Channel: Technology

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-pOn January 15, 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York when a flock of Canada Geese collided with it, destroying both of its engines. Over the next three minutes, the planes pilot, Chesley Sully Sullenberger, managed to glide it to a safe landing in the Hudson River. It was an instant media sensation---the Miracle on the Hudson---and Captain Sully was the hero.ppBut how much of the success of this dramatic landing can actually be credited to the genius of the pilot To what extent is the miracle on the Hudson the result of extraordinary---but not widely known, and in some cases quite controversial---advances in aviation and computer technology over the past 20 years pp In iFly by Wirei, journalist William Langewiesche takes us on a strange and unexpected journey into the fascinating world of advanced aviation. From the testing laboratories where engineers struggle to build a jet engine that can systematically resist bird attacks, through the creation of the A320 in France, to the political and social forces that have sought to minimize the impact of the revolutionary fly-by-wire technology, William Langewiesche assembles the untold stories necessary to truly understand the miracle on the Hudson, and makes us question our assumptions about human beings in modern aviation.p

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-Best-selling author Steven Johnson recounts - in dazzling, multidisciplinary fashion - the story of the brilliant man who embodied the relationship between science, religion, and politics for Americas Founding Fathers. iThe Invention of Airi is a title of world-changing ideas wrapped around a compelling narrative, a story of genius and violence and friendship in the midst of sweeping historical change that provokes us to recast our understanding of the Founding Fathers.pIt is the story of Joseph Priestley - scientist and theologian, protege of Benjamin Franklin, friend of Thomas Jefferson - an 18th-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the United States. And it is a story that only Steven Johnson, acclaimed juggler of disciplines and provocative ideas, can do justice to.pIn the 1780s, Priestley had established himself in his native England as a brilliant scientist, a prominent minister, and an outspoken advocate of the American Revolution, who had sustained long correspondences with Franklin, Jefferson, and John Adams. Ultimately, his radicalism made his life politically uncomfortable, and he fled to the nascent United States. Here, he was able to build conceptual bridges linking the scientific, political, and religious impulses that governed his life. And through his close relationships with the Founding Fathers - Jefferson credited Priestley as the man who prevented him from abandoning Christianity - he exerted profound if little-known influence on the shape and course of our history.pAs in his last best-selling work, iThe Ghost Mapi, Steven Johnson here uses a dramatic historical story to explore themes that have long engaged him.

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-pHere is a compelling investigation into one of our most coveted and cherished ideals, and the efforts of modern science to penetrate the mysterious nature of this timeless virtue. We all recognize wisdom, but defining it is more elusive. In this fascinating journey from philosophy to science, Stephen S. Hall gives us a dramatic history of wisdom, from its sudden emergence in four different locations (Greece, China, Israel, and India) in the fifth century B.C. to its modern manifestations in education, politics, and the workplace. ppWe learn how wisdom became the provenance of philosophy and religion through its embodiment in individuals such as Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus; how it has consistently been a catalyst for social change; and how revelatory work in the last 50 years by psychologists, economists, and neuroscientists has begun to shed light on the biology of cognitive traits long associated with wisdom and, in doing so, begun to suggest how we might cultivate it. ppHall explores the neural mechanisms for wise decision making; the conflict between the emotional and cognitive parts of the brain; the development of compassion, humility, and empathy; the effect of adversity and the impact of early-life stress on the development of wisdom; and how we can learn to optimize our future choices and future selves. Halls bracing exploration of the science of wisdom allows us to see this ancient virtue with fresh eyes, yet also makes clear that despite modern sciences most powerful efforts, wisdom continues to elude easy understanding.p

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-pA groundbreaking solution to the problem of induction, based on Ayn Rands theory of concepts. ppInspired by and expanding on a series of lectures presented by Leonard Peikoff, David Harriman presents a fascinating answer to the problem of induction-the epistemological question of how we can know the truth of inductive generalizations. Ayn Rand presented her revolutionary theory of concepts in her book Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. As Dr. Peikoff subsequently explored the concept of induction, he sought out David Harriman, a physicist who had taught philosophy, for his expert knowledge of the scientific discovery process. Here, Harriman presents the result of a collaboration between scientist and philosopher. ppBeginning with a detailed discussion of the role of mathematics and experimentation in validating generalizations in physics-looking closely at the reasoning of scientists such as Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Lavoisier, and Maxwell-Harriman skillfully argues that the inductive method used in philosophy is in principle indistinguishable from the method used in physics.p

This is just a test 2

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-pBest-selling author Brian Fagan brings early humans out of the deep freeze with his trademark mix of erudition, cutting-edge science, and vivid storytelling. ppiCro-Magnoni reveals human society in its infancy, facing enormous environmental challenges - including a rival species of humans, the Neanderthals. For ten millennia, Cro-Magnons lived side by side with Neanderthals, an encounter that Fagan fills with drama. Using their superior intellects and tools, these ingenious problem solvers survived harsh conditions that eventually extinguished their Neanderthal cousins. ppiCro-Magnoni captures the indomitable adaptability that has made Homo sapiens an unmatched success as a species. Living on a frozen continent with only the most basic tools, Ice Age humans survived and thrived.p

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-pIn this deeply original book, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy sets out in search of the telescopes and detectors that promise to answer the biggest questions in modern cosmology. Why is the universe expanding at an ever faster rate What is the nature of the dark matter that makes up almost a quarter of the universe Why does the universe appear fine-tuned for life Are there others besides our ownppAnanthaswamy soon finds himself at the ends of the earth in remote and sometimes dangerous places. Take the Atacama Desert in the Chilean Andes, one of the coldest, driest places on the planet, where not even a blade of grass can survive. Its spectacularly clear skies and dry atmosphere allow astronomers to gather brilliant images of galaxies billions of light-years away. Ananthaswamy takes us inside the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope on Mount Paranal, where four massive domes open to the sky each night like dragons waking up. He also takes us deep inside an abandoned iron mine in Minnesota, where half-mile-thick rock shields physicists as they hunt for elusive dark matter particles. And to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, where engineers are drilling 1.5 miles into the clearest ice on the planet. Theyre building the worlds largest neutrino detector, which could finally help reconcile quantum physics with Einsteins theory of general relativity.The stories of the people who work at these and other dramatic research sites, from Lake Baikal in Siberia to the Indian Astronomical Observatory in the Himalayas to the subterranean lair of the Large Hadron Collider make for a compelling new portrait of the universe and our quest to understand it.pp An atmospheric, engaging, and illuminating read, iThe Edge of Physicsi depicts science as a human process, bringing cosmology back down to earth in the most vivid terms. p

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-pWhy is life worth living What makes actions right or wrong What is reality and how do we know it iThe Brain and the Meaning of Lifei draws on research in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience to answer some of the most pressing questions about lifes nature and value. Paul Thagard argues that evidence requires the abandonment of many traditional ideas about the soul, free will, and immortality, and shows how brain science matters for fundamental issues about reality, morality, and the meaning of life. The ongoing Brain Revolution reveals how love, work, and play provide good reasons for living.ppDefending the superiority of evidence-based reasoning over religious faith and philosophical thought experiments, Thagard argues that minds are brains and that reality is what science can discover. Brains come to know reality through a combination of perception and reasoning. Just as important, our brains evaluate aspects of reality through emotions that can produce both good and bad decisions. Our cognitive and emotional abilities allow us to understand reality, decide effectively, act morally, and pursue the vital needs of love, work, and play. Wisdom consists of knowing what matters, why it matters, and how to achieve it.ppiThe Brain and the Meaning of Lifei shows how brain science helps to answer questions about the nature of mind and reality, while alleviating anxiety about the difficulty of life in a vast universe. The book integrates decades of multidisciplinary research, but its clear explanations and humor make it accessible to the general reader.p

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-John Forbes Nash, Jr., a prodigy and legend by the age of 30, dazzled the mathematical world by solving a series of deep problems deemed impossible by other mathematicians.pBut at the height of his fame, Nash suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown and began a harrowing descent into insanity, resigning his post at MIT, slipping into a series of bizarre delusions, and eventually becoming a dreamy, ghostlike figure at Princeton, scrawling numerological messages on blackboards. He was all but forgotten by the outside world - until, remarkably, he emerged from his madness to win the Nobel Prize.pA true drama, iA Beautiful Mindi is also a fascinating look at the extraordinary and fragile nature of genius.

Audible RSS Feeds - Science. Science Audio Programs. Science Audio Programs-Were used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In IThe Ego Tunneli, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain - an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is a virtual self in a virtual reality.pBut if the self is not real, why and how did it evolve How does the brain construct it Do we still have souls, free will, personal autonomy, or moral accountabilitypIn a time when the science of cognition is becoming as controversial as evolution, iThe Ego Tunneli provides a stunningly original take on the mystery of the mind.