Showing titles in Earth Sciences

What gives the human brain the creative ability that defines us all as individuals? Although the silicon version is hard on its heels, the brain remains the most remarkable computer in existence. Leading us through cognitive theory, neuroscience and Darwinian evolution with his trademark wit and wisdom, Michael Corballis explains what we know - and don't know - about our minds. How do we know if we’re really the top dogs in brain power?

The legendary explorer of the Titanic shares inside stories of danger, suspense, and discovery - plus previously untold stories about his own dyslexia and how it has shaped his life.

Brought to you by Penguin. The year is 1735. Twelve unruly men board ships bound for South America. Their mission? To discover the true shape of the earth. They will be exposed to a wilderness of dangers none can imagine. The survivors won't return for ten years. An almost forgotten moment in...

Griffins, cyclopes, monsters, and giants - these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? Through careful research and meticulous documentation, Adrienne Mayor convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact - in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans.

Einstein's theory of gravity, as beautiful as it is, seems to be in direct contradiction with another theory he helped create: quantum mechanics. From the explosions of neutron stars and the collisions of black holes to the modern scientific process as a means to seek truth and understanding in the cosmos, this audiobook takes the listener on a journey of learning and discovery that has been 100 years in the making.

The Flat Earth Clues book gives you 12 compelling reasons why you should rethink the globe model that you have been taught. Before you were born, before your parents, your grandparents, before you even had a family line. There was the illusion, the trick, the lie that you lived on a small spinning rock flying through space. You thought it was true, because children don't believe in lies. And you grew up, and it was still true, because science is never wrong....

Chaque volcan d'Auvergne a une histoire à raconter. Suivez-moi sur ses pentes pour la découvrir. Accompagnateur en montagne en Auvergne, je pars chaque épisode à la découverte d'un ou plusieurs volcans (entre autres !) du Parc naturel régional des Volcans d'Auvergne, de la Chaîne des Puys au Massif du Sancy, en passant par le plateau du Cézallier et les Monts du Cantal. Formation géologique, histoire, faune, flore, et bien sûr, comment le découvrir à pied. Environ dix minutes par épisode, pour préparer ta prochaine randonnée ou simplement voyager depuis ton canapé.

Deep water swallows everything eventually: ships, names, entire crews reduced to a rusted hull and a question mark. That is where this show begins, at the bottom of the deep sea, with wreckage that still has a story to tell. Deep Sea: Mysteries of the Ocean is a narrated documentary podcast, one complete true story per episode, no host chatting in your ear, just careful reconstruction built from logs, dive records, survivor accounts, and the strange details historians almost missed. You will hear how a chain-mail suit let one woman swim uncaged with great whites, how a beer can ended up on the...

A podcast on the science and solutions about climate change, air pollution and sustainability.

In 1908, near Folsom, New Mexico, a cowboy discovered the remains of a herd of extinct giant bison. By examining flint points embedded in the bones, archeologists later determined that a band of humans had killed and butchered the animals 12,450 years ago. This discovery vastly expanded America's known human history but also revealed the long-standing danger Homo sapiens presented to the continent's evolutionary richness. Distinguished scholar Dan Flores's ambitious history chronicles the epoch in which humans and animals have coexisted in the "wild new world" of North America.

Humans depend on soil for 95 percent of global food production, yet let it erode at unsustainable rates. In the United States, China, and India, vast tracts of farmland will be barren of topsoil within this century. The combination of intensifying erosion caused by climate change and the increasing food needs of a growing world population is creating a desperate need for solutions to this crisis.

Africa has long been considered the cradle of life - where life and humans evolved - but somewhere west of Munich, Germany, paleoclimatologist and paleontologist Madelaine Böhme and her team make a discovery that is beyond anything they ever imagined: the 12-million-year-old bones of an ancient ape - Danuvius guggenmos - which makes headlines around the world and defies prevailing theories of human history and where human life began.

Balancing a broad array of archaeological, botanical, and historical evidence, Fruit from the Sands presents the fascinating story of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and East Asia. Through the preserved remains of plants in archaeological sites, Robert N. Spengler III identifies the regions where our most familiar crops were domesticated and follows their routes as people carried them around the world. Vividly narrated, Fruit from the Sands explores how the foods we eat have shaped the course of human history.

Wagner and Martin Weitzman explore in lively, clear terms the likely repercussions of a hotter planet, drawing on and expanding from work previously unavailable to general audiences. They show that the longer we wait to act, the more likely an extreme event will happen. A city might go underwater.

The aurora borealis, often referred to as the Northern Lights, is a natural light-show that appears in the sky around the north magnetic pole. Auroras can sometimes be seen in other places of the world, but not as clearly. In the southern hemisphere, the phenomenon is called "aurora australis".

Humanity can make short work of the oceans' creatures. In 1741, hungry explorers discovered herds of Steller's sea cow in the Bering Strait, and in less than thirty years, the amiable beast had been harpooned into extinction. It's a classic story, but a key fact is often omitted. Bering Island was the last redoubt of a species that had been decimated by hunting and habitat loss years before the explorers set sail.

This Very Short Introduction audiobook celebrates the centrality of ecology in our lives. Jaboury Ghazoul explores how ecology has evolved rapidly from natural history to become a predictive science that explains how the natural world works and which guides environmental policy and management decisions. 

A fascinating, entertaining dive into the long-standing relationship between humans and insects, revealing the surprising ways we depend on these tiny, six-legged creatures. Insects might make us shudder in disgust, but they are also responsible for many of the things we take for granted in our...

The forgotten (body) part of sustainability transitions. On why systems can't be at peace with the living world if the people running them are at war inside. I help write the rules for sustainable finance. Then I go dancing. This is a podcast about why I think those are the same job.

Weather Across America takes you coast to coast through the storms, heat waves, cold snaps, and big atmospheric patterns shaping life in the United States — from national synoptic setups and severe weather outlooks to day-by-day forecasts for Chicago and beyond. The science behind the forecast, translated into plain English, with the National Weather Service's forecast discussions, hazardous weather outlooks, and climate outlooks as the source material. Weather with curiosity, clarity, and a human point of view — for families planning their day, communities preparing for hazards, and the ...