Väga ja üsna head teadusraamatud

Amanda Gefter kirjutab New Scientisti kultuurilaboris Suurbritannia teadusakadeemia poolt esile tõstetud 2009. aasta parimatest teadusraamatutest, millest mõned on tema hinnangul väga head, ent mõned teised jällegi mitte nii väga head.

Every year the Royal Society Prize for Science Books celebrates the best in popular science writing. The six shortlisted books announced this week represent a diverse array of subjects and styles, ranging from history to philosophy, from evolutionary biology to cosmology. With some, I believe the judges got it right, but others struck me as odd choices.

DEWS

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Cycleton One

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Voodilutikate müsteeriumid

Donald G. McNeil Jr. kirjutab New York Timesis voodilutikatest, kes on inimest saatnud kaugetest aegadest alates, ent keda on sellele vaatamata üllatavalt vähe uuritud, ning kelle puhul on mitmeid vastamata küsimusi, mis sunnivad putukauurijaid nõutult kukalt kratsima.

Ask any expert why the bugs disappeared for 40 years, why they came roaring back in the late 1990s, even why they do not spread disease, and you hear one answer: “Good question.”

Andrew Lewicki - y=x²

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Ramadan

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Kättpidi vedelas lämmastikus

Theodore Gray selgitab Popular Science´i veebisaidil, miks tal õnnestus ilma tõsiseid külmakahjustusi saamata pista käsi lühikeseks hetkeks vedelasse lämmastikku.

My skin didn’t get hurt for the same reason that water droplets dance on a hot skillet. An insulating layer of steam forms almost instantly between the water and the metal, keeping the droplets relatively cool as they float for several seconds without actually touching the hot surface. To liquid nitrogen, flesh is like that skillet—a surface hundreds of degrees above its boiling point. So the moment my hand touched the liquid, it created a protective layer of evaporated nitrogen gas, just as the skillet created a layer of steam. That gave me just enough time to put my hand in and pull it out again. Any longer than that, and frostbite would have set in.

Sarah Joncas

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Poster

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Žižeki keskkonnaoopium ja ebatäiuslik reaalsus

Liz Elise vestleb New Scientistis raamatu Living in the End Times autori Slavoj Žižekiga, kes selgitab muuhulgas, miks on keskkonnakaitse muutumas uueks oopiumiks rahvale ning küsib, kas reaalsus võib olla ebatäiuslik.

There is an old philosophical idea about God being stupid and crazy, not finishing his creation. The idea is that God (but the point is to think about this without invoking God), when he created the world, made a crucial mistake by saying, "Humans are too stupid to progress beyond the atom, so I will not specify both the position and the velocity of the atom." What if reality itself is rather like a computer game where what goes on inside houses has not been programmed because it was not needed in the game? What if it is, in some sense, incomplete?

Dimitri Tsykalov

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Between Bears

autor: Eran Hilleli

Kuidas pääseda kurja koera käest

Fred Cicetti jagab LiveScience'is nõuandeid selle kohta, kuidas vähendada kurja koeraga kohtudes võimalust, et too sulle hambad sisse lööb.

Children often don't know how to act around dogs and frighten them into agressive behavior. Older people are more prone to being bitten by an agressive dog because they tend to be slower and weaker than younger adults.

Riiul

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THE TRIANGLE

Kas puu- ja aedviljad ennetavad kopsuvähki?

Alice Park tutvustab Time'is teadustööd, mis näitab, et erinevate aed- ja puuviljade söömine alandab suitsetajatel oluliselt kopsuvähi tekke tõenäosust.

Scientists in Europe report in the American Association for Cancer Research's journal that smokers who consumed the the greatest variety of fruits and vegetables lowered their risk of developing lung cancer by 23% over the study's nearly nine year follow up.

Vihmavari

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Harold Edgerton

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Nestea

agentuur: Publicis Publicitas

Kotori Kawashima

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Stuart Gibson

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Kuidas peatada asteroidi?

Robert Lamb toob Discovery Channeli veebisaidil kenasti illustreeritud moel esile kümme viisi, kuidas saab peatada Maale lähenevat ohtlikku asteroidi.

If Hollywood hasn't hammered this into you enough by now, here's one more reminder: A giant asteroid slamming into Earth is a bad thing. After all, how many dinosaurs have you heard reminiscing about the K-T boundary extinction event? The catalyst for the mass extinction of the human race could be hurtling toward Earth right now. In fact, many scientists would guarantee it. Fortunately, we already have at least 10 rough game plans on how to deal with the threat of near earth asteroids (NEAs). Sorry, movie fans, but none of them involve Bruce Willis.

Anna Halldin-Maule

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Liiv

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Reach

autor: Luke Randall

Linnud

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Mullid

Vaip

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Mortal Engine

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eBay

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Alex Prager

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BelCuore Cafe

agentuur: Ogilvy

Li Wei

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Autoripsmed

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