Showing results for "Science" in Astronomy

The Sun, Moon, and stars are crucial to your daily existence. The perfect regularity of the heavens is the only guaranteed part of life and inspires deep religious and philosophical ideas, while unexpected events such as eclipses and comets incite fear. Experience this ancient outlook with noted astrophysicist and historian of astronomy Professor Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University. An award-winning teacher, Dr. Schaefer takes you around the world, exploring the close relationship that people thousands of years ago had with the sky.

Consider these commonly held scientific beliefs: Planetary orbits are fixed ellipses; we only use 10 percent of our brains; nothing travels faster than light; a thrown object’s trajectory is a parabola. They seem correct, but they’re all misconceptions that aren’t entirely accurate. There’s much more to the story than you think. These magnificent 24 lectures are devoted to busting myths, clearing up confusion, and giving you scientific epiphanies that could change how you think about your everyday world.

Science fiction allows us to go places we can only dream of seeing - other worlds, distant stars, entirely different galaxies. While not every story is concerned with the hard science behind space travel and other futuristic ventures, fiction can give us amazing insight into what we could be capable of and what we dream of doing. In these 10 lectures, Professor Erin Macdonald interweaves real science and the achievements of the imagination to reveal the truth that underlies our favorite stories and sheds light on what the future may hold.

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.

The Top Ten Bestseller Black holes. DNA. The Large Hadron Collider. Ever had that sneaking feeling that you are missing out on some truly spectacular science? You do? Well, fear not, for help is at hand. Ben Miller was working on his Physics PhD at Cambridge when he accidentally became a...

Bloomsbury presents… How to Design a Universe: The Science of Real and Virtual Worlds Written and read by Professor Catherine Heymans Could we be living in a computer simulation? How would we even know? In How to Design a Universe, acclaimed astrophysicist Catherine Heymans takes you on a...

Over two millennia ago, a Greek philosopher had a number of wondrous insights that paved the way to cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. In this elegant work, acclaimed physicist Carlo Rovelli brings to light the importance of Anaximander's overlooked legacy to modern science. He examines Anaximander as a scientist interested in shedding light on the deep nature of scientific thinking, which Rovelli locates in his rebellious ability to reimagine the world again and again.

This course chronicles the history of Earth and life on Earth from the point of view of the minerals that made it all happen. A major theme is how minerals and life coevolved, leading to the unprecedented mineral diversity on our world compared to the other planets in the solar system. Professor Hazen tells this epic story in 48 action-packed lectures that take you from the big bang to the formation of the solar system to the major milestones that marked the evolution of Earth and life.

Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone and perhaps 400 billion galaxies in the universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14-billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. The sheer enormity of the numbers almost demands that we accept the truth of this hypothesis. Why, then, have we encountered no evidence, no messages, no artifacts of these extraterrestrials? 

There are approximately 25,000 "city killer" asteroids in near-Earth orbit—and most are yet to be found. Small enough to evade detection, they are capable of large-scale destruction, and represent our greatest cosmic threat. But in September 2022, against all odds, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission deliberately crashed a spacecraft into a carefully selected city killer, altering the asteroid's orbit. In How to Kill an Asteroid, award-winning science journalist Robin George Andrews reveals the development of the technology that made it possible

DOES ANYTHING EAT WASPS meets INFORMATION IS BEAUTIFUL: A journey through life, the universe and everything. From what actually happened in the Big Bang to the accidental discovery of post-it notes, science is packed with surprising discoveries. Did you know, for instance, that if you were to...

 This 'shamelessly nerdy...deeply silly' (Radio Times) space extravaganza features fewer close-ups of Professor Brian Cox looking cool in front of a rocket than Wonders of the Universe but more weird, wonderful and occasionally woeful stories about the geniuses, Nazis and Satanists who plotted to propel humankind to the stars. Find out the many and varied ways to leave the planet as It Is Rocket Science takes you on a 'gleefully irreverent' (The Scotsman) whistle-stop comic tour of the Great Brains who put monkeys, ladies, dogs and gentlemen into orbit.     

A science book for the general reader that is informative enough to be a popular textbook and yet well-written enough to appeal to general readers. “Hazen and Trefil [are] unpretentious—good, down-to-earth, we-can-explain-anything science teachers, the kind you wish you had but never did...

As smartphones, supercomputers, supercolliders, and AI propel us into an ever more unfamiliar future, How to Speak Science takes us on a rollicking historical tour of the greatest discoveries and ideas that make today's cutting-edge technologies possible. Wanting everyone to be able to "speak" science, YouTube science guru Bruce Benamran explains - as accessibly and wittily as in his acclaimed videos - the fundamental ideas of the physical world: matter, life, the solar system, light, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, special and general relativity, and much more.

Find out what Tesla's role in the 3 6 9 "Manifestation Method" is by listening to this audiobook now.

Michael Schneider leads us on a spectacular journey along the numbers one through 10 to explore the mathematical principles made visible in flowers, shells, crystals, plants, and the human body, expressed in the symbolic language of folk sayings and fairy tales, myth and religion, art and architecture. This is a new view of mathematics, not the one we learned at school but a comprehensive guide to the patterns that recur through the universe and underlie human affairs. 

On 14 September 2015, after 50 years of searching, gravitational waves were detected for the first time and astronomy changed for ever. Until then, investigation of the universe had depended on electromagnetic radiation: visible light, radio, X-rays and the rest. But gravitational waves ripples...

This book is the boundary between science and philosophy dissolves into a haunting exploration of existence itself. Beginning with the mysterious precision of the universe’s physical constants and ending at the silent edge of knowledge, this book traces the anthropic principle not as an answer, but as a profound and unsettling question. From the delicate balance that permits life to the strange recursion of a cosmos observed by minds it created, each chapter draws closer to a truth that cannot be fully named.

Mars is back. Suddenly everyone – from Elon Musk to Ridley Scott to Donald Trump – is talking about going to the Red Planet. When the Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon in 1969, many people imagined Mars would be next. However NASA’s Viking 1, which landed in 1976, was just a robot. The...

The Science of Star Trek explores one of the greatest science-fiction universes ever created and showcases the visionary tech that inspired and influenced the real-world science of today. The perfect Star Trek gift for fans of the franchise, this book addresses many unanswered, burning questions, including: What can Star Trek tell us about aliens in our Milky Way?; How has Star Trek influenced space culture?; What can Star Trek tell us about planet hunting?; What Star Trek machines came true?; And when will we boldly go?