science / general

"Our genetic makeup determines so much about who we are, and what we pass on to our children--from eye color, to height, to health, and even our longevity. [This book] breaks down the science of how genes are inherited and passed from parents to offspring, what DNA is and how it works, how your DNA affects your health, and how you can use your personal genomics to find out more about who you are and where you come from"--Provided by publisher.

"Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but [the author] breaks the mold with this . . . book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, [this book] integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. [The author] also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend the laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves"--Provided by publisher.

Presents twenty-two projects a father and daughter can make together, including a lunchbox guitar, rainbow pops, silkscreen T-shirt, and others.

"We often think of scientists as dispassionate and detached, nobly laboring without any expectation of reward. But scientific research is much more complicated and messy than this ideal, and scientists can be torn by jealousy, impelled by a need for recognition, and subject to human vulnerability and fallibility. In Prize Fight, Emeritus Chair at SUNY School of Medicine Morton Meyers pulls back the curtain to reveal the dark side of scientific discovery. From stolen authorship to fabricated results and elaborate hoaxes, he shows us how too often brilliant minds are reduced to petty jealousies and promising careers cut short by disputes over authorship or fudged data. Prize Fight is a dramatic look at some of the most notable discoveries in science in recent years, from the discovery of insulin, which led to decades of infighting and even violence, to why the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine exposed how often scientific objectivity is imperiled. "--.

Presents 150 explanations and theories of the way minds, societies, and universe work.

Historian and philosopher of science George Dyson examines the origins of the digital universe, re-creating the scenes of focused experimentation, mathematical insight, and creative genius that led to computers, digital television, modern genetics, and more.

Explains the science behind many machines, gadgets, systems, and processes.

"Drawing on the lives of five great scientists--Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle and Albert Einstein--scientist/author Mario Livio shows how even the greatest scientists made major mistakes and how science built on these errors to achieve breakthroughs, especially into the evolution of life and the universe"--Provided by publisher.

Describes using of natural selection to design robots, and how it is improving the understanding of evolution and technological challenges.

Scientometrics expert Samuel Arbesan presents an approach to understanding the ever-changing information that bombards us, and explains that knowledge in most fields evolves in systematic and predictable ways.