A leading astronomer takes readers behind the scenes of the thrilling science of stellar archaeologyAstronomers study the oldest observable stars in the universe in much the same way archaeologists study ancient artifacts on Earth.
Unraveling the mystery of the catastrophic age of extinctionsTwo hundred sixty million years ago, life on Earth suffered wave after wave of cataclysmic extinctions, with the worst wiping out nearly every species on the planet.
The explosive debate that transformed our views about time and scientific truthOn April 6, 1922, in Paris, Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson publicly debated the nature of time.
The world's top experts take readers to the very frontiers of brain scienceIncludes a chapter by 2014 Nobel laureates May-Britt Moser and Edvard MoserAn unprecedented look at the quest to unravel the mysteries of the human brain, The Future of the Brain takes readers to the absolute frontiers of science.
A major synthesis of homology, written by a top researcher in the fieldHomology-a similar trait shared by different species and derived from common ancestry, such as a seal's fin and a bird's wing-is one of the most fundamental yet challenging concepts in evolutionary biology.
Why our approaches to Alzheimer's and dementia are problematic and contradictoryDue to rapidly aging populations, the number of people worldwide experiencing dementia is increasing, and the projections are grim.
Modesty, humor, compassion, and wisdom are the traits most evident in this illuminating selection of personal papers from the Albert Einstein Archives.
The essential one-volume reference to evolutionThe Princeton Guide to Evolution is a comprehensive, concise, and authoritative reference to the major subjects and key concepts in evolutionary biology, from genes to mass extinctions.
John Servos explains the emergence of physical chemistry in America by presenting a series of lively portraits of such pivotal figures as Wilhelm Ostwald, A.
Between 1945 and 1953, while the Soviet Union confronted postwar reconstruction and Cold War crises, its unchallenged leader Joseph Stalin carved out time to study scientific disputes and dictate academic solutions.
Why democracy is the best way of deciding how decisions should be madePragmatism and its consequences are central issues in American politics today, yet scholars rarely examine in detail the relationship between pragmatism and politics.
The story of one of the greatest unsolved problems in mathematicsWhat is the shortest possible route for a traveling salesman seeking to visit each city on a list exactly once and return to his city of origin?
The mathematics behind some of the world's most amazing card tricksMagical Mathematics reveals the secrets of fun-to-perform card tricks-and the profound mathematical ideas behind them-that will astound even the most accomplished magician.
In the mid-eighteenth century, Swiss-born mathematician Leonhard Euler developed a formula so innovative and complex that it continues to inspire research, discussion, and even the occasional limerick.
Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy.
The story of how East Asians became "e;yellow"e; in the Western imagination-and what it reveals about the problematic history of racial thinkingIn their earliest encounters with Asia, Europeans almost uniformly characterized the people of China and Japan as white.
Leviathan and the Air-Pump examines the conflicts over the value and propriety of experimental methods between two major seventeenth-century thinkers: Thomas Hobbes, author of the political treatise Leviathan and vehement critic of systematic experimentation in natural philosophy, and Robert Boyle, mechanical philosopher and owner of the newly invented air-pump.
The fascinating story of how the fossils of dinosaurs, mammoths, and other extinct animals influenced some of the most spectacular creatures of classical mythologyGriffins, Centaurs, Cyclopes, and Giants-these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The case for a thoughtful secularism from some of today's most distinguished scientists, philosophers, and writersCan secularism offer us moral, aesthetic, and spiritual satisfaction?
Why absolute certainty is impossible in scienceIn today's unpredictable and chaotic world, we look to science to provide certainty and answers-and often blame it when things go wrong.
A biography of the brother and sister who helped found modern astronomyDiscoverers of the Universe tells the gripping story of William Herschel, the brilliant, fiercely ambitious, emotionally complex musician and composer who became court astronomer to Britain's King George III, and of William's sister, Caroline, who assisted him in his observations of the night sky and became an accomplished astronomer in her own right.
This book gathers wide-ranging essays on the Italian Renaissance philosopher and cosmologist Giordano Bruno by one of the world's leading authorities on his work and life.
In Enhancing Evolution, leading bioethicist John Harris dismantles objections to genetic engineering, stem-cell research, designer babies, and cloning and makes an ethical case for biotechnology that is both forthright and rigorous.
How can America's information technology (IT) industry predict serious labor shortages while at the same time laying off tens of thousands of employees annually?
How honeybees make collective decisions-and what we can learn from this amazing democratic processHoneybees make decisions collectively-and democratically.
Karl Pearson, founder of modern statistics, came to this field by way of passionate early studies of philosophy and cultural history as well as ether physics and graphical geometry.
In Moby-Dick, Ishmael declares, "e;Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that a whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me.
When mathematician Hermann Weyl decided to write a book on philosophy, he faced what he referred to as "e;conflicts of conscience"e;--the objective nature of science, he felt, did not mesh easily with the incredulous, uncertain nature of philosophy.
The Faith of Scientists is an anthology of writings by twenty-one legendary scientists, from the dawn of the Scientific Revolution to the frontiers of science today, about their faith, their views about God, and the place religion holds--or doesn't--in their lives in light of their commitment to science.
Why the battle between superstition and science is far from overFrom uttering a prayer before boarding a plane, to exploring past lives through hypnosis, has superstition become pervasive in contemporary culture?
