Science & Nature - Books

False Alarm

Science & Nature

An “essential” (Times UK) and “meticulously researched” (Forbes) book by “the skeptical environmentalist” argues that panic over climate change is causing more harm than good Hurricanes batter our coasts. Wildfires rage across the American West. Glaciers collapse in the Artic. Politicians, activists, and the media espouse a common message: climate change is destroying the planet, and we must take drastic action immediately to stop it. Children panic about their future, and adults wonder if it is even ethical to bring new life into the world. Enough, argues bestselling author Bjorn Lomborg. Climate change is real, but it's not the apocalyptic threat that we've been told it is. Projections of Earth's imminent demise are based on bad science and even worse economics. In panic, world leaders have committed to wildly expensive but largely ineffective policies that hamper growth and crowd out more pressing investments in human capital, from immunization to education. False Alarm will convince you that everything you think about climate change is wrong -- and points the way toward making the world a vastly better, if slightly warmer, place for us all.

Regeneration

Science & Nature

A radically new understanding of and practical approach to climate change by noted environmentalist Paul Hawken, creator of the New York Times bestseller DrawdownRegeneration offers a visionary new approach to climate change, one that weaves justice, climate, biodiversity, equity, and human dignity into a seamless tapestry of action, policy, and transformation that can end the climate crisis in one generation. It is the first book to describe and define the burgeoning regeneration movement spreading rapidly throughout the world. Regeneration describes how an inclusive movement can engage the majority of humanity to save the world from the threat of global warming, with climate solutions that directly serve our children, the poor, and the excluded. This means we must address current human needs, not future existential threats, real as they are, with initiatives that include but go well beyond solar, electric vehicles, and tree planting to include such solutions as the fifteen-minute city, bioregions, azolla fern, food localization, fire ecology, decommodification, forests as farms, and the number one solution for the world: electrifying everything. Paul Hawken and the nonprofit Regeneration Organization are launching a series of initiatives to accompany the book, including a streaming video series, curriculum, podcasts, teaching videos, and climate action software. Regeneration is the inspiring and necessary guide to inform the rapidly spreading climate movement.

Erasing Death

Science & Nature

An examination of near-death experiences, the science of resuscitation medicine and the bigger questions about what happens to the human mind after death.Contrary to popular belief, death is not a moment in time, such as when the heart stops beating, respiration ceases, or the brain stops functioning. Death, rather, is a process—a process that can be interrupted well after it has begun. Innovative techniques, such as drastically reducing the patient's body temperature, have proven to be effective in revitalizing both the body and mind, but studies show they are only employed in approximately half of the hospitals throughout the United States and Europe.In Erasing Death, Dr. Sam Parnia presents cutting-edge research from the front line of critical care and resuscitation medicine that has enabled modern doctors to routinely reverse death, while also shedding light on the ultimate mystery: what happens to human consciousness during and after death. Parnia reveals how medical discoveries focused on saving lives have also inadvertently raised the possibility that some form of “afterlife” may be uniquely ours, as evidenced by the continuation of the human mind and psyche in the first few hours after death. Questions about the “self” and the “soul” that were once relegated to theology, philosophy, or even science fiction are now being examined afresh according to rigorous scientific research.With physicians such as Parnia at the forefront, we are on the verge of discovering a new universal science of consciousness that reveals the nature of the mind and a future where death is not the final defeat, but is in fact reversible.

GOETHE - Ensaios científicos

Science & Nature

Goethe, um cientista? Um estudioso da natureza? Muitas pessoas desconhecem que o autor germânico, conhecido por sua obra poética 'Fausto' e muitas outras, dedicou-se também ao estudo das ciências. Desenvolvendo um peculiar interesse por todos os processos orgânicos e inorgânicos da natureza, rebelou-se contra os procedimentos científicos de sua época e inaugurou uma metodologia própria, baseada em sua atenta observação dos fenômenos naturais. Neste sentido, destacam-se suas várias descobertas e novas conceituações, como a do osso intermaxilar do ser humano e a da 'planta primordial', entre outras. Além de tais estudos, Goethe escreveu também inúmeros ensaios sobre seus próprios métodos de trabalho e seu pensamento acerca dos procedimentos científicos em geral. Hoje, em pleno século XXI, tais escritos continuam surpreendendo por sua atualidade e clareza, oferecendo um fértil solo para o cultivo de novas ideias a respeito.

Bellevue

Science & Nature

Szpital Bellevue w nowojorskiej East Side zajmował niegdyś barwne i przerażające miejsce w powszechnej wyobraźni jako zbiorowisko zmasakrowanych ofiar przestępstw, zaciekłych psychopatów, oszalałych z bólu i cierpiących na egzotyczne choroby pacjentów. Wiele lat później stał się inspiracją dla serialu nakręconego przez Netflix „Szpital New Amsterdam”. David Oshinsky, amerykański badacz historii i laureat nagrody Pulitzera, przedstawia fascynującą historię kultowego nowojorskiego szpitala publicznego, która odzwierciedla jednocześnie rozwój medycyny. Przez niemal trzysta lat żadna epidemia, żadna katastrofa i żaden postęp w medycynie nie omijał Bellevue. Leczono w nim tysiące żołnierzy wojny secesyjnej, tam utworzono zalążek pogotowia ratunkowego i zorganizowano pierwszą szkołę pielęgniarską dla kobiet. To szpital Bellevue spopularyzował fotografię medyczną i leczenie psychiatryczne oraz zachęcił Nowy Jork do podejmowania zintegrowanych działań w dziedzinie zdrowia publicznego. Ostatnie dekady XX wieku przyniosły szerzącą się przestępczość, narkomanię i bezdomność – problemy, które postawiły pod znakiem zapytania przetrwanie szpitala publicznego. Dopiero kryzys AIDS ugruntował trwałą pozycję Bellevue jako największego gwaranta bezpieczeństwa w Nowym Jorku, kultowego szpitala ostatniej szansy.

The Story of More

Science & Nature

The essential pocket primer on climate change that will leave an indelible impact on everyone who reads it. • “Jahren asks the central question of our time: how can we learn to live on a finite planet?" —Elizabeth Kolbert, New York Times bestselling author of The Sixth Extinction"The voice that science has been waiting for.” —Nature Hope Jahren is an award-winning scientist, a brilliant writer, a passionate teacher, and one of the seven billion people with whom we share this earth. In The Story of More, she illuminates the link between human habits and our imperiled planet. In concise, highly readable chapters, she takes us through the science behind the key inventions—from electric power to large-scale farming to automobiles—that, even as they help us, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere like never before. She explains the current and projected consequences of global warming—from superstorms to rising sea levels—and the actions that we all can take to fight back. At once an explainer on the mechanisms of global change and a lively, personal narrative given to us in Jahren’s inimitable voice, The Story of More is “a superb account of the deadly struggle between humanity and what may prove the only life-bearing planet within ten light years" (E. O. Wilson).

Internationalisation of European ICT Activities

Science & Nature

The internationalisation of information and communication technologies has accelerated since the 1990s in Europe and worldwide. Taking a close look at the empirical analysis of competitive trade positions, trends in foreign direct investment and the internationalisation of research and development in ICT brings many new insights about the expansion, innovation and adjustment in the EU’s most dynamic sector. Moreover, the analysis discusses case studies on key players in ICT and suggests major policy conclusions for a field considered fundamental in the context of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda. The theoretical and empirical analysis gives a new and differentiated picture of European ICT where the links between telecommunications dynamics, software innovation and digital services are crucial. Outsourcing, insourcing and offshoring are natural elements of a new digital international division of labour which require reforms in both the EU member countries and at the supranational level.

The Unity of Science and Economics

Science & Nature

This book presents a new economic theory developed from physical and biological principles. It explains how technology, social systems and economic values are intimately related to resources. Many people have recognized that mainstream (neoclassical) economic theories are not consistent with physical laws and often not consistent with empirical patterns, but most feel that economic activities are too complex to be described by a simple and coherent mathematical theory. While social systems are indeed complex, all life systems, including social systems, satisfy two principles. First, all systems need to extract resources from the external environment to compensate for their consumption. Second, for a system to be viable, the amount of resource extraction has to be no less than the level of consumption. From these two principles, we derive a quantitative theory of major factors in economic activities, such as fixed cost, variable cost, discount rate, uncertainty and duration. The mathematical theory enables us to systematically measure the effectiveness of different policies and institutional structures at varying levels of resource abundance and cost.The theory presented in this book shows that there do not exist universally optimal policies or institutional structures. Instead, the impacts of different policies or social structures have to be measured within the context of existing levels of resource abundance. As the physical costs of extracting resources rise steadily, many policy assumptions adopted in mainstream economic theories, and workable in times of cheap and abundant energy supplies and other resources, need to be reconsidered. In this rapidly changing world, the theory presented here provides a solid foundation for examining the long-term impacts of today's policy decisions.

Mundos Perdidos

Science & Nature

O passado como nunca o vimos antes Como era a vida na Terra há milhões de anos? E como resistiu a extinções devastadoras? O passado deixa pistas, e Thomas Halliday utilizou a ciência mais revolucionária para as decifrar de forma nunca vista. Com um olhar lúcido e poético, o autor analisa os fósseis e leva-nos numa incrível viagem por mundos fabulosos, familiares e extintos. Mundos Perdidos devolve a vida a 16 ecossistemas de um passado remoto e mostra-nos continentes em movimento, pinguins gigantes, répteis emplumados e muitas outras criaturas.

Elementi di ritmanalisi

Science & Nature

Élements de rythmanalyse è l’ultimo di sei volumi sul tema della vita quotidiana scritti da Henri Lefebvre nell’arco di più di mezzo secolo. In questo libro, pubblicato postumo nel 1992, un anno dopo la sua scomparsa, Lefebvre si concentra sulla descrizione del rapporto tra il corpo, i suoi ritmi e lo spazio circostante, sulla produzione di una metodologia per l’analisi del dominio del tempo lineare su quello ciclico nella società capitalista, e indica le basi metodologiche per un progetto di critica della vita quotidiana radicalmente diverso da qualsiasi studio sulla vita quotidiana. La ritmanalisi non è una metodologia “rigorosa” perché fonda i propri principi costitutivi sull’astrazione e sulla soggettività del ricercatore. Per Lefebvre, tutto quello che le metodologie consolidate di ricerca considerano come requisiti fondamentali – la pretesa di oggettività nell’analisi, la non partigianeria del ricercatore – e sulle quali le scienze sociali hanno tratto legittimazione nell’ultimo secolo e mezzo, rappresenta, invece, un limite fatale che spesso conduce il ricercatore e la sua ricerca di fronte al celebre aforisma hegeliano: «ciò che è noto non per questo è conosciuto».

Álcool

Science & Nature

Álcool: uma mercadoria nada comum é um esforço colaborativo de um grupo internacional de cientistas para conectar ciência e política do álcool. Apresenta, de forma abrangente, prática e acessível, o conhecimento científico acumulado sobre a pesquisa do álcool para o desenvolvimento das políticas em nível local, nacional e internacional. Fornece uma base objetiva para construir políticas em nível global e informa formuladores de políticas de saúde pública e bem-estar social. O livro chama a atenção para a tendência crescente dos governos, tanto nacionais quanto locais, de considerar o uso nocivo de álcool como um dos principais determinantes de problemas de saúde e de organizar as respostas da sociedade de acordo com isso. Os autores descrevem a base conceitual para uma política racional do álcool e apresentam dados epidemiológicos sobre as dimensões globais do uso indevido do álcool. O livro traz uma análise crítica das evidências científicas acumuladas em sete áreas: preços e tributação, regulamentação da disponibilidade física do álcool, modificação do ambiente no qual o consumo ocorre, contramedidas para dirigir alcoolizado, restrições de marketing, programas de prevenção primária em escolas e outros ambientes e serviços de tratamento e intervenção precoce. Os capítulos finais discutem o estado atual da política do álcool em diferentes partes do mundo e descrevem a necessidade de uma nova abordagem baseada em evidências, global e coordenada.

Kosmos

Science & Nature

Czternaście miliardów lat dziejów wszechświata dla osób, które nie mają dużo czasu na czytanie Ta książka jest dla każdego, kto chce łatwo zrozumieć oszałamiające podstawy naszego niezwykłego, rozszerzającego się wszechświata. Astronomka Becky Smethurst opowiada o grawitacji i do czego służy, o samych początkach, czyli Wielkim Wybuchu, o nieuchwytnej ciemnej materii i nie mniej uchwytnej antymaterii. Zastanawia się, czy istnieje życie poza naszą planetą i dlaczego w nocy niebo jest czarne. Nieco dłużej skupia się na czarnych dziurach, bo kocha je najbardziej. Na koniec stawia najważniejsze ze wszystkich pytań, na które nigdy nie uzyskamy stuprocentowo pewnej ani wyczerpującej odpowiedzi: zajmuje się bowiem tym, czego nadal nie wiadomo.Wszystko w tej książeczce wydaje się nie z tego świata. Jednak szukanie odpowiedzi na postawione tu pytania zmieniło nasze życie na lepsze. Nie zakładajmy, że wszystko już wiemy. W dzieciństwie jesteśmy niezmordowanie dociekliwi, ale z wiekiem tracimy tę cechę. Warto czasami zatrzymać się w nieustannym biegu, spojrzeć w nocne niebo i obudzić w sobie naturalną ciekawość. Smethurst oświetla nie tylko to, czego jeszcze nie wiemy, ale i wiele więcej. Jeśli macie poważne pytania dotyczące kosmosu, ta książka dostarczy wam odpowiedzi w ciekawy i zwięzły sposób.

Essentials of 3D Biofabrication and Translation

Science & Nature

Essentials of 3D Biofabrication and Translation discusses the techniques that are making bioprinting a viable alternative in regenerative medicine. The book runs the gamut of topics related to the subject, including hydrogels and polymers, nanotechnology, toxicity testing, and drug screening platforms, also introducing current applications in the cardiac, skeletal, and nervous systems, and organ construction. Leaders in clinical medicine and translational science provide a global perspective of the transformative nature of this field, including the use of cells, biomaterials, and macromolecules to create basic building blocks of tissues and organs, all of which are driving the field of biofabrication to transform regenerative medicine. - Provides a new and versatile method to fabricating living tissue - Discusses future applications for 3D bioprinting technologies, including use in the cardiac, skeletal, and nervous systems, and organ construction - Describes current approaches and future challenges for translational science - Runs the gamut of topics related to the subject, from hydrogels and polymers to nanotechnology, toxicity testing, and drug screening platforms

Apocalypse Never

Science & Nature

Now a National Bestseller! Climate change is real but it’s not the end of the world. It is not even our most serious environmental problem. Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world’s last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today’s Green New Deal. And he led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions.But in 2019, as some claimed “billions of people are going to die,” contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction.Despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas. Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions. What’s really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.

El último aliento de César

Science & Nature

En El último aliento de César, Sam Kean nos invita a emprender un viaje alrededor del mundo y a través del tiempo para narrar la historia del aire que respiramos. Una historia que resulta ser la misma que la historia de la Tierra y de nuestra existencia en ella. En cada respiración, literalmente estamos inhalando la historia del mundo. El 15 de marzo del año 44 a. C, Julio César murió en el suelo del Senado tras haber sido apuñalado, pero la historia de su último aliento todavía se está desarrollando; de hecho, es probable que ahora mismo estemos inhalando parte de ese aire tan especial. De entre los sixtillones de moléculas que entran o salen de tus pulmones en este momento, algunas podrían contener trazas de los perfumes de Cleopatra, gas-mostaza del ejército nazi, partículas exhaladas por dinosaurios o emitidas por la bomba atómica, e incluso restos de nebulosa del origen del universo. Mientras investiga los orígenes y los ingredientes de nuestra atmósfera, Kean revela cómo la alquimia del aire modeló la forma de nuestros continentes, guió el progreso humano, alimentó revoluciones, y continúa siendo una gran influencia en todo aquello que hacemos.

Biochar and the Circular Economy

Science & Nature

This book provides a comprehensive overview of biochar as a sustainable solution within the context of agriculture, waste management, environmental remediation, and the circular economy. The initial chapters introduce the concept of biochar and its alignment with circular economic principles and presents the mechanisms of action and multifunctional benefits across different sectors. The chapters explore innovative biochar production techniques using agricultural residues, food waste, and municipal sludge, highlighting efficiency, scalability, and environmental impact. The book also details the application of biochar in soil enhancement, wastewater treatment, and bioenergy systems including biogas and biohydrogen production. The final chapters emphasize the pivotal role of biochar in carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation, solidifying its relevance to global sustainability goals.Key Features:Explains the concept of biochar within the framework of the circular economy and sustainable development Details innovative production techniques using various biomass feedstocks including agricultural waste, food scraps, and sewage sludge Explores agricultural applications, such as improving soil structure, fertility, and crop yield Presents industrial uses of biochar in removing contaminants like heavy metals and dyes from wastewater Highlights its role in anaerobic digestion and renewable energy, especially in biogas and hydrogen generation This book is useful for researchers and professionals of biotechnology and environmental sciences.

Processo al Pi Greco

Science & Nature

Incendi causati dalle pareti a specchio dei grattacieli, impianti radar in tilt, edifici che tremano perché al dodicesimo piano qualcuno fa esercizio sulle note di The Power, ponti che oscillano più del dovuto, sistemi informatici destinati a fermarsi il 19 gennaio 2038, atleti di tiro a segno che non si presentano alle Olimpiadi, jet militari offerti in regalo a un trentesimo del loro valore con i punti della Pepsi. Cosa può causare tutto ciò, scatenando disastri o andandoci quantomeno molto vicino? Semplice: degli errori matematici. Anche se per natura abbiamo una certa comprensione della matematica basilare, ci riscopriamo parecchio stupidi quando si tratta di quella formale, sviluppata a partire dalle nostre conoscenze intuitive. Non veniamo al mondo con la capacità innata di gestire frazioni, numeri negativi o logaritmi; a scuola impariamo - lentamente e a fatica - a superare questi limiti, ma appena smettiamo di usare certi concetti il nostro cervello torna alle «impostazioni di fabbrica». Il problema è che il mondo moderno è interamente costruito sulla matematica: ingegneria, informatica, finanza, medicina le nostre esistenze scorrono immerse nei numeri e nelle loro applicazioni. Di solito non ce ne accorgiamo, perché tutto fila alla perfezione e la matematica fa egregiamente il suo lavoro dietro le quinte della nostra quotidianità. Talvolta, però, un intoppo più o meno grave ci ricorda che le nostre vite possono cambiare in modo drastico per un banale errore di calcolo. Spaziando con sagacia e ironia dagli antichi egizi a Bill Gates, dalla birra agli iPhone, Matt Parker ci mostra come sviste in apparenza innocue possono avere effetti bizzarri o catastrofici. Tra sfide logiche, battute sul codice binario e storie dall'indiscutibile fascino, l'autore ci insegna a imparare dalle insidie della matematica, per ricordarci sempre di che potente alleato essa sia.

Scala

Science & Nature

Il mito narra che Sisifo, il più scaltro degli uomini, sconta la sua condanna facendo rotolare lungo il versante di una collina un macigno che, una volta raggiunta la cima, ripiomba sempre giù in basso. Proprio come Sisifo, anche noi oggi sembriamo condannati a sospingere incessantemente un peso a tratti insopportabile, quello cioè del cambiamento continuo, della costante accelerazione. L'innovazione, che ogni giorno dischiude ai nostri occhi scenari inimmaginabili soltanto pochi anni fa, procede a un ritmo vertiginoso. E con essa l'idea della crescita ininterrotta dei consumi, delle città, della popolazione mondiale, e, dunque, anche dei costi in termini di mutamenti climatici, risorse energetiche e sostenibilità del pianeta.Forse potremmo pensare al futuro con maggiore fiducia se riuscissimo a comprendere a fondo le dinamiche della crescita continua nonché il loro sviluppo e le loro implicazioni in un quadro di prevedibilità quantitativa. Se riuscissimo, cioè, a ipotizzare l'esistenza di un ordine nascosto e sotteso alle molteplici forme del vivente, di un numero circoscritto di leggi cui obbediscono tutti i sistemi complessi.È quanto suggerisce Geoffrey West, già direttore del Santa Fe Institute nel New Mexico, in questo libro sorprendente e per certi versi visionario. Con il rigore e la creatività del fisico teorico, West ci invita a guardare alla realtà che ci circonda con occhi diversi, a osservare cosa succede se confrontiamo tra loro fenomeni differenti, come, per esempio, il tasso metabolico del corpo umano, il numero dei battiti cardiaci, il valore dell'attivo netto delle società quotate in borsa e il numero di brevetti prodotti in una città. Ci stupiremo nello scoprire che esiste una regolarità esprimibile attraverso il linguaggio della matematica, e cioè che, variando di scala con l'aumentare delle dimensioni, piante, ecosistemi, città, microrganismi, grandi aziende, il nostro stesso corpo e certe malattie variano in maniera coerente e prevedibile. E questo perché sono tutti soggetti a leggi generali, sistemiche e unificanti, condividono una comune struttura concettuale e sono riconducibili a una serie di principi fondamentali. In altre parole, sono solo delle variazioni su un tema universale, il quale, se interpretato correttamente, diventa uno strumento predittivo straordinario per pianificare il futuro del pianeta.Integrando temi di biologia e matematica, fisica e scienze sociali ed economiche, Scala offre una prospettiva affascinante e insolita sulle grandi sfide globali che ci attendono.

Teaching Of Physical Sciences

Science & Nature

This book is likely to serve as a reference book and text-book for students of B.Ed. classes in lndian universities. The book is very useful and handy for would be physical science teachers. The book draws its material from Vicarious sources and deals with latest trends observed in teaching of physical sciences. The book includes recommendations made by Kothari Commission, UNESCO's interactional commission, etc. lt also gives due place to the new Education policy o Govemment of lndia in its discussion of the subject.

Complex Networks & Their Applications XIII

Science & Nature

This book highlights cutting-edge research in network science, offering scientists, researchers, students, and practitioners a unique update on the latest advances in theory and a multitude of applications. It presents the peer-reviewed proceedings of the XIII International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications (COMPLEX NETWORKS 2024). The carefully selected papers cover a wide range of theoretical topics such as network embedding and network geometry; community structure, network dynamics; diffusion, epidemics, and spreading processes; machine learning and graph neural networks, as well as all the main network applications, including social and political networks; networks in finance and economics; biological networks and technological networks.

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