Kirjahaku

Why is the night sky dark? How do dolphins sleep without drowning? Why do hangovers occur? Will time travel ever be a reality? What makes a knuckleball appear to flutter? Why are craters always round?There's only one source to turn to for the answers to the most puzzling and thought-provoking questions about the world of science: Scientific American. Writing in a fun and accessible style, an esteemed team of scientists and educators will lead you on a wild ride from the far reaches of the universe to the natural world right in your own backyard. Along the way, you'll discover solutions to some of life's quirkiest conundrums, such as why cats purr, how frogs survive winter without freezing, why snowflakes are symmetrical, and much more. Even if you haven't picked up a science book since your school days, these tantalizing Q & A's will shed new light on the world around you, inside you, below you, above you, and beyond

Automatic Control: A Scientific American Book is a comprehensive guide to the principles and applications of automatic control systems. Written by the editors of Scientific American, this book covers the fundamental concepts of control theory, including feedback control, stability analysis, and optimal control. It also explores the practical aspects of control system design, such as modeling and simulation, control algorithms, and hardware implementation.The book begins with an introduction to the basic concepts of control theory, including open-loop and closed-loop control, feedback control, and system stability. It then delves into the mathematical foundations of control theory, including Laplace transforms, transfer functions, and state-space models. The book also covers advanced topics such as robust control, adaptive control, and nonlinear control.In addition to theory, the book provides practical guidance on control system design and implementation. It includes detailed discussions on modeling and simulation, control algorithms, and hardware implementation. The book also covers the latest developments in control technology, including digital control, networked control systems, and intelligent control.Overall, Automatic Control: A Scientific American Book is an essential resource for engineers, scientists, and students who want to understand the principles and applications of automatic control systems. It provides a clear and concise introduction to control theory, along with practical guidance on system design and implementation.Contributing Authors Include Ernest Nagel, Arnold Tustin, Gordon S. Brown, And Many Others.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Every issue of Scientific American and Scientific American Mind has breaking news about how the brain works--and how it can stay healthy longer. Neurologists and psychologists are finding the brain at midlife--from 40 to 65 and even beyond--is much more elastic and more supple than anyone ever realized. Far from disintegrating, healthy maturing brains fade quite slowly-- and even in old old age, continue to make new connections and bring new cognitive systems on line. Short-term memory may not be what it was, but we manage information and parse meanings in new--and often more effective-ways than we did in youth. What's more, temperament changes to suit those new skills, as research shows we actually grow happier as we age, more comfortable with ambiguity and less susceptible to frustration or irritation. This book shows how to optimize your aging brain, how we can achieve a new level of perspective and involvement while retaining mental skills and productivity in our later years--and what neuroscience is finding about keeping our brains healthy. Current and future interventions are documented to enhance our mental powers.

Self-improvement is a lifelong quest. We all have things we'd like to change about ourselves, which is why many people make New Year's resolutions. Yet, research shows that only about 8 percent of resolution-makers achieve their goals. Changing personal habits is both hugely difficult and hugely rewarding. Here, Scientific American offers this guide on breaking bad habits and the ultimate satisfaction of making difficult life changes.

The Book of Revelation, the Maya, Nostradamus--humans have speculated about the end since, well, the beginning. In this book, we look at several "end of the world" scenarios--or at least, things that could make human life really difficult.

Since the Industrial Revolution, our civilization has depended on fossil fuels for energy--first it was coal; then petroleum. If business as usual continues, we are looking at a world where sea levels will be high enough to submerge many coastal cities and extreme weather events like 2012's Hurricane Sandy are the new normal. In this audiobook, The Future of Energy: Earth, Wind, and Fire, we review the energy problem and analyze the options from the mundane to the far out.

Charles Robert Darwin's 1859 landmark book On the Origin of Species introduced the theory of biological evolution to the masses and kicked off a controversy of ideas that persists to this day.Darwin knew he would face religious opposition to a theory of creation that differed from the story in Genesis, but he probably didn't imagine how long that opposition would last. More than 150 years after Origin, the fight over teaching evolution rages on.Creationists, or those who hold the belief that the universe and all life was made by divine creator, have tried to use a myriad of tactics either to ban the teaching of evolution entirely or to have creationism and intelligent design taught alongside one another in public schools. In Evolution vs. Creationism, we take a close look at the rise of Darwinism, the arguments and opposition by the creationist movement, whether faith and science can coexist, and what could happen if the US continues on an antiscience trajectory.With this book, we went from deep in our archives to current events to examine the revolutionary impact of Darwin's theory and the controversy that continues today.

How exactly do children become the adults they were meant to be?In this audiobook, Understanding Child Development, we investigate this profoundly complicated process from infancy through early childhood (the teenage years will be covered in a separate audiobook). Included in this collection are several seminal studies on infant cognition where researchers found evidence that many of our abilities are "pre-programmed." For example, most human infants are able to judge depth as soon as they can crawl, suggesting that we are born with an ability to perceive falling-off places without having to go through the trial-and-error process. Section two looks at how we learn to communicate using both symbols and language, and examines the process that toddlers must go through to learn to discriminate between an object and a representation of that object, such as a photograph. With the ability to communicate comes social development, covered in section three. The fourth section focuses on developmental disorders, from ADHD to Down syndrome, autism, and less common diseases that are linked to faulty genomic imprinting.Finally, we end with a section on parenting, which includes a Q&A on the evolutionary lessons of motherhood, and why cooperative parenting and community-based child-rearing is not only better for kids, but essential to their healthy development.

How exactly do children become the adults they were meant to be?In this audiobook, Understanding Child Development, we investigate this profoundly complicated process from infancy through early childhood (the teenage years will be covered in a separate audiobook). Included in this collection are several seminal studies on infant cognition where researchers found evidence that many of our abilities are "pre-programmed." For example, most human infants are able to judge depth as soon as they can crawl, suggesting that we are born with an ability to perceive falling-off places without having to go through the trial-and-error process. Section two looks at how we learn to communicate using both symbols and language, and examines the process that toddlers must go through to learn to discriminate between an object and a representation of that object, such as a photograph. With the ability to communicate comes social development, covered in section three. The fourth section focuses on developmental disorders, from ADHD to Down syndrome, autism, and less common diseases that are linked to faulty genomic imprinting.Finally, we end with a section on parenting, which includes a Q&A on the evolutionary lessons of motherhood, and why cooperative parenting and community-based child-rearing is not only better for kids, but essential to their healthy development.

How exactly do children become the adults they were meant to be?In this audiobook, Understanding Child Development, we investigate this profoundly complicated process from infancy through early childhood (the teenage years will be covered in a separate audiobook). Included in this collection are several seminal studies on infant cognition where researchers found evidence that many of our abilities are "pre-programmed." For example, most human infants are able to judge depth as soon as they can crawl, suggesting that we are born with an ability to perceive falling-off places without having to go through the trial-and-error process. Section two looks at how we learn to communicate using both symbols and language, and examines the process that toddlers must go through to learn to discriminate between an object and a representation of that object, such as a photograph. With the ability to communicate comes social development, covered in section three. The fourth section focuses on developmental disorders, from ADHD to Down syndrome, autism, and less common diseases that are linked to faulty genomic imprinting.Finally, we end with a section on parenting, which includes a Q&A on the evolutionary lessons of motherhood, and why cooperative parenting and community-based child-rearing is not only better for kids, but essential to their healthy development.

Boy or girl? Even before a person is born, that's the first thing everyone wants to know--underscoring just how much value human societies of all types place on gender.In His Brain, Her Brain, we take a closer look at the anatomical, chemical, and functional differences in the brains of men and women--as well as some surprising similarities. For instance, studies of infants find few differences in cognitive skills between boys and girls; but there is no denying that boys love trucks, whereas girls prefer dolls.While some gender differences are evident even on the first day of a baby's life, most of these discrepancies start out small but get amplified by our gender-obsessed culture. Tea parties and wrestling matches leave their stamp on growing brains, but the gap that separates boys and girls would be less noticeable if parents encouraged activities such as reading for boys and video games for girls.Few sex disparities are as hardwired as popular accounts make them out to be. A better understanding of the real--and imagined--differences between his brain and her brain can help us overcome cultural biases, improve communication, and strengthen relationships.