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Latest Books on Science & Tech
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Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
by Alan Stern
A New Horizons Principal Investigator and an award-winning NASA advisor share a behind-the-scenes account of the science, politics, egos and public expectations that shaped the New Horizons' mission to Pluto and beyond, citing the endeavor's boundary-breaking achievements and how they reflect the collective power of shared human goals.
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Brief Answers to the Big Questions
by Stephen Hawking
The world-famous cosmologist and #1 best-selling author of A Brief History of Time leaves us with his final thoughts on the universe’s biggest questions in a posthumous work.
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Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms
by Hannah Fry
A mathematician takes readers on a tour of the algorithms that automate our modern decisions, telling us what to watch and where to go and describes their inner workings, their limitations and the ways they can improve human systems.
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The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth: And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine
by Thomas Morris
This wryly humorous collection of stories about bizarre medical treatments and cases offers a unique portrait of Victorian medicine in all its grisly weirdness. A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the nineteenth century, with the most recent case in the 1960s, is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals.
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Attention: Dispatches From a Land of Distraction
by Joshua Cohen
A collection of essays offers sharp social criticism on a wide variety of topics, including politics, literature, art, music, travel, the media, psychology, fictional animals, Aretha Franklin, Edward Snowden, Gordon Lish and the closing of the Ringling Bros. circus.
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Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley
by Emily Chang
The host of Bloomberg Technology reveals how Silicon Valley got so sexist despite its utopian ideals, why bro culture endures despite decades of companies claiming the moral high ground, and how women are finally starting to speak out and fight back.
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The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos
by Christian Davenport
Traces the historic quest to rekindle the human exploration and colonization of space as navigated by today's leading billionaire entrepreneurs, sharing insights into how professional rivalry and Silicon Valley innovations are dramatically lowering the cost of space travel and exceeding the achievements of NASA.
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Rising: Dispatches From the New American Shore
by Elizabeth A. Rush
A journalist, weaving firsthand accounts from the people and places imperiled by climate change in the United States today, takes readers to the places hardest hit by the rising seas, which are transforming the coastline of the U.S. in irrevocable ways.
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The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect
by Judea Pearl
Examines the study of causality, which had been eschewed for decades by scientists who believed that correlation did not imply causation and explains how cause and effect shows the essence of the human thought process and is the key to artificial intelligence.
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Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood
by Rose George
A freelance journalist explores the science, traditions and myths surrounding blood, from ancient bloodletting practices to the development of mass blood donations during the Blitz and from researchers working on synthetic blood to the lucrative business of plasma transfusions.
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Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
by John Carreyrou
Recounts the story behind Theranos, the medical equipment company that misled investors to believe they developed a revolutionary blood testing machine, detailing how its CEO perpetuated the lie to bolster the value of the company by billions.
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The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution
by Charles Cockell
Biologist Charles Cockell makes the surprising argument that the Universe constrains life, making its evolutionary outcomes quite predictable-in short, if we were to find, onsome distant planet, something very much like a lady bug eating something very much like an aphid that had itself just been feeding on the sap of something very much like a flower, we shouldn't at all be surprised. There is just a narrow set of mathematical solutions to the challenges of existence. Any natural environment usually has multiple challenges to survival in it, each associated to a physical equation.
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Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth
by Adam Frank
The astrophysicist and NPR commentator traces beliefs about alien intelligence from the ancient Greeks to the theories of today's leading minds, drawing on the latest research to consider how other worlds may have addressed civilization-driven climate change.
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Heart: A History
by Sandeep Jauhar
A leading cardiologist and author of Doctored and Intern examines the recent dismantling of historical taboos and the development of transformative heart procedures that have changed how we live and what we understand about illness.
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The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World
by Stephen Brusatte
The "resident paleontologist" for BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs presents a narrative scientific history of the dinosaur eras that examines their origins, habitats, extinction and living legacy, chronicling nearly 200 million years of their evolution from small shadow dwellers through the emergences of prehistoric ancestors that became more than 10,000 modern bird species.
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Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray
by Sabine Hossenfelder
The author argues that the idea that the best theories in physics are beautiful, natural and elegant has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity.
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She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
by Carl Zimmer
The award-winning columnist and author of Parasite Rex presents a history of our understanding of heredity and how it has shaped human society, chronicling the transitions brought about by gene research and sharing anecdotal insights into his own family's experiences while making predictions about how evolving understandings are likely to impact the future.
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Close Encounters with Humankind: A Paleoanthropologist Investigates Our Evolving Species
by Sang-Hee Lee
An international best-seller by Korea's first paleoanthropologist explores how the field enables new insights into some of the world's leading evolutionary questions, drawing on cutting-edge findings to explore such topics as the life cycles of ancient people, the origins of social nature and the common traits between today's humans and Neanderthals.
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Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
by Ben Goldfarb
An environmental journalist discusses why beavers are so important to the ecosystem and follows a growing number of passionate "Beaver Believers," including scientists, ranchers and regular citizens, who are working to help restore the helpful rodent to its habitat.
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Einstein's Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes
by Chris Impey
An astronomer and critically-acclaimed author answers questions on the cutting edge of astrophysics to explores the fascinating science of black holes and their role in theoretical physics from Einstein's equations of general relativity to testing string theory.
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The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life
by David Quammen
Offers a guide to the evolving current understanding of evolution and human nature that explores the role played by horizontal gene transfer, or the movement of genes across species lines
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