Libros de Divulgación Científica, página 29 de 184

A spirited volume on the great adventures of science throughout history for curious readers of all ages

Darwin s theory of natural selection is also a humane and inspirational vision of ecological inter relatedness revealing the almost unthinkably complex and mutual inter dependencies between animal and plant life climate and physical environment and by implication the human world

Plants have profoundly moulded the Earth s climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life Far from being silent witnesses to the passage of time plants are dynamic components of our world shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them In The Emerald Planet David Beerling puts plants centre stage revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment in recording hidden facets of Earth s history and in helping us to predict its future His account draws together evidence from fossil plants from experiments with their living counterparts and from computer models of the Earth System to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity This new approach reveals how plummeting carbon dioxide levels removed a barrier to the evolution of the leaf how plants played a starring role in pushing oxygen levels upwards allowing spectacular giant insects to thrive in the Carboniferous and it strengthens fascinating and contentious fossil evidence for an ancient hole in the ozone layer Along the way Beerling introduces a lively cast of pioneering scientists from Victorian times onwards whose discoveries provided the crucial background to these and the other puzzles This underst

Answer all your menopause questions in the first ever book to not only tell you what happens but show you Fully illustrated and backed up by the latest research The Science of Menopause is essential reading for anyone who wants to know not only what to expect during the perimenopause but also why it happens and what you can do about it GP and women s health expert Dr Philippa Kaye answers over 100 questions on the menopause including symptoms lifestyle choices and treatment When will the menopause happen for me Why do I get hot flushes and sweats and how can I manage them Why can t I sleep Why do I feel low and anxious What is a healthy diet for the menopause What is HRT What are the benefits and what options are there if I don t want it Discover how our brains change why the perimenopause doesn t mean an end to great sex and the treatments options that can help including HRT vaginal oestrogen and non hormonal options Packed with practical advice charts diagrams and engaging illustrations The Science of Menopause provides an accessible evidence based take on the menopause all while offering reassurance and a helping hand

The fascinating stories behind the essential seven units of measurement that allow us to understand the physical world

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A brilliant book Dagbladet Why does the brain work the way it does Can eating certain foods improve your memory Can you activate the parts of the brain you don t use Can you smile yourself to happiness What is free will and do we really possess it These big questions and many more are investigated to uncover all the secrets of your most wondrous mysterious and irreplaceable organ Your brain makes you who you are it is the root of your personality and intelligence It learns languages creates memories and interprets complex patterns But it is also responsible for your bad decisions and it rewards addictive behaviours In Your Superstar Brain neuroscientist Dr Kaja Nordengen describes in mesmerising detail how the brain works both how it s physically constructed with neurones synapses and the cerebral cortex but also how it functions on a more abstract level everything from what happens when we fall in love to where we find our sense of self Join Dr Kaja Nordengen on her fascinating journey through the many unexplored territories of the intricate human brain and find out why your brain is truly a superstar

How does life work How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna or fish in the ocean How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream In The Serengeti Rules award winning biologist and author Sean Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answ

While the influence of Alexander von Humboldt 1769 1859 looms large over the natural sciences his legacy reaches far beyond the field notebooks of naturalists Von Humboldt s 1799 1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aime Bonpland not only set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century but also served as the raw material for his many volumes works of both scientific rigor and aesthetic beauty that inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson Goethe Thoreau Poe and Frederic Edwin Church Views of Nature or Ansichten der Natur was von Humboldt s best known and most influential work and his personal favorite While the essays that comprise it are themselves remarkable as innovative early pieces of nature writing they were cited by Thoreau as a model for his own work the book s extensive endnotes incorporate some of von Humboldt s most beautiful prose and mature thinking on vegetation structure its origins in climate patterns and its implications for the arts Written for both a literary and a scientific audience Views of Nature was translated into English twice Spanish and French in the nineteenth century and it was read widely in Europe and the Americas But in contrast to many of von Humboldt

If Michael Palin had been a volcanologist this is the book he would have written LITERARY REVIEW Gripping THE ECONOMIST Wonderful PETER FRANKOPAN Like a thriller This is terrific SPECTATOR Beautiful bursting with poetry with storytelling WERNER HERZOG We are made of the same stuff as the breath and cinders of volcanoes No matter where we live on the planet they have shaped our history and might one day decide our destiny World famous volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer has worked at the crater s edge in the wildest places on Earth close enough to feel the heat of the lava In Mountains of Fire we join him on hair singeing adventures from Italy to Antarctica to learn how deeply our stories are intertwined with volcanoes

A future classic of popular science Mail on Sunday A dazzling account Financial Times Absorbing surprising and at times profound After reading this reality will never be quite the same Dave GoulsonOur senses are how we navigate the world they help us recognise the expressions on a loved one s face know whether fruit is ripe by its smell or even sense a storm approaching through a sudden drop in air pressure It s now believed that we may have as many as fifty three senses and we re just beginning to expand our knowledge of this incredibly extensive palette Sensational is a mind bending look at how our brains shape our experience of the world marshalling the latest discoveries in science to explore the dazzling eyesight of the mantis shrimp the rich inner lives of krill and the baffling link between geomagnetic fields and canine bowel movements Blending biology and neuroscience Ward reveals that understanding our senses may hold the key to understanding the origins of human behaviour from why we kiss to our varied music tastes

An enchanting biography of the most resonant and most necessary chemical element on Earth Carbon It is the building block of every cell that makes up every living thing It is the essential component of the food we eat the fuel we burn the wood we use and the air we breathe It is worth billions as a luxury and half a trillion as a necessity but there are still mysteries to be solved about the element that can be both diamond and coal Where does it come from what does it do and why above all does life need it In Symphony in C leading carbon scientist Robert M Hazen takes us on a vibrant journey through the origin and evolution of life s most widespread element The story unfolds in four movements Earth Air Fire and Water and transports us through nearly 14 billion years of cosmic history explaining how carbon is formed in the hearts of stars and why all life forms earthbound or alien use it as the basis of their biology Symphony in C is a sweeping chronicle of carbon from its birth amidst the stars to its unknowable life cycle deep within the Earth s core and its role in the evolution of all life in the universe

Nuclear physics began long before the identification of fundamental particles with J J Thomson s discovery of the electron at the end of the 19th century which implied the existence of a positive charge in the atom to make it neutral In this Very Short Introduction Frank Close gives an account of how this area of physics has progressed including the recognition of how heavy nuclei are built up in the cores of stars and in supernovae the identification of quarks and gluons and the development of quantum chromodynamics QCD Exploring key concepts such as the stability of different configurations of protons and neutrons in nuclei Frank Close shows how nuclear physics brings the physics of the stars to Earth and provides us with important applications particularly in medicine ABOUT THE SERIES The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area These pocket sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly Our expert authors combine facts analysis perspective new ideas and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable

A Nobel Prize winning scientist reveals biology s most transformative achievements in decades a Double Helix for the dawning of the RNA age

SPECIAL UPDATED 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE MILLION SELLING POP SCIENCE CLASSIC WHAT IF one man decided to answer all the unanswerable questions using science Randall Munroe is nerd royalty BEN GOLDACRE Brilliant ROLLING STONE Smart answers to silly questions Munroe reveals all GUARDIAN Required reading NEW YORK TIMES Randall Munroe is the creator of the wildly popular xkcd com His readers ask him a lot of strange questions What would happen if absolutely everyone jumped at the same time How could we build a Lego bridge between London and New York What if my DNA vanished How long could a submarine last in space What are the odds of meeting my soulmate In pursuit of answers Munroe runs computer simulations pores over stacks of declassified military research memos solves differential equations and consults everyone from astronauts to nuclear reactor operators His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity complemented by comics They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind or at least a really big explosion Welcome back to the mind blowing world WHAT IF Now with 10 x the science and 10 x the jokes Featuring brand new 2 colour annotations and illustrations this special anniversary edition will leave yo

Ideal gift and stocking filler for boys and men from bestselling author

Often complex ideas are explained with clarity and precision but this is clearly a passion project for the author and the book soars where he deploys more poetic language as when musing on the deeper themes that arise from his central question If you ve ever looked up at the sky and pondered on the big questions of life in the Universe this is essential reading BBC Sky at Night magazineAstronomer and science writer David Whitehouse takes us on a journey through the evolving cosmos as he considers humankind s place in the universe and how our survival depends on otherworldly perspectives From the Earth to the depths of outer space this inspiring book shows how human evolution has been intertwined with the workings of the cosmos from the very beginning and what the far distant future may hold both for the universe and for ourselves Given enough time Whitehouse contends we must communicate with intelligent aliens whose divergent perspective will transform our understanding of the universe First contact may even come sooner than we think We have already transmitted signals towards promising exoplanets If say Gliese 581d harbours life the return signal could reach us in 2051 Drawing the thread of human consciousness from the cave to the cosmos th

Discover and understand the key ideas that underpin the core science of chemistry and learn about the great minds who uncovered them Written in plain English The Chemistry Book is packed with short pithy explanations of some of the most historic moments in science from the birth of atomic theory to the discovery of polyethylene and the development of new vaccine technologies to combat COVID 19 Simple graphics such as flowcharts and mind maps support the text and make the explanation of key concepts easy to follow Arranged in chronological order the book covers key themes in the physical and natural sciences such as geochemistry and the elements Within each chapter a series of articles traces the history of scientific thought and introduces the work of the scientists who have shaped the subject such as John Dalton Marie Curie Dmitri Mendeleev Kathleen Lonsdale and Stephanie Kwolek Along the way the book addresses some of the most fundamental questions in science such as what is the universe made of how is matter created and what are the chemical bonds that make life possible Whether you are new to chemistry a student of the sciences or just want to keep up with and understand the latest news and scientific debates The Chemistry Book is for you

Time travel is a familiar theme of science fiction but is it really possible Surprisingly time travel is not forbidden by the laws of physics and John Gribbin argues that if it is not impossible then it must be possible Gribbin brilliantly illustrates the possibilities of time travel by comparing familiar themes from science fiction with their real world scientific counterparts including Einstein s theories of relativity black holes quantum physics and the multiverse illuminated by examples from the fictional tales of Robert Heinlein Larry Niven Carl Sagan and others The result is an entertaining guide to some deep mysteries of the Universe which may leave you wondering whether time actually passes at all and if it does whether we are moving forwards or backwards A must read for science fiction fans and anyone intrigued by deep science

Ever since Darwin science has enshrined competition as biology s brutal architect But this revelatory new book argues that our narrow view of evolution has caused us to ignore the generosity and cooperation that exist around us from the soil to the sky In Sweet in Tooth and Claw Kristin Ohlson explores the subtle ways in which nature is in constant collaboration to the betterment of all species From the bear that discards the remainders of his salmon dinner on the forest ground to the bright coral reefs of Cuba she shows readers not only the connectivity lying beneath the surface in natural ecosystems but why it s vital for humans to incorporate that understanding into our interactions with nature and also with each other Much of the damage that humans have done to our natural environment stems from our ignorance of these dense webs of connection As we struggle to cope with the environmental hazards that our behaviour has unleashed it s more important than ever to understand nature s billions of cooperative interactions This way we can stop disrupting them and instead rely on them to renew ecosystems In reporting from the frontlines of scientific research regenerative agriculture and urban conservation Ohlson shows that a shift from focusing on compe