Showing results for "Extraordinary" in Science

When leading Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt began working in the 1980s, scientists thought they knew all the conceivable forms of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible is the story of Steinhardt’s 35-year-long quest to challenge conventional wisdom. It begins with a curious geometric pattern that inspires two theoretical physicists to propose a radically new type of matter - one that raises the possibility of new materials with never-before-seen properties but that violates laws set in stone for centuries.

Synthetic Biology: Life’s Extraordinary New Worlds is an introduction to synthetic biology for non-scientists, covering the exciting field that is transforming health care, agriculture, environmental science, and many other areas. Using the molecules of life to answer scientific questions and manipulate life for human benefit, synthetic biology encompasses a wide range of applications—from gene editing and metabolic engineering to food synthesis and green technologies.

From late 1872 to 1876, H.M.S. Challenger explored the world's oceans. Conducting deep sea soundings, dredging the ocean floor, recording temperatures, observing weather, and collecting biological samples, the expedition laid the foundations for modern oceanography. Following the ship's naturalists and their discoveries, earth scientist Doug Macdougall engagingly tells a story of Victorian-era adventure and ties these early explorations to the growth of modern scientific fields.

A heartwarming tale of abandoned dogs and their saviours Among the cobblestone villages and towns of rural Bulgaria, a dedicated team of unsung heroes led by Emma and Anthony Smith works tirelessly to change the destiny of street dogs. These animals are abandoned and neglected, and sometimes in...

Mossy greens, conker browns, cream, chocolate and deepest black; add stripes, swirls and splotches and you have some of the most striking wildlife Britain has to offer. In Meetings with Moths ecologist Katty Baird roams Scotland seeking out, documenting and observing moths. Green Longhorns...

Praise for The Life-Affirming Magic of Birds ‘This deeply personal book is a delight for those who already value our feathered friends and is a perfect introduction for those who are new to birding.’ CAROLINE QUENTIN – ACTOR, AUTHOR & PRESENTER 'Moving, informative, funning, evocative...

A New York Public Library "Best Book of the Year" “The Forgotten Sense leaves us with the hope of new discoveries and new recoveries—so that we may once again revel in the glorious, fragrant world around us.”—Wall Street Journal By one of the world’s leading researchers into the...

‘There’s water in the engine,’ he said. ‘The engine has stopped.’ This changed everything… Surviving the Storms brings together incredible first-hand accounts of rescues carried out by the remarkable RNLI lifesavers. In this collection of heart-wrenching and life-affirming missions...

Most humans have a lot of preconceived notions and stereotypes about gender. Ex: Men are tough, silent, forceful; women are chatty, manipulative, emotional. In doing that we put people in a box and often forget to see beyond those labels. And if someone is not fitting the mold we might call them tomboy or sissy. Those and similar labels often cause discord.What would a world look like, where we go beyond our preconceived notions and understand that we are much more than our gender, that we humans are strong and soft and gentle, deep and powerful, tough, fierce and open, that qualities are not...

A podcast dedicated to celebrating ordinary people who have done Extraordinary things, a Human Celebration through people's life stories of self discovery, hardship, the ups and downs and the human capabilities to persist in order to come out wiser, stronger, balanced and better equipped to face the daily struggles on this journey called life. I am a trained social worker and I am fascinated by the human's power and resilience to overcome any obstacle no matter the setbacks with an unweathered mindset and determination for abundance and success. I have a deep love for human kind and I believe ...

Rich with insight and packed with tales of birds and of people, this book reveals the great auk’s life before humanity, its death on the killing shores of the North Atlantic, and the unrelenting subsequent quest for its remains. Tim Birkhead’s research has revealed previously unimagined aspects of the bird’s life and also, unexpectedly, its afterlife; in a curious twist, Birkhead found himself the recipient of the archive of the man who accumulated more great auk skins and eggs than anyone else.

We’re Kathy Kale Nelson and Linda LaTourelle — co-hosts of Ordinarily Extraordinary: Conversations with Women in STEM.Our mission is to amplify the voices of ordinary women doing extraordinary work in science, technology, engineering, and math.We’re deeply committed to:Normalizing the presence of women in STEM by making their stories visibleBuilding community for women who may be the only ones like them in their workplaceEducating listeners about the wide variety of STEM careers — and what they actually look likeEmpowering growth and retention by addressing the challenges behind the ...

Scientists Daniel and Kelly cannot stop talking about our amazing, wonderful, weird Universe! Each episode is a fun, easy-to-understand, and in-depth explanation of topics in science, from particles to black holes to moon colonies to ecosystems to parasites and everything else in the Universe!

‘What is it like to be a bat?’, the philosopher Thomas Nagel famously asked concerning consciousness. For biologist Martin Stevens, the question forms the starting point of an exploration of animal senses. In this enthralling account, we learn not only of the wonder of animal senses, but how they work and how scientists go about investigating them. And, throughout, we consider how these senses came to be.

John and Elizabeth Gould sailed into Australia on a cold spring day in 1838 prepared for the most astonishing adventure of their lives. They had crossed three oceans from their London home to find the treasures of Australia's birdlife and showcase them to the outside world. Elizabeth had fallen pregnant for the seventh time at just 34, and there would be little rest for her in illustrating her husband's exquisite books that had made him England's celebrated 'Bird Man', and a force of nature in both science and publishing.

Peregrine Spring, Nancy Cowan’s memoir of her 30 years living intimately with raptors, gives us a new perspective on the relationship between humans and the natural world. Cowan shares her experiences running a world-famous falconry school, and the lessons she’s learned from her birds. From retrieving her falcon from the local police "lock up", to a heartbreaking race to save her young peregrine from attack by a wild hawk, Cowan’s life is a constant, ever-changing adventure.

On the night of March 26, 1938, nuclear physicist Ettore Majorana boarded a ship, cash and passport in hand. He was never seen again. In A Brilliant Darkness, theoretical physicist Joo Magueijo tells the story of Majorana and his research group, the Via Panisperna Boys, who discovered atomic fission in 1934. As Majorana, the most brilliant of the group, began to realize the implications of what they had found, he became increasingly unstable.

On June 3, 1769, the planet Venus briefly passed across the face of the sun in a cosmic alignment that occurs twice per century. Anticipation of the rare celestial event sparked a worldwide competition among aspiring global superpowers, each sending their own scientific expeditions to far-flung destinations to time the planet’s trek.

In this revealing romp through the mysteries of human perception, University of California psychologist and researcher Lawrence Rosenblum explores the astonishing abilities of the five senses - skills of which most of us are remarkably unaware. Drawing on groundbreaking insights into the brain's plasticity and integrative powers, including findings from his own research, Rosenblum examines how our brains use the subtlest information to perceive the world.

Loving or aloof, mischievous or cuddly - for many people, their cats are an integral part of the family. Here are extraordinary stories of some of the world’s most charismatic and captivating cats.