Enchanting and otherworldly in their beauty, the polar regions are some of the most isolated and least understood places on Earth. Until relatively recently, few non-indigenous people had experienced their immense majesty. And yet, while remote, these extreme environments are endlessly fascinating, and eminently worthy of witnessing firsthand, especially if you are prepared to understand what you are seeing.
An invisible world of astonishing complexity is all around you. A world so small you can’t see it with the naked eye. A world so crowded that its population staggers the mind. A world in which you participate every day—often without even knowing it.
In My Favorite Universe, the astrophysicist who directs the nation’s most famous planetarium takes you on a spirited and intellectually engaging journey through the cosmos and all its history, from before the Big Bang to the most likely ways in which Earth, and perhaps the entire universe, might end.
Famed physicist Richard Feynman once said, “Anyone who has been in a thunderstorm has enjoyed it, or has been frightened by it, or at least has had some emotion. And in those places in nature where we get an emotion, we find there is generally a corresponding complexity and mystery about it.”
Kids, for all their youth and vigor, aren’t indestructible. They’re always growing, which makes their health needs different from those of the average adult. Enter pediatricians: trained medical experts whose sole mission is to help children reach their maximum potential.
When you’re sick, you go to a doctor to figure out what’s wrong. But how doctors work isn’t some impenetrable mystery. Rather, there’s an art and science that goes into how they diagnose and treat patients.
How and when did life on Earth get to be the way it is today?
For thousands of centuries, humans lived near the ocean, wandered right up to its edge, and turned back to the relative safety of the known land. Even when we invented ships and the very bravest among us sailed out, our fears and imaginations took over. What creatures could be living in the unknowable darkness, the bottomless depths? Giant worms, microorganisms that eat metal, faceless fish, giant sea spiders? Marine life is even more otherworldly and fantastical than we ever imagined, and Life in the World’s Oceans brings you face to face with these exciting creatures. From the phytoplankton that can only float at the whim of wind and currents to the gray whale that migrates 16,000 kilometers each year, you will be amazed at the variety of life in the seas and what we have only recently learned about its biology, evolution, life cycles, and adaptations.
Considering how many hours we spend with computers—phones, laptops, even “smart” screens on our home appliances—it’s easy to feel like they control us. But, in fact, we control them. Or, we do if we know how to use them.That’s what computer programming gets to the heart of: taking command of the most powerful, versatile, and productive machines ever invented. And among the array of programming languages designed to get computers doing exactly what we want, C++ ranks as one of the most efficient, powerful, and popular.
Everyone loves to observe the beauty of the star-studded night sky, to say nothing of the dazzling images from the Hubble Space Telescope. But how many of us truly understand how stars shine, where Saturn’s rings come from, or why galaxies have their distinctive shapes? Observational astronomy excels at imaging and cataloging celestial objects, but it takes a more rigorous discipline to come up with physical explanations for them. That field is astrophysics.
Your body is a fortress under constant assault. Infectious diseases, parasites, environmental toxins, physical trauma, allergens, and natural disasters are some external enemies it faces. From the inside, it is threatened by occasional overzealous allergic, immune, and inflammatory responses, as well as by the cellular mutations that produce cancer.
Learning a new language opens a wealth of opportunities. But there’s one language family that provides benefits like no other: the languages of computer programming. Now widely taught in schools—even in elementary schools—programming is an eminently learnable skill that gives you unrivalled problem-solving power you can apply in all areas of life. Programming is also a fun, creative activity that imparts deep insights into how we control the devices that influence virtually every aspect of our lives.