Earths Astronomy

As end-of-the-world scenarios go, an apocalyptic collision with an asteroid or comet is the new kid on the block, gaining respectability only in the last decade of the 20th century with the realization that the dinosaurs were wiped out by just such an impact. Now the science community is making up for lost time, with worldwide efforts to track the thousands of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects and plans for high-tech hardware that could deflect an incoming object from a collision course.

Los Angeles, 1930s: Everyone knows that rockets are just toys, the stuff of cranks and pulp magazines. Nevertheless, an earnest engineering student named Frank Malina sets out to prove the doubters wrong. With the help of his friend Jack Parsons, a grandiose and occult-obsessed explosives enthusiast, Malina embarks on a journey that takes him from junk yards and desert lots to the heights of the military-industrial complex.

Mars, the red planet, is ingrained in our culture, from David Bowie's extra-terrestrial spiders to Captain Scarlet to War of the Worlds. It has inspired hundreds of authors, scientists and science-fiction writers - but why? What is it about this particular planet that makes it so intriguing? Ancient mythologies defined Mars as a violent harbinger of war, star-gazers puzzled over its peculiar motion, and astrologers defined human personalities by its position and bizarre dance through the sky.

Explore the Earth's last frontier, learn how the dinosaurs died, or discover the direction human evolution is heading. The world's greatest scientists are at your disposal in Great Minds of Science. Let them take you to the very frontiers of science, with narratives full of genius, personal insight, and enlightenment. In this tribute to mankind's ingenuity and boundless curiosity, get detailed explanations about dinosaurs, viruses, evolution, oceanography, astronomy, and artificial intelligence.

In this intriguing recording, Professor Emeritus Timothy Ferris—one of the world's most respected science writers—explores man's search for life elsewhere in the universe. Ferris combines new discoveries about the origins of life as we know it on Earth with recent revelations about the sun's planets and their moons. Ferris explains why many scientists are convinced that life is abundant throughout the cosmos, and he considers how one day radio telescopes may be used to connect us to an intergalactic Internet and link us to alien civilizations in the far reaches of the universe.

Today, Elon Musk's SpaceX is building one human-rated reusable spacecraft every week designed to send 100 colonists to Mars on each voyage. With this brilliant plan, SpaceX aims to colonize the Red Planet. This is not science fiction. These ships are in construction every day at a startling pace in order to make humanity a multiplanetary species, beginning this decade. Departing Earth Forever is the first manual written to and for Martian colonists—and for humankind back on the home planet witnessing this single most historic and momentous event in human history.

Mind Openers 2.0 is the second installment in a two-part set. It takes a fresh look at relativity, cosmology, and quantum theory by imagining a “sandbox universe”, in which space and time are treated as tangible and visualizable phenomena. In addition to providing an intuitive feel for the physics, the model makes a number of acutely unexpected predictions. The author is a geophysicist (MSc, fellow of geoscientists, Canada) and educator, who specializes in translating scientific material for the non-expert.

Climate change has been a perplexing problem for years. Casey's research into the Sun's activity, which began almost a decade ago, resulted in discovery of a solar cycle that is now reversing from its global warming phase to that of dangerous global cooling for the next 30 years or more. This new cold climate will dramatically impact the world's citizens.

This pathbreaking book explores how life can begin, taking us from cosmic clouds of stardust, to volcanoes on Earth, to the modern chemistry laboratory. Seeking to understand life's connection to the stars, David Deamer introduces astrobiology, a new scientific discipline that studies the origin and evolution of life on Earth and relates it to the birth and death of stars, planet formation, interfaces between minerals, water, and atmosphere, and the physics and chemistry of carbon compounds.

We have long fantasized about finding life on planets other than our own. Yet even as we become aware of the vast expanses beyond our solar system, it remains clear that Earth is exceptional. The question is: Why? In Lucky Planet, astrobiologist David Waltham argues that Earth’s climate stability is what makes it uniquely able to support life, and it is nothing short of luck that made such conditions possible. The four-billion-year stretch of good weather that our planet has experienced is statistically so unlikely that chances are slim that we will ever encounter intelligent extraterrestrial others.

Em outubro de 2017, cientistas de um dos maiores observatórios espaciais do mundo — localizado no topo de um vulcão dormente no Havaí — detectaram um objeto transitando por nosso sistema solar. A primeira hipótese foi a de que se tratava de um mero asteroide, como tantos outros que cruzaram e seguem cruzando nossa galáxia. Mas os dados coletados pelo telescópio Pan-STARRS1 revelaram detalhes curiosos, e bem anômalos, no comportamento desse visitante.

Making earth science accessible and entertaining, The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth explains how our planet works - and how we can protect it - from its diverse ecosystems and their inhabitants to the levels of ecology, the importance of biodiversity, the cycles of nature, and more. Science- and nature-loving listeners of all ages will delight in this utterly charming guide to our amazing home.

In 2013, Kate Greene moved to Mars. That is, along with five fellow crew members, she embarked on NASA’s first HI-SEAS mission, a simulated Martian environment located on the slopes of Mauna Loa in Hawaii. For four months she lived, worked, and slept in an isolated geodesic dome, conducting a sleep study on her crew mates and gaining incredible insight into human behavior in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams, and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory.

Big History, the field that studies the entire known past of our universe to give context to human existence, has so far been the domain of historians. Geologist Walter Alvarez - best known for his Impact Theory explaining dinosaur extinction - makes a compelling case for a new, science-first approach to Big History.

This is Issue 98 of Cosmos, a quarterly science magazine. Produced by The Royal Institution of Australia, Cosmos aims to inspire curiosity in "The Science of Everything" and make the world of science accessible to everyone.

For anyone who has ever looked up at the stars and wondered what it all means, Issac Asimov’s Guide to Earth and Space is indispensible. Issac Asimov’s gift for popular and entertaining exposition has never been better deployed, with his succinct answers to the most intriguing questions about planets stars and galaxies. What are quasars? How was the Earth formed? Puzzled by pulsars? Perplexed by the Big Bang? Bewildered by black holes?

The secrets of science meet the drama of the high seas. Amir D. Aczel - the distinguished science writer behind God's Equation and Mystery of the Aleph - turns detective as he uncovers the fascinating story of the invention of the compass.

Wissensvermittlung mit Witz und Charme von Erfolgsautor Bill Bryson. Wie war das eigentlich mit dem Urknall? Warum starben die Dinosaurier aus? Was wiegt die Erde? Und wie ist das überhaupt möglich - die Erde zu wiegen? Erfolgsautor Bill Bryson nimmt mit auf eine atemberaubende Reise durch Zeit und Raum, berichtet über die Wunder des Universums, über die Erde und die Entstehungsgeschichte des Menschen. Dieser faszinierende Streifzug durch die Naturwissenschaften ist wie gemacht für alle, die endlich mehr über die Welt wissen wollen.

Stay curious with Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to travel to space and participate in NASA’s space program.

Naturwissenschaft leicht erzählt. Die Schwerkraft kann man mit einer Pfannkuchentorte erklären und die Relativitätstheorie mit dem Bauch einer dicken Katze. Klingt irre? Ist es auch! Vor allem, weil es funktioniert. Mit Begeisterung erzählt Johan Olsen vom Urknall über die Entstehung des Lebens bis zum Menschen. Er erklärt Atome, Relativitätstheorie, Moleküle und Proteine, also was man alles braucht um eine Welt zu erschaffen mittels humorvoller Veranschaulichungen - und warum der Mensch vielleicht doch nicht die Krone der Schöpfung ist.