Showing titles in Science & Engineering

If you want to know what criminal investigation is like in real life, then get ready for a podcast that puts YOU at the crime scene. This series will look at the latest developments, the famous cases and how the forensic scientists are meeting the challenge laid down by a criminal who is forensically aware. Lynda La Plante has always been fascinated by criminality and the people that solve crime. Her books are celebrated for their authentic depictions of crime scenes and police procedures – something she achieves through meticulous research with her colleague, CSI Cass Sutherland. Over six ...

The deep-learning revolution has brought us driverless cars, the greatly improved Google Translate, fluent conversations with Siri and Alexa, and enormous profits from automated trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Deep-learning networks can play poker better than professional poker players and defeat a world champion at Go. In this book, Terry Sejnowski explains how deep learning went from being an arcane academic field to a disruptive technology in the information economy.

This once-in-a-lifetime, 12-session recording captures one of the most unconventional and brilliant writers of this century in conversation, and makes available to Wilson's legion of fans a refreshing insider's view of this enigmatic (and often misunderstood) author. Join Wilson as he discusses such topics as futurist psychology, the paranormal, God, conspiracies real and imagined, James Joyce, guerrilla ontology, plus rare personal reflections on his extraordinary life.

In Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know, quantum physicist Michael G. Raymer distills the basic principles of such an abstract field, and addresses the many ways quantum physics is a key factor in today's science and beyond. The book tackles questions as broad as the meaning of quantum entanglement and as specific and timely as why governments worldwide are spending billions of dollars developing quantum technology research. Raymer's list of topics is diverse, and showcases the sheer range of questions and ideas in which quantum physics is involved.

Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves. Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes "backwards" sometimes; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.

In 1922, Howard Carter peered into Tutankhamun's tomb for the first time, the only light coming from the candle in his outstretched hand. Urged to tell what he was seeing through the small opening he had cut in the door to the tomb, the Egyptologist famously replied, "I see wonderful things". Carter's fabulous discovery is just one of the many spellbinding stories told in Three Stones Make a Wall.

When Rosanne and her husband left city life for the Cornwall idyll they knew little of farming, the seasons and milking, but over time they found their way, rising to each new challenge and embracing all that the land gave them. Growing Goats and Girls lovingly and invitingly charts the rural, hardworking and joyfully haphazard lives of Rosanne and her husband as they escape London to live off the land.

Since the dawn of humankind, mental illness has been one of our greatest causes of suffering as a species. But for the majority of our history, its causes have remained a mystery. Professor Karl Deisseroth shares his breakthrough discovery, optogenetics, a biological technique that allows us to decipher the brain's inner workings using light. With moving and revelatory stories from both personal and professional experience, he reveals what mental illnesses really are, why we suffer from them and the unexpected role they have played in our evolution.

In a book of unprecedented scope Iain McGilchrist presents a fascinating exploration of the differences between the brain’s left and right hemispheres and how those differences have affected society, history and culture. McGilchrist draws on a vast body of recent research in neuroscience and psychology to reveal that the difference is profound: the left hemisphere is detail oriented, while the right has greater breadth, flexibility and generosity.

A Mysterious Universe introduces the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics, theory of relativity, and cosmology to a novice in simple language. This concise book deals with deep issues related to the mysteries of modern physics.

Have you ever wondered what your dogs are thinking? What they're feeling? Now you finally can! The answers will surprise and delight you as scientist and dog-owner Alexandra Horowitz explains how our four-legged friends perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human.

In the 18th century, the British minister and mathematician Thomas Bayes devised a theorem that allowed him to assign probabilities to events that had never happened before. It languished in obscurity for centuries until computers came along and made it easy to crunch the numbers. Now, as the foundation of big data, Bayes's formula has become a linchpin of the digital economy. But here's where things get interesting: Bayes's theorem can also be used to lay odds on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, and on the biggest question of all: how long will humanity survive?

What does it mean to have a healthy, happy brain? Especially in the current climate, where our lifestyles are changing dramatically and our movements are being restricted, getting to know the factors that affect our brain function and the things we can actively do to improve it is crucial. Written in an accessible and engaging way for the nonscientist, this will be a comprehensive and up-to-date look at our current understanding, what a fast-changing field it is and how much we still don't know when it comes to disorders of the brain.

Penguin Audio presents Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark, read by Rob Shapiro. We stand at the beginning of a new era. What was once science fiction is fast becoming reality, as AI transforms war, crime, justice, jobs and society - and even our very sense of what it means to be human. More than any other technology, AI has the potential to revolutionise our collective future - and there's nobody better situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor and cofounder of the Future of Life Institute, whose work has helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

Plants play a critical role in how we experience our environment. They create calming green spaces, provide oxygen for us to breathe, and nourish our senses. In The Nature of Plants, ecologist and nursery owner Craig Huegel demystifies the complex lives of plants and provides listeners with an extensive tour into their workings.

In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson’s quest to find out everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. His challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. It's not so much about what we know, as about how we know what we know.

chin-wag: to have a chat, a friendly conversation. Actor Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma, author and philosopher, join forces for a freewheeling series of conversations that dive deep (like, really, really deep) into the wilderness of the mind. Featuring prominent guests from diverse fields, Chinwag is esoteric in the best way possible, as Paul and Stephen delve into anything and everything: Are we living in a simulation? What’s the most perfect sentence in literature? Is Bigfoot interdimensional? Science, the occult, philosophy, magic mushrooms… it’s all fair game! Unexpected, hilarious,...

Country Life magazine has been celebrating the best of life in Britain for over 126 years, from the castles and cottages that dot the land to the beautiful countryside around us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Looking for inspiration and insights to help you with your counselling work? Listen as Vicki Enns interviews experienced counsellors and professional helpers to explore a variety of counselling topics. Through these conversations, listeners will hear the unique perspective of the guests, as well as Vicki’s insights on the topic. Vicki is a therapist with over 25 years of experience, the Clinical Director of the Crisis & Trauma Resource Institute, and editor and a contributing author of Counselling Insights and Counselling in Relationships.