Showing results for "Planets" in Science & Engineering

Mercury, a lifeless victim of the Sun’s expanding power. Venus, once thought to be lush and fertile, now known to be trapped within a toxic and boiling atmosphere. Mars, the red planet, doomed by the loss of its atmosphere. Jupiter, twice the size of all the other planets combined, but insubstantial. Saturn, a stunning celestial beauty, the jewel of our Solar System. Uranus, the sideways planet and the first ice giant. Neptune, dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds. Pluto, the dwarf planet, a frozen rock.

THE PLANETS is Dava Sobel's sweeping look at our heavenly galaxy. In the spirit of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Sobel once again brings science and history deftly to life as she explores the origins of the planets and reveals the exotic environments that exist in each of these fascinating...

A highly entertaining and accessible introduction to our planet from the best-selling author of Schrödinger's Cat, The Scientists, and In Search of the Multiverse. In this incredible expedition into the origins, workings, and evolution of our home planet, John Gribbin does what he does best: takes four and a half billion years of mind-boggling science and digs out the best bits. From the physics of Newton and the geology of Wegener, to the environmentalism of Lovelock, this is a must-listen for Earth's scientists and residents alike.

This Is Planet Earth is dedicated to the wonders of planet Earth, the most amazing place in the known universe. The ancient Greeks called it Gaia, the Romans Terra. We know it simply as Earth, the planet we call home. And what a planet it is. Formed around 4.6 billion years ago from the debris of the big bang and long-dead stars, at first it was nothing special, but somehow it evolved to become the most amazing place in the known universe.

Despite the flames of record-breaking temperatures licking at our feet, most people fail to fully grasp the gravity of environmental overheating. What acquired habits and conveniences allow us to turn a blind eye with an air of detachment? Using examples from the hottest places on earth, Heat, a History shows how scientific methods of accounting for heat and modern forms of acclimatization have desensitized us to climate change.

In the near future, wars will be fought not over land, but over data. Machines will quickly discover individualized treatments for diseases, and with the help of virtual reality, AI will inspect buildings that have not yet been built. With the rising interest in these technologies by both China and the US, who will emerge as the victor of this technological race? When AI Rules the World is an investigation and call to action into AI technologies for a nation that does not yet comprehend the full gravity of the AI revolution.

"[Greene] develops one fresh new insight after another...In the great tradition of physicists writing for the masses, The Elegant Universe sets a standard that will be hard to beat." --George Johnson, The New York Times Book Review In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as...

David Attenborough reads his own bestselling memoir 'An enthralling autobiography from one of the linchpins of television' Good Book Guide David Attenborough is the acknowledged voice of nature, loved and revered worldwide for his groundbreaking wildlife documentaries. Over the course of his...

Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites - such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg. Andrew Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty.

The next revolution in business will provide for a sustainable future, from founder, CEO and circular economy expert Ron Gonen Our take-make-waste economy has cost consumers and taxpayers billions while cheating us out of a habitable planet. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The Waste-Free...

Fifty thousand years ago - merely a blip in evolutionary time - our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. Yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. Just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special.

Top ten Sunday Times Bestseller ‘Engaging, ambitious and creative’ Guardian Where are we? Are we alone? Who are we? Why are we here? What is our future? Human Universe tackles some of the greatest questions that humans have asked to try and understand the very nature of ourselves and the...

The Sunday Times Bestseller A new, fully updated narrative edition of David Attenborough’s seminal biography of our world, The Living Planet. Nowhere on our planet is devoid of life. Plants and animals thrive or survive within every extreme of climate and habitat that it offers. Single species...

Living busily on Planet Earth, we rarely remember that we actually inhabit only a miniscule part of the universe. In The Planets and the Solar System, Jen Green paints the wider picture, and takes us on a journey across billions of kilometers in our galaxy, from our Sun to near and distant planets. Some, like Mercury, have a molten core surrounded with crust and spins quickly; Jupiter, on the other hand, is a big ball of gas.

Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts offers an insider's guide to astronauting—a behind-the-scenes look at the training, the basic rules, lessons, and procedures of space travel, including how to deal with a dead body in space, what it’s like to film an IMAX movie in orbit, what exactly to do...

Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934-December 20, 1996), born in Brooklyn, NY, was an American astronomer and astrophysicist. His best-known scientific contribution was his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by exposure to light. The following is a lecture Sagan gave in 1977 during which he discussed the place, scale and geometry of earth–the third planet from the Sun, formed 4.5 billion years ago–in our solar system.

The third and final updated edition of David Attenborough’s classic Life trilogy. Life on Earth covered evolution, Living Planet , ecology, and now The Trials of Life tackles ethology, the study of how animals behave. ‘This is, quite simply, the best thing I’ve ever done.’ Sir David...

An ideal introduction for beginner and seasoned stargazers alike from the astronomers of the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Astronomy expert Tom Kerss offers complete advice from the ground up, introducing the world of telescopes, planets, stars, dark skies and celestial maps, explaining the best...

A brilliant collection taking an in-depth look at our world from the incredible coral reefs to the dangerous volcanoes, plus a bonus nature-themed poetry collection for the whole family to enjoy. Hours of audio fun to keep children entertained while on the move! Introduce your children to four...

A New York Times–bestselling astrophysicist and a Nobel laureate describe the quest to discover how and where the universe breathed life into matter For a long time, scientists have wondered how life has emerged from inanimate chemistry, and whether Earth is the only place where it exists...