind and memory sit alongside the role of a metaphysics of time in exploring connections to psychology, biology, and physics. This eclecticism includes an exciting focus on numerous topics that are not given sufficient attention in extant studies of Bergson, including the precise nature of his ideas on dualism, memory, and ecological theories of perception, especially in relation to his contemporaries. Led by leading Bergson scholars from France and Japan, this book maps the rich terrain of Bergson's contemporary relevance alongside the historical context of his ideas.
Texas Wildlife Encyclopedia
Included are over 700 color photographs, depicting the different species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and fish, while offering over 600 range maps to show their territory, along with basic information for the biology of each animal, Texas's wildlife has always played an important role in the history of human beings inhabiting the state. Although the state's wildlife is still an important resource for human consumption, wildlife is also increasingly important in today's culture for its intrinsic, aesthetic value. For many Texans, the age-old traditions of hunting and fishing have been replaced by a desire to simply observe wildlife and experience nature. But most Texans are largely unaware of the diversity of species inhabiting their state. This volume is intended to provide an introduction to the state's freshwater fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. In Texas Wildlife Encyclopedia, nationally known naturalist Scott Shupe has collected information on all the native wildlife that reside in the Lone Star State. The seventh in a series of state wildlife encyclopedias, this book will be a handy, usable, layman's guide to Texas's native wildlife. Shupe includes the size, habitat, and abundance of each species located in the state. Whether you're a lover of the outdoors, photography, or are looking to learn more about your state, this comprehensive guide will teach you about the wonderful wildlife that covers the water, earth, and skies of Texas.
Landlines
The powerful story of a 1,000-mile healing walk--from the lochs of Scotland to England's southwest coast--in a remarkable evocation of modern-day Britain. Raynor Winn knows that her husband Moth's health is declining, getting worse by the day. She knows of only one cure. It worked once before. But will he--can he?--set out with her on another healing walk? The Cape Wrath Trail is hundreds of miles of grueling terrain through Scotland's remotest mountains and lochs. But the lure of the wilderness and the beguiling beauty of the awaiting glens draw them northwards. Being one with nature saved them in their darkest hour years earlier--and their hope is that this experience can work its magic again. So Raynor and Moth embark on an incredible thousand-mile journey: from Scotland to the familiar shores of the South West Coast Path, from Northumberland to the Yorkshire moors, and from Wales to home again. As they map with each step the landscape of their island nation, they find themselves facing existential questions--about themselves and about their country--during this epic, inspiring odyssey.
Faith in Fallacy
Today, when global warming denial and vaccination denial are alarmingly prevalent, it is crucial to understand that throughout history, science denial at the state level has cost scores of millions of lives. In the Soviet Union under Stalin, Lysenko's denial of genetics led to disastrous agricultural policies, resulting in the persecution and execution of dissenting scientists and widespread famine. A similar tragedy unfolded in Mao's China, where the wholesale adoption of Lysenkoism contributed to a famine that claimed an estimated 45 million lives. In Germany starting in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler made state policy of Nazi eugenics, a twisted theory which held that some races are superior to others. This led first to the murder of disabled persons, including children, and then to the smoking chimneys of the Holocaust. President Mbeki of South Africa conducted his own internet research and rejected a virtually unanimous scientific consensus to conclude that HIV does not cause AIDS and that folk remedies are preferable to anti-retroviral drugs, costing an estimated 330,000 deaths. In this century, in Brazil and the United States, Presidents Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump rejected medical advice to downplay the danger of the COVID-19 virus and discourage protective measures, causing many unnecessary deaths. The two of them and today's Republican party reject the consensus among scientists that manmade global warming is true, thus choosing to deny and ignore the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced. Doomsday has not yet arrived, but we can see it from here and time is running out.
Restoring Science and the Rule of Law
Science and the rule of law are the two pillars of modernity. Even though both result from the attempt to employ reason to limit the exercise of power in the scientific and the political sphere, they bear in themselves the germs of their own destruction: scientism and welfare totalitarianism. This book examines a trend towards a new, specifically postmodern totalitarianism, namely a regime of "actually existing postmodernism" that is based on the collusion of four elements: (i) scientism and its political use, (ii) intellectual postmodernism, (iii) welfare states, and (iv) crony capitalism. The book then shows a way out by utilising the philosophy of Descartes and Kant, the social-normative turn in the 20th century, and the resources of Austrian libertarianism from Hayek and Popper to Mises, Rothbard and Hoppe. These intellectual resources lay the ground for a New Enlightenment and an open society shaped by a free science and voluntary cooperation under the rule of law. Restoring Science and the Rule of Law is essential reading for philosophers of science and for political theorists interested in the foundations of the rule of law.
Milieus of Minutiae
The long history of tiny matter(s) in the sciences, thought, and culture Winner of the Modern Language Association Prize for an Edited CollectionFrom catastrophic weather and steady warming caused by the accumulation of carbon particles in the Earth's atmosphere to societies brought to a standstill by microscopic viruses, the new millennium has reminded us of how the minutest of phenomena can have outsized effects. This notion is one that has preoccupied the European and Anglo-American cultural imaginary since at least early modernity. Milieus of Minutiae brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to investigate various forms and appearances of minutiae prior to and beyond the advent of magnification. The collection illuminates connections between the empirical practices and technologies with which minutiae have come to be associated and the broader, more diffuse discourses--from the philosophical to the artistic--that have attended theories of smallness before and after Hooke's Micrographia. Placing essays on Renaissance poetry, Romantic fiction, and matters of punctuation alongside essays on early modern germ theory and the optics of microscopic technology, this rigorously framed volume extends from sixteenth-century pathology to twentieth-century architectural theory, natural science to literature and art.
The Great Flood
A journey that explores floods and flooding in all its forms: Platt investigates the ways in which water has shaped our landscape, our literature and our sense of ourselves.
Botany for Everyone
In this book, you'll learn how plants are organized, organelle function, the form and function of modified plant cells, the four basic tissues plants have, and the names of plant organs and reproductive structures. In the back of this book, the activity with an adult will show you how to extract DNA from a strawberry. The two-page glossary has definitions and IPA pronunciation guides for new terminology so you can feel confident when reading this book!
Balancing a Sauropod
One completely unexplored area in terms of physiology is the era of dinosaurs--with good reason, they lived over 100 million years ago and we're left to make inference based on fossilized bones. However, by merging classical, comparative, and extreme physiology and applying it to current paleontological knowledge of dinosaurs, Balancing a Sauropod: The Physiology of a Dinosaur will for the first time begin to provide a sound physiological underpinning for how they may have lived 100 million years ago. Sauropods were the largest land animals to ever walk the earth with an incredible distance from heart to brain, begging the question, how did they maintain blood flow in their brain? Also, the climate sauropods lived in was hypoxic compared to what we live in now, so how did the dinosaurs breathe in the hypoxic Jurassic era? These questions and others expand to multiple fascinating questions the book will dissect in order of organ systems. The topics focus on major organ systems and apply them to potential sauropod physiology. Less emphasis is given to the skeletal system, as that has been discussed extensively in other literature. Each organ system will be discussed in terms of function and current understanding of how they work in a comparative environment. Balancing a Sauropod: The Physiology of a Dinosaur is written at a technical level to both inform the lay reader and provide a sound argument to scientists in the field.
Functional Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles (NPs) offer an innovative platform for targeted cancer diagnosis and therapy. Advanced synthesis and surface functionalization strategies facilitate reversible binding and triggered release of drugs. NPs are also excellent contrast agents for clinical imaging techniques. This book discusses current and future applications of functional nanoparticles in oncology, as well as strategies for tailoring novel multifunctional nanomaterials.
Science Societies
What role do science and technology play in society? What is the nature of expert knowledge? What is science's relation to democracy? This introduction to science, technology, and society answers these questions, and more, by exploring contemporary research on topics such as expertise, activism, science policy, and innovation. It offers a comprehensive resource for considering the place that science and technology have in contemporary societies, and the roles that they can and should play. Accessible to a non-specialist audience, it draws on a rich range of cases and examples, from nuclear activism in India to content moderation in Kenya. Framing science as always social, and society as always shaped by science and technology, it asks: what worlds do we want science and technology to bring into being?
Science Societies
What role do science and technology play in society? What is the nature of expert knowledge? What is science's relation to democracy? This introduction to science, technology, and society answers these questions, and more, by exploring contemporary research on topics such as expertise, activism, science policy, and innovation. It offers a comprehensive resource for considering the place that science and technology have in contemporary societies, and the roles that they can and should play. Accessible to a non-specialist audience, it draws on a rich range of cases and examples, from nuclear activism in India to content moderation in Kenya. Framing science as always social, and society as always shaped by science and technology, it asks: what worlds do we want science and technology to bring into being?
Qualitative Data Analysis With Chatgpt And Qualcoder
Reduce Qualitative Data Analysis Time by Over Half - Your Practical Guide to AI-Powered Coding with ChatGPT and QualCoderAre you overwhelmed by endless qualitative coding, theme generation, and narrative interpretation? Traditional qualitative analysis can be time-consuming, tedious, and drain your valuable research energy. Imagine cutting your analysis time in half while gaining deeper insights and maintaining complete control over your data!In This Book, You'll Discover How To: Seamlessly Integrate AI with Qualitative Analysis: Learn how to set up and integrate ChatGPT with QualCoder-an open-source software-to streamline your coding process.Craft Powerful AI Prompts: Develop effective prompts that guide ChatGPT to generate meaningful codes and thematic analysis, accelerating your workflow.Leverage AI-Generated Insights: Incorporate dynamic, data-driven insights into your analysis while ensuring the rigor and reliability of your research.Efficiently Manage Data: From initial data preparation to final reporting, learn how to use AI tools to keep your analysis organized and insightful.Who Is This Book For?Beginner Researchers: Perfect for those new to qualitative research looking to explore how AI can simplify coding and theme generation.Experienced Scholars: Enhance your existing qualitative methods by using cutting-edge tools to boost efficiency and streamline analysis.Responsible AI Users: For researchers committed to using AI ethically and effectively without compromising academic rigor.By the end of this guide, you'll be equipped with practical, step-by-step strategies to transform your qualitative data analysis-so you can focus on what matters most: making groundbreaking discoveries.Take control of your research process. Transform your analysis with AI today!
Plasticity in the Life Sciences
Analyzes the reasons why biologists have referred to and continue to refer to plasticity. Plasticity has become an important topic in biology, with some even wondering if it has now acquired the theoretical importance in biology that the concept of the gene enjoyed at the beginning of the last century. In this historical and epistemological study, philosopher Antonine Nicoglou shows how the recurrence of the general idea of plasticity--throughout the history of the life sciences--indicates its essential role in the way we think about life processes. Although plasticity has become a key element in new evolutionary thinking, she argues, its role in contemporary biology is also not insignificant. Rather, as mobilized in contemporary biology, plasticity most often seeks to account for the specific nature of living systems. The book is divided into two parts. The first takes up the history of plasticity from Aristotle to contemporary biology; the second part offers an original way of distinguishing between different phenomena described by "plasticity." In the process, the author explores what has led some biologists to speak of plasticity as a way of overcoming genetic determinism.
Plasticity in the Life Sciences
Analyzes the reasons why biologists have referred to and continue to refer to plasticity. Plasticity has become an important topic in biology, with some even wondering if it has now acquired the theoretical importance in biology that the concept of the gene enjoyed at the beginning of the last century. In this historical and epistemological study, philosopher Antonine Nicoglou shows how the recurrence of the general idea of plasticity--throughout the history of the life sciences--indicates its essential role in the way we think about life processes. Although plasticity has become a key element in new evolutionary thinking, she argues, its role in contemporary biology is also not insignificant. Rather, as mobilized in contemporary biology, plasticity most often seeks to account for the specific nature of living systems. The book is divided into two parts. The first takes up the history of plasticity from Aristotle to contemporary biology; the second part offers an original way of distinguishing between different phenomena described by "plasticity." In the process, the author explores what has led some biologists to speak of plasticity as a way of overcoming genetic determinism.
Bayesian Models of Cognition
The definitive introduction to Bayesian cognitive science, written by pioneers of the field. How does human intelligence work, in engineering terms? How do our minds get so much from so little? Bayesian models of cognition provide a powerful framework for answering these questions by reverse-engineering the mind. This textbook offers an authoritative introduction to Bayesian cognitive science and a unifying theoretical perspective on how the mind works. Part I provides an introduction to the key mathematical ideas and illustrations with examples from the psychological literature, including detailed derivations of specific models and references that can be used to learn more about the underlying principles. Part II details more advanced topics and their applications before engaging with critiques of the reverse-engineering approach. Written by experts at the forefront of new research, this comprehensive text brings the fields of cognitive science and artificial intelligence back together and establishes a firmly grounded mathematical and computational foundation for the understanding of human intelligence. The only textbook comprehensively introducing the Bayesian approach to cognitionWritten by pioneers in the fieldOffers cutting-edge coverage of Bayesian cognitive science's research frontiers Suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers across the sciences with an interest in the mind, brain, and intelligence Features short tutorials and case studies of specific Bayesian models
Brain Tumors
This book examines the epidemiology, mechanism, pathophysiology, role of advanced imaging, nanotechnology, and novel therapeutic approaches against brain tumor. It discusses challenges and strategies of delivering therapeutic agents across the blood-brain barrier. It is useful for researchers, and students in oncology and neurosciences.
On the Art and Craft of Doing Science
A scientist's personal reflections on how to harness creativity and curiosity to generate new ideas and discover the unexpected Like any creative endeavor, science can be a messy and chaotic affair. On the Art and Craft of Doing Science shares the creative process of an innovative and accomplished scientist, taking readers behind the scenes of some of his most pioneering investigations and explaining why the practice of science, far from being an orderly exercise in pure logic, is a form of creative expression like any other art. Kenneth Catania begins by discussing how ideas set the stage for scientific breakthroughs and goes on to describe ways to approach experimental design. He sheds light on the importance of art in making discoveries and demonstrates how to find and tell a compelling story about a scientific result while accurately communicating its findings. What role does failure play in science? Is it possible to fail better? How do you define success? Catania provides insights to these and other questions, along the way sharing the lessons he's learned from diverse figures ranging from science philosopher Thomas Kuhn to novelist Stephen King. Blending illuminating historical examples with insights from Catania's own groundbreaking research in biology and neuroscience, On the Art and Craft of Doing Science draws parallels with art and writing to reveal the creative side to the practice of good science.
The Digital Cell
Cell and molecular biology are becoming increasingly data driven. Technological advances and increased computing power mean that researchers now increasingly quantify experimental results, rather than simply report qualitative, representative observations. The Digital Cell provides a comprehensive guide for scientists seeking to make this transition. It describes how data should be generated and processed, discussing research workflows, pipelines, and storage solutions. A key focus of the book is imaging-image types and formats are explained, as is software for image processing and analysis, along with techniques such as segmentation analysis and automated particle tracking.The book examines the wide variety of statistical approaches that can be used for data analysis, emphasizing concepts such as significance and reproducibility. It also includes an introduction to coding, including examples of how to write and use R scripts to analyze results. In addition, there is useful advice on how to plot and present data to convey results most effectively. The Digital Cell is thus an essential resource for all cell and molecular biologists-from students embarking on research for the first time to experienced scientists who need to acquire, process, and present their data accurately and efficiently.
On Time
This text revolves around a new and unusual view on the most fundamental puzzle of physics. It focusses on the key aspect that makes the role of the time dimension fundamentally different: causality. It deals on the one hand with general relativity, and on the other hand with quantum theory. The implicit and intuitive way by which causality is usually taken for granted is just made explicit and less self-evident, shedding a new light on the gravity-quantum conflict. The case is made that gravity is a necessary condition for a causal universe. But upon turning to the "pure" unitary quantum physics explaining the nature of matter one is dealing with the strictly a-causal time expressed through the thermal quantum field theory machinery. When this a-causal microscopic and causal macroscopic world meet, one encounters the wavefunction collapse, that itself may be rooted in the quantum-gravity conflict. Modern ideas are discussed resting on eigenstate thermalization showing how this may lie eventually at the origin of irreversible thermodynamics, with its famous second law setting also a direction of time. The case is anchored in the sophisticated modern mathematical machinery of both general relativity and quantum physics which is normally barely disseminated beyond the theoretical physics floors. The book is unique in the regard that the consequences of this machinery - Riemannian geometry and Penrose diagrams, thermal quantum fields, quantum non-equilibrium and so forth -- are explained in an original, descriptive language conveying the conceptual consequences while avoiding mathematical technicalities.
On the Art and Craft of Doing Science
A scientist's personal reflections on how to harness creativity and curiosity to generate new ideas and discover the unexpected Like any creative endeavor, science can be a messy and chaotic affair. On the Art and Craft of Doing Science shares the creative process of an innovative and accomplished scientist, taking readers behind the scenes of some of his most pioneering investigations and explaining why the practice of science, far from being an orderly exercise in pure logic, is a form of creative expression like any other art. Kenneth Catania begins by discussing how ideas set the stage for scientific breakthroughs and goes on to describe ways to approach experimental design. He sheds light on the importance of art in making discoveries and demonstrates how to find and tell a compelling story about a scientific result while accurately communicating its findings. What role does failure play in science? Is it possible to fail better? How do you define success? Catania provides insights to these and other questions, along the way sharing the lessons he's learned from diverse figures ranging from science philosopher Thomas Kuhn to novelist Stephen King. Blending illuminating historical examples with insights from Catania's own groundbreaking research in biology and neuroscience, On the Art and Craft of Doing Science draws parallels with art and writing to reveal the creative side to the practice of good science.
Queering Science Communication
A book on queer themes and science communication is timely, if not well overdue. LGBTIQA+ people have unique contributions to make and issues to meet through science communication. So, bringing 'queer' and 'science communication' together is an important step for queer protest, liberation, and visibility. This collection examines the place of queer people within science communication and asks what it means for the field to 'queer' science communication practice, theory and research agendas. Written by leading names in the field, it offers concrete examples for academics, students and practitioners who strive to foster radical inclusivity and equity in science communication.
Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation
"This is a delightful account of one of the deepest and most fascinating explorations going on today at the frontier of our knowledge." --Carlo Rovelli, bestselling author of The Order of Time and Seven Brief Lessons on Physics "Musser knows that the point of popular science is [. . .] to get a sense of what's at stake, what kinds of answers are being offered to difficult questions, and why it all matters. One could not ask more of Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation--on all three counts it delivers." --Julian Baggini, The Wall Street Journal A revelatory exploration of how a "theory of everything" depends upon our understanding of the human mind. The whole goal of physics is to explain what we observe. For centuries, physicists believed that observations yielded faithful representations of what is out there. But when they began to study the subatomic realm, they found that observation often interferes with what is being observed--that the act of seeing changes what we see. The same is true of cosmology: our view of the universe is inevitably distorted by observation bias. And so whether they're studying subatomic particles or galaxies, physicists must first explain consciousness--and for that they must turn to neuroscientists and philosophers of mind. Neuroscientists have painstakingly built up an understanding of the structure of the brain. Could this help physicists understand the levels of self-organization they observe in other systems? These same physicists, meanwhile, are trying to explain how particles organize themselves into the objects around us. Could their discoveries help explain how neurons produce our conscious experience? Exploring these questions and more, George Musser tackles the extraordinary interconnections between quantum mechanics, cosmology, human consciousness, and artificial intelligence. Combining vivid descriptive writing with portraits of scientists working on the cutting edge, Putting Ourselves Back in the Equation shows how theories of everything depend on theories of mind--and how they might be one and the same.
The Experience Machine
A brilliant new theory of the mind that upends our understanding of how the brain interacts with the world "This thoroughly readable book will convince you that the brain and the world are partners in constructing our understanding." --Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion For as long as we've studied human cognition, we've believed that our senses give us direct access to the world. What we see is what's really there--or so the thinking goes. But new discoveries in neuroscience and psychology have turned this assumption on its head. What if rather than perceiving reality passively, your mind actively predicts it? Widely acclaimed philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark unpacks this provocative new theory that the brain is a powerful, dynamic prediction engine, mediating our experience of both body and world. From the most mundane experiences to the most sublime, reality as we know it is the complex synthesis of sensory information and expectation. Exploring its fascinating mechanics and remarkable implications for our lives, mental health, and society, Clark nimbly illustrates how the predictive brain sculpts all human experience. Chronic pain and mental illness are shown to involve subtle malfunctions of our unconscious predictions, pointing the way towards more effective, targeted treatments. Under renewed scrutiny, the very boundary between ourselves and the outside world dissolves, showing that we are as entangled with our environments as we are with our onboard memories, thoughts, and feelings. And perception itself is revealed to be something of a controlled hallucination. Unveiling the extraordinary explanatory power of the predictive brain, The Experience Machine is a mesmerizing window onto one of the most significant developments in our understanding of the mind.
Nanogenerators
Provides an in-depth review of the history, fundamental theory, design strategies, and applications of Nanogenerators. Working principles, device mechanisms, material characteristics, types of nanogenerators, as well as their different uses are fully explored.
Introduction to Holography
This fully updated second edition of Introduction to Holography provides a theoretical background in optics and holography with a comprehensive survey of practical applications. It is intended for the non-specialist with an interest in using holographic methods in research and engineering.
School of Architecture(s) - New Frontiers of Architectural Education
Into the Thaw
An award-winning author and photographer returns to the Arctic to document the effects of climate change. Forty years ago, the park ranger Jon Waterman took his first journey into the Alaskan Arctic, to the Noatak headwaters. He was astonished by the abundant wildlife, the strange landscape, and its otherworldly light--how the "frequent rain showers glow like lemonade poured out of the sky." Taken with a new sense of wonder, he began to explore the North on several trips in the 1980s. After a 30-year absence from the Noatak, he returned with his son in 2021. Amid a now-flooded river missing the once-plentiful caribou, he was shocked and heartbroken by the changes. The following year, in 2022, he took one final journey "into the thaw" to document--for this lushly illustrated and scholarly book--the environmental and cultural changes wrought by the climate crisis. A widely published author and photographer, Waterman's narrative alternates between adventure and wilderness memoir and plainly stated natural history of the area. Chased by bears, sometimes alone for weeks on end amid hordes of mosquitoes, he notes the extraordinary changes from 1983 until the present day: brush grown over the tundra in a phenomenon called Greening of the Arctic, tear-drop-shaped landslide thaw slumps--a.k.a. thermokarsts--caused by thawing permafrost, and an increasing loss of sea ice as he travels along the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The author also spends time with the kindhearted, welcoming Inuit or Inupiat most affected by the Arctic crisis, who share how their age-old culture has attempted to cope with "the thaw." Stricken by the change, Waterman paints an intimate portrait of both the villages and the little-visited landscape, because "it's high time that we truly understand the Arctic." He writes, "Lest we forget what it once was."Through his quest for wonder--in prose illuminated by humility and humor--Waterman shows how the Arctic can confer grace on those who pass through. Despite the unfolding crisis, as a narrative of hope, at the book's end he suggests actions we can all take to slow the thaw and preserve what is left of this remarkable, vast frontier.
Power Metal
The powerful ways the metals we need to fuel technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and rising violence -- and how we can do better. An Australian millionaire's plan to mine the ocean floor. Nigerian garbage pickers risking their lives to salvage e-waste. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing AI to find metals in the Arctic. These people and millions more are part of the intensifying competition to find and extract the minerals essential for two crucial technologies: the internet and renewable energy. In Power Metal, Vince Beiser explores the Achilles' heel of "green power" and digital technology - that manufacturing computers, cell phones, electric cars, and other technologies demand skyrocketing amounts of lithium, copper, cobalt, and other materials. Around the world, businesses and governments are scrambling for new places and new ways to get those metals, at enormous cost to people and the planet. Beiser crisscrossed the world to talk to the people involved and report on the damage this race is inflicting, the ways it could get worse, and how we can minimize the damage. Power Metal is a compelling glimpse into this disturbing yet potentially promising new world.
Ways of Comprehending
To comprehend the world around us, we first have to decipher how our brains work. This book outlines a new approach to knowledge and comprehension based on the elucidation of several basic neuronal mechanisms. It explores the crucial fact that unconscious processes and conscious experiences form a continuum and, importantly, introduces the concept of metarepresentations. This fundamental notion captures the essence of being human, namely, what separates us from our evolutionary predecessors. Important examples of metarepresentations are language, mathematics, technology and the arts. The interdisciplinary, integrative approach of this book demonstrates how different disciplines and notions which appear disconnected are actually closely related. Furthermore, this approach elucidates how we think about topics such as mathematics, physics, painting, music and philosophy. Most significantly, it helps us understand the origin of our thoughts, feelings and actions, bringing deep insight and fulfilment or, more precisely, eudemonia.
Ways of Comprehending
To comprehend the world around us, we first have to decipher how our brains work. This book outlines a new approach to knowledge and comprehension based on the elucidation of several basic neuronal mechanisms. It explores the crucial fact that unconscious processes and conscious experiences form a continuum and, importantly, introduces the concept of metarepresentations. This fundamental notion captures the essence of being human, namely, what separates us from our evolutionary predecessors. Important examples of metarepresentations are language, mathematics, technology and the arts. The interdisciplinary, integrative approach of this book demonstrates how different disciplines and notions which appear disconnected are actually closely related. Furthermore, this approach elucidates how we think about topics such as mathematics, physics, painting, music and philosophy. Most significantly, it helps us understand the origin of our thoughts, feelings and actions, bringing deep insight and fulfilment or, more precisely, eudemonia.
An Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics for the Nanosciences
The book provides an accessible introduction to the principles of condensed matter physics with a focus on the nanosciences and device technologies.
Information and Communications Technology in STEM Education
This timely book presents the latest scholarly research on the integration of Information Communications Technology (ICT) for enhanced STEM education at African schools and universities.
Writing a Winning Research Proposal
This comprehensive guide takes you through every critical aspect of crafting compelling proposals that command attention. Whether you are an experienced researcher or new to the field, this resource empowers you with practical examples, exercises, and insights from seasoned professionals. Through its pages, you will not only learn the intricacies of proposal writing but also gain the tools to put your newfound knowledge into practice for tangible, successful results. Drawing on the expertise of seasoned researchers, this book provides a treasure trove of best practices and expert advice, empowering you to shape the trajectory of your endeavors. Elevate your proposal-writing skills and achieve success in your academic or professional pursuits with this book.
Your Brain on Art
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts--and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities. "This book blew my mind!"--Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of GritA BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - Finalist for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award and the Porchlight Business Book Award What is art? Many of us think of the arts as entertainment--a luxury of some kind. In Your Brain on Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross show how activities from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more are essential to our lives. We're on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can deliver potent, accessible, and proven solutions for the well-being of everyone. Magsamen and Ross offer compelling research that shows how engaging in an art project for as little as forty-five minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years. They expand our understanding of how playing music builds cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves to counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefit; and interactive exhibits dissolve the boundaries between art and viewers, engaging all of our senses and strengthening memory. Doctors have even been prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns.Your Brain on Art is a portal into this new understanding about how the arts and aesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities, and mend an aching planet. Featuring conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Ren矇e Fleming, and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, Your Brain on Art is an authoritative guide to neuroaesthetics. The book weaves a tapestry of breakthrough research, insights from multidisciplinary pioneers, and compelling stories from people who are using the arts to enhance their lives.
Hypnosis, Psychosis and the Consciousness Conundrum
Have you ever wondered how your brain works, how it makes sense of what you hear and see? Many people do, but then shrug their shoulders and simply get on with using their brain. That's sad; they are missing such a lot! This book is full of fascinating facts and details about the senses, and also covers what happens when things 'go wrong', such as when someone hypnotised sees their friend in two places at once. It also covers more distressing errors, like the PTSD victim who vividly re-experiences their trauma, seeing, hearing and even smelling all the terrifying details again. However, through all these anecdotes and explanations, the book moves inexorably towards the most tantalising question of all: How do we know that we are seeing and hearing things? In these days of 'Alexa' we are familiar with machines that respond to speech, but they don't know that they are. They are merely a particularly sophisticated light switch! So, what do we have that Alexa doesn't? This book takes you on a truly fascinating journey of exploration, in search of the exotic entity that is consciousness.
Teaching Geology Using the History and Philosophy of Science
Neuroimmune System
The book explores the intricate connections between the nervous and immune systems in the context of neurodegenerative disorders, offering a comprehensive overview of the bidirectional communication between these systems and their implications for disease progression and therapeutic interventions.
Basics of Superconductivity
At very low temperatures, a metal passes into the superconducting state. This state is extremely fascinating, as the electrical resistance completely disappears. This property makes superconductivity very interesting for technology, since it is possible to transport electrical current without loss under certain conditions. This textbook provides an introduction to the basics of superconductivity, with a great focus on the underlying theoretical physics. It is intended to provide a basic understanding of the phenomena that occur in connection with superconductivity and its most important applications. The content ranges from an overview of the most important experimental findings of superconductors to a detailed description of the London theory and the Ginzburg-Landau theory. Prominent effects such as the Meissner effect, critical magnetic fields, the formation of vortices and many other phenomena are explained in great detail and described mathematically.
