Ancient Greece was the birthplace of science, which developed in the Hellenized culture of ancient Rome. This book, written by seventeen international experts, examines the role and achievement of science and mathematics in Greek antiquity through discussion of the linguistic, literary, political, religious, sociological, and technological factors which influenced scientific thought and practice.

In this endlessly engaging volume, biologist Lewis Wolpert lets readers sit in as he talks with 23 of the world's leading scientists. What is day-to-day life like for a scientist? How have they hit upon their most important discoveries? What is the nature of scientific creativity?
Here, in this stimulating series of conversations, such eminent scientists as Murray Gell-Man, Jared Diamond, Gerald Edelman, Richard Lewontin, Roald Hoffman, and Carlo Rubbia talk candidly about their backgrounds, their careers, the people who have influenced or inspired them, and their most significant...

How is it that nobody--except maybe scientists--sees science for what it is? In this entertaining and provocative book, Lewis Wolpert draws on the entire history of science, from Thales of Miletus to Watson and Crick, from the study of eugenics to the discovery of the double helix. The result is a scientist's view of the culture of science, authoritative and informed and at the same time mercifully accessible to those who find cohabiting with this culture a puzzling experience. Science is arguably the defining feature of our age. For anyone who hopes to understand its nature, this lively and...

Why do 70 percent of Americans believe in angels, while others are convinced that they were abducted by aliens? What makes people believe in improbable things when all the evidence points to the contrary? And don't almost all of us, at some time or another, engage in magical thinking?In Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, evolutionary biologist Lewis Wolpert delves into the important and timely debate over the nature of belief, looking at its psychological foundations to discover just what evolutionary purpose it could serve. Wolpert takes us through all that science can tell us about the...

Each of us begins our path in life as a single cell.Just thinking about this common process can fill us with a sense of wonderand raise a host of questions. How does an eggcell multiply to develop into a human being, an animal, or a plant? How do cells form abrain, a face, a hand? And how does the pattern continue generation after generation? With great insight and unwavering enthusiasm, biology professor Lewis Wolpert presents this complex subject in a "clear and engagingly written book" (Nature) that even the layman can understand.
Illuminating the subject with twelveremarkable...

Zellen sind die Grundlage allen Lebens. Unser Körper besteht aus Milliarden von ihnen: ein unglaublich komplexer Verband, der alles steuert, von der Bewegung bis zum Gedächtnis und zur Phantasie. Wenn wir altern, dann weil unsere Zellen nachlassen; wenn wir krank werden, dann weil unsere Zellen mutieren oder ihre Tätigkeit einstellen.§In seinem neuen Buch liefert der weltberühmte Zell- und Entwicklungsbiologe Lewis Wolpert eine so anschauliche wie spannende Darstellung der Wissenschaft, die dem Geheimnis unseres Lebens auf der Spur ist. Er erklärt, wie unser Körper funktioniert und wie...