Science & Nature - Books

Juodoji gulbė

Science & Nature

„Tai, ko jūs nežinote, yra kur kas svarbiau negu tai, ką žinote“ Šių laikų informacinė visuomenė įpratusi žinoti viską – dideli informacijos srautai nuolat atnaujinami ir prieinami kiekvienam. Juodoji gulbė jai meta iššūkį – norint įminti šio reiškinio mįslę, „tai, ko jūs nežinote, yra kur kas svarbiau negu tai, ką žinote". Ar tai reiškia, kad mūsų žinios gali būti panaudotos prieš mus pačius? 1987 m. akcijų rinkų griūtis, 2004 m. cunamis Indijos vandenyne – tai tik keletas pasaulinės svarbos sukrėtimų, kurie buvo ypač netikėti. Paradoksalu: jeigu kas būtų viską numatęs – dabar nereikėtų to aptarinėti. Tokia ir yra Juodosios gulbės esmė – tai išskirtinis neprognozuojamas įvykis, pakreipiantis gyvenimą viena ar kita linkme, todėl suvokiamas tik jam įvykus. Knygoje „Juodoji gulbė" nesistengiama nuspėti, kas būtų, jeigu būtų – autorius pateikia garsiausius Juodosios gulbės pavyzdžius, siūlydamas taip aklai nepasitikėti prognozėmis, įvertinti teigiamą nežinojimo pusę ir pasinaudoti juo siekiant sėkmės. Per penkerius metus Amerikoje parduota 4 milijonai egzempliorių. 36 savaites skelbiama New York Times perkamiausių knygų sąraše. Išversta į 37 pasaulio kalbas. Pripažinta viena įtakingiausių verslo knygų per pastarąjį dešimtmetį.

Artificial Hearts

Science & Nature

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to artificial hearts, summarizing the latest advances in basic technologies, design, evaluation, and management. Featuring 11 chapters, it discusses the origins of the artificial heart, the mechanisms of heart failure, and the principles of artificial heart technologies. Further, it offers an overview of rotary pumps and volume-displacement pumps, and addresses total artificial hearts. Lastly, the book covers evaluation, selection, therapy management, challenges, and the latest innovations. Given its scope, it is a valuable resource for researchers and technicians in the area of biomedical engineering, as well as surgeons.

Our Final Hour

Science & Nature

A scientist known for unraveling the complexities of the universe over millions of years, Sir Martin Rees now warns that humankind is potentially the maker of its own demise -- and that of the cosmos. Though the twenty-first century could be the critical era in which life on Earth spreads beyond our solar system, it is just as likely that we have endangered the future of the entire universe. With clarity and precision, Rees maps out the ways technology could destroy our species and thereby foreclose the potential of a living universe whose evolution has just begun. Rees boldly forecasts the startling risks that stem from our accelerating rate of technological advances. We could be wiped out by lethal "engineered" airborne viruses, or by rogue nano-machines that replicate catastrophically. Experiments that crash together atomic nuclei could start a chain reaction that erodes all atoms of Earth, or could even tear the fabric of space itself. Through malign intent or by mistake, a single event could trigger global disaster. Though we can never completely safeguard our future, increased regulation and inspection can help us to prevent catastrophe. Rees's vision of the infinite future that we have put at risk -- a cosmos more vast and diverse than any of us has ever imagined -- is both a work of stunning scientific originality and a humanistic clarion call on behalf of the future of life.

How We Believe

Science & Nature

An updated exploration of the latest scientific research on how the brain makes us believers or skeptics. “[Shermer] is uniquely equipped to carry out this comprehensive analysis of the nature of belief. . . . Insightful, intriguing, and enlightening.” —American ScientistIn this scientific investigation of God and faith, bestselling author and Scientific American columnist Michael Shermer offers fresh insights into the inner workings of the mind, examining how and why humans create religious laws, turn to apocalyptic myths, and negotiate compromises between science and religion. Drawing on studies in psychiatry, neuroscience, and epidemiology, he explores such phenomena as out-of-body experiences, miraculous coincidences, and extrasensory perception.Whether believers or nonbelievers, we are all driven by the need to understand the universe and our place in it. How We Believe is a provocative scientific tour of this ancient and mysterious desire.“Ranges eloquently and learnedly over broad areas of philosophy, theology, and science [to] answer ‘the God question.’” —Scientific American“Unusually useful.” —The Washington Post Book World“Brilliantly explores our propensity to be story-telling animals.” —Natural History

Time, Space, and Gravitation

Science & Nature

After the lamentable breach in the former international relations existing among men of science, it is with joy and gratefulness that I accept this opportunity of communication with English astronomers and physicists. It was in accordance with the high and proud tradition of English science that English scientific men should have given their time and labor, and that English institutions should have provided the material means, to test a theory that had been completed and published in the country of their enemies in the midst of war...

O mężczyźnie, który widział dźwięki

Science & Nature

Poznaj fenomeny ludzkiego umysłuZanurz się w niesamowity, fascynujący, a czasem przerażający świat ludzkiego umysłu. Daj się porwać jego tajemnicom i poznaj jego zagadki – od ludzi czujących smak ludzkiego głosu, przez sawantów w oka mgnieniu dokonujących w swoich głowach oszałamiających obliczeń, aż do osób posługujących się echolokacją niczym nietoperze.Ta książka jest idealna dla osób zafascynowanych niesamowitymi opowieściami. To kolekcja najbardziej niewiarygodnych historii o talentach, ale również o psikusach, jakie płata nam umysł. Mężczyźni rozwijający objawy ciąży, kiedy ich partnerki spodziewają się dziecka, zahipnotyzowani pacjenci poddawani bezbolesnym operacjom, ludzie, którzy dzielą swoje głowy z wieloma osobowościami.Przygotuj się na podróż, która na zawsze zmieni twoje spojrzenie na potęgę i tajemnicę ludzkiego umysłu!Joanna Zaręba – absolwentka Wydziału Biologii UW, z wykształcenia i zamiłowania nauczycielka, którą niezbadane koleje losu zaprowadziły do korporacji. W pracy kierowniczka sympatycznego zespołu, po godzinach coach kreatywności, pisarka, zapalona czytelniczka i opiekunka dwóch czarnych jak noc kocurów. Jej szerokie zainteresowania obejmują psychologię, filozofię, zarządzanie ludźmi i jakością, ale również czytelnicze zgłębianie tajemnic wszechświata, kolekcjonowanie minerałów i prowadzenie sennika.

Microplastic Pollution

Science & Nature

This edited volume covers cutting-edge research on different facets of microplastic pollution at the global level. The book describes different types of microplastics, their sources, transportation, extraction, identification, deleterious effects (on flora and fauna) and various mitigation measures.This book discusses recent advances in microplastic pollution and suggests future research directions to mitigate microplastic at the global level. It constitutes six important sections to report different facets of microplastic pollution. Section 1 deals with microplastic types, sources, uses and transport from land to aquatic environment; Section 2 reports detection, collections, extraction and identification of different types of microplastic from various polluting sites; Section 3 suggests cleaning drives for the removal of microplastic from the polluting sites; Section 4 highlights the impact of microplastic waste on flora and fauna in both terrestrial and aquatic environments; Section 5 enlists various microplastic degradation approaches to mitigate microplastic; and Section 6 discusses recent regulations/policies to minimize microplastic generation, followed by future research directions to mitigate microplastic pollution at global level.This book is of interest and useful to professionals working on microplastic mitigation, environment protection and waste management, NGOs and policymakers.

Management 4.0

Science & Nature

This book provides a comprehensive review of industry 4.0 and its applications, discussing the history of industry evaluation, including industry 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0, and the future structure of industry evaluation. It also examines the effects and impact of various technologies in industry and presents new interdisciplinary business models based on advanced technologies with the help of use cases. Lastly, it highlights the benefits of technological implementation in industry using examples of real-world applications, providing a robust and reliable technological conceptual framework and roadmap for decision-makers in all areas of industry involved transformation.

How Long Is Now?

Science & Nature

How long is 'now'? The short answer is 'somewhere between 2 and 3 seconds'. The long answer involves an incredible journey through neuroscience, our subconscious and the time-bending power of meditation. Living in the present may never feel the same. Ready for some more? Okay. Why isn't Pluto a planet? Why are dogs' noses wet? Why do hens cluck more loudly after laying an egg? What happens when one black hole swallows another? Do our fingerprints change as we get older? How young can you die of old age? And what is at the very edge of the Universe? Life is full of mind-bending questions. And, as books like What If? and Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? have shown, the route to find each answer can take us on the weirdest and most wonderful journeys. How Long is Now? is a fascinating new collection of questions you never thought to ask, along with answers that will change the way you see everything.

Environmental Management Accounting and Supply Chain Management

Science & Nature

Ongoing concern about the need to promote environmental management accounting has resulted in this, the fifth volume in the Environmental and Sustainability Management Accounting Network (EMAN) series. Drawing inspiration from the 2007 EMAN conference in Finland on the links between environmental management accounting and supply chain administration, the book includes a number of research papers presented there as well as several independent contributions that represent a range of perspectives on the topic.This volume’s focus on the environmental accounting of supply chain processes is of particular relevance because these processes supply data about the environmental impact of relationships between business organisations, an area where the boundary separating internal and external accounting is ill-defined. Here, contributors advocate what they term ‘accounting for cooperation’ as a more environmentally positive complement to the paradigmatic practice of ‘accounting for competition’.In addition to analyzing the supply chain, a number of chapters are based on papers presented to the EMAN-EU conference on sustainability and corporate social responsibility accounting, held in Hungary in 2008. Corporate social responsibility accounting is also a boundary-spanning function requiring awareness of the interface between an organisation’s internal accounting, and that which has an external function through its social responsibility to different groupings.Finally, in acknowledgement of growing international engagement with environmental management accounting following the introduction of international guidelines in 2005, the book includes papers from the first EMAN Global conference on integrated environmental management accounting for sustainable development held in South Africa in 2007.This publication is required reading for anyone wanting to keep abreast of the latest developments in this field. Readers should also visit EMAN’s website at http://www.eman-global.net.

Noncommutative Cosmology

Science & Nature

Modified gravity models play an important role in contemporary theoretical cosmology. The present book proposes a novel approach to the topic based on techniques from noncommutative geometry, especially the spectral action functional as a gravity model. The book discusses applications to early universe models and slow-roll inflation models, to the problem of cosmic topology, to non-isotropic cosmologies like mixmaster universes and Bianchi IX gravitational instantons, and to multifractal structures in cosmology.Relations between noncommutative and algebro-geometric methods in cosmology is also discussed, including the occurrence of motives, periods, and modular forms in spectral models of gravity.Contents:PrefaceAcknowledgmentsGravity and Matter in Noncommutative GeometryRenormalization Group Flows and Early Universe ModelsCosmic TopologyAlgebro-geometric Models in CosmologyMixmaster CosmologiesThe Spectral Action on Bianchi IX CosmologiesFractal and Multifractal Structures in CosmologyNoncommutative Quantum CosmologyBibliographyReadership: Graduate students and researchers in mathematical physics and theoretical cosmology. Keywords:Cosmology;Gravity;Particle Physics;GeometryReview:Key Features:While there are recent books that focus on applications of noncommutative geometry to particle physics models, there is presently no other book that focuses on applications to cosmology

Le Temps

Science & Nature

À la fois évident et impalpable, substantiel et fuyant, le temps s'impose dans toutes les disciplines sans être l'apanage d'aucune. Avec le talent de vulgarisateur qu'on lui connaît, Étienne Klein nous entraîne du temps de la physique à la philosophie du temps.

Microbial Biotechnology

Science & Nature

A holistic approach covering a wide range of environmental microbial applications along with current and future trends In Microbial Biotechnology: Role in Ecological Sustainability and Research, a team of distinguished researchers delivers an authoritative overview of the role of microbial biotechnology in the pursuit of environmental and ecological sustainability. The book provides readers with compelling presentations of microbial technology, including its applications in the removal of environmental pollutants, and sustainable agriculture using microbial biocontrol agents or bio-fertilizers. Readers will also be able to explore the microbial reduction of greenhouse gases and a wide range of other cutting-edge applications, including the removal of various toxic environmental contaminants, such as antibiotics, pesticides, dyes, and heavy metals. Microbial Biotechnology provides: A thorough introduction to microorganisms, their metabolic engineering, the human microbiome, and other foundational topics An in-depth exploration of environmental management, including bioremediation through a nexus approach A fulsome treatment of current trends in microbial biotechnology and its role in sustainable productionPerfect for professionals in applied microbiology, biotechnology, environmental engineering, green chemistry, and soil science, Microbial Biotechnology: Role in Ecological Sustainability and Research will also earn a place in the libraries of research scholars, scientists, and academicians with an interest in environmental microbiology and ecology.

Le facteur temps ne sonne jamais deux fois

Science & Nature

Chose déroutante, décidément, que le temps. Nous en parlons comme d’une notion familière et évidente, voire domestique, « gérable ». Les physiciens, eux, l’ont couplé à l’espace, en ont fait une variable mathématique, qu’ils intègrent dans des théories si complexes qu’elles sont difficiles à traduire en langage courant. Quant aux philosophes, ils ne cessent depuis plus de deux millénaires de s’interroger : est-il une sorte d’entité primitive, originaire, qui ne dériverait que d’elle-même ? Procède-t-il au contraire d’une ou plusieurs autres entités plus fondamentales ? Le temps s’écoule-t-il de lui-même ou a-t-il besoin des événements qui s’y déroulent pour passer ? Et au fait, le temps a-t-il eu un commencement ? Aucune discipline ne parvient à épuiser, à elle seule, la question du temps. C’est pourquoi nous avons croisé les regards des philosophes avec ceux des physiciens. Et que se passe-t-il ? Sans aucun doute de belles et troublantes choses…

Biorefineries: A Step Towards Renewable and Clean Energy

Science & Nature

This book provides a comprehensive account of past, present and future of the biomass based biorefineries. It is an all-inclusive and insightful compilation of recent advancements in the technology and methods used for conversion of biomass to bioenergy and other useful biochemicals. The book also focuses on the limitations of existing technologies and provides the future prospects, as well as discusses socio-economic impact of biomass based biorefineries. This book assists researchers in the area of lignocellulosic biorefineries and can be used by the students, scientist and academician as an advanced reference textbook.

Natural Gas

Science & Nature

Natural gas is the world’s cleanest fossil fuel; it generates less air pollution and releases less CO2 per unit of useful energy than liquid fuels or coals. With its vast supplies of conventional resources and nonconventional stores, the extension of long-distance gas pipelines and the recent expansion of liquefied natural gas trade, a truly global market has been created for this clean fuel.Natural Gas: Fuel for the 21st Century discusses the place and prospects of natural gas in modern high-energy societies. Vaclav Smil presents a systematic survey of the qualities, origins, extraction, processing and transportation of natural gas, followed by a detailed appraisal of its many preferred, traditional and potential uses, and the recent emergence of the fuel as a globally traded commodity. The unfolding diversification of sources, particularly hydraulic fracturing, and the role of natural gas in national and global energy transitions are described. The book concludes with a discussion on the advantages, risks, benefits and costs of natural gas as a leading, if not dominant, fuel of the 21st century.This interdisciplinary text will be of interest to a wide readership concerned with global energy affairs including professionals and academics in energy and environmental science, policy makers, consultants and advisors with an interest in the rapidly-changing global energy industry.

Cum sa evitam un dezastru climatic

Science & Nature

ÎN ACEASTĂ CARTE SURPRINZĂTOR DE TRANȘANTĂ ȘI DE CONCENTRATĂ, BILL GATES PREZINTĂ UN PLAN AMPLU, PRACTIC – ȘI ACCESIBIL – PENTRU CUM PUTEM AJUNGE ÎN TIMP UTIL LA ZERO EMISII DE CARBON, CA SĂ EVITĂM O CATASTROFĂ CLIMATICĂ. Bill Gates a petrecut un deceniu investigând cauzele și efectele schimbărilor climatice. Cu ajutorul experților în fizică, chimie, biologie, inginerie, științe politice și finanțe, el s-a concentrat asupra măsurilor necesare pentru a opri cursul planetei noastre către un dezastru ecologic. În paginile acestui volum, nu numai că explică de ce trebuie să facem eforturi pentru a ajunge la emisii nete zero de gaze cu efect de seră, dar vine și cu informații despre ce ar trebui să facem pentru a atinge acest obiectiv extrem de important. Bill Gates ne oferă o descriere clară a provocărilor cu care ne confruntăm. Bazându-se pe înțelegerea sa despre inovație și măsurile necesare pentru a introduce idei noi pe piață, autorul prezintă domeniile în care tehnologia contribuie deja la reducerea emisiilor, unde și cum putem face tehnologiile actuale să funcționeze mai eficient, unde sunt necesare tehnologii inovatoare și cine lucrează la aceste inovații esențiale. În cele din urmă, stabilește un plan concret și practic pentru atingerea obiectivului zero emisii – sugerând nu numai politici pe care guvernele ar trebui să le adopte, dar și ceea ce putem face noi ca indivizi pentru a menține guvernul, angajatorii și pe noi înșine angrenați în această întreprindere crucială. Așa cum arată Bill Gates, reducerea la zero a emisiilor poluante nu va fi simplă sau ușor de realizat, dar, dacă urmăm planul pe care îl stabilește aici, acesta este un obiectiv ferm la îndemâna noastră. „Pentru a opri încălzirea globală și a evita efectele negative ale schimbărilor climatice, oamenii ar trebui să nu mai elibereze gaze cu efect de seră în atmosferă. Pare dificil, și așa va fi. Omenirea nu a mai contribuit niciodată la ceva de o asemenea amploare. Toate țările vor trebui să-și schimbe obiceiurile, deoarece practic toate activitățile ce țin de viața modernă – cum creștem culturile, cum fabricăm diverse lucruri, cum ne deplasăm dintr-un loc într-altul – presupun eliberarea de gaze cu efect de seră. Dacă nu se modifică nimic și lumea va produce în continuare gaze cu efect de seră, schimbările climatice vor fi din ce în ce mai severe, iar impactul asupra oamenilor va fi, cel mai probabil, catastrofal. Dar lucrurile se pot schimba. Avem deja câteva dintre instrumentele necesare – iar în privința celor pe care nu le avem încă, tot ce am învățat despre climă și tehnologie mă face să fiu optimist că le putem inventa, implementa și, dacă acționăm suficient de repede, putem evita o catastrofă climatică. Această carte este despre ce va fi nevoie pentru a face asta și de ce cred eu că putem reuși.“ BILL GATES BILL GATES este tehnolog, important om de afaceri și filantrop. În 1975, a cofondat Microsoft cu prietenul său din copilărie, Paul Allen; astăzi, el și Melinda Gates sunt copreședinți ai Fundației Bill & Melinda Gates. De asemenea, a înființat organizația Breakthrough Energy, în efortul său de a ajuta piața să comercializeze energie curată și alte tehnologii legate de climă. El și Melinda au împreună trei copii.

Pandora’s Hope

Science & Nature

A scientist friend asked Bruno Latour point-blank: “Do you believe in reality?” Taken aback by this strange query, Latour offers his meticulous response in Pandora’s Hope. It is a remarkable argument for understanding the reality of science in practical terms.In this book, Latour, identified by Richard Rorty as the new “bête noire of the science worshipers,” gives us his most philosophically informed book since Science in Action. Through case studies of scientists in the Amazon analyzing soil and in Pasteur’s lab studying the fermentation of lactic acid, he shows us the myriad steps by which events in the material world are transformed into items of scientific knowledge. Through many examples in the world of technology, we see how the material and human worlds come together and are reciprocally transformed in this process.Why, Latour asks, did the idea of an independent reality, free of human interaction, emerge in the first place? His answer to this question, harking back to the debates between Might and Right narrated by Plato, points to the real stakes in the so-called science wars: the perplexed submission of ordinary people before the warring forces of claimants to the ultimate truth.

Ascensão e queda dos dinossauros

Science & Nature

Se hoje usamos a coroa que um dia pertenceu aos dinossauros, pode acontecer conosco o que aconteceu com eles? Há 66 milhões de anos, os dinossauros, as criaturas mais temidas da Terra, pereceram. Hoje, seguem como um dos maiores mistérios do nosso planeta. Este livro revela, como nunca antes, uma extraordinária saga de 200 milhões de anos. Baseando-se nas mais recentes descobertas científicas, Steve Brusatte, um jovem paleontólogo norte-americano que desponta como destaque na área, reconstitui esse mundo perdido e esclarece as origens enigmáticas, a evolução espetacular, a diversidade impressionante, a extinção cataclísmica e o legado duradouro dessas criaturas.

A Estrutura das Revoluções Científicas

Science & Nature

A Guerra e Paz Editores traz pela primeira vez a Portugal a edição comemorativa do 50.º aniversário d’A Estrutura das Revoluções Científicas, livro publicado pela primeira vez pela editora da Universidade de Chicago em 1962. A obra punha em causa a assunção generalizada de que todas as mudanças científicas passam por um processo estritamente racional, tese que influenciou não só cientistas das áreas naturais, mas também economistas, historiadores, sociólogos e filósofos, desencadeando um poderoso debate. Este livro comporta três conceitos fundamentais: paradigma – termo que aqui se popularizou –, ciência normal e revolução científica. O paradigma representa um conjunto de teorias, regras e métodos comummente aceites pela comunidade científica. Cada paradigma tem subjacente uma dada visão do mundo, correspondendo a mudança de paradigma a uma alteração radical dessa visão. A ciência normal traduz a circunstância em que o paradigma tem a sua vigência. Porém, durante esse período, podem surgir anomalias, que se revelam quando os esquemas explicativos dominantes já não se adequam à realidade. Surge então uma nova fase, que se materializa numa revolução científica.

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