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What If?2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by Randall MunroeWHAT IF... one man decided to answer all the unanswerable questions, using science.The Sunday Times-bestselling author and xkcd creator, Randall Munroe is here to provide the best answers yet to the important questions you probably never thought to ask.The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger.Planning to ride a fire pole from the moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing.Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone's freezer doors at the same time? Maybe it's time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics.Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-storey building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist.Welcome (back) to the mind-blowing world of What If?Unfazed by absurdity, Randall consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airplane-catapult design to clearly and concisely answer his readers' questions. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances.Filled with bonkers science, boundless curiosity, and Randall's signature stick-figure comics, What If? 2 is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive readers of all ages.
What If?: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by Randall MunroeThe #1 New York Times bestselling author of What If? and How To answers more of the weirdest questions you never thought to ask. <p><p>The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-story building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist. <p><p>Before you go on a cosmic road trip, feed the residents of New York City to a T. Rex, or fill every church with bananas, be sure to consult this practical guide for impractical ideas. Unfazed by absurdity, Munroe consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airliner catapult–design to answer his readers’ questions, clearly and concisely, with illuminating and occasionally terrifying illustrations. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances. <p> <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by Randall MunroeFrom the creator of the wildly popular xkcd, What If? gives hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask. Millions visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. Fans ask him a lot of strange questions. How fast can you hit a speed bump, driving, and live? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British Empire? When will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than living? How many humans would a T Rex rampaging through New York need to eat a day?In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations and consults nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind - or at least a really big explosion.This audiobook edition is read by geek icon Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stand by Me, The Big Bang Theory) and has been adapted for audio in collaboration with the author.(P)2014 Blackstone Audio
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by Randall MunroeTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERFrom the creator of the wildly popular xkcd.com, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.Millions visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. Fans ask him a lot of strange questions: How fast can you hit a speed bump, driving, and live? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British Empire? When will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than living? How many humans would a T Rex rampaging through New York need to eat a day?In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations and consults nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.
What Intelligence Tests Miss
by Keith E. StanovichCritics of intelligence tests--writers such as Robert Sternberg, Howard Gardner, and Daniel Goleman--have argued in recent years that these tests neglect important qualities such as emotion, empathy, and interpersonal skills. However, such critiques imply that though intelligence tests may miss certain key noncognitive areas, they encompass most of what is important in the cognitive domain. In this book, Keith E. Stanovich challenges this widely held assumption. Stanovich shows that IQ tests (or their proxies, such as the SAT) are radically incomplete as measures of cognitive functioning. They fail to assess traits that most people associate with "good thinking," skills such as judgment and decision making. Such cognitive skills are crucial to real-world behavior, affecting the way we plan, evaluate critical evidence, judge risks and probabilities, and make effective decisions. IQ tests fail to assess these skills of rational thought, even though they are measurable cognitive processes. Rational thought is just as important as intelligence, Stanovich argues, and it should be valued as highly as the abilities currently measured on intelligence tests.
What Is Baby Gorilla Doing?
by Christena Nippert-EngBaby gorilla plays, looks, sits, smells, tastes, climbs, claps, smiles, and sleeps—just like the young readers of this book. Beautiful photographs capture an adorable baby gorilla in action. A gentle bedtime ending rounds out this action-word concept book.
What Is Climate Change? (What Was?)
by Gail Herman John Hinderliter Who HqLearn more about what climate change means and how it's affecting our planet.The earth is definitely getting warmer. There's no argument about that, but who or what is the cause? And why has climate change become a political issue? Are humans at fault? Is this just a natural development? While the vast majority of scientists who study the environment agree that humans play a large part in climate change, there is a counterargument. Author Gail Herman presents both sides of the debate in this fact-based, fair-minded, and well-researched book that looks at the subject from many perspectives, including scientific, social, and political.
What Is Color?: The Global and Sometimes Gross Story of Pigments, Paint, and the Wondrous World of Art
by Steven WeinbergIn this zany and vibrantly illustrated nonfiction guide to all things color, the origins of today's pigments come alive across continents and history, with oodles of art, tons of science--and extensive interactive backmatter!So what is color? A red apple? A yellow banana? The purple goo from a squished sea snail?Once you start digging, color turns out to be a lot of things--it’s messy, stinky, and even a little bit dangerous. You may already know that it’s art, but it’s science, too! What Is Color? will take readers all over the world, introducing them to talented, brilliant, creative people from scientists to famous artists and everyone in between as we take the color wheel for a spin.Perfect for curious and creative minds who love paintbrushes as much as microscopes, this clever and eye-catching full-color nonfiction book dives deep into the strange, wacky, silly, and occasionally perilous history behind the colors that paint our everyday lives.Readers will get:• A laugh-out-loud funny adventure full of gross-out facts (like how cow pee can be used to make the color yellow!).• Hilarious illustrations that encourage creativity and fun while learning!• A kid-friendly primer on global art history, from Yayoi Kusama to Van Gogh, Basquiat, and many more.• A dazzling full-color book, with rainbow edges and vibrant info-filled endpapers.• Extensive backmatter with a glossary plus art and science activities perfect for the classroom and home!
What Is Dark Matter? (Princeton Frontiers in Physics #10)
by Peter FisherWhat we know about dark matter and what we have yet to discoverAstronomical observations have confirmed dark matter’s existence, but what exactly is dark matter? In What Is Dark Matter?, particle physicist Peter Fisher introduces readers to one of the most intriguing frontiers of physics. We cannot actually see dark matter, a mysterious, nonluminous form of matter that is believed to account for about 27 percent of the mass-energy balance in the universe. But we know dark matter is present by observing its ghostly gravitational effects on the behavior and evolution of galaxies. Fisher brings readers quickly up to speed regarding the current state of the dark matter problem, offering relevant historical context as well as a close look at the cutting-edge research focused on revealing dark matter’s true nature.Could dark matter be a new type of particle—an axion or a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP)—or something else? What have physicists ruled out so far—and why? What experimental searches are now underway and planned for the near future, in hopes of detecting dark matter on Earth or in space? Fisher explores these questions and more, illuminating what is known and unknown, and what a triumph it will be when scientists discover dark matter’s identity at last.
What Is Density?
by Joanne BarkanWhat do a softball, a popcorn ball, and a birthday party balloon have in common? They all are made of matter and take up space. In What Is Density? young readers will find out why the baseball is heavier than the popcorn ball and why they'd better hold on to the string of that balloon!
What Is Earth Day?: A Good Answer to a Good Question
by Who HqDirect from Who HQ, the team that brings you the New York Times Best-Selling Who Was? biography series, comes Who HQ Presents. These short illustrated e-Books provide quick, simple answers to the important questions being asked today about politics, social issues, the environment, and more!What is Earth Day? Wonder no more: Who HQ Presents answers about how this environmental celebration came about, and how you can join in.
What Is Energy?: An Answer Based on the Evolution of a Concept (History of Physics)
by Ricardo Lopes CoelhoThis book provides a solution to the problem with the energy concept. This problem manifests itself in the fact that physicists clearly diverge regarding the question of what energy is. Some define it but others state that we do not know what it is. Although this is a problem for physicists who need to explain the concept, it is not a problem for physics that can be solved by laboratory means. Penetrating into the origin of the notion of energy, this book offers a clear idea of what was discovered and what was invented to interpret the findings.Following the development of the concept, it provides an explanation of the trends in contemporary textbooks. The author's repetition, in his "History and Philosophy of Physics Laboratory", of Joule’s famous experiment – the paddle wheel experiment – with a calorimeter as originally used by Joule and with a calorimeter as proposed in textbooks, is presented, yielding new insight into the phenomenon. Thus, science teachers and students will benefit from reading the book as well as historians, philosophers, students of the history and philosophy of science, and all who are interested in knowing about what it is that we call energy.
What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals
by Joshua SchusterWINNER, 25th ANNUAL SUSANNE M. GLASSCOCK BOOK PRIZELife on Earth is facing a mass extinction event of our own making. Human activity is changing the biology and the meaning of extinction. What Is Extinction? examines several key moments that have come to define the terms of extinction over the past two centuries, exploring instances of animal and human finitude and the cultural forms used to document and interpret these events.Offering a critical theory for the critically endangered, Joshua Schuster proposes that different discourses of limits and lastness appear in specific extinction events over time as a response to changing attitudes toward species frailty. Understanding these extinction events also involves examining what happens when the conceptual and cultural forms used to account for species finitude are pressed to their limits as well. Schuster provides close readings of several case studies of extinction that bring together environmental humanities and multispecies methods with media-specific analyses at the terminus of life.What Is Extinction? delves into the development of last animal photography, the anthropological and psychoanalytic fascination with human origins and ends, the invention of new literary genres of last fictions, the rise of new extreme biopolitics in the Third Reich that attempted to change the meaning of extinction, and the current pursuit of de-extinction technologies. Schuster offers timely interpretations of how definitions and visions of extinction have changed in the past and continue to change in the present.
What Is Fire?
by Amy TaoWhat is needed to create fire? Learn about the science behind fire and how fuel, heat, and oxygen all work together to create flames.
What Is Fire?
by Amy TaoFire is what happens when you put three things together: fuel, oxygen, and heat. Using matches, a candle, and a large glass jar, you can see for yourself how these three things work together to create or destroy fire.
What Is Friction?
by Lisa TrumbauerThis Rookie Read-About Science book introduces young readers to friction. Colorful photos and simple text encourage children to read on their own as they discover what makes objects slow down and stop.
What Is Going on Inside Me? (Investigating and Questioning Our World through Science and Technology)
by Joseph S. Krajcik Brian J. Reiser David Fortus LeeAnn M. SutherlandNIMAC-sourced textbook
What Is Gravity?
by Lisa TrumbauerA simple introduction to gravity, describing what it is and giving some effects of this force.
What Is Information?: A Mythological Critique (Electronic Mediations #55)
by Peter JanichA novel way of looking at information challenges longstanding dogmas—from a preeminent German thinker It is widely agreed that we live in an &“information age,&” but what exactly is information? This small, seemingly facile question is in fact surprisingly difficult, and it has occupied many of the best philosophical minds of the modern age. In this wholly original addition to the quest to understand information, German philosopher Peter Janich argues that our understanding of information is based in the much broader history of scientific naturalism—the belief that science is a fundamental aspect of the world and not a human contrivance. His novel critique of this widespread dogma grounds science in human life practices and wrestles with the very fundamentals of the scientific way of understanding reality.Offering new perspectives on the major contemporary fields of communications technology, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence, What Is Information? provides a deep look into humanity in an information age. Its arguments show ways of reconciling the sciences and the humanities, shining new light on the relationship of science to the natural world.
What Is Inside a Black Hole? (Brief Answers, Big Questions)
by Stephen Hawking'If you feel you are in a black hole, don't give up. There's a way out'What is inside a black hole?Is time travel possible?Throughout his extraordinary career, Stephen Hawking expanded our understanding of the universe and unravelled some of its greatest mysteries. In What Is Inside a Black Hole? Hawking takes us on a journey to the outer reaches of our imaginations, exploring the science of time travel and black holes.'The best most mind-bending sort of physics' The TimesBrief Answers, Big Questions: this stunning paperback series offers electrifying essays from one of the greatest minds of our age, taken from the original text of the No. 1 bestselling Brief Answers to the Big Questions.
What Is It?
by Amy TaoWhen a young boy happens across a tarantula, it scares him at first! But then he and the tarantula have a conversation, and he learns about the differences between insects and spiders—like the spider’s unique body, which is comprised of a combined head/thorax, abdomen, and palps—as well as some interesting facts about other arachnids!
What Is Life and How Might It Be Sustained?: Reflections in a Pandemic
by Jim LynchHow did the universe and life begin and what are the threats to people and the environment in a pandemic? This book is for anybody with interest in protecting life on the planet. Studies on the origin of life and scientific contributions to safeguarding the planet are examined in light of current thinking on climate change. A major focus is the spread of microbes, put in the context of environmental assessment and management, including descriptions of microbiomes and a consideration of the risks of genetic modifications. Professor Lynch shows how failure to control disease can lead to the collapse of any biotic population. To avoid this, the ethics of management of disease by biological control and by vaccination are discussed, at the practical level and in a moral theological context.
What Is Life?
by Lynn Margulis Dorion SaganTranscending the various formal concepts of life, this captivating book offers a unique overview of life's history, essences, and future. A masterpiece of scientific writing. You will cherish "What Is Life?" because it is so rich in poetry and science in the service of profound philosophical questions.
What Is Life?
by Jay PhelanWhat is the most common reason that DNA analyses overturn incorrect criminal convictions? What genetically modified foods do most people in the United States consume (usually without knowing it)? In his popular classes and bestselling textbooks, Jay Phelan uses questions like these as a way of introducing both the practical impact and awe-inspiring wonder of biological research. Phelan knows how to captivate nonmajors with stories of how scientists investigate life. He is also a master at using the study of biology as a context for developing the critical thinking skills and scientific literacy students can draw on through college and beyond. Phelan's dynamic approach to teaching biology is the driving force behind What Is Life? A Guide to Biology--the most successful new non-majors biology textbook of the millennium. The rigorously updated new edition brings forward the features that made the book a classroom favorite (chapters anchored to intriguing questions about life, spectacular original illustrations, innovative learning tools) with a more focused and flexible presentation and enhanced art. And more than ever, this edition is a seamless text/media source, with its dedicated version of LaunchPad, Macmillan's breakthrough online course space which integrates an interactive e-Book, all student media, a wide range of assessment and course management features.
What Is Life? A Guide to Biology
by Jay PhelanWritten by an accomplished teacher, practicing biologist, and internationally best-selling author,What Is Life? A Guide to Biology was developed to engage students who may never take another biology course-future business owners, lawyers, teachers, poets, etc. Drawing on his extensive classroom experience, Jay Phelan focuses on clearly articulating key concepts and eliminating unnecessary detail and topics-without introducing inaccuracies from simplification. What Is Life prepares students to talk confidently and knowledgeably about science with their friends, to be intelligent consumers of scientific information, and to make responsible decisions about scientific issues.