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The Weight of the Vacuum
by Helge S. Kragh James M. OverduinThe 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the discovery of cosmic acceleration due to dark energy, a discovery that is all the more perplexing as nobody knows what dark energy actually is. We put the modern concept of cosmological vacuum energy into historical context and show how it grew out of disparate roots in quantum mechanics (zero-point energy) and relativity theory (the cosmological constant, Einstein's "greatest blunder"). These two influences have remained strangely aloof and still co-exist in an uneasy alliance that is at the heart of the greatest crisis in theoretical physics, the cosmological-constant problem.
The Weil Conjectures: On Math and the Pursuit of the Unknown
by Karen OlssonA New York Times Editors' Pick and Paris Review Staff Pick"A wonderful book." --Patti Smith"I was riveted. Olsson is evocative on curiosity as an appetite of the mind, on the pleasure of glutting oneself on knowledge." --Parul Sehgal, The New York TimesAn eloquent blend of memoir and biography exploring the Weil siblings, math, and creative inspirationKaren Olsson’s stirring and unusual third book, The Weil Conjectures, tells the story of the brilliant Weil siblings—Simone, a philosopher, mystic, and social activist, and André, an influential mathematician—while also recalling the years Olsson spent studying math. As she delves into the lives of these two singular French thinkers, she grapples with their intellectual obsessions and rekindles one of her own. For Olsson, as a math major in college and a writer now, it’s the odd detours that lead to discovery, to moments of insight. Thus The Weil Conjectures—an elegant blend of biography and memoir and a meditation on the creative life.Personal, revealing, and approachable, The Weil Conjectures eloquently explores math as it relates to intellectual history, and shows how sometimes the most inexplicable pursuits turn out to be the most rewarding.
The Weird and Wonderful World of Bats: Demystifying These Often-Misunderstood Creatures
by Alyson BrokawIn this fascinating science book, a behavioral and bat ecologist reintroduces readers to bats, redeeming their historically bad reputation. These woefully misunderstood creatures dwell in darkness, inspire fear, and threaten danger. They&’ve been viewed as the pawns of evil deities and taken the undeserved blame for the spread of deadly viruses. The Weird and Wonderful World of Bats provides a fresh introduction to these curious flying mammals, explaining how they experience the world through unique senses, where and how they fly, the origins of their complex relationships with humans, and how we can learn from them—not only to coexist, but potentially grow healthier and wiser together. Over 180 personality-filled photographs showcase the rich diversity of bats from all over the world.
The Weirdness of the World
by Eric SchwitzgebelHow all philosophical explanations of human consciousness and the fundamental structure of the cosmos are bizarre—and why that&’s a good thingDo we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing? Is consciousness a purely physical matter, or might it require something extra, something nonphysical? According to the philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel, it&’s hard to say. In The Weirdness of the World, Schwitzgebel argues that the answers to these fundamental questions lie beyond our powers of comprehension. We can be certain only that the truth—whatever it is—is weird. Philosophy, he proposes, can aim to open—to reveal possibilities we had not previously appreciated—or to close, to narrow down to the one correct theory of the phenomenon in question. Schwitzgebel argues for a philosophy that opens.According to Schwitzgebel&’s &“Universal Bizarreness&” thesis, every possible theory of the relation of mind and cosmos defies common sense. According to his complementary &“Universal Dubiety&” thesis, no general theory of the relationship between mind and cosmos compels rational belief. Might the United States be a conscious organism—a conscious group mind with approximately the intelligence of a rabbit? Might virtually every action we perform cause virtually every possible type of future event, echoing down through the infinite future of an infinite universe? What, if anything, is it like to be a garden snail? Schwitzgebel makes a persuasive case for the thrill of considering the most bizarre philosophical possibilities.
The Welfare of Animals in Animal-Assisted Interventions: Foundations and Best Practice Methods
by Aubrey H. Fine Jose M. PeraltaThis is the first book focusing on the animal’s perspective and best practices to ensure the welfare of both therapy animals and their human counterparts in animal-assisted interventions. Written by leading scientists, it summarizes the scientific evidence available concerning the impacts on animals in these settings, including companion species, horses, marine mammals and other animals used in therapy.There has been a dramatic increase in the range of animal-assisted interventions used in medical and allied health environments in recent years, and the field is now entering an era with a greater interest in defining the underlying mechanisms of the human-animal bond as well as the therapeutic benefits of these interactions. Animal-assisted interventions, as with other uses of animals by humans, impose a unique set of stresses on the animals, which the community has only recently begun to acknowledge. For the field to continue to flourish, more evidence is needed to shed light on the implications for the animals and what guidelines need to be put into practice to ensure welfare.With the ultimate goal of improving the impact that we have on the animals under our care, the book provides a roadmap for researchers and clinicians as they attempt to safely and humanely incorporate various species of animals into therapeutic settings. The authors also offer instructions and suggestions for areas that need to be studied more robustly over the next decade to continue to ensure the safe and proper use of animals in therapy sessions.This is an informative, thought-provoking and instructive resource for practitioners and researchers in the field of medicine and clinical psychology using animal-assisted interventions, as well as for veterinarians and welfare scientists.
The Welfare of Cattle
by Bernard E. Rollin Terry Engle Donald J. Klingborg, DVMContains a selection of White Papers, commissioned to better inform the exploration of cattle welfare. These are prepared by notable experts in their field, to help provide factual context around selected topics that impact cattle welfare and production systems. Covers all aspects of cattle use in an accessible style, making this a must have volume for anyone interested in cattle welfare or cattle medicine. Provides an in-depth picture of the distinctive beef and dairy cattle welfare practices and issues, covering topics such as behavior, breeding and genetic manipulation, nutrition and feeding, housing and management, health and disease, and transport and slaughter. Written by acknowledged leaders in animal science, veterinary science, philosophy and animal welfare, presenting a truly multidisciplinary perspective on cattle welfare. Includes a section on understanding and managing animal welfare in both beef and dairy cattle, discussing how cattle perceive the world, animal handling and pain mitigation, and how to assure that the cows have a reasonably good life. The Welfare of Cattle offers an accurate, detailed account of the ethical and welfare concerns related to the human use of cattle. There is currently no significant book dealing with the welfare of cows, animals often seen as archetypal paradigms of 'farm animals'. Covering both beef and dairy cattle, the expert authors provide in-depth information on the husbandry roots of traditional agriculture, the replacement of this system of stewardship by an industrial model, and the resulting welfare challenges associated with industrial agriculture: feedlots, highly industrialized dairies, and slaughterhouses killing huge numbers of animals who have been transported great distances. This important book explores in detail the ways in which people who are providing care for cattle can take their first step, or their next step, toward enhancing the welfare of these animals. An extra chapter (online only) is available in the 'Downloads' tab on the left: Dairy Nutrition, by Michael Gamroth
The Welfare of Domestic Fowl and Other Captive Birds
by Ian J. Duncan Penny HawkinsThis book describes the welfare implications of keeping wild and domesticated birds in captivity. The environmental and social requirements of various avian species are discussed and suggestions made for appropriate housing and management techniques. Particular attention is paid to human-bird interactions and their impact on the behaviour and welfare of the birds involved. Training methods for companion birds are also described. Possible future trends in keeping birds in captivity are discussed in relation to evolving laws and codes for both wild and domesticated birds and in the light of developing ethical attitudes to animals. The book will be invaluable to all those who keep birds including poultry farmers, pet owners, and managers and caretakers of birds kept in laboratories, zoos, wildlife aviaries, and rehabilitation centres. It will also be of great interest to poultry production, zoology, wildlife and veterinary students.
The Welfare of Farmed Ratites
by Irek Malecki Christine Lunam Phil GlatzThis volume reviews, for the first time, the broad range of issues that affect the welfare of commercially farmed ratites. Although ratites incorporate several families of flightless birds this book focuses on the most commonly farmed ratites, the ostrich, emu and rhea. The readers are taken on a journey through all sectors of the industry, which include breeding, incubation, hatching, brooding, rearing, growth, transport and processing, with an emphasis on husbandry and management protocols that can impact bird welfare and health. Also discussed is the structure and sensory innervation of the skin and digits of the birds, and the potential welfare implications of industry practices on these structures. Each chapter in this volume focuses on a particular aspect of the commercial farming of ratites with contributing authors from a broad range of disciplines.
The Welfare of Fish (Animal Welfare #20)
by Tore S. Kristiansen Anders Fernö Michail A. Pavlidis Hans van de VisThis book investigates how fish experience their lives, their amazing senses and abilities, and how human actions impact their quality of life. The authors examine the concept of fish welfare and the scientific knowledge behind the inclusion of fish within the moral circle, and how this knowledge can change the way we treat fish in the future. In many countries fish are already protected by animal welfare legislation in the same way as mammals, but in practice there is still a major gap between how we ethically view these groups and how we actually treat them. The poor treatment of fish represents a massive animal welfare problem in aquaculture and fisheries, both in terms of the number of animals affected and the severity of the welfare issues. Thanks to its interdisciplinary scope, this thought-provoking book appeals to professionals, academics and students in the fields of animal welfare, cognition and physiology, as well as fisheries and aquaculture management.
The Welfare of Goats (Animal Welfare #25)
by Silvana Mattiello Monica BattiniThis book focuses exclusively on the welfare of goats, which have peculiar behavioral characteristics and needs, and distinct individual personalities. Despite the many differences between goats and sheep, welfare and health issues of small ruminants have often been addressed together. Goats are extremely adaptable, now widespread and farmed all over the world. Usually bred for economic purposes (milk, meat and/or fibre), goats are also occasionally kept as pet animals, in educational farms, in zoos or for animal-assisted therapy. This wide range of conditions may elicit different challenges for their welfare. Readers of this volume are introduced to the goat species, starting from its origin and domestication process, and presentation of its natural behaviour and characteristics, including recent data on goats’ ability to communicate, cognition capabilities and personality. Knowledge of these features is indispensable to allow a welfare-friendly approach to goat management. The authors then address all relevant aspects of goat welfare, covering issues related to housing, feeding, painful procedures and end-of-life management, with special emphasis on welfare challenges in adverse environments. An additional chapter is dedicated to the main health problems that can jeopardize goats’ welfare. Finally, this volume highlights the latest research to on-farm welfare assessment with indicators and protocols for evaluation. This work will appeal to scholars of animal welfare science and biology, stakeholders in the livestock industry, as well as experts in goat-assisted interventions and pet owners. Video and audio files enrich the reading experience and can also be played from the print book using the free Springer Nature More Media app.
The Welfare of Invertebrate Animals (Animal Welfare #18)
by Jennifer Mather Claudio CarereThis book is devoted to the welfare of invertebrates, which make up 99% of animal species on earth. Addressing animal welfare, we do not often think of invertebrates; in fact we seldom consider them to be deserving of welfare evaluation. And yet we should. Welfare is a broad concern for any animal that we house, control or utilize – and we utilize invertebrates a lot. The Authors start with an emphasis on the values of non-vertebrate animals and discuss the need for a book on the present topic. The following chapters focus on specific taxa, tackling questions that are most appropriate to each one. What is pain in crustaceans, and how might we prevent it? How do we ensure that octopuses are not bored? What do bees need to thrive, pollinate our plants and give us honey? Since invertebrates have distinct personalities and some social animals have group personalities, how do we consider this? And, as in the European Union’s application of welfare consideration to cephalopods, how do the practical regulatory issues play out?We have previously relegated invertebrates to the category ‘things’ and did not worry about their treatment. New research suggest that some invertebrates such as cephalopods and crustaceans can have pain and suffering, might also have consciousness and awareness. Also, good welfare is going to mean different things to spiders, bees, corals, etc. This book is taking animal welfare in a very different direction. Academics and students of animal welfare science, those who keep invertebrates for scientific research or in service to the goals of humans, as well as philosophers will find this work thought-provoking, instructive and informative.
The Well-Connected Animal: Social Networks and the Wondrous Complexity of Animal Societies
by Lee Alan DugatkinAn engaging exploration of the wondrous social webs that permeate life in animal societies around the world. It’s all about who you know. Whether vampire bats sharing blood meals for survival, field crickets remembering champion fighters, macaque monkeys forming grooming pacts after a deadly hurricane, or great tit birds learning the best way to steal milk—it pays to be well connected. In this tour of the animal kingdom, evolutionary biologist Lee Alan Dugatkin reveals a new field of study, uncovering social networks that existed long before the dawn of human social media. He accessibly describes the latest findings from animal behavior, evolution, computer science, psychology, anthropology, genetics, and neurobiology, and incorporates interviews and insights from researchers he finds swimming with manta rays, avoiding pigeon poop, and stopping monkeys from stealing iPads. With Dugatkin as our guide, we investigate social networks in giraffes, elephants, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, whales, bats, and more. From animal networks in Australia and Asia to Africa, Europe, and the Americas, The Well-Connected Animal is an eye-opening exposé of wild friends, enemies, and everything in between.
The Well-Crafted Sentence: A Writer's Guide to Style
by Nora BaconThe Well-Crafted Sentence is designed to help undergraduates develop facility in writing smooth, clear, fully developed sentences. It is not a grammar book: it does not focus on avoiding or correcting errors, and it makes no attempt to offer a thorough description of English syntax. Instead, it asks students to examine prose written by accomplished stylists, to note the relationship between syntactic structures and their rhetorical effect, and to practice using specific structures that all adult writers can, but only the best writers often do, take advantage of in their work.
The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself
by Hannah HolmesDID YOU KNOW THAT * we have more hair follicles than a chimpanzee* a male boxer in top condition can punch with the force of a thirteen-pound mallet swung at twenty miles an hour* the best human endurance runners can outlast a horse* one odor above all is sexually stimulating to the human male: cinnamon buns* our home-building skills compare nicely with those of the bagworm With dry wit and penetrating insight, science journalist Hannah Holmes casts the eye of a trained researcher and reporter on . . . herself. And on our whole species. She compares the biology and behavior of humans with that of other creatures, exploring how the human animal fits into the natural world. Holmes also reveals the ways in which Homo sapiens stands apart from other mammals (and all other animals) in ways that are alternately admirable and devastating. Deftly mixing personal stories with the latest scientific research, Hannah Holmes has fashioned an engaging field guide to that oddest and most fascinating of primates: ourselves.
The Well-dressed Ape
by Hannah HolmesStiffmeetsYour Inner Fishin this surprising, humourous, and edifying look at our species as, essentially, animals. Combining personal stories, cutting-edge science, and a buoyant sense of humour, Hannah Holmes offers an intriguing and fresh way to understand our place in the world. Science journalist Hannah Holmes wryly examines the human animal, beginning with the animal she knows best: herself. What she finds is that, of course, we are indisputably animals – in some ways (smell and vision, for instance) rather inferior ones. Yet Holmes also discovers that Homo sapiens exhibit some traits and behaviours found in no other animal on earth. Our species is among the most generous, and the most thoughtful. Not so admirably, we kill ourselves any number of ways, including by eating ourselves to death. All this in addition to a patently bizarre physical appearance, and shocking lack of defences. Confronting the creature in the mirror, Holmes wrestles with the big questions: Are humans special at all? How different are men and women? (Very. ) What is our place in the kingdom of animals – and on the planet Earth?
The Western Intellectual Tradition: From Leonardo to Hegel
by Jacob Bronowski Bruce MazlishThe history of science has been successfully integrated with other intellectual and political developments in the Western tradition, instead of being cut off as a recondite specialty untouched by the humanists. The method used by Brunswick and Mazlish is to select twenty-five or more key persons or events and to weave the whole chronicle of Western thought from Leonardo to Hegel (inclusive) around them. Their work is therefore less abstract than some histories of thought of a similar compass, since it does not hesitate to deal with specific persons and even political events: intellectual history is not reduced to themes and elements. The individual chapters, since they are really examples, present the newest learned evidence with some detail and even indicate the scholarly controversies that are involved. References to the learned literature in these essays are invariably apt.
The Wetland Book: Distribution, Description, And Conservation
by Mark Everard Beth A. Middleton C. Max Finlayson Nick C. Davidson Kenneth Irvine Robert J. McInnes Anne A. van DamThe Wetland Book is a comprehensive resource aimed at supporting the trans- and multidisciplinary research and practice which is inherent to this field. Aware both that wetlands research is on the rise and that researchers and students are often working or learning across several disciplines, The Wetland Book is a readily accessible online and print reference which will be the first port of call on key concepts in wetlands science and management. This easy-to-follow reference will allow multidisciplinary teams and transdisciplinary individuals to look up terms, access further details, read overviews on key issues and navigate to key articles selected by experts
The Wetland Book: Distribution, Description, And Conservation
by C. Max Finlayson G. Randy Milton R. Crawford Prentice Nick C. DavidsonThe Wetland Book is a comprehensive resource aimed at supporting the trans- and multidisciplinary research and practice which is inherent to this field. Aware both that wetlands research is on the rise and that researchers and students are often working or learning across several disciplines, The Wetland Book is a readily accessible online and print reference which will be the first port of call on key concepts in wetlands science and management. This easy-to-follow reference will allow multidisciplinary teams and transdisciplinary individuals to look up terms, access further details, read overviews on key issues and navigate to key articles selected by experts.
The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology, Second Edition
by Langdon Winner“In an age in which the inexhaustible power of scientific technology makes all things possible, it remains to be seen where we will draw the line, where we will be able to say, here are possibilities that wisdom suggest we avoid.” First published to great acclaim in 1988, Langdon Winner’s groundbreaking exploration of the political, social, and philosophical implications of technology is timelier than ever. He demonstrates that choices about the kinds of technical systems we build and use are actually choices about who we want to be and what kind of world we want to create—technical decisions are political decisions, and they involve profound choices about power, liberty, order, and justice. A seminal text in the history and philosophy of science, this new edition includes a new chapter, preface, and postscript by the author.
The Whats of a Scientific Life (Global Science Education)
by John HelliwellThis book completes a scientific life trilogy of books following on from the Hows (i.e. skills) and the Whys is now the Whats of a scientific life. Starting with just what is science, then on to what is physics, what is chemistry and what is biology the book discusses career situations in terms of types of obstacles faced. There follow examples of what science has achieved as well as plans and opportunities. The contexts for science are dependencies of science on mathematics, how science cuts across disciplines, and the importance of engineering and computer software. What science is as a process is that it is distinctly successful in avoiding or dealing with failures. Most recently a radical change in what is science is the merger of the International Council of Scientific Unions and the International Social Sciences Council. Key Features: Dissects what is science and its contexts Provides wide ranging case studies of science and discovery based directly on the author’s many decades in science The author has outstanding experience in mentoring and career development, and also in outreach activities for the public and students of all ages The world of science today involves a merger of ‘the sciences’ and the ‘social sciences’
The Wheat Genome (Compendium of Plant Genomes)
by Catherine Feuillet Rudi Appels Kellye Eversole Dusti GallagherThis open access book provides the first comprehensive coverage of the wheat genome sequence since the publication of the draft and reference sequences for bread wheat and durum wheat. It presents an overview and all aspects of the gold standard sequence of the bread wheat genome, IWGSC RefSeq v1.0 and its subsequent improvements through 2022 (IWGSC RefSeq v2.1), as well as the sequencing of multiple elite wheat varieties, durum wheat, and ancient wheat. The book provides a broad and extensive review of the resources, tools, and methodologies available for exploiting the wheat genome sequence for crop improvement and studying fundamental questions related to the structure, function, and evolution of the wheat genome. Wheat (Tritcum aestivum L.) is the most widely grown crop in the world, contributing approximately 20 percent of total calories and more protein in human diets than any other single source. This book is useful to students, teachers, and scientists in academia and industry interested in gaining an understanding of the wheat genome and its application as well as plant scientists generally interested in polyploid plant species.
The Whens and Wheres of a Scientific Life (Global Science Education)
by John R. HelliwellBig questions and issues arise about the role of the scientific life in our society and in our world. These have to do with trusting science at all, or with the wider roles of the scientist. The Whens and Wheres of a Scientific Life serves as an epilogue to author John R. Helliwell’s scientific life trilogy of books on the Hows (i.e. skills), the Whys and the Whats of a scientific life. When and where questions play a big role in major science facility decisions. When and where also play a big role in controlling a pandemic like the coronavirus COVID-19. The consequences of such work and the role science plays in society are discussed in this book. Key Features: Discusses when and where we can make new and better things happen and make new discoveries. Explains whens and wheres as examples in basic science and explaining these to the public User friendly and concise, this text provides a wide range of examples of science and discovery The author has diverse experience in career development, teaching and research The importance of open data to the reproducibility of science are described
The Where, The Why, and The How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science
by Matt Lamothe Julia Rothman Jenny VolvovskiIn this New York Times bestseller, “you’ll see star births described in pen and ink, antimatter realized in collage, and a hand-painted black hole” (Discover Magazine).A science book like no other, The Where, the Why, and the How turns loose seventy-five of today’s hottest artists onto life’s vast questions, from how we got here to where we are going. Inside these pages some of the biggest (and smallest) mysteries of the natural world are explained in essays by real working scientists, which are then illustrated by artists given free rein to be as literal or as imaginative as they like. The result is a celebration of the wonder that inspires every new discovery. Featuring work by such contemporary luminaries as Lisa Congdon, Jen Corace, Neil Farber, Susie Ghahremani, Jeremyville, and many more, this is a work of scientific and artistic exploration to pique the interest of both the intellectually and imaginatively curious.“A work of art . . . Pop-science buffs will find the subject matter intriguing, and those who admire graphic novels or comic art will find a plethora of eye candy.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The artists created whimsical illustrations, and the scientists responded with thoughtful essays.” —Smithsonian.com“Seventy-five contemporary artists such as Jacob Magraw, Jen Corace, and Patrick Kyle were commissioned to create the book’s original artwork, leading to a huge variety of visual styles throughout. Some illustrations are, like the front cover pictured above, akin to those of a beautified textbook, but the most are simply works of art; literal, metaphorical, or satiric imagery to accompany the text.” —The Verge
The White River Badlands: Geology and Paleontology (Life of the Past)
by Rachel C. Benton Dennis O. Terry Jr. Emmett Evanoff H. Gregory McDonaldThis guide to the South Dakota region that houses the world&’s richest fossil beds does &“an excellent job of presenting the current state of knowledge&” (Choice). The forbidding Big Badlands in Western South Dakota contain the richest fossil beds in the world. Even today these rocks continue to yield new specimens brought to light by snowmelt and rain washing away soft rock deposited on a floodplain long ago. The quality and quantity of the fossils are superb: most of the species to be found there are known from hundreds of specimens. The fossils in the White River Group (and similar deposits in the American west) preserve the entire late Eocene through the middle Oligocene, roughly 35-30 million years ago and more than thirty million years after non-avian dinosaurs became extinct. The fossils provide a detailed record of a period of abrupt global cooling and what happened to creatures who lived through it. This book is a comprehensive reference to the sediments and fossils of the Big Badlands, and also touches on National Park Service management policies that help protect such significant fossils.Includes photos and illustrations&“A worthy successor to the work of O&’Harra.&” —Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
The Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) Interaction with Geminivirus-Infected Host Plants
by Winston M.O. ThompsonThe book presents a chronology of events of B. tabaci and geminiviruses, and an overview within the Caribbean and Latin America. The pathosystems involving Tomato yellow leaf curl virus, Cotton leaf curl virus and the cassava mosaic viruses are discussed. Data is presented on amino acid concentrations influencing B. tabaci and thus serves the basis for holidic diets. The essential molecular techniques for B. tabaci identification and classification are included with factors to consider for appropriate applications; an essential working guide for graduate students and researchers in the molecular field. Excellent photos portray symptoms of geminivirus-infecting crops: tomato, cotton, cassava, legumes and cucurbits; an important guide for researchers and growers. The novel insecticides, their mode of action and specificity; emphasize the applications of these within IPM programs.