Soccer is the most mathematical of sports--riddled with numbers, patterns, and shapes. How to make sense of them? The answer lies in mathematical modeling, a science with applications in a host of bio
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Red Planet, revealed in an up-close and personal tour of Mars.Mars is ingrained in our culture, from H. G. Wells's 1898 novel The War of the Worlds to Loon
Twenty years ago, the search for planets--and life--outside the solar system was a job restricted to science fiction writers. It is now one of the most rapidly growing fields in astronomy, with thousands of these "exoplanets" discovered so far. The detection of these worlds has only been possible in the last decade, with the number of discoveries increasing enormously over the last year following the findings of the Kepler Space Telescope.These new worlds are more alien than anything in fiction. Planets larger than Jupiter with years lasting one week, planets circling the dead remains of stars, others with two suns lighting their skies or with no sun at all. These locations hint at Earth-sized worlds but with split hemispheres of perpetual day and night, waterworlds drowning under global oceans, and volcanic lava planets spewing seas of magma. The Planet Factory tells the story of exoplanets, planets orbiting stars outside of our solar system. Discover the specks of dust that circle a
Inside the beautiful, mesmerizing, and complex world of fish.There's something about fish that leaves a cold, slimy whiff in many people's minds. Either that, or fish are simply “food”; catching fish
Algorithms are running our society and we don't really know what they are up to. Our increasing reliance on technology and the internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to
Icy, rocky, sometimes dusty, always mysterious--comets and asteroids are among the Solar System's very oldest inhabitants, formed within a swirling cloud of gas and dust in the area of space that even
Sleep is vital to the way we learn, remember and forget, to how we feel about family and partners, our wellbeing, and our mental and physical health. It is essential for life itself. Nodding Off: Unde
The year 1818 saw the publication of one of the most influential science-fiction stories of all time. Frankenstein: Or, Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley had a huge impact on gothic horror and science
Johnny Ball is Britain's most famous mathematician. Wonders Beyond Numbers is his magnum opus, and his first book for more than ten years. It is nothing less than the history of mathematics; he descri
This is the story of Leah Garcés’s fight for better conditions for the animals we eat, as she works with farmers, suppliers, and restaurant chains to end factory farming for good.
The story of what's happened to the air we breathe, the impact it has had on our health and what we can do to fight back.Clearing the Air tells the full story of what's happened to the air we breathe.
Humans and their immediate ancestors were successful hunter-gatherers for hundreds of thousands of years, but in the last fifteen thousand years humans have gone from finding food to farming it, from
Karin Bojs grew up in a small, broken family, and at her mother's funeral she felt this more acutely than ever. As part of the healing process, she decided to use DNA research to learn more about hers
'Pilcher is both very funny and very, very clever.' Gillian Burke'Richly entertaining throughout.' Sunday TimesFor the last three billion years or so, life on Earth was shaped by natural forces. Evolu
The complex and fascinating story of the Neanderthals, this book showcases the culture, ecology and biology of these people, areas of research that have seen astonishing recent advances.Kindred is the definitive guide to the Neanderthals. Since their discovery more than 160 years ago, Neanderthals have metamorphosed from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins. Rebecca Wragg Sykes uses her experience at the cutting-edge of Paleolithic research to share our new understanding of Neanderthals, shoving aside clichés of rag-clad brutes in an icy wasteland. She reveals them to be curious, clever connoisseurs of their world, technologically inventive and ecologically adaptable. Above all, they were successful survivors for more than 300,000 years, during times of massive climatic upheaval.Much of what defines us was also in Neanderthals, and their DNA is still inside us. Planning, co-operation, altruism, craftsmanship, aesthetic sense, imagination, perhaps even a desire for tra
An in-depth look at how elements are discovered, why they matter and where they will take us. The science of element discovery is a truly fascinating field, and is constantly rewriting the laws of che
