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How did life begin on Earth? Does it exist elsewhere? What would those life forms be like? These fundamental questions about the nature of life and our own cosmic significance are endlessly fascinating. In this book, we present several theories on the origin of life, some of its extreme and surprising forms, and the ongoing search for signs-or sentience-on distant worlds.
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For going on two decades, Scientific American's "Ask the Experts" column has been answering reader questions on all fields of science. We've taken your questions from the basic to the esoteric and reached out to top scientists, professors, and researchers to find out why the sky is blue or whether we really only use 10 percent of our brains.
Now, we've combed through our archives and have compiled some of the most interesting questions (and answers)...
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An infant born in the US today will probably live more than twenty years longer than the average lifespan a century ago. While living well into the eighties and nineties is becoming more and more attainable, how many more years can humanity expect to gain? And how can we raise the quality of those later years? The two main barriers are accumulated damage to cells and organs that occurs over time and age-related illnesses like cancer and Alzheimer's...
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Did NASA really spend millions creating a pen that would write in space? Is chocolate poisonous to dogs? Does stress cause gray hair?
These questions are a sample of the urban lore investigated in this audiobook, Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths. Drawing from Scientific American's "Fact or Fiction" and "Strange But True" columns, we've selected fifty-eight of the most surprising, fascinating, useful, and just plain wacky topics confronted...
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Science fiction has imagined some pretty wild ideas about how the universe could work-from hidden extra dimensions in Interstellar to life as a mental projection in The Matrix. But these imaginings seem downright tame compared to the mind-bending science now coming out of physics and astronomy, and in this book, we look at the strange and fascinating discoveries shaping (and reshaping) the field today.
7) Astronomy
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Description
For going on two decades, Scientific American's "Ask the Experts" column has been answering reader questions on all fields of science. We've taken your questions from the basic to the esoteric and reached out to top scientists, professors, and researchers to find out why the sky is blue or whether we really only use 10 percent of our brains.
Now, we've combed through our archives and have compiled some of the most interesting questions (and answers)...
Author
Description
"Cosmos" comes from a Greek word for an orderly and systematic universe. In this book, we present the most riveting discoveries and mind-bending ideas about our cosmic home, from what we know of the origins of the universe and the cartography of space to the most bizarre phenomena and the search for life. Discussions include the possibility that the big bang was the consequence of a black hole in a fourth spatial dimension, that cosmic ripples created...
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Once dismissed as a mathematical curiosity, black holes are so strange they almost defy belief. Since their existence was confirmed, research into the nature of black holes has opened up new vistas in physics. In this audiobook, we examine some of the most fascinating discoveries about black hole formation and behavior, the new and evolving research in gravitational wave astronomy, theoretical possibilities such as wormholes, and much more.
12) Amazing Animals
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We humans tend to think that we are unique in our intelligence, social skill, and depth of emotion, but we think too much of ourselves. The animal kingdom teems with hidden stories of the weird and fascinating, and in Amazing Animals, we gather recent research on animal behavior, including surprising discoveries of how animals think and feel, from man's best friend to some of the earth's oddest creatures.
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Charles Robert Darwin's 1859 landmark book On the Origin of Species introduced the theory of biological evolution to the masses and kicked off a controversy of ideas that persists to this day.
Darwin knew he would face religious opposition to a theory of creation that differed from the story in Genesis, but he probably didn't imagine how long that opposition would last. More than 150 years after Origin, the fight over teaching evolution rages on.
Creationists,...
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In science fiction, artificial intelligence takes the shape of computers that can speak like people, think for themselves, and sometimes act against us. Reality of course is vastly different, though in many ways computers surpass their fictional counterparts. This book reviews work in the field and covers topics from chess-playing to quantum computing. The writers tackle how to make computers more powerful, how we define consciousness, what the hard...
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With global population numbers projected to increase by two billion by 2050, a veritable food crisis is on the horizon. In this audiobook we examine some of the complex factors involved in the coming "food crisis" and the innovative ideas and technologies designed to increase food production sustainably. We also examine current industry methods to increase production and the controversies surrounding them, including not only hot-button issues like...
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Neuroscientists have shown that music recruits nearly every area of the brain, fostering connections across different regions. In this book, we examine the latest imaging studies and discuss the effects of music on emotion, cognition, sensation, and motor function. This includes an examination of the brain's anatomy when listening to or creating music, of music's relationship to learning math and language skills, and of its role in promoting social...
17) Quantum Universe
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Strange and probabilistic, physics at the smallest scales is driving innovation and research into the nature of reality. In this audiobook, we examine the latest mind-bending studies in quantum mechanics, including theoretical mysteries such as entanglement, real-world applications, innovations in communications and computing, and more.
18) Dinosaurs!
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Terrible lizards. That's what the word "dinosaurs" means. Yet dinosaurs are not true lizards, and they are not necessarily terrible either. Paleontologists have overturned many misconceptions, and in Dinosaurs!, we look at what the latest research tells us and what we still have to learn about these endlessly fascinating creatures.
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Creativity was long thought to be a gift from the muses, a special quality of a select minority of people. Fortunately, more recent studies have debunked this belief and have shown promise for techniques to help us all boost our creative potential. Nature gives some people a genetic edge, but nurture has a large role in developing creative genius. In this audiobook, we look at this difficult-to-define quality from all angles: where creativity comes...
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In this installment of the Ask the Experts series, Chemistry, our professors, scientists, and researchers tackle reader questions about the substances that compose all matter, their properties, and how they interact and change. Queries range from elementary questions, such as why some elements change color over a flame, to how chemistry works in everyday life, to how certain substances affect the body and more.
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