"Quantum mechanics is humanity's finest scientific achievement. It explains why the sun shines and how your eyes can see. It's the theory behind the LEDs in your phone and the nuclear hearts of space probes. Every physicist agrees quantum physics is spectacularly successful. But ask them what quantum physics means, and the result will be a brawl. At stake is the nature of the Universe itself. What does it mean for something to be real? What is the...

"Summary Edward O. Wilson recalls his lifetime with ants-from his first boyhood encounters in the woods of Alabama to perilous journeys into the Brazilian rainforest." Ants are the most warlike of all animals, with colony pitted against colony. ... Their clashes dwarf Waterloo and Gettysburg," writes Edward O. Wilson in his most finely observed work in decades. In a myrmecological tour to such far-flung destinations as Mozambique and New Guinea, the...

Introduces readers to hurricanes, discussing hurricane formation, classification, weather preparedness, and the ever-evolving technology for predicting the behavior of these powerful storms.

"We are obsessed with the multiverse. From blockbuster movies Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once to television's The Man in the High Castle and Rick and Morty, the idea that there could be an infinite number of universes holding an infinite number of possibilities captivates us. And this fascination is not new - the fascination with these repetitions dates back to the philosophers of ancient Greece....

The renowned design writer on the extraordinary history of car design. In this lively and entertaining work, Witold Rybczynski--hailed as "one of the best writers on design working today" by Publishers Weekly--tells the story of the most distinctive cars in history and the artists, engineers, dreamers, and gearheads who created them. Delving into more than 170 years of ingenuity in design, technology, and engineering, he takes us from Carl Benz's...

Eight-year-old Ada Lace is determined to win the robot-building competition but is struggling with her art class so she soon wonders if there might be a way to use both science and art to solve her problems.

"A biologist takes us into the still mysterious world of koalas, from their marsupial ancestors to current threats to their existence. Koalas are one of the most beloved animals, but despite their celebrity, we are just learning much about their nature and history. Blending evolutionary biology, natural history, and ecology, biologist Danielle Clode tells us the story of these amazing marsupials. She looks at fossils of ancestral giant koalas three...

"Decades of research document plants' impressive abilities: they communicate with one another, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is the new evidence that plants may actually be sentient. Although plants may not have brains, their microscopic commerce exposes a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them...

"A structural engineer examines the seven most basic building blocks of engineering that have shaped the modern world"-- "Some of humanity's mightiest engineering achievements are small in scale--and, without them, the complex machinery on which our modern world runs would not exist. In Nuts and Bolts, structural engineer Roma Agrawal examines seven of these extraordinary elements: the nail, the wheel, the spring, the magnet, the lens, the string,...

Carson's writing teems with stunning, memorable images--the newly formed Earth cooling beneath an endlessly overcast sky; the centuries of nonstop rain that created the oceans; giant squids battling sperm whales hundreds of fathoms below the surface; and incredibly powerful tides moving 100 billion tons of water daily in the Bay of Fundy. Quite simply, she captures the mystery and allure of the ocean with a compelling blend of imagination and expertise....