Science & Nature - Books

Hazardous Chemicals in Products and Processes

Science & Nature

Substitution of hazardous substances is a prioritised objective in chemical regulation and risk management. However, it is experienced as a tough task with often inconsistent results. Based on thirteen case studies, this book analyzes substitution as an innovation process and attempts to give answers to the following questions: Why and under which circumstances are companies able and willing to substitute hazardous substances? What are the main drivers and the main barriers? In which way can communication along the supply chain support environmental innovation? How can risk management appropriately deal with the lack of knowledge, with uncertainties and incomplete knowledge about the possible effects of different substances? Recommendations for action are provided for commercial and state institutions and consumers and thus for all actors engaged in the European reform of chemicals policy following the REACH system.

A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World

Science & Nature

Bestselling author David Gessner asks what kind of planet his daughter will inherit in this coast-to-coast guide to navigating climate crisis. The world is burning and the seas are rising. How do we navigate this new age of extremes? In A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World, David Gessner takes readers on an eye-opening tour of climate hotspots from the Gulf of Mexico to the burning American West to New York City to the fragile Outer Banks, where homes are being swallowed by the seas. He does so with his usual sense of humor, compassion, and a willingness to talk to anyone, providing an informative and sobering yet convivial guide for the age of fire, heat, wind, and water. Gessner approaches scientists and thinkers with a father’s question: What will the world be like in forty-two years? Gessner was forty-two when his daughter, Hadley, was born. What will the world be like in 2064, when Hadley is his age now? What is the future of weather? The future of heat, storms, and fire? What exactly will our children be facing? A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World tells a story of climate crisis that will both entertain and shake people awake to the necessity of navigating this new age together.

Sustainability through Soccer

Science & Nature

In the quest for sustainability, we strive to meet our present needs without sacrificing the same opportunity for future generations. Our success or failure depends on our ability to think in “systems,” integrating environmental, social, and economic considerations. But how do we learn systems-thinking? In a series of engaging, rapid-fire stories, Sustainability through Soccer takes readers on a journey through a progression of systems-thinking and sustainability concepts. Using the beautiful game of soccer as an analogy, Leidy Klotz illuminates real-world interdependencies (such as between climate change and human rights), building the chain of concepts in a fun, accessible way. Soccer nerds and newbies alike will be entertained on the way to a deeper understanding of sustainability science.

The Fragile Earth

Science & Nature

A New York Times New & Noteworthy BookOne of the Daily Beast's 5 Essential Books to Read Before the ElectionA collection of the New Yorker's groundbreaking reporting from the front lines of climate change—including writing from Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert, Ian Frazier, Kathryn Schulz, and moreJust one year after climatologist James Hansen first came before a Senate committee and testified that the Earth was now warmer than it had ever been in recorded history, thanks to humankind's heedless consumption of fossil fuels, New Yorker writer Bill McKibben published a deeply reported and considered piece on climate change and what it could mean for the planet. At the time, the piece was to some speculative to the point of alarmist; read now, McKibben's work is heroically prescient. Since then, the New Yorker has devoted enormous attention to climate change, describing the causes of the crisis, the political and ecological conditions we now find ourselves in, and the scenarios and solutions we face. The Fragile Earth tells the story of climate change—its past, present, and future—taking readers from Greenland to the Great Plains, and into both laboratories and rain forests. It features some of the best writing on global warming from the last three decades, including Bill McKibben's seminal essay "The End of Nature," the first piece to popularize both the science and politics of climate change for a general audience, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning work of Elizabeth Kolbert, as well as Kathryn Schulz, Dexter Filkins, Jonathan Franzen, Ian Frazier, Eric Klinenberg, and others. The result, in its range, depth, and passion, promises to bring light, and sometimes heat, to the great emergency of our age.

Climate Change and the Energy Problem

Science & Nature

This important compendium deals with the primary world problems of global warming and the coming energy crisis. In alternating chapters, it lays out the nature of the two interrelated problems, and specifies the various economic considerations. Thus, it describes the coming shortfall of fossil fuel energy in detail and then presents the economic factors governing possible solutions.Written by two world renowned academics — a physicist who writes about the nature of the problem, and an economist who discusses various scenarios and solutions, this unique must-have book highlights the problem from the point of view of a scientist and an economist.Contents:The Science of Energy and Global WarmingEnergy Market Structures and Regulatory StructuresThe FutureThe Economics of Global Energy SecurityEnergy Myths and a Brief History of EnergyThe Economics of Energy and Climate ChangeWhere Do We Go from Here?The Future of Energy Based on Technological InnovationSummaryReadership: Undergraduates, graduates, professionals, academics and the general public interested in energy studies, environmental economics, geophysics and public policy.

The Science Book

Science & Nature

From astronomy to psychology, this beautifully illustrated chronology presents the most important and groundbreaking milestones in science. Award-winning author Cliff Pickover (The Math Book, The Physics Book, and The Medical Book) gathers into one fully illustrated volume the most important thinkers and ideas in the history of science. This unique omnibus edition includes 250 thoughtfully selected entries from many of the science-based books in the Sterling Milestones series, including math, physics, medicine, biology, chemistry, engineering, psychology, and space. With a new introduction by Pickover explaining how this impressive collection was curated,The Science Book showcases humanity’s greatest achievements and provides readers with a sense of wonder at the diversity of scientific discovery.

The Meaning of Human Existence

Science & Nature

National Book Award Finalist. How did humanity originate and why does a species like ours exist on this planet? Do we have a special place, even a destiny in the universe? Where are we going, and perhaps, the most difficult question of all, "Why?" In The Meaning of Human Existence, his most philosophical work to date, Pulitzer Prize–winning biologist Edward O. Wilson grapples with these and other existential questions, examining what makes human beings supremely different from all other species. Searching for meaning in what Nietzsche once called "the rainbow colors" around the outer edges of knowledge and imagination, Wilson takes his readers on a journey, in the process bridging science and philosophy to create a twenty-first-century treatise on human existence—from our earliest inception to a provocative look at what the future of mankind portends. Continuing his groundbreaking examination of our "Anthropocene Epoch," which he began with The Social Conquest of Earth, described by the New York Times as "a sweeping account of the human rise to domination of the biosphere," here Wilson posits that we, as a species, now know enough about the universe and ourselves that we can begin to approach questions about our place in the cosmos and the meaning of intelligent life in a systematic, indeed, in a testable way.Once criticized for a purely mechanistic view of human life and an overreliance on genetic predetermination, Wilson presents in The Meaning of Human Existence his most expansive and advanced theories on the sovereignty of human life, recognizing that, even though the human and the spider evolved similarly, the poet's sonnet is wholly different from the spider's web. Whether attempting to explicate "The Riddle of the Human Species," "Free Will," or "Religion"; warning of "The Collapse of Biodiversity"; or even creating a plausible "Portrait of E.T.," Wilson does indeed believe that humanity holds a special position in the known universe.The human epoch that began in biological evolution and passed into pre-, then recorded, history is now more than ever before in our hands. Yet alarmed that we are about to abandon natural selection by redesigning biology and human nature as we wish them, Wilson soberly concludes that advances in science and technology bring us our greatest moral dilemma since God stayed the hand of Abraham.

Eternamente Jovem: Como a Ciência Planeia Travar o Envelhecimento

Science & Nature

Sempre pensámos que o envelhecimento é inevitável. Os novos dados científicos revelam que podemos estar errados. O envelhecimento é a maior causa de morte e de sofrimento no mundo. Durante séculos, aceitámos como inevitável a deterioração da mente e do corpo à medida que envelhecemos. Mas os biólogos não estão assim tão convencidos destas evidências. Eternamente Jovem revela-nos a investigação inovadora que está a abrir caminho a uma revolução na medicina. Leva-nos aos laboratórios onde os cientistas estudam todos os aspetos das células – ADN.

Nanostructured Carbon for Energy Generation, Storage, and Conversion

Science & Nature

Carbon materials play a significant role in the development of alternative clean and sustainable energy technologies. This new volume focuses on the new applications of different carbon nanomaterials and graphene-carbon-nanotube hybrids for energy generation, energy storage, and energy conversion. It presents a comprehensive overview of recent developments on carbon-based nanomaterials with a focus on sustainable and clean energy applications.With chapters written by the leading academicians and researchers working in the field, the volume explores state-of-the-art developments using both commercially available and emerging materials and their potential applications for energy storage and energy harvesting.

Neuro-Rehabilitation with Brain Interface

Science & Nature

In recent years, major results were reported on Brain-Computer Interface / Brain-Machine Interface (BCI/BMI) applied to rehabilitation in scientific reports and papers. This subject received much attention within the Society on Communication, Navigation, Sensing and Services (CONASENSE) during the period 2013-2015. Describing the state of the art on various BCI/BMI activities related to neuro-rehabilitation is the central theme of this book.The latest insights coming from neurophysiologists, neuropsychologists, ICT experts specialized in clinical data management and from representatives of patient organizations are elucidated and new ways for “BCI/BMI applied to rehabilitation” using advanced ICT are introduced. The book describes the latest progress in and is an appeal for an approach leading to more cost-saving multi-disciplinary neuro-rehabilitation. This book covers the following topics: • Overview on BCI/BMI applied to rehabilitation• ICT for Neuro-rehabilitation• ICT for new generation prostheses• Gaze tracking, facial orientation determination, face and emotion recognition in 3D space for neuro-rehabilitation applications• Integrated perspective for future wide spread integration of motor neuro-rehabilitation• Ethical issues in the use of Information and Communication Technologies in the health care of patients with neurological disorders

Spod kozetki

Science & Nature

Prawdziwe historie potrafią zdumiewać bardziej niż fikcja Gary Small przez trzydzieści lat wybitnej kariery psychiatrycznej widział już wszystko. Teraz uchyla drzwi swojego gabinetu, by podzielić się opowieściami o najbardziej intrygujących pacjentach.Spod kozetki to historie – nierzadko zabawne, czasami tragiczne, ale zawsze interesujące –najbardziej frapujących przypadków: kobiety stawającej nago w centrum miasta na głowie czy mężczyzny przeświadczonego, że jego penis się kurczy. Nie zabraknie też histerycznej ślepoty, psychotycznych ataków miłosnych fantazji, mdlejących uczennic czy prób autoamputacji.To wyjątkowa okazja – utrzymana w duchu bestsellerowych publikacji Olivera Sacksa – do przyjrzenia się niezwykłym wyskokom naszego mózgu.Niezwykle rzetelnie, a jednocześnie lekko i błyskotliwie napisana książka harwardzkiego psychiatry. Nie unikając autoironii i dystansu do samego siebie autor z precyzją, szacunkiem i realizmem opisuje swoje doświadczenia w pracy z pacjentami. Gary Small jest w tej książce niczym doktor House psychiatrii – szuka, diagnozuje, nie poddaje się i pomaga. Jego opowieści fascynują i jednocześnie sprawiają, że otwieramy się na wiedzę i odważamy się porzucić mity i lęki, które narosły wokół psychiatrii, chorób psychicznych i psychoterapii. Polecam.dr Joanna Heidtman, psycholożka, konsultantka i coach

L'uomo del destino

Science & Nature

Dopo anni di porte in faccia, nel 1492 Cristoforo Colombo riesce a partire per il suo storico viaggio, rinunciando al compenso e accettando una percentuale sugli eventuali guadagni. stato capace di mettere d’accordo i vincoli economici e politici dei sovrani di Spagna con il suo desiderio di tentare l’impresa. La morale? Comprendere le vere motivazioni delle parti in causa e adottare il loro punto di vista è il primo passo per anticipare l’esito di una trattativa: per quanto complessa possa essere, basta ridurre tutti i fattori (che sono meno numerosi di quanto si pensi) in termini matematici secondo un modello preciso; il risultato indica quale strategia adottare e cosa succederà. Quello di Colombo è solo un esempio: in moltissimi casi prevedere e influenzare il modo in cui andranno le cose è più facile di quanto pensiamo. E che si tratti di un governo ostile che può far esplodere il mondo o di un negoziante disonesto, non fa differenza. In questo libro Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, consulente della Cia ed esperto di negoziazioni politiche internazionali, svela i segreti di un metodo perfezionato negli anni, grazie al quale il 90 per cento delle sue predizioni si sono rivelate esatte. Dimostra l’efficacia del sistema analizzando la prevedibilità di alcune svolte storiche, dalla caduta di Sparta alla diffusione di al-Qaida in Pakistan. Spiega quali forze agiscono veramente dietro ogni accordo. E suggerisce una brillante soluzione per le questioni più scottanti del presente, come Israele e il protocollo di Kyoto, ma anche per i nostri problemi quotidiani, come l’acquisto di un’automobile. Perche una trattativa non è altro che un conflitto di interessi in cerca di un punto di equilibrio: basta sapere come trovarlo per imparare a dominare le circostanze e migliorare il nostro futuro.

The Story of the Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries

Science & Nature

Today, any kid can rattle off the names of dozens of dinosaurs. But it took centuries of scientific effort—and a lot of luck—to discover and establish the diversity of dinosaur species we now know. How did we learn that Triceratops had three horns? Why don’t many paleontologists consider Brontosaurus a valid species? What convinced scientists that modern birds are relatives of ancient Velociraptor?In The Story of the Dinosaurs in 25 Discoveries, Donald R. Prothero tells the fascinating stories behind the most important fossil finds and the intrepid researchers who unearthed them. In twenty-five vivid vignettes, he weaves together dramatic tales of dinosaur discoveries with what modern science now knows about the species to which they belong. Prothero takes us from eighteenth-century sightings of colossal bones taken for biblical giants through recent discoveries of enormous predators even larger than Tyrannosaurus. He recounts the escapades of the larger-than-life personalities who made modern paleontology, including scientific rivalries like the nineteenth-century “Bone Wars.” Prothero also details how to draw the boundaries between species and explores debates such as whether dinosaurs had feathers, explaining the findings that settled them or keep them going. Throughout, he offers a clear and rigorous look at what paleontologists consider sound interpretation of evidence. An essential read for any dinosaur lover, this book teaches us to see an ancient world ruled by giant majestic creatures anew.

The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated Third Edition

Science & Nature

While everything appears to be collapsing around us – ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, the end of cheap oil, water shortages, global famine, wars – we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children’s children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary movie The Eleventh Hour and soon to be released HBO special Ice on Fire, Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture’s blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem. Thom Hartmann’s comprehensive book is one of the fundamental handbooks of the environmental activist movement. Now with fresh, updated material on our Earth’s rapid climate change and a focus on political activism and its effect on corporate behavior, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight helps us understand – and heal – our relationship to the world, to each other, and to our natural resources.

Anti-Corrosive Nanomaterials

Science & Nature

Corrosion is a great challenge in many industries, especially in the automotive, aerospace, and oil and gas industries, with conservative estimations accounting for losses of around 2.2 trillion US dollars per year in the United States alone. Providing a comprehensive overview of the history and development of nanomaterials, this book discusses various practices for protection against corrosion.Key Features:Provides a comprehensive and updated review of major innovations in the field of nanomaterials in industrial, corrosion, and environmental science and engineeringEncompasses design, characterization, mechanism, and application of nanomaterials from different strategies on the efficacy and major challenges associated with successful scaleup designing Essential reference for present and future research in nanomaterials Includes relevant aspects of organic and inorganic nanomaterials, hybrid nanomaterials, and nanocoatings in anticorrosion applications Coalescing a wide range of research on nanomaterials and anticorrosion practices, this book is of particular appeal to students, industry professionals, and academics.

The Systems Thinker – Analytical Skills

Science & Nature

Enhance your logic, reason, judgment, and wisdom. Increase your ability to create concise and reasoned arguments using data and evidence, to get a genuine conclusion.The Systems Thinker – Analytical Skills aims to raise the level of your mental performance by focusing on the fundamentals of how to use your mind effectively. This book will show you how to:•Increase your ability to analyze problems and to comprehend what you read, hear, experience in a logical manner.•Examine the logical structure of good and bad reasoning. •Look at what type of evidence are decisions commonly based on.•Detect common fallacies and rhetorical and psychological factors that can influence your thinking. The book presents the methods that good problem solvers use in understanding complex ideas. It provides practice in applying these methods to a variety of comprehension, analytical, and reasoning questions. It also includes a number of logical thinking problems to hone your logical thinking skills.Use these intellectual skills to analyze anything you might think about - questions, problems, disciplines.•The most widely used forms of analysis.•Guidance and practice to monitor your thoughts with the help of intellectual tools.•Learn to question purposes, problems, information, and concepts.•Interdisciplinary analytical tools to understand and assess your own reasoning, be it about a highly technical question or your everyday life. The Systems Thinker – Analytical Skills helps you to find the most fundamental logic of any discipline, problem, or thesis. Transfer your knowledge between and among subjects and fields of observation.•Learn four types of profound analysis.•Learn to read and create statistical charts.•Learn and correct the most frequent errors in reasoning.•Learn to complement your analytical thinking tools with synthetic, systemic, critical, and creative thinking tools.Good analytical thinking skills are deeply necessary if you are working in business, education, law, politics, and economics. Understanding the underlying structure of a problem can help you come up with the best solution. Adopt analytical thinking skills to make better decisions, assess situations more accurately, and persuade other people with more success to consider your point of view. This book serves as a springboard toward analytic proficiency.

Encyclopaedia Of Applied Spectroscopy

Science & Nature

Applied spectroscopy is the application of various spectroscopic methods for detection and identification of different elements/compounds in solving problems in the fields of forensics, medicine, oil industry, atmospheric chemistry, pharmacology, etc. A common spectroscopic method for analysis is Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, where chemical bonds can be detected through their characteristic infrared absorption frequencies or wavelengths. These absorption characteristics make infrared analyzers an invaluable tool in geoscience, environmental science, and atmospheric science. For instance, atmospheric gas monitoring has been facilitated by the development of commercially available gas analyzers which can distinguish between carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, oxygen, and nitric oxide. The text will benefit post graduate students at M.Sc., M.Phil. and research in chemistry, physics, biology and pharmacology.

International Language and Science

Science & Nature

The language barriers in science can cost a lot of time and money. It can ruin years of research, and all the efforts and finances put in use for it can go down the drain. With that and several other practical reasons in mind, the book's five authors from five different countries belonging to three distinct languages have attempted to explain the necessity of having an international auxiliary language for science. Contents include: The need for a common scientific language, by L. Pfaundler The Délégation pour l'adoption d'une langue auxiliaire internationale, by R. Lorenz Linguistic principles necessary for the construction of an international auxiliary language, with an appendix on the criticism of Esperanto, by O. Jespersen On the application of logic to the problem of an international language, by L. Couturat The relationship of the international language to science, by R. Lorenz The question of nomenclature, by W. Ostwald Conclusion; Reading, Writing, and Speaking, by L. Pfaundler

Précis de philosophie des sciences

Science & Nature

Pour en présenter les développements récents, il couvre aussi bien les questions relevant de la philosophie générale de l'activité scientifique (qu'est-ce qu'une explication scientifique ? l'unité des sciences est-elle un mythe ou un idéal ?...) que celles portant sur l'épistémologie des sciences particulières (de quoi les mathématiques sont-elles l'étude ? l'économie est-elle une science empirique comme les autres ?...).Ce précis constitue, pour les étudiants de Licence 3 et de Master en philosophie et en sciences, un support d'approfondissement de leurs cours mais aussi de préparation aux épreuves d'épistémologie des CAPES scientifiques. Il sera également utile aux doctorants et aux chercheurs confirmés qui souhaitent élargir ou actualiser leur savoir dans ce domaine.

The British Arboretum

Science & Nature

This study explores the science and culture of nineteenth-century British arboretums, or tree collections. The development of arboretums was fostered by a variety of factors, each of which is explored in detail: global trade and exploration, the popularity of collecting, the significance to the British economy and society, developments in Enlightenment science, changes in landscape gardening aesthetics and agricultural and horticultural improvement.Arboretums were idealized as microcosms of nature, miniature encapsulations of the globe and as living museums. This book critically examines different kinds of arboretum in order to understand the changing practical, scientific, aesthetic and pedagogical principles that underpinned their design, display and the way in which they were viewed. It is the first study of its kind and fills a gap in the literature on Victorian science and culture.

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