Kategoria BISAC: Science >> Essays

Provocative and engaging, this collection brings together the premiere science writing of the year. Featuring the imprimatur of bestselling author and New York Times reporter Gina Kolata, one of the nation's foremost voices in science and medicine, and with contributions from Atul Gawande, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Oliver Sacks, among others, The Best American Science Writing 2007 is a compelling anthology of our most advanced, and most relevant, scientific inquiries.

The nightly news and conventional wisdom tell us that things are bad and getting worse. Yet despite dire predictions, scientists see many good things on the horizon. John Brockman, publisher of Edge (www.edge.org), the influential online salon, recently asked more than 150 high-powered scientific thinkers to answer a vital question for our frequently pessimistic times: "What are you optimistic about?"

Spanning a wide range of topics--from string theory to education, from population growth to medicine, and even from global warming to the end of world--What Are You Optimistic...

A Space for Science is a new version of Formacao da Comunidade Cientifica no Brasil (published only in Portuguese in 1979 and now out of print), which became a standard reference for studies of the development of scientific traditions and competence in Brazil and, by extension, for other developing countries. Based on dozens of interviews with several generations of Brazilian scientists, it offers a wealth of information and insight about the motivations, attitudes, values, and perceptions of the scientists who, working in this kind of environment, face challenges and...

Which fungus is as sensitive to light as the human eye? What are the myths and facts about the ozone hole, tanning, skin cancer, and sunscreens? What is the effect of light on butterfly copulation? This entertaining collection of essays explores how various organisms--including archaebacteria, slime molds, fungi, plants, insects, and humans--sense and respond to sunlight.
The essays in Peter A. Ensminger's book cover vision, photosynthesis, and phototropism, as well as such unusual topics as the reason why light causes beer to develop a "skunky" odor. He introduces us to the kinds of...