From the moment she's struck by lightening as a baby, it is clear that Mary Anning is marked for greatness. On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, she learns that she has "the eye"-and finds what no one else can see. When Mary uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious fathers on edge, the townspeople to vicious gossip, and the scientific world alight. In an arena dominated by...

The astronomer who inadvertently triggered the "demotion" of Pluto in his effort to officially recognize the solar system's tenth planet describes the ensuing debates and public outcry while revealing the behind-the-scenes story of his discovery.

Are smart phones really humanity's most significant innovation since the moon landings? Or can something else explain why the bold visions of the 20th century--fusion power, genetic enhancements, artificial intelligence, cures for common disease, extended human life, and a host of other world-changing advances--have remained beyond our grasp? Why has the high-tech future that seemed imminent in the 1960's failed to arrive? Perhaps it did arrive......

"In the spirit of 'A short history of nearly everything, ' an energetic and wide-ranging book of discovery and discoverers, of exploitation and celebration, and of superstition and science, all in search of the ways the chemical elements are woven into our culture, history, and language"--Provided by publisher.

Provides instructions for making seventy-five contraptions that demonstrate friction, gravity, energy, motion, and other principles of physics and explains how to think like an inventor.

The world is losing hope. Political and social infighting threaten to destroy the world. Rancor and hatred only grow stronger, engulfing entire nations. And each day moral and economic strife brings embroiled countries ever closer to war. But hope is not dead. Everywhere, pockets of human kindness and compassion continue to persevere. Where lives are cherished and virtue endures. And one small, extraordinary group fights to save us all. A team in...

For more than half a century, physicists and astronomers engaged in heated dispute over the possibility of black holes in the universe. The strange notion of a space-time abyss from which not even light escapes seemed to confound all logic. Now Marcia Bartusiak, author of Einstein's Unfinished Symphony and The Day We Found the Universe, recounts the frustrating, exhilarating, and at times humorous battles over one of history's most dazzling ideas. Bartusiak...

Presents brief explanations of inventions used in our everyday modern lives.

Funky, fascinating...and freaky! These are just some of the words that describe the captivating and sometimes strange world of scientific discovery. Worms with two heads, fruit that conducts electricity, and miniature brains that grow in petri dishes are a few of the totally weird topics in this volume, which demonstrates to readers just how bizarre science can be. While examining scientific peculiarities, readers will come to understand more about...

The Ngumi War of 2043 is taking its toll on Julian Class, a soldier who operates an indestructible, remote controlled war machine known as a soldierboy, so when he and his lover make a startling scientific discovery that could set the universe back to the beginning of time, he is very tempted to try it out.