Copernicus Books – serie

Is death inevitable? Until now, the history of mankind has been marked by this fatal fact. Religions, borders and progress are born from an ancient fear of death, comfort from this fear man often found only in religious paradigms. But according to José Luis Cordeiro and David Wood, the incontrovertible fact of death is no longer an absolute certainty - science and technology are preparing to tear down the final frontier: that of immortality.This accessible book provides insight into recent exponential advances in artificial intelligence, tissue regeneration, stem cell treatment, organ printing, cryopreservation, and genetic therapies that, for the first time in human history, offer a realistic chance to solve the problem of the aging of the human body. In this book, Cordeiro and Wood not only present all the major developments, initiatives, and ideas for eternal life, they also show why there are a number of good arguments for seeing death for what it is: the last undefeated disease.Enter any drugstore or bookstore, and we confronted with a mountain of nonsense concerning the aging process. Society seems obsessed with aging. That is why The Death of Death is such a refreshing delight, able to cut through the hype and reveal a balanced, authoritative, and lucid discussion of this controversial topic. It summarizes the astonishing breakthroughs made recently in revealing how science may one day conquer the aging process.Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist and author of The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of EverythingWe are entering a Fantastic Voyage into life extension, crossing different bridges that will take us to indefinite life spans. The Death of Death explains clearly how we might soon reach longevity escape velocity and live long enough to live forever.Ray Kurzweil, co-author of Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever and co-founder of Singularity UniversityThe Death of Death is a truly revolutionary book. This is a visionary book that confronts us with the terrible reality of aging, and its authors are friends and connoisseurs of the subject. I believe that the authoritative and exhaustive description of this crusade that José and David make in this excellent book will accelerate this process. Forward!Aubrey de Grey, founder of LEV (Longevity Escape Velocity) Foundation and co-author of Ending Aging

This book offers an updated version of Garbology (Archaeology of Garbage), a subfield of archaeology that critically examines modern waste and consumerism. It weaves academic rigor with the author’s personal narratives and experiences in the field. The work contains facts and evidence from multiple communities and considers the author’s journey from being a politically marginalized professor in Iran to co-founding a garbology-centered startup in Sweden.This perspective offers a compelling narrative, accessible not just to scholars but to anyone seeking a new way to explore and discuss modern civilization's wicked problems. What distinguishes this work is its practical approach: it not only critiques consumer behaviors but also offers actionable solutions through an archaeological lens. With detailed case studies, the author positions garbology as a transformative tool for grassroots activism and social change. Ultimately, A New Garbology Manifesto serves as a powerful call to action, highlighting the deep connections between waste, socio-economic inequality, and environmental justice. It equips scholars, policymakers, and NGOs with practical strategies to tackle hyperconsumerism and climate challenges across both the Global South and North.

This Premium Edition of Ten Materials That Shaped Our World is part of a small audiobook pilot program at Springer Nature. It includes audio files accessible online via the Springer Nature MoreMedia App.This book examines ten materials—flint, clay, iron, gold, glass, cement, rubber, polyethylene, aluminum, and silicon—explaining how they formed, how we discovered them, why they have the properties they do, and how they have transformed our lives. Since the dawn of the Stone Age, we have shaped materials to meet our needs and, in turn, those materials have shaped us.The fracturing of flint created sharp, curved surfaces that gave our ancestors an evolutionary edge. Molding clay and then baking it in the sun produced a means of recording the written word and exemplified human artistic imagination. As our ability to control heat improved, earthenware became stoneware and eventually porcelain, the most prized ceramic of all. Iron cast at high temperatures formed the components needed for steam engines, locomotives, and power looms—the tools of the Industrial Revolution. Gold has captivated humans for thousands of years and has recently found important uses in biology, medicine, and nanotechnology. Glass shaped into early and imperfect lenses not only revealed the microscopic world of cells and crystals, but also allowed us to discover stars and planets beyond those visible with the naked eye. Silicon revolutionized the computer, propelling us into the Information Age and with it our interconnected social networks, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.Written by a materials scientist, this book explores not just why, but also how certain materials came to be so fundamental to human society. This enlightening study captivates anyone interested in learning more about the history of humankind, our ingenuity, and the materials that have shaped our world.

How does homebanking work? How are board games developed? How reliable can wind energy get? How do we discover forged paintings? Do smart girls stay single? How dangerous can a bioterrorist get? In all these questions (and many others), mathematics plays a crucial role in the search for an answer.​This book tells the story behind twenty of these questions. This is explicitly not a mathematics book, but a book about the crucial role that mathematics plays in devising the creative solutions the world needs. The questions are divided into three categories: mathematics in everyday life, mathematics for the workplace, and mathematics for tomorrow's society. The themes illustrate not only the incredibly broad applicability of mathematics in the world around us, but also the great diversity of useful mathematical techniques.

Alternative medicine (AM) is popular; about 40% of the US general population have used alternative treatment in the past year, and in Germany this figure is around 70%. The global market is expected to reach nearly US $ 200 billion by 2025, with most of these funds coming directly out of consumers’ pockets.Consumers are bombarded with misleading and false information on AM and therefore prone to making wrong, unwise, or dangerous therapeutic decisions, endangering their health and wasting their money.This book is a reference text aimed at guiding consumers through the maze of AM. This second edition includes over 50 additional treatments as well as updates on many others.

AI, Big Data and other 4th Industrial Revolution technologies are poised to wreak havoc in virtually every industry, unlocking huge productivity gains via automation of labor both manual and cognitive. Less discussed are the impacts on workers, who see the value of their skills erode, along with the menace of mass structural unemployment. How can workers assess their vulnerabilities? What can they do to improve their prospects, effective immediately? In this book, you will learn how to:-        Survey new tech and decrypt their potential impacts on work -        Assess your strengths and weaknesses in the face of AI, the shared economy, and other tech-propelled threats-        Foment a battle plan to survive and thrive Ashley Recanati provides guidance for employees to rise above their peers and preserve their value, in a book that will interest managers and scholars, but foremost destined to ordinary workers.

Rainbows have been a source of fascination since time immemorial. They have been the subject of myth and superstition, an inspiration to poets, a challenge to painters, the object of intense scientific interest and a touchstone for ideas about the nature of light and colour. Above all, the rainbow has been the embodiment of wonder from the earliest times to the present day.Beginning with the circumstances in which you are likely to see a rainbow and descriptions of its salient features, this book recounts and explains the myths and superstitions about rainbows, and describes how poets, painters and, above all, leading scientists in every age have sought to discover and understand the rainbow’s secrets.Readers with a love of nature and art and an interest in the history of science will enjoy this attractive and informative book.

Reducing the amount of meat in our diet would have major environmental benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss.  Moreover, it would have wide-ranging ethical benefits by decreasing the huge number of livestock animals confined and killed each year for food. For consumers, there may also be health benefits from a meat-less diet, provided it was carefully planned. Advances in modern science and technology, including plant-based, microbial, lab-grown, and insect meats, are revolutionizing the food industry and making it easier for consumers worldwide to maintain a meat-less diet.In Meat Less: The Next Food Revolution I outline my own journey as a food scientist who became a vegetarian in solidarity with my daughter. In writing this book I take the viewpoint that there are no easy answers and that everyone must make the decision to eat meat or not based on their own values. The first chapters examine the impact of meat consumption on the environment, human health, and animal welfare, including the important questions of how much does eating meat really contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and biodiversity loss, what are the ethical implications of raising and killing animals for food, and the impact of reducing meat consumption on human nutrition and health. I then discuss some of the new technologies that are being developed to create alternatives to meat, including plant-based meat, cultured (lab-grown) meat, microbial meat, and insect meat.  I present the science behind these new technologies and their potential for making a difference to climate change and human health. In the final chapter, I discuss why I remain a vegetarian and have decided to dedicate the rest of my scientific career to finding sustainable and healthy alternatives to meat, presenting my vision of the human diet in 2050.

This book realistically describes the experiences of people living with schizophrenia and their families, from the detection of the first symptoms until the development of treatments and strategies to cope with this unique human condition. Schizophrenia is a form of psychosis in which subjective aspects, such as hallucinatory and delusional phenomena, tend to distort the understanding of reality. Because psychotic states fluctuate in intensity over time, those affected literally live between reason and illusion. Between Reason and Illusion: Demystifying Schizophrenia is an invitation to understand what it means to develop schizophrenia and to live with it throughout one's life. And this is an invitation to all those who are in some way affected by this condition: those who live with it, family members, friends, health professionals, and everyone who want to have a non-stigmatized view of mental disorders and people who live with them.   “Faced with psychosis, the person affected by the disease and the family are lost and go looking for alternative or spiritual help, which usually delays the beginning of treatment. Jorge, Cecília and Rodrigo had the courage to face a difficult theme and the happy idea of writing a book of an educational nature about schizophrenia. The book's originality lies in the fact that it was written taking into account the experience of the person with the disease and his or her family members in the face of this something new that has occurred in their lives”. - Dr. Itiro Shirakawa, Professor Emeritus of the Paulista Medical School of the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP/EPM), Brazil.

Do you know why honey drips whereas ketchup refuses to budge in the bottle? Or what kettles have in common with power stations, or how to cook with radar?This delightful and accessible book provides a smorgasbord and a whirlwind tour of the multitude of physical phenomena that occur in a kitchen: from the diffusion of nutrients during cooking to how an extractor fan works, how smells disperse, and where quantum effects are hidden. These and numerous other fascinating phenomena are served up in an engaging manner that will fascinate and tantalise the taste buds of anyone who enjoys eating, cooking or simply spending time in the kitchen. No specialist technical or mathematical knowledge is required to enjoy this book. Tuck right in and discover the universe of physical laws in your very own kitchen...

Do you know why honey drips whereas ketchup refuses to budge in the bottle? Or what kettles have in common with power stations, or how to cook with radar?This delightful and accessible book provides a smorgasbord and a whirlwind tour of the multitude of physical phenomena that occur in a kitchen: from the diffusion of nutrients during cooking to how an extractor fan works, how smells disperse, and where quantum effects are hidden. These and numerous other fascinating phenomena are served up in an engaging manner that will fascinate and tantalise the taste buds of anyone who enjoys eating, cooking or simply spending time in the kitchen. No specialist technical or mathematical knowledge is required to enjoy this book. Tuck right in and discover the universe of physical laws in your very own kitchen...

Was it necessary for a 17th century painter to know principles of optics to hide a skull in one of his masterpieces? Is it possible the violent deaths of Roman emperors obey a statistical law? Are there connections between market trends and geometry? How did Islamic artists draw almost perfectly regular nine-sided polygons, when these cannot be traced with the use of compasses? Dirk Huylebrouk asks these and other exciting questions in this collection of essays, originally written for the science magazine EOS, a Dutch equivalent of Scientific American, distributed in Belgium and in The Netherlands. Every chapter can be read independently, as some subjects are repeated, and not strictly interconnected. Such is the case for instance of the golden section, an often-recurring topic in general mathematics. The reader will appreciate the original point of view expressed through each chapter, which makes this book stand out against the general information one can find by browsing the generalmedia. The subtly provocative character of some parts is meant to stimulate the reader for further exploration. The book's title itself may already generate surprise. Sure, to many, mathematics seems to come from hell, but the darkness in the title in fact refers to the lugubrious stories about math and skulls, murders or World War II. There is also a more down-to-earth part about math and maps, money, Facebook, folding paper, shapes in ice and the most earthly yet unsolved math problems. ‘Bright mathematics’ alludes to Vedic, Islam, New Age, a meta-divine section, and is concluded by an interview with a top mathematician who also wrote about the existence of God.

This book provides for the first time an insider’s view into ITER, the biggest fusion reactor in the world, which is currently being constructed in southern France. Now in its second edition, it updates readers on all developments at ITER and those at competing fusion initiatives worldwide, at the National Ignition Facility (US), the Joint European Torus (EU) and the tens of start-ups funded by private ventures. The author also shares his personal experience with this unique big science project.Aimed at bringing the “energy of the stars” to earth, ITER is funded by the major economic powers (China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the USA). Often presented as a “nuclear but green” energy source, fusion could play an important role in the future electricity supply. But as delays accumulate and budgets continue to grow, ITER is currently a star partially obscured by clouds. Will ITER save humanity by providing a clean,safe and limitless source of energy, or is it merely a political showcase of cutting-edge technology? Is ITER merely an ambitious research project and partly a PR initiative driven by some politically connected scientists? In any case, ITER has already helped spur on rival projects in the USA, Canada and the UK. This book offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at this controversial project, which France snatched from Japan, and introduces them to a world of superlatives: with the largest magnets in the world, the biggest cryogenic plant and tremendous computing power, ITER is one of the most fascinating, and most international, scientific and technological endeavours of our time.

Written by a recognized expert in the field, this accessible book acquaints the lay reader with the main features of hormonal diseases, their diagnosis and treatment. From gigantism and dwarfism to polycystic ovary syndrome, overactive thyroid and many more; it also explains what specialists in endocrinology do - and why - when diagnosing and treating patients.Each chapter gives a short introduction to the relevant hormonal disease, with information about the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment presented in an easily comprehensible question and answer format. Simple but accurate diagrams are used to visualize the information. The book clarifies important issues and helps patients to make informed decisions. Last but not least, it includes some current hot topics in endocrine practice as well as fascinating historical facts. It is a must-read for everyone interested in the fascinating world of hormones and their disorders.

Life in the Age of Insulin offers a straightforward and jargon-free narrative account of how insulin was discovered, what it does, why people still struggle to obtain it, and what the future might hold. It tells of the creative power that emerges when many people work towards a common goal, and of collective strength founded upon the limitations of individuals. It envisages a future of competitive insulin pricing and revolutionary therapies, kindling hope for health equity.With over 70 million insulin users world-wide, this book bridges the gap for patients and families. It will appeal to health professionals, to those intrigued by science, and to anyone who likes a good story.Life in the Age of Insulin is an empathetic and enlightening saga of science, society and human resilience.

Life in the Age of Insulin offers a straightforward and jargon-free narrative account of how insulin was discovered, what it does, why people still struggle to obtain it, and what the future might hold. It tells of the creative power that emerges when many people work towards a common goal, and of collective strength founded upon the limitations of individuals. It envisages a future of competitive insulin pricing and revolutionary therapies, kindling hope for health equity.With over 70 million insulin users world-wide, this book bridges the gap for patients and families. It will appeal to health professionals, to those intrigued by science, and to anyone who likes a good story.Life in the Age of Insulin is an empathetic and enlightening saga of science, society and human resilience.

This book provides up-to-date guidance on how to recognize and reduce trauma-based dissociation. Through a therapist-guided approach, readers will increase their awareness of their own experiences of dissociation and develop strategies for reducing these responses, with an overall goal of feeling more connected within themselves and with others. Trauma-based dissociation usually first occurs during a very threatening situation from which there is no physical escape. The dissociative response happens automatically for protection outside of awareness, so the person doesn’t realize what they were doing. This protective response can happen again when other concerning situations occur, and eventually develop into an automatic response to perceived threats.  Disconnecting to Survive:  Understanding and Recovering from Trauma-based Dissociation is a guide for individuals who experience dissociation or wonder if they do, and for their family, friends, and professionals who want to help them. Several unique features of this book make it valuable as a therapeutic experience for trauma survivors as well as a useful resource for professionals. "Check-ins” throughout the book provide an in-the-moment experience of self-monitoring and pacing while reading. Frequent case examples enhance understanding of the ideas described and validate the experiences of readers who have persevered through traumatic life situations. A section at the end of each chapter provides opportunity to explore how the concepts apply to the reader. Readers also will learn about a three-phase model for determining their present needs and their readiness for different interventions based on their phase of trauma recovery. In addition to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, other types of interpersonal trauma are delineated, including race-based trauma, religious trauma, medical trauma, emotional neglect, military-related trauma, and mistreatment dueto sexual orientation. In addition, a chapter is devoted to each of the important topics of dissociation in children and the relationship between trauma, dissociation, and psychosis.

This book provides up-to-date guidance on how to recognize and reduce trauma-based dissociation. Through a therapist-guided approach, readers will increase their awareness of their own experiences of dissociation and develop strategies for reducing these responses, with an overall goal of feeling more connected within themselves and with others. Trauma-based dissociation usually first occurs during a very threatening situation from which there is no physical escape. The dissociative response happens automatically for protection outside of awareness, so the person doesn’t realize what they were doing. This protective response can happen again when other concerning situations occur, and eventually develop into an automatic response to perceived threats.  Disconnecting to Survive:  Understanding and Recovering from Trauma-based Dissociation is a guide for individuals who experience dissociation or wonder if they do, and for their family, friends, and professionals who want to help them. Several unique features of this book make it valuable as a therapeutic experience for trauma survivors as well as a useful resource for professionals. "Check-ins” throughout the book provide an in-the-moment experience of self-monitoring and pacing while reading. Frequent case examples enhance understanding of the ideas described and validate the experiences of readers who have persevered through traumatic life situations. A section at the end of each chapter provides opportunity to explore how the concepts apply to the reader. Readers also will learn about a three-phase model for determining their present needs and their readiness for different interventions based on their phase of trauma recovery. In addition to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, other types of interpersonal trauma are delineated, including race-based trauma, religious trauma, medical trauma, emotional neglect, military-related trauma, and mistreatment dueto sexual orientation. In addition, a chapter is devoted to each of the important topics of dissociation in children and the relationship between trauma, dissociation, and psychosis.

This book describes and explains the world of particle accelerators and the physics they study. The presentation is non-technical (E=mc2 is the only equation!) and the prose accessible. By following the co-evolution of particle accelerators and particle physics, readers will learn why the accelerators are built, how they work, and what "results" they produce. The book highlights the great ideas (e.g. synchrotron) and technological advances (superconducting magnets) that boosted the potential of accelerators and led to new discoveries, eventually resulting in the standard model of particle physics. Many concepts are illustrated with figures derived from three-dimensional models; these include theaccelerators, detectors, and particles. Background information about the main protagonists, along with pointers to further reading, e.g. from "Scientific American," are provided in endnotes.

Why do you lean in a bend? Why does a sprinter slow down before the finish line? Why do golf balls have dimples? Why do you swim better slightly underwater? Why, on a bike, the faster you go, the more stable you are? Why shouldn’t you rely on doping tests too much? Is there a law of evolution of records?These are some of the 40 questions that Amandine Aftalion answers in this book using simple physics and mathematics, and some humor. Not only will it allow you to improve yourself in sports, but it will also but it will also give way to understanding how champions do.An easy book to read and the must to have if you are a sports addict or if you watch sports on TV and ask yourself “why?”.Amandine Aftalion is a French mathematician. She is a CNRS senior scientist and graduated from École normale supérieure in Paris. She has given talks all over the world, as a specialist of models coming from low temperature physics. She has written a book on vortices in Bose–Einstein condensates. More recently, she has used energy minimization to study an optimal control problem coming from human energy: optimizing running. She has written papers on sports aimed at coaches. Part of her latest results have inspired the first chapter of this book.She is the producer and director of a French YouTube channel for the popularization of mathematics, Videodimath, elected as one of the 5 best French YouTube channels for popular mathematics.

This book is for patients with thyroid diseases and anyone interested in the thyroid, including carers of thyroid patients, members of the lay public and healthcare workers who deal with thyroid patients. The intention is to provide the means by which good quality information about the thyroid gland and its diseases can be found, accessed, weighed and judged for scientific merit. The book can be read like a story, but can also serve readers as a reference manual when looking for information on a thyroid-related topic. Thyroid diseases affect 10% of the population. People with thyroid problems, their family, carers and health professionals often seek information. The available sources are disappointing and misleading. There is an unmet need and a desire by patients, the lay public, students and early career healthcare workers to learn how to access and appraise the evidence, which is rarely fulfilled by existing resources. The book consists of two parts. Part One contains six chapters. The first Chapter (“Obstacles to seeking the truth”) discusses the common hurdles that can come between us and the knowledge we seek. Chapter Two (“Thyroid basics”) is an overview of the structure and function of the thyroid gland and the common diseases that affect it, narrated through the convoluted history of discoveries relating to the thyroid. In Chapter Three (“What is the evidence”) evidence-based medicine is discussed, how different medical publications are classified, the processes involved in publishing medical papers and how they are structured. This is relevant and important in understanding the selection process in play that a piece of academic work is subjected to before it reaches its readers, how it varies and how it may correlate with the quality of the end product. Chapter Four (‘Mining the truth’) is about conducting searches. It identifies appropriate search engines and gives tips on how to stay on course. Chapter Five (“Appraising the evidence”) outlines how to judge the quality of published papers based on checklists. Chapter Six (“Interpreting the evidence”) will help extract the meaning of a piece of research. Part Two (“What is the optimal range?”) is an example of a common question asked by patients with hypothyroidism (the commonest thyroid condition). It will reveal a truth that should be making headlines and attracting the attention of patient advocates, thyroid specialists, their professional organisations and the public at large. Yet all relevant parties seem to choose to ignore it and channel their energies in other directions. It is an example of good science yielding valuable knowledge, which is undermined and made worthless by poor implementation. Herein lies the most important message of this book: seeking truth and getting close to it is not enough, how it is used to change the lives of patients is what really matters. Relevant references are included at the end of each chapter to indicate the sources in case the reader wishes to access them.

This book is about how statistics play a role in life, whether in business, psychology, biology, economics, or just about anything short of basket weaving. You cannot make a trip to the doctor, watch a football game, or even go to the grocery store without some statistic staring you down. Your age, weight, and cholesterol make you a high risk for diabetes … the chance that your team will win the game is 12.5 percent … 4 out of 5 dentists like this toothpaste. What does it all mean? Adventures in Statistics: How We Live in a World of Numbers tells you what all those numbers mean. But the book does not spit out a bunch of mathematical formulas; the book tells stories. Stories that explain statistics through popular culture, sports, and history.You’re confused about that false positive warning in that drug commercial, the 2007 comedy Juno explains how medical tests – including pregnancy tests – fail and why. Not clear about what your coworkers are talking about when they say, ‘black swans.’ the 1997 blockbuster Titanic makes sense of the concept.Adventures in Statistics: How We Live in a World of Numbers shows how professionals in medicine, business, politics, sports, and many other fields use numbers. So, just about everyone would gain from reading this book, perhaps even basket weavers.

A theoretical physicist returns by train from a conference, his eyes fixed on a paper on quantum cosmology. Suddenly, a little girl's voice interrupts his musings. "What are you reading?" "It's the story of the universe." "If it tells the whole story of the universe, does it say anything about me?" Starting from this question, this book explores our current understanding of the Big Bang, the primordial event that gave rise to the special mixture of space, time, and matter that we call the universe. It is a journey through cosmic history, pushing the limits of human knowledge, winding its way through general relativity, curved spaces, quantum mechanics and the multiverse. Giudice succeeds in uniting science and the history of thought, tracing the debate that animated the physics community, when faced with the hypothesis and then the confirmation of the Big Bang. This book recounts the great discoveries in cosmology and leads us to the frontiers of current scientific research. It is a fascinating and thought-provoking parable that addresses complex concepts with the fluidity of storytelling and allows us to better understand the universe around us.“A fascinating, enchanting narrative. A fairy tale that tells a true story spanning 13.8 billion years. Exciting from the first to the last page.”Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director General“In this beautiful book, of exemplary clarity, Giudice guides us by the hand through the history and mysteries of the Big Bang.”Giorgio Parisi, 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics

This is the first book explaining the current development of an artificial womb which in future will be able to save lives of extremely premature infants.The author, Prof. Guid Oei, from a technical university with a clinical background in obstetrics and infertility, is the leader of an international consortium of researchers working on the development of an artificial placenta.This book covers the definition, history, and ethical considerations surrounding artificial wombs. The book also delves into the different components of the artificial uterus, including the artificial amnion and placenta. The last three chapters discuss the challenges that need to be addressed before this technology can become a reality and its potential future applications.This book is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in learning more about artificial wombs. It's written in clear, accessible language that is easy to understand, even if you don't have a background in science or medicine. So, whether you're a curious layperson or a scientist looking to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the field, this book has something for you.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming multiple aspects of human life, raising fundamental questions: Is AI truly intelligent? Nations leading AI development gain strategic advantages, but without careful regulation, AI could fuel inequality, surveillance, and manipulation.

This book demystifies the intricate science behind the colors that surround us every day, making it accessible to readers of all backgrounds, from the crackling warmth of campfires to the iridescent glow of butterfly wings. Have you ever wondered why the sky appears blue, or why leaves turn golden in the fall? How do our eyes perceive color, and why do some creatures see the world in hues we can only imagine? Delve into the captivating world of color with this informative and engaging book as your guide. A rich assortment of colorful figures and photographs accompanies you on a journey from the tranquil depths of the ocean to the shimmering neon lights of the urban cityscape. You'll learn how things like fluorescence, refraction, and interference allow artists to manipulate color to evoke emotion, and how scientists harness it to revolutionize technology. How does the color of fireflies inspire cutting-edge display devices, and what can the mantis shrimp teach us about the evolution of color vision? Prepare to be dazzled as you embark on a journey through the spectrum of discovery.Are you ready to see the world in a new light?

This book explores how two million years of natural selection left us with a strong tendency to bestow purposeful intention to the natural world—forming a robust cognitive basis for religious belief across human cultures. This cognitive legacy forms the foundation of much of how we interpret the world around us today, and understanding the reasons why and how it evolved can shed light on the peculiar relationships we sometimes form with the many complex social institutions of our time, including one of the most dominant and ubiquitous ones, the nation-state.To explore how our tendencies for religious belief interact with the complex social institutions we currently live under, we go on a journey from the start of the Pleistocene era to domestication, from ancient states to colonialism, and from the industrial revolution to the birth of modern nations, all while tracking the various biological, cognitive, and social elements that explain why today we interpret the nation-state (and other modern social institutions) in very similar ways to how we understood deities of the ancient past. Understanding why and how this happens requires reconstructing how evolution shaped our cognition, how complex social organizations arose after domestication, how they act as external forces to ourselves, and how they grew into distinct and cohesive social entities that our cognition interprets as purposeful players with agency and intent.This book continues the long-held tradition in the social sciences of making this type of interdisciplinary synthesis accessible to the general public, and for that reason, it minimizes discipline-specific jargon and describes experiments and results rather than relying on cited works.

Can science understand literally everything? Can every mystery of nature eventually be explained given enough research attention and generous funding? Will our knowledge, supplemented by the power of AI, keep growing without bounds? Can truth be found in every raging academic debate?Much of the development of modern mathematics has been shaped -- consciously or not -- by trying to answer these questions.  This book is meant to be an accessible and, hopefully, amusing exploration of the basic and fundamental mathematical principles that limit what can be known and understood. These principles demarcate the boundary fence of science which neither a human nor an artificial mind can see beyond.