Science & Engineering

Why is addiction “perfectly logical” to an addict? The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas - and progress itself....

Of course, nobody needs telling that there isn't enough time. We're obsessed by our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling....

Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health....

I am 93. I've had an extraordinary life. It's only now that I appreciate how extraordinary....

Urgent and essential, Numbers Don't Lie inspires listeners to interrogate what they take to be true in these significant times....

To this day A Brief History of Time remains a staple of the scientific canon, and its succinct and clear language continues to introduce millions to the universe and its wonders....

Tim Marshall's global best seller Prisoners of Geography showed how every nation's choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Since then, the geography hasn't changed, but the world has....

Join the galactic conversation on the biggest issues in the universe....

Two-time championship-winning and record-breaking racing driver Jason Plato is a living, breathing example of what you shouldn't do if you want to become a professional racing driver.... 

Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological makeup.... 

As the country's top forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has spent a lifetime uncovering the secrets of the dead....

People talk a lot about the problems with intensive farming. But the problem isn't the adjective. It's the noun....

Molecular biologist Nicklas Brendborg takes us on a journey from farthest reaches of the globe to the most cutting-edge research to explore what nature has to teach us about longevity....

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Find out....

The final book from Professor Stephen Hawking, the best-selling author of A Brief History of Time and arguably the most famous scientist of our age....

All around us people are looking at their phones too much, eating too much, drinking too much. Our world is addicted to fleeting distracting pleasures that get us nowhere. Dr Anna Lembke provides a clear way back to a balanced life....

For decades, the medical community has looked to a variety of reasons for why we age, and the consensus is that no-one dies of old age; they die of age-related diseases....

Scary Smart is an insider look at the future not only of technology and AI, but of our species, together with an accessible blueprint for what we can do to safeguard ourselves, those we love and the planet itself....

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history....

As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science....

Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it....

Are men born to cheat? Does monogamy serve women's interests? Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics....

A Radio 4 Book Club Selection.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's fascinating and humorous quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization....

In this mesmerizing debut, award-winning palaeontologist Thomas Halliday gives us a breath-taking up close encounter with worlds that are normally unimaginably distant....

How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known....

The world is a bit crazy right now, but despite uncertainty and a volatile climate, there is a way to farm that generates profit, builds a legacy and involves less stress. Crops, People, Money and You: The Art of Excellent Farming starts with making first-rate choices about yourself so that you can make the best decisions about crops, people and money. With a unique blend of evidence, insight and empathy, Kate encourages listeners to clear the fear and take the steering wheel toward excellent farming.

For decades, biology has been dominated by information—the power of genes. Yet in terms of information there is no difference between a living cell and one that died a moment ago. What really animates cells and sets them apart from non-living matter? This question goes back to the flawed geniuses and heroic origins of modern biology. The answer could turn our picture of life on Earth upside down.

Catherine Munro transforms her life when she moves to Shetland to study the hardy ponies who call this archipelago home. Over the course of her first year, she is welcomed into the rhythms and routines that characterise life at the edge of the world. When faced with personal loss, Catherine finds comfort and connection in the shared lives of the people, animals and wild landscapes of Shetland. 

This audiobook coins the term "noble automation" as combining intelligent automation technology with the inspired and insightful leadership necessary to help humans become heroes. Doing so stimulates a wave of human innovation and taps into the incredible potential of people working toward inspiring goals. Companies profit, and people thrive. The benefits of implementing noble automation include freeing people to be more human by removing drudgery, providing insights, and allowing us the time and energy to feel, think, empathize, and connect.

Magic mushrooms have been used for many years by all sorts of people for a variety of uses from medicinal to recreational. Finding them growing wild isn’t too hard to do, but imagine if you could grow your own so that you had a limitless supply. The author will guide you through different methods of cultivating psilocybin mushrooms (from basic growing to more advanced techniques) and provide you with detailed step-by-step instructions on how to create your first flush at home.

In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. 

Before 1910 the American chestnut was one of the most common trees in the eastern United States. An important natural resource, chestnut wood was preferred for woodworking, fencing, and building construction, as it was rot resistant and straight grained. The hearty and delicious nuts also fed wildlife, people, and livestock.

Atmospheric scientist Markus Rex recounts the monumental Arctic expedition he captained for one year in this gripping and authoritative book. A groundbreaking step toward understanding the climate crisis, the MOSAiC expedition was the first of its kind, journeying deep into the epicenter of climate change, the Arctic, to seek hard-to-find and potentially world-changing scientific data. The Greatest Polar Expedition of All Time is about the teamwork it takes to complete a risky goal, all in the name of understanding—and responding to—the climate crisis.

Growing up near the Sabine, journalist Wes Ferguson, like most East Texans, steered clear of its murky, debris-filled waters, where alligators lived in the backwater sloughs and an occasional body was pulled from some out-of-the-way crossing. The Sabine held a reputation as a haunt for a handful of hunters and loggers, more than a few water moccasins, swarms of mosquitoes, and the occasional black bear lumbering through swamp oak and cypress knees.

In this poetic personal narrative, Thomas P. Huber reflects on two seemingly unrelated places—the North Fork Valley in western Colorado and the Coulon River Valley in Provence, France—and finds a shared landscape and sense of place. What began as a simple comparison of two like places in distant locations turned into a more complex, interesting, and personal task. Much is similar: the light, the valleys, the climate, the agriculture. And much is less so: the history, the geology, the physical makeup of villages. 

Is the path ahead unclear? Does life feel uncertain and full of worry and anxiety? Country Soul is filled with Scripture, stories, takeaways, and encouragement that will get your faith moving. Like many of us, Cara Whitney and her husband, Dan (Larry the Cable Guy), have experienced mountaintops and valleys in life. The good news they discovered along the way is that we don't have to go it alone. God's word guides our steps, leading us through the ups and downs of our faith journey.  

We reveal the key information you absolutely need to know now to pass the exam to get your CDL license with flying colors. We have designed this interactive study guide to effectively prepare you for your CDL skills test, a special license that allows you to drive a large passenger or freight vehicle. Currently, the demand for Class A drivers is at an all-time high and is expected to continue to grow in the future. Obtaining this license can open the door to many exciting opportunities that can also prove to be very well-paid.

50 Things to Know About Owls by Amy Paquette offers a kid-friendly approach to uncovering the interesting characteristics of owls around the world. This book dives into the history behind the symbolism of owls and their defining traits as nocturnal birds. There is an important history behind owls that stems from ancient Greek and Roman myths. We will guide you through this captivating history, along with the different owl species, habitats, and fun facts about this unique creature. After listening to this book, keep an eye out for the owls that might live in the trees near you!

Take a walk through the climate regions of the world and discover the effect of climate change on plants and how plants are coping in changing climatic conditions. As extreme weather conditions take over our planet, what will be their effect on plants? How can plants cope with these changing conditions? Which plants already survive in extreme and changing environments?

What do dogs really think of us? What do dogs know and understand of the world? Do their emotions feel like our own? Do they love like we do? Driven by his own love of dogs, Charles Darwin was nagged by questions like these. To root out answers, his contemporaries toyed with dog sign language, and they made special puzzle boxes and elaborate sniff tests using old socks to spill out clues. Later, the same perennial questions about the minds of dogs drove Pavlov and Pasteur to unspeakable cruelty in their search for truth.