Soccer is the most mathematical of sports--riddled with numbers, patterns, and shapes. How to make sense of them? The answer lies in mathematical modeling, a science with applications in a host of bio
The story of what's happened to the air we breathe, the impact it has had on our health and what we can do to fight back.Clearing the Air tells the full story of what's happened to the air we breathe.
Racing Green is the story of how motorsport science has become smarter and more environmentally friendly, and how these developments on the track are changing the world.Motor racing is one of the world’s most watched sports. In the United States alone, NASCAR has over 75 million fans. Motor racing is also the most scientifically demanding sport, requiring a combination of peak physical and mental skill, world-class mechanical know-how and technological innovation.Racing Green explores the science that has been translated from racing to the road. The history of motor racing, both its glories and its tragedies, led to some of the most important modern developments we see in car design today. Just as the heartbreaking death of Dale Earnhardt at the Daytona 500 led NASCAR to introduce a new raceway barrier method, ideas pioneered during races―from ABS brakes to crash helmets―have been incorporated into race car and track designs around the world.Through exclusive interviews with NASCAR’s R
Pigs unite and divide people, but why? Pig/Pork explores the love-hate relationship between humans and pigs through the lenses of archaeology, biology, history, and gastronomy, providing a close and a
The idea of the seductive sex robot is the stuff of myth, legend and science fiction. From the ancient Greeks to twenty-first century movies, robots in human form have captured our imagination, our ho
An in-depth look at how elements are discovered, why they matter and where they will take us. The science of element discovery is a truly fascinating field, and is constantly rewriting the laws of che
Millie Kerr takes readers on a global journey from Gabon to Argentina that redefines our relationship to the wild.Rewilding is a relatively new approach to wildlife conservation that, while in its infancy, has incredible potential. It offers a spectrum of conservation options; at one end is the “passive” approach, focusing on ecological restoration―simply leaving land to recover naturally. At the other end of the spectrum is what might be termed “active” rewilding, where keystone species are reintroduced to quicken the process of recovery. Rewilding is a multidimensional process, and we are still watching the early stages of its evolution.Wilder makes a closer look at the practicalities, emphasizing proactive efforts by passionate conservationists, usually involving the reintroduction of lost species to areas where they’ve gone locally extinct; active rewilding often involves high stakes, from large mammal translocations to ambitious wildlife corridors through densely populated areas.H
Science is secretly at work behind the scenes of major cities of the world and will continue to be so. Technological advances in fields as diverse as quantum mechanics, electronics, and nanotechnology
Inside the beautiful, mesmerizing, and complex world of fish.There's something about fish that leaves a cold, slimy whiff in many people's minds. Either that, or fish are simply “food”; catching fish
This is the story of Leah Garcés’s fight for better conditions for the animals we eat, as she works with farmers, suppliers, and restaurant chains to end factory farming for good.
The complex and fascinating story of the Neanderthals, this book showcases the culture, ecology and biology of these people, areas of research that have seen astonishing recent advances.Kindred is the definitive guide to the Neanderthals. Since their discovery more than 160 years ago, Neanderthals have metamorphosed from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins. Rebecca Wragg Sykes uses her experience at the cutting-edge of Paleolithic research to share our new understanding of Neanderthals, shoving aside clichés of rag-clad brutes in an icy wasteland. She reveals them to be curious, clever connoisseurs of their world, technologically inventive and ecologically adaptable. Above all, they were successful survivors for more than 300,000 years, during times of massive climatic upheaval.Much of what defines us was also in Neanderthals, and their DNA is still inside us. Planning, co-operation, altruism, craftsmanship, aesthetic sense, imagination, perhaps even a desire for tra
What makes a mammal a mammal? The answer is more complicated than you think!I, Mammal is a history of mammals and their ancestors and of how science came to grasp mammalian evolution. After a misdirec
A list of the attributes that define a mammal is a ragbag of things--fur, live birth, three bones in the middle ear, a brain whose two halves are robustly joined together . . . But this curious collec
NASA's history is a familiar story, culminating with the agency successfully landing men on the moon in 1969, but its prehistory is an important and rarely told tale. America's space agency drew toget
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Red Planet, revealed in an up-close and personal tour of Mars.Mars is ingrained in our culture, from H. G. Wells's 1898 novel The War of the Worlds to Loon
Twenty years ago, the search for planets--and life--outside the solar system was a job restricted to science fiction writers. It is now one of the most rapidly growing fields in astronomy, with thousands of these "exoplanets" discovered so far. The detection of these worlds has only been possible in the last decade, with the number of discoveries increasing enormously over the last year following the findings of the Kepler Space Telescope.These new worlds are more alien than anything in fiction. Planets larger than Jupiter with years lasting one week, planets circling the dead remains of stars, others with two suns lighting their skies or with no sun at all. These locations hint at Earth-sized worlds but with split hemispheres of perpetual day and night, waterworlds drowning under global oceans, and volcanic lava planets spewing seas of magma. The Planet Factory tells the story of exoplanets, planets orbiting stars outside of our solar system. Discover the specks of dust that circle a
