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Math and science

  • Auteur:
    Feynman, Richard P.
    Sommaire:

    A collection of the best short works of Richard P. Feynman, from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles.

  • Auteur:
    Nataraj, Nirmala
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    This magnificent volume offers a rich visual tour of the planets in our solar system. More than 200 breathtaking photographs from the archives of NASA are paired with extended captions detailing the science behind some of our cosmic neighborhood's most extraordinary phenomena. Images of newly discovered areas of Jupiter, fiery volcanoes on Venus, and many more reveal the astronomical marvels of space in engrossing detail. Anyone with an interest in science, astronomy, and the mysteries of the universe will delight in this awe-inspiring guide to the wonders of the solar system.

  • Auteur:
    Kenny, Charles
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    A vivid, sweeping history of mankind’s battles with infectious disease, for readers of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Yuval Harari’s Sapiens and John Barry’s The Great Influenza.

    For four thousand years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. Striking humanity in waves, the cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilizational growth and decline, since common response to the threat was exclusion—quarantining the sick or keeping them out. But the unprecedented hygiene and medical revolutions of the past two centuries have allowed humanity to free itself from the hold of epidemic cycles—resulting in an urbanized, globalized, and unimaginably wealthy world.

    However, our development has lately become precarious. Climate and population fluctuations and aspects of our prosperity such as global trade have left us more vulnerable than ever to newly emerging plagues. Greater global cooperation toward sustainable health is urgently required—such as the international efforts to harvest a Covid-19 vaccine—with millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake.

    Written as colorful history, The Plague Cycle reveals the relationship between civilization, globalization, prosperity, and infectious disease over the past five millennia. It harnesses history, economics, and public health, and charts humanity’s remarkable progress, providing a fascinating and timely look at the cyclical nature of infectious disease.

  • Auteur:
    Rickles, Dean
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    Does the future exist already' What is space' Are time machines physically possible' What is quantum mechanical reality like' Are there many universes' Is there a 'true' geometry of the universe' Why does there appear to be an arrow of time' Do humans play a special role in the world' In this unique introductory book, Dean Rickles guides the reader through these and other core questions that keep philosophers of physics up at night. He discusses the three pillars of modern physics (quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and the theories of relativity), in addition to more cutting-edge themes such as econophysics, quantum gravity, quantum computers, and gauge theories. The book's approach is based on the idea that philosophy of physics is a kind of 'interpretation game' in which we try to map physical theories onto our world. But the rules of this game often lead to a multiplicity of possible victors: rarely do we encounter a simple answer. The Philosophy of Physics offers a highly accessible introduction to the latest developments in this exciting field. Written in a lively style, with many visual examples, it will appeal to beginner-level students in both physics and philosophy.

  • Auteur:
    Blaevoet, Emmanuel
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    The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, with textured squares to represent the different classes of elements and a braille chart with important data.

    • Hardcopy Braille format available.
  • Auteur:
    Winchester, Simon
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    The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement—precision—in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future. The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider. Simon Winchester takes us back to origins of the Industrial Age, to England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves forward through time, to today's cutting-edge developments occurring around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia. As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?

  • Auteur:
    Ferreira, Pedro G.
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    "Ferreira masterfully portrays the science and scientists behind general relativity's star-crossed history and argues that even now we are only just beginning to realize its vitality as a tool for understanding the cosmos."-Scientific American Einstein's theory of general relativity is possibly the most perfect intellectual achievement of modern physics. For almost a century now, physicists have been delving into Einstein's theory, seeking an understanding of the history of the universe, the origin of time, and the evolution of solar systems, stars, and galaxies. The expanding universe, the light-speed barrier, black holes, wormholes, time travel-general relativity has allowed scientists' imaginations to take flight with new possibilities, revealing a universe that is much stranger than anyone ever expected. Just in time for the theory's hundred-year anniversary, physicist Pedro Ferreira's The Perfect Theory explains just how staggering an achievement general relativity was while bringing to life the infighting that it sparked in the field of physics over the past century. "A rollicking good read...'ith crisp explanations and narrative flair, Ferreira offers us a fun, fresh take on a magnificent part of modern science."-Steven Strogatz, author of The Joy of x "One of the best popular accounts of how Einstein and his followers have been trying to explain the universe for decades."-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

  • Auteur:
    Kucharski, Adam
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    From roulette tables to racetracks, provides a look at how scientists and mathematicians throughout the years have tried to figure out how to beat the house while gambling.

  • Auteur:
    Jacobsen, Annie
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    In the first-ever history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military R&D agency, New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen paints a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain," from its Cold War inception in 1958 to the present.

  • Auteur:
    Tailor, Krisa
    Sommaire:

    In The Patient Revolution, author Krisa Tailor-a noted expert in health care innovation and management-explores, through the lens of design thinking, how information technology will take health care into the experience economy. In the experience economy, patients will shift to being empowered consumers who are active participants in their own care. Tailor explores this shift by creating a vision for a newly designed health care system that's focused on both sickness and wellness, and is driven by data and analytics. The new system seamlessly integrates health into our daily lives, and delivers care so uniquely personalized that no two people are provided identical treatments. Connected through data, everyone across the health care ecosystem, including clinicians, insurers, and researchers, will be able to meet individuals wherever they are in their health journey to reach the ultimate goal of keeping people healthy. The patient revolution has just begun and an exciting journey awaits us. Praise for the patient revolution "A full 50% of the US population has at least one chronic disease that requires ongoing monitoring and treatment. Our current health care system is woefully inadequate in providing these individuals with the treatment and support they need. This disparity can only be addressed through empowering patients to better care for themselves and giving providers better tools to care for their patients. Both of those solutions will require the development and application of novel technologies. In Krisa Tailor's book The Patient Revolution, a blueprint is articulated for how this could be achieved, culminating in a vision for a learning health system within 10 years." -Ricky Bloomfield, MD, Director, Mobile Technology Strategy; Assistant Professor, Duke Medicine "In The Patient Revolution, Krisa Tailor astutely points out that 80% of health is impacted by factors outside of the health care system. Amazon unfortunately knows more about our patients than we do. The prescriptive analytics she describes will allow health care providers to use big data to optimize interventions at the level of the individual patient. The use of analytics will allow providers to improve quality, shape care coordination, and contain costs. Advanced analytics will lead to personalized care and ultimately empowered patients!" -Linda Butler, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs/Chief Medical Officer/Chief Medical Information Officer, Rex Healthcare "The Patient Revolution provides a practical roadmap on how the industry can capture value by making health and care more personalized, anticipatory, and intuitive to patient needs." -Ash Damle, CEO, Lumiata "Excellent read. For me, health care represents a unique economy-one focused on technology, but requiring a deep understanding of humanity. Ms. Tailor begins the exploration of how we provide care via the concepts of design thinking, asking how we might redesign care with an eye toward changing the experience. She does an excellent job deconstructing this from the patient experience. I look forward to a hopeful follow-up directed at changing the provider culture." -Alan Pitt, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Avizia "Whether you're a health care provider looking to gain an understanding of the health care landscape, a health data scientist, or a seasoned business pro, you'll come away with a deeper, nuanced understanding of today's evolving health care system with this book. Krisa Tailor ties together-in a comprehensive, unique way-the worlds of health care administration, clinical practice, design thinking, and business strategy and innovation." -Steven Chan, MD, MBA, University of California, Davis

  • Auteur:
    Carroll, Sean M.
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    Caltech physicist and author Sean Carroll offers listeners this profile of the Large Hadron Collider and the search for the mysterious Higgs boson particle, the subatomic building block that imbues elementary particles with mass. Carroll chronicles how such a complex project got off the ground in the first place and explains why this discovery is so important, and what it means for the future of physics.

  • Auteur:
    Darwin, Charles
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    The first mature and persuasive work to explain the process of natural selection.

  • Auteur:
    Waltner-Toews, David
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    An entertaining and enlightening exploration of why waste matters. The Origin of Feces takes an important subject out of locker-rooms, potty-training manuals, and bio-solids management boardrooms into the fresh air of everyone's lives. With insight and wit, David Waltner-Toews explores what has been too often ignored and makes a compelling argument for a deeper understanding of human and animal waste. Approaching the subject from a variety of perspectives--evolutionary, ecological, and cultural--, The Origin of Feces shows us how integral excrement is to biodiversity, agriculture, public health, food production and distribution, and global ecosystems. From the primordial ooze to dung beetles, from bug frass, cat scats, and flush toilets to global trade, pandemics, and energy, this is the awesome, troubled, unexpurgated story of feces.

  • Auteur:
    Rovelli, Carlo
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    "Meet the new Stephen Hawking . . . The Order of Time is a dazzling book."--The Sunday TimesFrom the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, a concise, elegant exploration of time. Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike. For most readers this is unfamiliar terrain. We all experience time, but the more scientists learn about it, the more mysterious it remains. We think of it as uniform and universal, moving steadily from past to future, measured by clocks. Rovelli tears down these assumptions one by one, revealing a strange universe where at the most fundamental level time disappears. He explains how the theory of quantum gravity attempts to understand and give meaning to the resulting extreme landscape of this timeless world. Weaving together ideas from philosophy, science and literature, he suggests that our perception of the flow of time depends on our perspective, better understood starting from the structure of our brain and emotions than from the physical universe. Already a bestseller in Italy, and written with the poetic vitality that made Seven Brief Lessons on Physics so appealing, The Order of Time offers a profoundly intelligent, culturally rich, novel appreciation of the mysteries of time.

  • Auteur:
    Boyd, David R.
    Sommaire:

    A hopeful, inspiring, and honest take on the environment

    Yes, the world faces substantial environmental challenges — climate change, pollution, and extinction. But the surprisingly good news is that we have solutions to these problems. In the past 50 years, a remarkable number of environmental problems have been solved, while substantial progress is ongoing on others.

    The Optimistic Environmentalist chronicles these remarkable success stories. Endangered species — from bald eagles to gray whales — pulled back from the precipice of extinction. Thousands of new parks, protecting billions of hectares of land and water. The salvation of the ozone layer, vital to life on Earth. The exponential growth of renewable energy powered by wind, water, and sun. The race to be the greenest city in the world. Remarkable strides in cleaning up the air we breathe and the water we drink. The banning of dozens of the world’s most toxic chemicals. A circular economy where waste is a thing of the past. Past successes pave the way for even greater achievements in the future.

    Providing a powerful antidote to environmental despair, this book inspires optimism, leading readers to take action and exemplifying how change can happen. A bright green future is not only possible, it’s within our grasp.

  • Auteur:
    Ravetz, Jerome R.
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    Science is still the great intellectual adventure, but now it is also seen as an instrument of profit, power, and privilege. Wrongly used, it might yet make the 21st century our last. To make sense of all this, we need to let go of old ideas and assumptions. In the No-Nonsense Guide to Science, Jerome Ravetz introduces the "post-normal" way of thinking about science. We are to transcend the old simplistic ideas of perfect certainty and objectivity in science--they have failed to protect people and the environment when science has gone wrong and they have enabled flat, dogmatic teaching in our schools. We must now accept that value-loading, uncertainty, and ignorance are very real parts of science, and that citizens must participate in the policies that shape its evolution. The book also includes a refreshing new look at the history of science, and concludes with a series of questions that anyone can use to start their own exploration of the present and future of science.

  • Auteur:
    Chivers, Danny
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    Just as the need for action on climate change becomes more urgent and overwhelming, the campaign to deny that humans are causing it has gained more traction. This completely new book meets the skeptics head on, offering a guide to the science, an insight into the politics of climate justice and a clear sense of the way forward. This is an ideal offering for students, academics and anyone interested in the growing issue of society's impact on climate change and how to make climate justice a reality.

  • Auteur:
    Barnatt, Christopher
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    The Next Big Thing explores future revolutions that will determine how things are made, who we share the planet with, where resources come from, and the evolution of the human species. Beyond 2030, the way we live today will no longer be sustainable. We will therefore need to develop technologies including 3D printing, synthetic biology and space travel if our civilization is to survive and thrive.

  • Auteur:
    Morris, Thomas
    Sommaire:

    "Delightfully horrifying."-Popular Science This wryly humorous collection of stories about bizarre medical treatments and cases offers a unique portrait of a bygone era in all its jaw-dropping weirdness. A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the nineteenth century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled. Witness Mysterious Illnesses (such as the Rhode Island woman who peed through her nose), Horrifying Operations (1781: A French soldier in India operates on his own bladder stone), Tall Tales (like the "amphibious infant" of Chicago, a baby that could apparently swim underwater for half an hour), Unfortunate Predicaments (such as that of the boy who honked like a goose after inhaling a bird's larynx), and a plethora of other marvels. Beyond a series of anecdotes, these painfully amusing stories reveal a great deal about the evolution of modern medicine. Some show the medical profession hopeless in the face of ailments that today would be quickly banished by modern drugs; but others are heartening tales of recovery against the odds, patients saved from death by the devotion or ingenuity of a conscientious doctor. However embarrassing the ailment or ludicrous the treatment, every case in The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth tells us something about the knowledge (and ignorance) of an earlier age, along with the sheer resilience of human life.

  • Auteur:
    Jackson, Ellen B.
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    Follows Dr. Alex Fillippenko and his High-Z Supernova Search Team as they use the Keck telescope in Hawaii to look for supernovae, find black holes, and study the effects of dark energy.

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