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92 results in Popular science

Page 1 of 5

A Philosopher Looks at the Weather
  • Benjamin Hale
  • Published online:
    13 February 2026
    Print publication:
    05 March 2026
  • From barometers to the famous BBC shipping forecast, we have – over the centuries – developed the means to predict, harness, and shield ourselves from what is happening in the atmosphere. Attitudes about the planet's weather, as well as about human identity, have thereby taken on new meanings. In an era of climatic anxiety, what weather is and how weather behaves have taken on additional currency. Benjamin Hale weaves together philosophy and anecdote into a many-faceted exploration of this powerful force that shapes who we are and how we think about our place in the world. He argues that in our drive to 'scientize' weather, with all the technological advances in managing, anticipating, and understanding it, we also risk distancing ourselves from weather and losing a complete sense of what it is. This entertaining book reminds us that the weather is and always will be in some sense outside our control, and that consequently we are and forever will be learning to live alongside it.

Love is the Drug
  • The Chemical Future of Our Relationships
  • Brian D. Earp, Julian Savulescu
  • Published by:
    Manchester University Press
    Published online:
    27 January 2026
  • Is there a pill for love? What about an anti-love drug, to help you get over your ex? This book argues that certain psychoactive substances, including MDMA—the active ingredient in Ecstasy—might help ordinary couples work through relationship difficulties and strengthen their connection. Others may help sever emotional ties during a breakup, with transformative implications for how we think about love. Oxford ethicists Julian Savulescu and Brian D. Earp build a case for conducting research into "love drugs" and "anti-love drugs" and explore their ethical implications for individuals and society. Why are we still in the dark about the effects of common medications on romantic partnerships? How can we overhaul scientific research norms to put interpersonal factors front and center? Biochemical interventions into love and relationships are not some far-off speculation. Our most intimate connections are already being influenced by drugs we ingest for other purposes. Controlled studies are already underway to see whether artificial brain chemicals might enhance couples' therapy. And conservative religious groups are already experimenting with certain medications to quash romantic desires—and even the urge to masturbate—among children and vulnerable sexual minorities. Simply put, the horse has bolted. Where it runs is up to us. Love is the Drug arms readers with the latest scientific knowledge as well as a set of ethical tools that you can use to decide for yourself if these sorts of medications should be a part of our society. Or whether a chemical romance might be right for you.

Starbound
  • Interstellar Travel and the Limits of the Possible
  • Ed Regis
  • Published online:
    12 December 2024
    Print publication:
    30 January 2025
  • This book is for anyone enthralled by the romantic dream of a voyage 'to the stars.' From our current viewpoint in the twenty-first century, crewed interstellar travel will be an exceptionally difficult undertaking. It will require building a spacecraft on a scale never before attempted, at vast cost, relying on unproven technologies. Yet somehow, through works of science fiction, TV and movies, the idea of human interstellar travel being easy or even inevitable has entered our popular consciousness. In this book, Ed Regis critically examines whether humankind is bound for distant stars, or if instead we are bound to our own star, for the indefinite future. How do we overcome the main challenge that even the nearest stars are unimaginably far away? He explores the proposed technologies and the many practical aspects of undertaking an interstellar journey, finishing with his reflections on whether such a journey should be planned for.

Reassessing Epistemic Images in the Early Modern World
  • Edited by Ruth Noyes
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    15 June 2023
    Print publication:
    22 December 2022
  • This edited collection of papers explores from an interdisciplinary perspective the role of images and objects in early modern knowledge-making practices with an emphasis on mapping methodological approaches against printed pictures and things. The volume brings together work across diverse printed images, objects, and materials produced c.1500-1700, as well as well as works in the ambit of early modern print culture, to reframe a comparative history of the rise of the 'epistemic imprint' as a new visual genre at the onset of the scientific revolution. The book includes contributions from the perspective of international scholars and museum professionals drawing on methodologies from a range of fields.

Why Does Math Work … If It's Not Real?
  • Episodes in Unreasonable Effectiveness
  • Dragan Radulović
  • Published online:
    12 April 2023
    Print publication:
    08 June 2023
  • According to G. H. Hardy, the 'real' mathematics of the greats like Fermat and Euler is 'useless,' and thus the work of mathematicians should not be judged on its applicability to real-world problems. Yet, mysteriously, much of mathematics used in modern science and technology was derived from this 'useless' mathematics. Mobile phone technology is based on trig functions, which were invented centuries ago. Newton observed that the Earth's orbit is an ellipse, a curve discovered by ancient Greeks in their futile attempt to double the cube. It is like some magic hand had guided the ancient mathematicians so their formulas were perfectly fitted for the sophisticated technology of today. Using anecdotes and witty storytelling, this book explores that mystery. Through a series of fascinating stories of mathematical effectiveness, including Planck's discovery of quanta, mathematically curious readers will get a sense of how mathematicians develop their concepts.

Venereal Disease, Hospitals and the Urban Poor
  • London's 'Foul Wards,' 1600-1800
  • Kevin P. Siena
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    17 March 2023
    Print publication:
    28 February 2004
  • A re-examination of the role of charity and treating venereal disease in public hospitals in early modern London.

Knowledge and Culture in the Early Dutch Republic
  • Isaac Beeckman in Context
  • Edited by Klaas van Berkel, Albert Clement, Arjan van Dixhoorn
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    07 October 2022
    Print publication:
    24 June 2022
  • The Dutch Republic around 1600 was a laboratory of the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. Here conditions were favourable for the development of new ways of knowing nature and the natural philosopher Isaac Beeckman, who was born in Middelburg in 1588, was a seminal figure in this context. He laid the groundwork for the strictly mechanical philosophy that is at the heart of the new science. Descartes and others could build on what they learned, directly or indirectly, from Beeckman. As previous studies have mainly dealt with the scientific content of Beeckman's thinking, this volume also explores the wider social, scientific and cultural context of his work. Beeckman was both a craftsman and a scholar and fruitfully combined artisanal ways of knowing with international scholarly traditions. Beeckman's extensive private notebook offers a unique perspective on the cultures of knowledge that emerged in this crucial period in intellectual history.

Enigmas
  • Edited by Emily Joan Ward, Robin Reuvers
  • Published online:
    01 September 2022
    Print publication:
    18 August 2022
  • Arising from the 2020 Darwin College Lectures, this book presents eight essays from prominent public intellectuals on the theme of Enigmas. Each author examines this theme through the lens of their own particular area of expertise, together constituting an illuminating and diverse interdisciplinary volume. Enigmas features contributions by professor of physics Sean M. Carroll, author Jo Marchant, writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford, professor of earth sciences Tamsin A. Mather, professor of the history of the book Erik Kwakkel, reader in cultural history Tiffany Watt Smith, mathematician and public speaker James Grime, assistant professor of positive AI J. Derek Lomas, and explorer Albert Y.- M. Lin. This volume will appeal to anyone fascinated by puzzles and mysteries, solved and unsolved.

The Atom in Seventeenth-Century Literature
  • Cassandra Gorman
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    16 July 2022
    Print publication:
    13 August 2021
  • An investigation into the remarkable poetics of the atom in English literary texts from the mid- to late-seventeenth century.

Blood
  • Edited by Iosifina Foskolou, Martin Jones
  • Published online:
    13 June 2022
    Print publication:
    07 July 2022
  • Blood is life, its complex composition is finely attuned to our vital needs and functions. Blood can also signify death, while 'bloody' is a curse. Arising from the 2021 Darwin College Lectures, this volume invites leading thinkers on the subject to explore the many meanings of blood across a diverse range of disciplines. Through the eyes of artist Marc Quinn, the paradoxical nature of blood plays with the notion of self. Through those of geneticist Walter Bodmer, it becomes a scientific reality: bloodlines and diaspora capture our notions of community. The transfer of blood between bodies, as Rose George relates, can save lives, or as we learn from Claire Roddie can cure cancer. Tim Pedley and Stuart Egginton explore the extraordinary complexity of blood as a critical biological fluid. Sarah Read examines the intimate connection between blood and womanhood, as Carol Senf does in her consideration of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.

Accessing Technical Education in Modern Japan
  • Edited by Erich Pauer, Regine Mathias
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    26 May 2022
    Print publication:
    01 March 2022
  • This collection of fourteen key papers deriving from CEEJA's second international conference exploring the Japanese history of technology, concentrates on the routes to acquiring and transmitting technical knowledge in Japan's modern era - from the very earliest endeavours in establishing opportunities for acquiring a technical education to the translation of foreign textbooks and manuals. Published in two volumes and thematically structured in three parts, this wide-ranging work both complements and expands on the subject-matter contained in the second volume entitled Technical Knowledge in Early Modern Japan (2020).

Vision
  • Edited by Andrew Fabian, Janet Gibson, Mike Sheppard, Simone Weyand
  • With contributions by Andrew Blake , Carolin Crawford , Paul Fletcher , Sophie Hackford , Anya Hurlbert , Dan-Eric Nilsson and Carlo Rovelli
  • Published online:
    17 September 2021
    Print publication:
    26 August 2021
  • Arising from the 2019 Darwin College Lectures, this book presents essays from seven prominent public intellectuals on the theme of vision. Each author examines this theme through the lens of their own particular area of expertise, making for a lively interdisciplinary volume including chapters on neuroscience, colour perception, biological evolution, astronomy, the future of technology, computer vision, and the visionary core of science. Featuring contributions by professors of neuroscience Paul Fletcher and Anya Hurlbert, professor of zoology Dan-Eric Nilsson, the futurist Sophie Hackford, Microsoft distinguished scientist Andrew Blake, theoretical physicist and author Carlo Rovelli, and Dr Carolin Crawford, the Public Astronomer at the University of Cambridge, this volume will be of interest to anybody curious about how we see the world.

Wicked Philosophy
  • Philosophy of Science and Vision Development for Complex Problems
  • Coyan Tromp
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    16 February 2021
    Print publication:
    01 August 2018
  • Wicked Philosophy. Philosophy of Science and Vision Development for Complex Problems provides an overview of the philosophy of the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities, and explores how insights from these three domains can be integrated to help find solutions for the complex, 'wicked' problems we are currently facing. The core of a new science-based vision is complexity thinking, offering a meta-position for navigating alternative paradigms and making informed choices of resources for projects involving complex problems. The book also brings design thinking into problem-solving and teaching, fostering construction of an integrative approach that bridges structure and action amplified by transdisciplinary engagement of stakeholders in society.

Inside the Politics of Technology
  • Agency and Normativity in the Co-Production of Technology and Society
  • Edited by Hans Harbers
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    24 January 2021
    Print publication:
    02 August 2005
  • Though the old saying claims that man is the measure of all things, the authors of Inside the Politics of Technology argue that the distinction implied between autonomous humans and neutral instruments of technology is an illusion. On the contrary, the technologies humans create simultaneously shape humans themselves.

    By means of case studies of technologies as diverse as video cameras, electric cars, pregnancy tests, and genetic screenings, this volume considers the implications of this co-production of technology and society for our philosophical and political ideas. Are only humans endowed with social.

Gravity Does Not Exist
  • A Puzzle for the 21st Century
  • Vincent Icke
  • Translated by Charlotte Lemmens
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    12 December 2020
    Print publication:
    26 June 2014
  • Every scientific fact was born as an opinion about the unknown - a hypothesis. Opinion gradually becomes fact as evidence piles up to support a theory. But what if there are two theories, each of which has produced a myriad of things that correspond perfectly to the phenomena but can't be combined into one? One theory replaced the mystery of gravity with a precise model of space and time. The other theory replaced the mystery of matter with a description of quantum particles. As we understand our universe, we keep each in its own domain: space and time for very large things, particles for the very small ones. However, 13.8 billion years ago, those two incompatible domains belonged to a single realm. Who in the current or future generations of physicists will crack this seemingly impossible puzzle? This, contends the author, is not just a big question, but the biggest question in physics in our century. Combining Ickes's first-hand knowledge with a robust argument and intellectual playfulness, this fascinating book succeeds in making a notoriously difficult subject accessible to all readers interested in a better grasp of our universe.

Gabelentz and the Science of Language
  • Edited by James McElvenny
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    21 November 2020
    Print publication:
    14 August 2019
  • The German sinologist and general linguist Georg von der Gabelentz (1840–1893) occupies a crucial place in linguistic scholarship around the end of the nineteenth century. As professor at the University of Leipzig and then at the University of Berlin, Gabelentz was present at the main centers of linguistics of the time. He was, however, generally critical of the narrow, technical focus of mainstream historical-comparative linguistics as practiced by the Neogrammarians and instead emphasized approaches to language inspired by a line of researchers stemming from Wilhelm von Humboldt. Gabelentz’ alternative conception of linguistics led him to several pioneering insights into language that anticipated elements of the structuralist revolution of the early twentieth century. Gabelentz and the Science of Language brings together four essays that explore Gabelentz’ contributions to linguistics from a historical perspective. In addition, it makes one of his key theoretical texts, ‘Content and Form of Speech’, available to an English-speaking audience for the first time.

Zootechnologies
  • A Media History of Swarm Research
  • Sebastian Vehlken
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    21 November 2020
    Print publication:
    19 November 2019
  • Swarming has become a fundamental cultural technique related to dynamic processes and an effective metaphor for the collaborative efforts of society. This book examines the media history of swarm research and its significance to current socio-technological processes. It shows that the hype about collective intelligence is based on a reciprocal computerization of biology and biologization of computer science: After decades of painstaking biological observations in the ocean, experiments in aquariums, and mathematical model-making, it was swarms-inspired computer simulation which provided biological researchers with enduring knowledge about animal collectives. At the same time, a turn to biological principles of self-organization made it possible to adapt to unclearly delineated sets of problems and clarify the operation of opaque systems - from logistics to architecture, or from crowd control to robot collectives. As zootechnologies, swarms offer performative, synthetic, and approximate solutions in cases where analytical approaches are doomed to fail.

Showcasing Science
  • A History of Teylers Museum in the Nineteenth Century
  • Martin P. M. Weiss
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    21 November 2020
    Print publication:
    12 March 2019
  • Teylers Museum was founded in 1784 and soon thereafter became one of the most important centres of Dutch science. The Museum’s first director, Martinus van Marum, famously had the world’s largest electrostatic generator built and set up in Haarlem. This subsequently became the most prominent item in the Museum’s world-class, publicly accessible, and constantly growing collections. These comprised scientific instruments, mineralogical and palaeontological specimens, prints, drawings, paintings, and coins. Van Marum’s successors continued to uphold the institution’s prestige and use the collections for research purposes, while it was increasingly perceived as an art museum by the public. In the early twentieth century, the Nobel Prize laureate Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was appointed head of the scientific instrument collection and conducted experiments on the Museum’s premises. Showcasing Science: A History of Teylers Museum in the Nineteenth Century charts the history of Teylers Museum from its inception until Lorentz’ tenure. From the vantage point of the Museum’s scientific instrument collection, this book gives an analysis of the changing public role of Teylers Museum over the course of the nineteenth century.

The Correspondence of Isaac Newton
  • Volume 7, 1718–1727
  • Isaac Newton
  • Edited by A. Rupert Hall, Laura Tilling
  • Published online:
    17 November 2020
    Print publication:
    02 February 1978
  • In this seventh and final volume the letters are divided into two quite distinct groups. The first group begins with the remaining letters of the main chronological sequence written during the closing years of Newton's life, and then proceeds to those few letters to which there is no assignable date with any certainty. The second group of letters, placed in Appendix I, contains corrections and additions to the letters printed in the earlier volumes of the Correspondence. A genealogical table is added to Appendix II to help the reader through the intricacies of Newton's family tree. Even after the creative power of his genius had deserted him, Newton retained to the very end of his long life the characteristic clarity of his thought. Few of Newton's letters in this volume may justly be described as scientific. The relative inactivity of the Mint meant that, although he apparently delegated few of his responsibilities to others, Newton's concerns there were no onerous. Thus it is not surprising that in the last nine years of his life (the period covered in this volume), and particularly from 1725 onwards, there was a decrease in Newton's output of letters; but those which he did write remain as lucid as ever.

The Correspondence of Isaac Newton
  • Volume 6, 1713–1718
  • Isaac Newton
  • Edited by A. Rupert Hall, Laura Tilling
  • Published online:
    17 November 2020
    Print publication:
    22 July 1976
  • As Newton had by now entered his eighth decade, it can be no surprise that the correspondence in this sixth volume shows a marked decline in his activity and intellectual vigour. While the number of extant letters written by him on other that Mint business is relatively small, the majority of them are devoted to his controversy with Leibniz - Newton's dominant interest during this period. The correspondence of Newton shades gradually into the correspondence of the Newtonians. Thus notably Keill, De Moivre, Chamberlayne, Brook Taylor, the Abbe Conti and Des Maizeaux interested themselves in the calculus dispute, all of them (except the first) having frequent opportunities for personal conversation with Newton.

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