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| gaia royal society winton prize: Adventures in the Anthropocene Gaia Vince, 2014-10-20 A science journalist travels the world to explore humanity’s ecological devastation—and its potential for renewal in this “compelling read” (Guardian, UK). We live in times of profound environmental change. According to a growing scientific consensus, the dramatic results of man-made climate change have ushered the world into a new geological era: the Anthropocene, or Age of Man. As an editor at Nature, Gaia Vince couldn’t help but wonder if the greatest cause of this dramatic planetary change—humans’ singular ability to adapt and innovate—might also hold the key to our survival. To investigate this provocative question, Vince travelled the world in search of ordinary people making extraordinary changes to the way they live—and, in many cases, finding new ways to thrive. From Nepal to Patagonia and beyond, Vince journeys into mountains and deserts, forests and farmlands, to get an up close and personal view of our changing environment. Part science journal, part travelogue, Adventures in the Anthropocene recounts Vince’s journey, and introduces an essential new perspective on the future of life on Earth. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Transcendence Gaia Vince, 2020-01-21 In the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, a winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books shows how four tools enabled has us humans to control the destiny of our species A wondrous, visionary work. --Tim Flannery, scientist and author of the bestselling The Weather Makers What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution -- a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones -- caused a cultural explosion. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment, and culture that goes back into deep time. She explains how, through four key elements -- fire, language, beauty, and time -- our species diverged from the evolutionary path of all other animals, unleashing a compounding process that launched us into the Space Age and beyond. Provocative and poetic, Transcendence shows how a primate took dominion over nature and turned itself into something marvelous. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Grapes of Math Alex Bellos, 2014-06-10 From triangles, rotations and power laws, to cones, curves and the dreaded calculus, Alex takes you on a journey of mathematical discovery with his signature wit and limitless enthusiasm. He sifts through over 30,000 survey submissions to uncover the world’s favourite number, and meets a mathematician who looks for universes in his garage. He attends the World Mathematical Congress in India, and visits the engineer who designed the first roller-coaster loop. Get hooked on math as Alex delves deep into humankind’s turbulent relationship with numbers, and reveals how they have shaped the world we live in. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Life's Greatest Secret Matthew Cobb, 2015-07-07 Everyone has heard of the story of DNA as the story of Watson and Crick and Rosalind Franklin, but knowing the structure of DNA was only a part of a greater struggle to understand life's secrets. Life's Greatest Secret is the story of the discovery and cracking of the genetic code, the thing that ultimately enables a spiraling molecule to give rise to the life that exists all around us. This great scientific breakthrough has had farreaching consequences for how we understand ourselves and our place in the natural world, and for how we might take control of our (and life's) future. Life's Greatest Secret mixes remarkable insights, theoretical dead-ends, and ingenious experiments with the swift pace of a thriller. From New York to Paris, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Cambridge, England, and London to Moscow, the greatest discovery of twentieth-century biology was truly a global feat. Biologist and historian of science Matthew Cobb gives the full and rich account of the cooperation and competition between the eccentric characters -- mathematicians, physicists, information theorists, and biologists -- who contributed to this revolutionary new science. And, while every new discovery was a leap forward for science, Cobb shows how every new answer inevitably led to new questions that were at least as difficult to answer: just ask anyone who had hoped that the successful completion of the Human Genome Project was going to truly yield the book of life, or that a better understanding of epigenetics or junk DNA was going to be the final piece of the puzzle. But the setbacks and unexpected discoveries are what make the science exciting, and it is Matthew Cobb's telling that makes them worth reading. This is a riveting story of humans exploring what it is that makes us human and how the world works, and it is essential reading for anyone who'd like to explore those questions for themselves. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Man Who Couldn't Stop David Adam, 2015-01-20 Our siege mentality -- Bad thoughts -- The mademoiselle and the rat man -- An emerging obsession -- The OCD family -- Cruel to be kind -- The God obsession -- Animals and other relatives -- Man hands on misery to man -- The runaway brain -- Daddy's little helper -- The helicopter view -- Long live lobotomy -- Politics and prejudice -- A new dimension -- Final thoughts. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Inventing Ourselves Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, 2018-05-15 A tour through the groundbreaking science behind the enigmatic, but crucial, brain developments of adolescence and how those translate into teenage behavior The brain creates every feeling, emotion, and desire we experience, and stores every one of our memories. And yet, until very recently, scientists believed our brains were fully developed from childhood on. Now, thanks to imaging technology that enables us to look inside the living human brain at all ages, we know that this isn't so. Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, one of the world's leading researchers into adolescent neurology, explains precisely what is going on in the complex and fascinating brains of teenagers -- namely that the brain goes on developing and changing right through adolescence--with profound implications for the adults these young people will become. Drawing from cutting-edge research, including her own, Blakemore shows: How an adolescent brain differs from those of children and adults Why problem-free kids can turn into challenging teens What drives the excessive risk-taking and all-consuming relationships common among teenagers And why many mental illnesses -- depression, addiction, schizophrenia -- present during these formative years Blakemore's discoveries have transformed our understanding of the teenage mind, with consequences for law, education policy and practice, and, most of all, parents. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: What Do You Think You Are? Brian Clegg, 2020-04-23 'Gets right to the heart of what makes us what we are. Read it!' Angela Saini, author of Inferior and Superior: The Return of Race Science The popular science equivalent of Who Do You Think You Are? Popular science master Brian Clegg's new book is an entertaining tour through the science of what makes you you. From the atomic level, through life and energy to genetics and personality, it explores how the billions of particles which make up you - your DNA, your skin, your memories - have come to be. It starts with the present-day reader and follows a number of trails to discover their origins: how the atoms in your body were created and how they got to you in space and time, the sources of things you consume, how the living cells of your body developed, where your massive brain and consciousness originated, how human beings evolved and, ultimately, what your personal genetic history reveals. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Carbon John Barnett, 2021-05-12 A richly illustrated history of a single atom of carbon, tracing its many manifestations from the Big Bang to the present. Carbon: One Atom's Odyssey is an illustrated adaptation of 'Carbon,' a short story from Italian chemist, writer, and Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi. It traces the life story and many molecular manifestations of a single atom of this life-essential element. You'll follow one atom from its spectacular birth 14 billion years ago through its harrowing journey on planet earth where it has become a basic building block of nearly 10 million known compounds in living things. You’ll learn that carbon: Is breathed in by the Peregrine Falcon Helps trees grow strong and tall Lets a moth's eye make sense of light Is found in your pencil as well as in your liver And even helps convert grapes into wine In this wondrous graphic journey, clever narrative and detailed art help bring to life the natural world and teach you a thing or two about how it was created. For anyone with a general interest in chemistry, physics, and the science of the universe, this beautiful book will both educate and inspire. If you’re ready for a STEAM adventure, then let the journey begin! |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Life on the Edge Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili, 2015-07-28 New York Times bestseller • Life on the Edge alters our understanding of our world's fundamental dynamics through the use of quantum mechanics. Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation? Using first-hand experience at the cutting edge of science, Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe Macfadden reveal that missing ingredient to be quantum mechanics. Drawing on recent ground-breaking experiments around the world, each chapter in Life on the Edge illustrates one of life's puzzles: How do migrating birds know where to go? How do we really smell the scent of a rose? How do our genes copy themselves with such precision? Life on the Edge accessibly reveals how quantum mechanics can answer these probing questions of the universe. Guiding the reader through the rapidly unfolding discoveries of the last few years, Al-Khalili and McFadden describe the explosive new field of quantum biology and its potentially revolutionary applications, while offering insights into the biggest puzzle of all: what is life? As they brilliantly demonstrate in these groundbreaking pages, life exists on the quantum edge. Winner, Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication |
| gaia royal society winton prize: City of Lies Ramita Navai, 2014-05-08 'Timely and beautifully written' Sunday Times 'Phenomenal. An extraordinary insight into a country barely known - an often feared - by the West' Vogue 'Utterly compelling' Daily Mail 'Gripping, a dark, delicious unveiling . . . Deeply researched yet as exciting as a novel' Simon Sebag Montefiore Welcome to Tehran, a city where survival depends on a network of subterfuge. Here is a place where mullahs visit prostitutes, drug kingpins run crystal meth kitchens, surgeons restore girls' virginity and homemade porn is sold in the sprawling bazaars; a place where ordinary people are forced to lead extraordinary lives. Based on extensive interviews, CITY OF LIES chronicles the lives of eight men and women drawn from across the spectrum of Iranian society and reveals what it is to live, love and survive in one of the world's most repressive regimes. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Future Bioenergy and Sustainable Land Use Renate Schubert, German Advisory Council on Global Change, 2009-12 At head of title: German Advisory Council on Global Change. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: A Body Worth Defending Ed Cohen, 2009-10-16 Biological immunity as we know it does not exist until the late nineteenth century. Nor does the premise that organisms defend themselves at the cellular or molecular levels. For nearly two thousand years “immunity,” a legal concept invented in ancient Rome, serves almost exclusively political and juridical ends. “Self-defense” also originates in a juridico-political context; it emerges in the mid-seventeenth century, during the English Civil War, when Thomas Hobbes defines it as the first “natural right.” In the 1880s and 1890s, biomedicine fuses these two political precepts into one, creating a new vital function, “immunity-as-defense.” In A Body Worth Defending, Ed Cohen reveals the unacknowledged political, economic, and philosophical assumptions about the human body that biomedicine incorporates when it recruits immunity to safeguard the vulnerable living organism. Inspired by Michel Foucault’s writings about biopolitics and biopower, Cohen traces the migration of immunity from politics and law into the domains of medicine and science. Offering a genealogy of the concept, he illuminates a complex of thinking about modern bodies that percolates through European political, legal, philosophical, economic, governmental, scientific, and medical discourses from the mid-seventeenth century through the twentieth. He shows that by the late nineteenth century, “the body” literally incarnates modern notions of personhood. In this lively cultural rumination, Cohen argues that by embracing the idea of immunity-as-defense so exclusively, biomedicine naturalizes the individual as the privileged focus for identifying and treating illness, thereby devaluing or obscuring approaches to healing situated within communities or collectives. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Next Great Migration Sonia Shah, 2020-06-11 'A dazzlingly original picture of our relentlessly mobile species' NAOMI KLEIN 'Fascinating . . . Likely to prove prophetic in the coming months and years' OBSERVER 'A dazzling tour through 300 years of scientific history' PROSPECT 'A hugely entertaining, life-affirming and hopeful hymn to the glorious adaptability of life on earth' SCOTSMAN __________________ We are surrounded by stories of people on the move. Wild species, too, are escaping warming seas and desiccated lands in a mass exodus. Politicians and the media present this upheaval of migration patterns as unprecedented, blaming it for the spread of disease and conflict, and spreading anxiety across the world as a result. But the science and history of migration in animals, plants, and humans tell a different story. Far from being a disruptive behaviour, migration is an ancient and lifesaving response to environmental change, a biological imperative as necessary as breathing. Climate changes triggered the first human migrations out of Africa. Falling sea levels allowed our passage across the Bering Sea. Unhampered by borders, migration allowed our ancestors to people the planet, into the highest reaches of the Himalayan Mountains and the most remote islands of the Pacific, disseminating the biological, cultural and social diversity that ecosystems and societies depend upon. In other words, migration is not the crisis – it is the solution. __________________ Tracking the history of misinformation from the 18th century through to today's anti-immigration policies, The Next Great Migration makes the case for a future in which migration is not a source of fear, but of hope. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Chronicles of Wasted Time Malcolm Muggeridge, 1972 This first volume of the autobiography of an inveterate journalist and communicator ends in 1933 when the author was 30. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Climate Code Red David Spratt, Philip Sutton, 2008-06-30 This meticulously documented call-to-action reveals extensive scientific evidence that the global warming crisis is far worse than officially indicated — and that we’re almost at the point of no return. Serious climate-change impacts are already happening: large ice-sheets are disintegrating, sea-level rises will reach 5 metres this century, and we are seeing devastating species loss. It is no longer a case of how much more we can ‘safely’ emit, but whether we can stop emissions and produce a deliberate cooling before the Earth’s climate system reaches a point beyond any hope of human restoration. These imperatives are incompatible with ‘politics as usual’ and ‘business as usual’ — we face a sustainability emergency that urgently requires a clear break from the politics of failure-inducing compromise. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians Richard Moody, 2010 The discovery of dinosaurs and other large extinct saurians - a term under which the Victorians commonly lumped ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs and their kin - makes exciting reading and has caught the attention of palaeontologists, historians of science and the general public alike. The papers in this collection go beyond the familiar tales about famous fossil hunters and focus on relatively little-known episodes in the discovery and interpretation (from both a scientific and an artistic point of view) of dinosaurs and other inhabitants of the Mesozoic world. They cover a long time span, from the beginnings of modern scientific palaeontology in the 1700s to the present, and deal with many parts of the world, from the Yorkshire coast to Central India, from Bavaria to the Sahara. The characters in these stories include professional palaeontologists and geologists (some of them well-known, others quite obscure), explorers, amateur fossil collectors, and artists, linked together by their interest in Mesozoic creatures. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Eating the Sun Oliver Morton, 2009-11-17 Wherever there is greenery, photosynthesis is working to make oxygen, release energy, and create living matter from the raw material of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Without photosynthesis, there would be an empty world, an empty sky, and a sun that does nothing more than warm the rocks and reflect off the sea. Eating the Sun is the story of a world in crisis; an appreciation of the importance of plants; a history of the earth and the feuds and fantasies of warring scientists; a celebration of how the smallest things, enzymes and pigments, influence the largest things, the oceans, the rainforests, and the fossil fuel economy. Oliver Morton offers a fascinating, lively, profound look at nature's greatest miracle and sounds a much-needed call to arms—illuminating a potential crisis of climatic chaos and explaining how we can change our situation, for better or for worse. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Product Design Alex Milton, Paul Rodgers, 2011-08-29 Product Design offers a broad and comprehensive introduction to the field of product design and the key role of product designers. It follows through all the stages and activities involved in the creation of a new product – from concept design to manufacture, prototyping to marketing. It encourages the reader to challenge conventions and to think about the subject in new and exciting ways. The book also explores the diverse nature of product design, including new and emerging forms of practice. A rich overview of influential design movements and individuals are covered, together with interviews and examples from prominent product designers, and working practices and career guidance relevant to today. Full of visual examples and practical information, the book is an essential guide for students or anyone interested in product design. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Fever Sonia Shah, 2010-06-29 This deep dive into humanity’s very long fight against malaria is “a vivid and compelling history with a message that’s entirely relevant today” (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction). In a time when every emergent disease inspires waves of panic, why aren’t we doing more to eradicate one of our oldest foes? And how does a parasitic disease that we’ve known how to prevent for more than a century still infect 500 million people every year, killing nearly 1 million of them? Philanthropists from Laura Bush to Bono to Bill Gates have contributed to the effort to find a cure for malaria—but there’s much more that can be done to minimize its deadly effects. In The Fever, journalist Sonia Shah sets out to answer these questions, delivering a timely, inquisitive chronicle of the illness and its influence on human lives. Through the centuries, she finds, we’ve invested our hopes in a panoply of drugs and technologies, and invariably those hopes have been dashed. From the settling of the New World to the construction of the Panama Canal, through wars and the advances of the Industrial Revolution, Shah tracks malaria’s jagged ascent and the tragedies in its wake, revealing a parasite every bit as persistent as the insects that carry it. With distinguished prose and original reporting from Panama, Malawi, Cameroon, India, and elsewhere, The Fever captures the curiously fascinating, devastating history of this long-standing thorn in the side of humanity. “Fascinating . . . an absorbing account of human ingenuity and progress, and of their heartbreaking limitations.” —Publishers Weekly “A thrilling detective story, spanning centuries, about our erratic pursuit of a villain still at large . . . rich in colorful detail.” —Malcolm Molyneux, Professor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Smashing Physics Jon Butterworth, 2014-05-22 The discovery of the Higgs boson made headlines around the world. Two scientists, Peter Higgs and François Englert, whose theories predicted its existence, shared a Nobel Prize. The discovery was the culmination of the largest experiment ever run, the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. But what really is a Higgs boson and what does it do? How was it found? And how has its discovery changed our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature? And what did it feel like to be part of it? Jon Butterworth is one of the leading physicists at CERN and this book is the first popular inside account of the hunt for the Higgs. It is a story of incredible scientific collaboration, inspiring technological innovation and ground-breaking science. It is also the story of what happens when the world's most expensive experiment blows up, of neutrinos that may or may not travel faster than light, and the reality of life in an underground bunker in Switzerland. This book will also leave you with a working knowledge of the new physics and what the discovery of the Higgs particle means for how we define the laws of nature. It will take you to the cutting edge of modern scientific thinking. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Agriculture & Philosophy: Agricultural Science in Philosophy Lindsay Falvey, 2020-01-01 Agriculture and philosophy have been parts of a whole across history and remain so. Philosophy informs wellbeing and contentment amidst the vagaries of existence, the primary concern of which has always been security of food. Science, once known as natural philosophy, is a major means of philosophical advance today. Agricultural science is presented as comprising all of these components. The philosophical quest to be at ease in nature extends from pre-historical times into our unknown future, and employs diverse vehicles to convey insights across generations via myths, legends religion, academic study and ritual practices. Expressing esoteric concepts has employed agricultural metaphor across the historical era as it has been our most common interaction with nature. Continuing as our most widespread human interaction within nature, agriculture’s role in creating civilization, and later its writing, eventually led to an urban separation from nature including food production. Unifying the philosophy, agriculture and agricultural science across cultures and traditions from pre-agricultural times through the European Enlightenment to today, this work builds on neglected ancient insights. Perhaps the most profound of these insights is that our thoughts and actions may be seen as an integral part of nature. Rather than being independent agents with free will, our fears and guilt may be seen as active forces in the dynamics of nature itself, which includes our procurement of food. This conception offers a wider interaction than can be comprehended from current popular approaches. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: War and Algorithm Max Liljefors, Gregor Noll, Daniel Steuer, 2019-10-11 New military technologies are animated by fantasies of perfect knowledge, lawfulness, and vision that contrast sharply with the very real limits of human understanding, law, and vision. Thus, various kinds of violent acts are proliferating while their precise nature remains unclear. Especially man–machine ensembles, guided by algorithms, are operating in ways that challenge conceptual understanding. War and Algorithm looks at the increasing power of algorithms in these emerging forms of warfare from the perspectives of critical theory, philosophy, legal studies, and visual studies. The contributions in this volume grapple with the challenges posed by algorithmic warfare and trace the roots of new forms of war in the technological practices and forms of representation of the digital age. Together, these contributions provide a first step toward understanding—and resisting—our emerging world of war. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Entangled Life Merlin Sheldrake, 2020-05-12 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “brilliant [and] entrancing” (The Guardian) journey into the hidden lives of fungi—the great connectors of the living world—and their astonishing and intimate roles in human life, with the power to heal our bodies, expand our minds, and help us address our most urgent environmental problems. “Grand and dizzying in how thoroughly it recalibrates our understanding of the natural world.”—Ed Yong, author of An Immense World ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Time, BBC Science Focus, The Daily Mail, Geographical, The Times, The Telegraph, New Statesman, London Evening Standard, Science Friday When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave. In the first edition of this mind-bending book, Sheldrake introduced us to this mysterious but massively diverse kingdom of life. This exquisitely designed volume, abridged from the original, features more than one hundred full-color images that bring the spectacular variety, strangeness, and beauty of fungi to life as never before. Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They are metabolic masters, earth makers, and key players in most of life’s processes. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms—and our relationships with them—are changing our understanding of how life works. Winner of the Wainwright Prize, the Royal Society Science Book Prize, and the Guild of Food Writers Award • Shortlisted for the British Book Award • Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Nihilism Inc Arran Gare, 1996-01-01 |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Nomad Century Gaia Vince, 2022-08-23 “The MOST IMPORTANT BOOK I imagine I'll ever read.”—Mary Roach FROM AN AWARD-WINNING SCIENCE JOURNALIST comes an urgent investigation of environmental migration—the most underreported, seismic consequence of our climate crisis that will force us to change where—and how—we live. “An IMPORTANT and PROVOCATIVE start to a crucial conversation.” —Bill McKibben “We are facing a species emergency. We can survive, but to do so will require a planned and deliberate migration of a kind humanity has never before undertaken. This is the biggest human crisis you’ve never heard of.” Drought-hit regions bleeding those for whom a rural life has become untenable. Coastlines diminishing year on year. Wildfires and hurricanes leaving widening swaths of destruction. The culprit, most of us accept, is climate change, but not enough of us are confronting one of its biggest, and most present, consequences: a total reshaping of the earth’s human geography. As Gaia Vince points out early in Nomad Century, global migration has doubled in the past decade, on track to see literal billions displaced in the coming decades. What exactly is happening, Vince asks? And how will this new great migration reshape us all? In this deeply-reported clarion call, Vince draws on a career of environmental reporting and over two years of travel to the front lines of climate migration across the globe, to tell us how the changes already in play will transform our food, our cities, our politics, and much more. Her findings are answers we all need, now more than ever. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Decoding the Heavens Jo Marchant, 2009-08-18 In 1900 a group of sponge divers blown off course in the Mediterranean discovered an Ancient Greek shipwreck near the island of Antikythera dating from around 70 BC. Lying unnoticed for months amongst their hard-won haul was what appeared to be a formless lump of corroded rock, which turned out to be the most stunning scientific artefact we have from antiquity. For more than a century this 'Antikythera mechanism' - an ancient computer - puzzled academics, but now, more than 2000 years after the device was lost at sea, scientists have pieced together its intricate workings. In Decoding the Heavens, Jo Marchant tells for the first time the story of the 100-year quest to understand the Antikythera mechanism. Along the way she unearths a diverse cast of remarkable characters - ranging from Archimedes to Jacques Cousteau - and explores the deep roots of modern technology not only in Ancient Greece, the Islamic world and medieval Europe. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Animal Vegetable Criminal Mary Roach, 2022-10-06 AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF 2021 'Delightful' Ed Yong What's to be done about a drunken elephant? A monkey caught mugging passers-by? A trespassing squirrel? Follow Mary Roach as she investigates laser scarecrows, robo-hawks, human-elephant conflict specialists and monkey impersonators. Travel to the bear-busy back alleys of Aspen, the gull-vandalized floral displays at the Vatican and leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Himalayas. In this fresh, funny and thoroughly researched book, dive into the weird and wonderful moments when humanity and wildlife bump up against one another. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Brick Walls Saadia Faruqi, 2015-06-01 |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Peoplequake Fred Pearce, 2011 Wherever we look, population is the driver of the most toxic issues on the political agenda. But the population bomb is being defused. Half the world's women are having two children or fewer. Within a generation, the world's population will be falling. And we will all be getting very old. So should we welcome the return to centre stage of the tribal elders? Or is humanity facing a fate worse than environmental apocalypse? Brilliant, heretical and accessible to all, Fred Pearce takes on the matter that is fundamental to who we are and how we live, confronting our demographic demons. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: This Boy's Life Tobias Wolff, 2007-12-01 The PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author recounts coming of age in 1950s Washington State with his mother and abusive stepfather in this classic memoir. This unforgettable memoir, by one of our most gifted writers, introduces us to the young Toby Wolff, by turns tough and vulnerable, crafty and bumbling, and ultimately winning. Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move. As he fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff masterfully re-creates the frustrations, cruelties, and joys of adolescence. His various schemes—running away to Alaska, forging checks, and stealing cars—lead eventually to an act of outrageous self-invention that releases him into a new world of possibility. Praise for This Boy’s Life “Wolff writes in language that is lyrical without embellishment, defines his characters with exact strokes and perfectly pitched voices, [and] creates suspense around ordinary events, locating the deep mystery within them.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “[This] extraordinary memoir is so beautifully written that we not only root for the kid Wolff remembers, but we also are moved by the universality of his experience.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A work of genuine literary art . . . as grim and eerie as Great Expectations, as surreal and cruel as The Painted Bird, as comic and transcendent as Huckleberry Finn.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “Wolff’s genius is in his fine storytelling. This Boy’s Life reads and entertains as easily as a novel. Wolff’s writing and timing are superb, as are his depictions of those of us who endured the 50s.” —The Oregonian |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Almighty Dollar Dharshini David, 2018-02-22 Synopsis coming soon....... |
| gaia royal society winton prize: John Wayne Michael Munn, 2004 This in-depth look at the life of John Wayne differs in that the author met and worked with the legend. Michael Munn reveals how Wayne's beliefs nearly led to his assassination by Communists. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Idea of the Brain Matthew Cobb, 2020-04-21 An elegant, engrossing (Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal) examination of what we think we know about the brain and why -- despite technological advances -- the workings of our most essential organ remain a mystery. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough.--Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we still have only the vaguest idea of how the brain works. In The Idea of the Brain, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb traces how our conception of the brain has evolved over the centuries. Although it might seem to be a story of ever-increasing knowledge of biology, Cobb shows how our ideas about the brain have been shaped by each era's most significant technologies. Today we might think the brain is like a supercomputer. In the past, it has been compared to a telegraph, a telephone exchange, or some kind of hydraulic system. What will we think the brain is like tomorrow, when new technology arises? The result is an essential read for anyone interested in the complex processes that drive science and the forces that have shaped our marvelous brains. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society Cordelia Fine, 2017-01-24 “Beliefs about men and women are as old as humanity itself, but Fine’s funny, spiky book gives reason to hope that we’ve heard Testosterone rex’s last roar.” —Annie Murphy Paul, New York Times Book Review Many people believe that, at its core, biological sex is a fundamental force in human development. According to this false-yet-familiar story, the divisions between men and women are in nature alone and not part of culture. Drawing on evolutionary science, psychology, neuroscience, endocrinology, and philosophy, Testosterone Rex disproves this ingrained myth and calls for a more equal society based on both sexes’ full human potential. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Slave to Fashion Minney Safia, 2017-09-05 : “Slave to Fashion offers hope of a fairer, more ethical world and gives the reader plenty of tools to navigate a challenging fashion system.”—Livia Firth There are over 35 million people trapped in modern slavery today—the largest number of slaves in modern history. This is fueled by the global demand for cheap labor—which is what makes the fast fashion industry work. Slave to Fashion is a highly accessible book which uses brilliant design, personal stories, and easy-to-grasp infographics to raise awareness among common brand consumers. Fair trade and sustainable fashion expert Safia Minney draws on her extensive knowledge and personal experience to call attention to the human hardship that goes hand-in-hand with producing our clothes, and highlights what governments, business leaders, and consumers can do to call time on this unnecessary suffering. The product of a successful crowdfunding campaign, Slave to Fashion celebrates those fighting for justice and the many initiatives that are taking place. It contains a practical toolkit that all consumers can use to demand change from the companies that produce our clothes. Safia Minney is a pioneer in ethical business. She developed the fashion industry’s first fair trade supply chains and has helped to create social and organic standards to improve the lives of thousands of economically marginalized people in the developing world. Minney now brings her expertise and experience to help businesses embrace sustainability and transparency in their operations and branding. She is the author of several acclaimed books, including Naked Fashion and Slow Fashion. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Body Hunters Sonia Shah, 2012-03-13 Hailed by John le Carré as “an act of courage on the part of its author” and singled out for praise by the leading medical journals in the United States and the United Kingdom, The Body Hunters uncovers the real-life story behind le Carré's acclaimed novel The Constant Gardener and the feature film based on it. A trenchant exposé . . . meticulously researched and packed with documentary evidence (Publishers Weekly), Sonia Shah's riveting journalistic account shines a much-needed spotlight on a disturbing new global trend. Drawing on years of original research and reporting in Africa and Asia, Shah examines how the multinational pharmaceutical industry, in its quest to develop lucrative drugs, has begun exporting its clinical research trials to the developing world, where ethical oversight is minimal and desperate patients abound. As the New England Journal of Medicine notes, “it is critical that those engaged in drug development, clinical research and its oversight, research ethics, and policy know about these stories,” which tell of an impossible choice being faced by many of the world's poorest patients—be experimented upon or die for lack of medicine. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Last Stargazers Emily Levesque, 2020-08-04 The story of the people who see beyond the stars—an astronomy book for adults still spellbound by the night sky Embark on a captivating cosmic journey with The Last Stargazers. This enthralling book takes you on an awe-inspiring exploration of the night sky, offering a unique perspective on the vast celestial wonders that have fascinated humanity for millennia. Written by astrophysicist Dr. Emily Levesque, The Last Stargazers combines scientific expertise with captivating storytelling, making it the perfect companion for both astronomy enthusiasts and curious minds. Dr. Levesque's passion for the stars shines through as she shares her personal experiences and encounters while working at some of the world's most renowned observatories. Delve into the fascinating world of astronomy as you uncover the secrets of distant galaxies, supernovae, and elusive celestial phenomena. Discover: Inspiring narratives: Dr. Levesque's engaging storytelling transports readers to the front lines of astronomical research, providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a modern-day stargazer. Cutting-edge research: Stay up to date with the latest scientific breakthroughs and advancements in the field of astronomy, as Dr. Levesque shares her firsthand experiences and encounters. Accessible explanations: Complex astronomical concepts are made understandable and relatable, allowing readers of all backgrounds to appreciate and comprehend the wonders of the cosmos. Personal perspective: Gain insight into the personal journey of a dedicated scientist as she navigates the challenges and triumphs of studying the stars. Whether you're a seasoned astronomer, a casual stargazer, or simply someone with a curiosity about the universe, The Last Stargazers is an indispensable guide that will ignite your passion for the cosmos and leave you in awe of the wonders that lie beyond. Take a leap into the vast unknown on a celestial odyssey like no other. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Thinking Like a Planet J. Baird Callicott, 2014-01-06 Bringing together ecology, evolutionary moral psychology, and environmental ethics, J. Baird Callicott counters the narrative of blame and despair that prevails in contemporary discussions of climate ethics and offers a fresh, more optimistic approach. Whereas other environmental ethicists limit themselves to what Callicott calls Rational Individualism in discussing the problem of climate change only to conclude that, essentially, there is little hope that anything will be done in the face of its perfect moral storm (in Stephen Gardiner's words), Callicott refuses to accept this view. Instead, he encourages us to look to the Earth itself, and consider the crisis on grander spatial and temporal scales, as we have failed to in the past. Callicott supports this theory by exploring and enhancing Aldo Leopold's faint sketch of an Earth ethic in Some Fundamentals of Conservation in the Southwest, a seldom-studied text from the early days of environmental ethics that was written in 1923 but not published until 1979 after the environmental movement gathered strength. |
| gaia royal society winton prize: Pandemic Sonia Shah, 2016-02-16 Interweaving history, original reportage, and personal narrative, Pandemic explores the origins of epidemics, drawing parallels between the story of cholera-- one of history's most disruptive and deadly pathogens-- and the new pathogens that stalk humankind today-- |
| gaia royal society winton prize: The Information James Gleick, 2011-03-01 From the bestselling author of the acclaimed Chaos and Genius comes a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the big ideas of the modern era: Information, communication, and information theory. Acclaimed science writer James Gleick presents an eye-opening vision of how our relationship to information has transformed the very nature of human consciousness. A fascinating intellectual journey through the history of communication and information, from the language of Africa’s talking drums to the invention of written alphabets; from the electronic transmission of code to the origins of information theory, into the new information age and the current deluge of news, tweets, images, and blogs. Along the way, Gleick profiles key innovators, including Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Samuel Morse, and Claude Shannon, and reveals how our understanding of information is transforming not only how we look at the world, but how we live. A New York Times Notable Book A Los Angeles Times and Cleveland Plain Dealer Best Book of the Year Winner of the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award |
Welcome to Gaia | Gaia Online
Gaia Online is an online hangout, incorporating social networking, forums, gaming and a virtual world.
Newbie Guide to Gaia [Official Copy] | Page 1 - Gaia Online
Mar 22, 2006 · Gaia Marketplace: An area where you can sell and purchase items,It is faster then using the GAIA Exchange and much easier Gaia Exchange: A Forum used to Sell/Purchase …
How do I change my Avatar's Features? (A) - Gaia Online
Nov 25, 2015 · I checked around the General Gaia Forums for an answer to this question, but they all seem to be outdated. I am aware of how to dress my avatar, but as far as skin tone, …
Gaia on the Go | Gaia Online
Take the fun of Gaia Gaming with you no matter where you are by downloading the app-exclusive version of Gaia Switchem! Match three or more similar shapes to clear the board and raise …
f r e e & p r e m a d e [[ p r o f i l e s ]] | Page 1 - Gaia Online
Jun 26, 2010 · Gaia Online is an online hangout, incorporating social networking, forums, gaming and a virtual world. f r e e & p r e m a d e [[ p r o f i l e s ]] | Page 1 | - Resource Database: For …
What is Gaia? - Gaia Online
Gaia lets you define yourself any way you want. You can make your avatar funny, dark, cute, preppy, sexy, glamorous, sloppy, epic, or just stick a cat on your head and call it a day. With …
Gaia Community | Forums - Gaia Online
Gaia Community Discussion Discuss what's happening on Gaia-- the events, the stories, the NPCs, and more. Project Custom Discuss all the various Project items! Ask the Staff Archive …
Main Index | Forum - Gaia Online
Welcome to Gaia's forums, where millions of members gather to discuss random stuff, make new friends, complain about life, argue about nothing, laugh at dumb pictures, discuss serious …
Lolita Site Links | Page 1 | Lolita Madness Guild - Gaia Online
Jan 23, 2010 · Gaia Online is an online hangout, incorporating social networking, forums, gaming and a virtual world.
Gender Swap Potion | Virtual Item Detail - Gaia Online
Jun 29, 2010 · Due to the unstable nature of the magic involved, your eyes, skin color and hairstyle will randomly change, too. You can use as many of these potions as you want, but …
Welcome to Gaia | Gaia Online
Gaia Online is an online hangout, incorporating social networking, forums, gaming and a virtual world.
Newbie Guide to Gaia [Official Copy] | Page 1 - Gaia Online
Mar 22, 2006 · Gaia Marketplace: An area where you can sell and purchase items,It is faster then using the GAIA Exchange and much easier Gaia Exchange: A Forum used to Sell/Purchase …
How do I change my Avatar's Features? (A) - Gaia Online
Nov 25, 2015 · I checked around the General Gaia Forums for an answer to this question, but they all seem to be outdated. I am aware of how to dress my avatar, but as far as skin tone, …
Gaia on the Go | Gaia Online
Take the fun of Gaia Gaming with you no matter where you are by downloading the app-exclusive version of Gaia Switchem! Match three or more similar shapes to clear the board and raise …
f r e e & p r e m a d e [[ p r o f i l e s ]] | Page 1 - Gaia Online
Jun 26, 2010 · Gaia Online is an online hangout, incorporating social networking, forums, gaming and a virtual world. f r e e & p r e m a d e [[ p r o f i l e s ]] | Page 1 | - Resource Database: For …
What is Gaia? - Gaia Online
Gaia lets you define yourself any way you want. You can make your avatar funny, dark, cute, preppy, sexy, glamorous, sloppy, epic, or just stick a cat on your head and call it a day. With …
Gaia Community | Forums - Gaia Online
Gaia Community Discussion Discuss what's happening on Gaia-- the events, the stories, the NPCs, and more. Project Custom Discuss all the various Project items! Ask the Staff Archive …
Main Index | Forum - Gaia Online
Welcome to Gaia's forums, where millions of members gather to discuss random stuff, make new friends, complain about life, argue about nothing, laugh at dumb pictures, discuss serious …
Lolita Site Links | Page 1 | Lolita Madness Guild - Gaia Online
Jan 23, 2010 · Gaia Online is an online hangout, incorporating social networking, forums, gaming and a virtual world.
Gender Swap Potion | Virtual Item Detail - Gaia Online
Jun 29, 2010 · Due to the unstable nature of the magic involved, your eyes, skin color and hairstyle will randomly change, too. You can use as many of these potions as you want, but …
