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Waves, Sound, and Light
by Mcdougal-Littell StaffEach chapter in Waves, Sound, and Light covers some of the learning goals that are described in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and the Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy.
Waves & Their Applications, Module L (HMH Science Dimensions)
by Marjorie Frank Michael Heithaus Michael DiSpezioNIMAC-sourced textbook
Wax Deposition: Experimental Characterizations, Theoretical Modeling, and Field Practices (Emerging Trends And Technologies In Petroleum Engineering Ser.)
by Zhenyu HuangWax Deposition: Experimental Characterizations, Theoretical Modeling, and Field Practices covers the entire spectrum of knowledge on wax deposition. The book delivers a detailed description of the thermodynamic and transport theories for wax deposition modeling as well as a comprehensive review of laboratory testing for the establishment of appropr
The Way Kitchens Work: The Science Behind the Microwave, Teflon Pan, Garbage Disposal, and More
by Ed SobeyHow does a microwave heat food? Why is only one side of aluminum foil shiny? and Is it better to use cold or hot water in a garbage disposal? are among the questions answered in this guide that reveals the hidden science of the kitchen and its trappings. Profiling more than 50 common appliances and utensils, this handbook describes each item's history, reveals interesting trivia about the piece, and discusses the technology involved. In addition to featuring the original patent blueprints and photographs of the "guts" of the culinary tools, this guide recounts quirky side stories such as the role a waffle iron played in Nike's inception and the real reason why socialite Josephine Cochran invented the dishwasher in 1886. Those whose stovetop skills are still in development will appreciate the information on the invention and use of the smoke detector and hand-held fire extinguishers.
The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds
by Gavin Van HornA hiking trail through majestic mountains. A raw, unpeopled wilderness stretching as far as the eye can see. These are the settings we associate with our most famous books about nature. But Gavin Van Horn isn’t most nature writers. He lives and works not in some perfectly remote cabin in the woods but in a city—a big city. And that city has offered him something even more valuable than solitude: a window onto the surprising attractiveness of cities to animals. What was once in his mind essentially a nature-free blank slate turns out to actually be a bustling place where millions of wild things roam. He came to realize that our own paths are crisscrossed by the tracks and flyways of endangered black-crowned night herons, Cooper’s hawks, brown bats, coyotes, opossums, white-tailed deer, and many others who thread their lives ably through our own. With The Way of Coyote, Gavin Van Horn reveals the stupendous diversity of species that can flourish in urban landscapes like Chicago. That isn’t to say city living is without its challenges. Chicago has been altered dramatically over a relatively short timespan—its soils covered by concrete, its wetlands drained and refilled, its river diverted and made to flow in the opposite direction. The stories in The Way of Coyote occasionally lament lost abundance, but they also point toward incredible adaptability and resilience, such as that displayed by beavers plying the waters of human-constructed canals or peregrine falcons raising their young atop towering skyscrapers. Van Horn populates his stories with a remarkable range of urban wildlife and probes the philosophical and religious dimensions of what it means to coexist, drawing frequently from the wisdom of three unconventional guides—wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold, Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu, and the North American trickster figure Coyote. Ultimately, Van Horn sees vast potential for a more vibrant collective of ecological citizens as we take our cues from landscapes past and present. Part urban nature travelogue, part philosophical reflection on the role wildlife can play in waking us to a shared sense of place and fate, The Way of Coyote is a deeply personal journey that questions how we might best reconcile our own needs with the needs of other creatures in our shared urban habitats.
The Way of Science
by Dennis R. TrumbleMost people appreciate science on an obvious level. Modern medicine, electric lighting, rapid transportation, and long-distance communication are among the many benefits of science that have made life today healthier and more comfortable than people in earlier eras could have imagined. This book is about a deeper benefit of science, one that, while less obvious, may prove to be far more important in the long run: namely, the ability to look beyond our preconceptions and see the world and ourselves in a truer light. The author makes a compelling case that now more than ever the public at large needs to appreciate the critical-thinking tools that science has to offer and be educated in basic science literacy. Trumble emphasizes that the methods and facts of science are accessible to everyone, and that, contrary to popular belief, understanding science does not require extraordinary intelligence. He also notes that scientific rationality and critical thinking are not only good for our physical well-being but also are fully in sync with our highest moral codes. He illustrates the many ways in which the scientific worldview offers a profound sense of wonder, connectedness, and optimism about the human condition, an inspiring perspective that satisfies age-old spiritual aspirations. At a time of daunting environmental challenges and rampant misinformation, this provides a welcome corrective and reason to hope for the future.
The Way the Wind Blows: Climate Change, History, and Human Action (Historical Ecology Series)
by Joseph A. Tainter Susan Keech McIntosh Roderick J. McIntosh-- Robert W. Harms, Yale University
The Way the Wind Blows: Climate, History, and Human Action
by Joseph A. Tainter Susan Keech Mcintosh Roderick J. McintoshScientists and policymakers are beginning to understand in ever-increasing detail that environmental problems cannot be understood solely through the biophysical sciences. Environmental issues are fundamentally human issues and must be set in the context of social, political, cultural, and economic knowledge. The need both to understand how human beings in the past responded to climatic and other environmental changes and to synthesize the implications of these historical patterns for present-day sustainability spurred a conference of the world's leading scholars on the topic. The Way the Wind Blows is the rich result of that conference. Articles discuss the dynamics of climate, human perceptions of and responses to the environment, and issues of sustainability and resiliency. These themes are illustrated through discussions of human societies around the world and throughout history.
The Way the Wind Blows: Climate, History, and Human Action
by Joseph A. Tainter Susan Keech Mcintosh Roderick J. McintoshScientists and policymakers are beginning to understand in ever-increasing detail that environmental problems cannot be understood solely through the biophysical sciences. Environmental issues are fundamentally human issues and must be set in the context of social, political, cultural, and economic knowledge. The need both to understand how human beings in the past responded to climatic and other environmental changes and to synthesize the implications of these historical patterns for present-day sustainability spurred a conference of the world's leading scholars on the topic. The Way the Wind Blows is the rich result of that conference. Articles discuss the dynamics of climate, human perceptions of and responses to the environment, and issues of sustainability and resiliency. These themes are illustrated through discussions of human societies around the world and throughout history.
The Way Things Work
by David Macaulay Neil ArdleyWhat really makes the things around us tick? Did you know that the principle behind the zip fastener also governed the building of the pyramids? Or that the dentist's drill is a direct descendant of the first windmill? The inner workings of hundreds of machines and devices are explained in this fun, colourful and unique look at technology through time.
The Way Things Work Now
by David MacaulayA New York Times Bestseller Explainer-in-Chief David Macaulay updates the worldwide bestseller The New Way Things Work to capture the latest developments in the technology that most impacts our lives. Famously packed with information on the inner workings of everything from windmills to Wi-Fi, this extraordinary and humorous book both guides readers through the fundamental principles of machines, and shows how the developments of the past are building the world of tomorrow. This sweepingly revised edition embraces all of the latest developments, from touchscreens to 3D printer. Each scientific principle is brilliantly explained--with the help of a charming, if rather slow-witted, woolly mammoth. An illustrated survey of significant inventions closes the book, along with a glossary of technical terms, and an index. What possible link could there be between zippers and plows, dentist drills and windmills? Parking meters and meat grinders, jumbo jets and jackhammers, remote control and rockets, electric guitars and egg beaters? Macaulay explains them all.
The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More
by Ed Sobey Woody SobeyA Selection of the Scientific American Book ClubProfiling 50 of the world's most popular playthings--including their history, trivia, and the technology involved--this guide uncovers the hidden science of toys. Discover how an Etch A Sketch writes on its gray screen, why a boomerang returns after it is thrown, and how an RC car responds to a remote control device. Leaving no detail unrevealed, the guide includes original patent-application blueprints and photos of the "guts" of several devices. Inventors and museum curators also offer their observations of favorite gizmos while dispelling (or confirming) several toy legends. Complete with explanations of do-it-yourself experiments and tips on reverse engineering old toys to observe their interior mechanics, this entertaining and informative reference even provides pointers on how budding toy makers can build their own toys using only recycled materials and a little ingenuity.
Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World
by M. R. O'ConnorAt once far flung and intimate, a fascinating look at how finding our way make us human."A marvel of storytelling." —Kirkus (Starred Review) In this compelling narrative, O'Connor seeks out neuroscientists, anthropologists and master navigators to understand how navigation ultimately gave us our humanity. Biologists have been trying to solve the mystery of how organisms have the ability to migrate and orient with such precision—especially since our own adventurous ancestors spread across the world without maps or instruments. O'Connor goes to the Arctic, the Australian bush and the South Pacific to talk to masters of their environment who seek to preserve their traditions at a time when anyone can use a GPS to navigate. O’Connor explores the neurological basis of spatial orientation within the hippocampus. Without it, people inhabit a dream state, becoming amnesiacs incapable of finding their way, recalling the past, or imagining the future. Studies have shown that the more we exercise our cognitive mapping skills, the greater the grey matter and health of our hippocampus. O'Connor talks to scientists studying how atrophy in the hippocampus is associated with afflictions such as impaired memory, dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, depression and PTSD. Wayfinding is a captivating book that charts how our species' profound capacity for exploration, memory and storytelling results in topophilia, the love of place."O'Connor talked to just the right people in just the right places, and her narrative is a marvel of storytelling on its own merits, erudite but lightly worn. There are many reasons why people should make efforts to improve their geographical literacy, and O'Connor hits on many in this excellent book—devouring it makes for a good start." —Kirkus Reviews
Wayfinding Behavior: Cognitive Mapping and Other Spatial Processes
by Reginald G. GolledgeThe metaphor of a "cognitive map"has attracted wide interest since it was first proposed in the late 1940s. Researchers from fields as diverse as psychology, geography, and urban planning have explored how humans process and use spatial information, often with the view of explaining why people make wayfinding errors or what makes one person a better navigator than another. Cognitive psychologists have broken navigation down into its component steps and shown it to be an interplay of neurocognitive functions, such as "spatial updating"and "reference frames"or "perception-action couplings."But there has also been an intense debate among biologists over whether animals have cognitive maps or have other forms of internal spatial representations that allow them to behave as if they did. Yet until now, little has been done to relate research on human and non-human subjects in this area.In Wayfinding Behavior: Cognitive Mapping and Other Spatial Processes Reginald Golledge brings together a distinguished group of scholars to offer a unique and comprehensive survey of current research in these diverse fields. Among the common themes they discover is the psychologists' "black box"approach, in which the internal mechanisms of spatial perception and route planning are modeled or constructed, like metaphors, based on the behavioral evidence. Cognitive neuroscientists, on the other hand, have attempted to discover the neurocognitive basis for spatial behavior. (They have shown, for example, that damage in the hippocampus system invariably impairs the ability of animals and humans to learn about, remember, and navigate through environments, and studies in humans show that neurons in this system code for location, direction, and distance, thereby providing the elements needed for a mapping system.) Artificial intelligence and robotics theorists attempt to construct intelligent mapping systems using computer technology. In these areas, there is growing evidence that, as in human wayfinding processes, useful representations cannot be achieved without sacrificing completeness and precision.Wayfinding Behavior: Cognitive Mapping and Other Spatial Processes offers not only state-of-the-art knowledge about "wayfinding, "but also represents a point of departure for future interdisciplinary studies. "The more we know," concludes volume editor Reginald Golledge, "about how humans or other species can navigate, wayfind, sense, record and use spatial information, the more effective will be the building of future guidance systems, and the more natural it will be for human beings to understand and control those systems."
Waylon! Even More Awesome: Even More Awesome (Waylon #2)
by Sara PennypackerWaylon thinks most problems can be solved with science. But when it comes to having to share a dog with Baxter Boylen, science may not be very helpful. Baxter is the closest thing to a juvenile delinquent Waylon has ever met. He's always getting called to Principal Rice's office, and now he's even having meetings with the chief of police. At least the two boys can visit their dog, Dumpster Eddy, while they're at the station. Eddy is behind bars in the Stray Animals' Lock-up. When a new Animal Control officer takes over, it looks as though the dog's days are numbered. Waylon comes up with a science-y plan to save Eddy, but can he trust Baxter to help him carry it out?
Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
by James BridleArtist, technologist, and philosopher James Bridle’s Ways of Being is a brilliant, searching exploration of different kinds of intelligence—plant, animal, human, artificial—and how they transform our understanding of humans’ place in the cosmos.What does it mean to be intelligent? Is it something unique to humans, or shared with other beings—beings of flesh, wood, stone, and silicon? The last few years have seen rapid advances in “artificial” intelligence. But as it approaches, it also gets weirder: rather than a friend or helpmate, AI increasingly appears as something stranger than we ever imagined, an alien invention that threatens to decenter and supplant us. At the same time, we’re only just becoming aware of the other intelligences which have been with us all along, even if we’ve failed to recognize or acknowledge them. These others—the animals, plants, and natural systems that surround us are slowly revealing their complexity, agency, and knowledge, just as the technologies we’ve built to sustain ourselves are threatening to cause their extinction, and ours. What can we learn from them, and how can we change ourselves, our technologies, our societies, and our politics, to live better and more equitably with one another and the non-human world?Artist and maverick thinker James Bridle drawn on biology and physics, computation, literature, art, and philosophy, to answer these unsettling questions. Startling and bold, Ways of Being explores the fascinating, strange and multitudinous forms of knowing, doing, and being which are becoming evident in the present, and which are essential for our survival.Includes illustrations
The Ways of the Wolf
by Smriti Prasadam-HallsWINNER of the English 7-11 Best Non-fiction Picture Book Award. Shortlisted for the SLA Awards 2018! The wolf stalks the wilderness and our own imaginations. Uncover its mysteries in this beautifully written non-fiction picture book.Majestic and fierce, proud and strong, the wolf has always been a source of fascination - and fear. It remains one of the most misunderstood of all creatures, frequently cast as our mortal enemy. The truth is that wolves and humans are more closely connected than we dare to admit. With beautifully lyrical language, Smriti Prasadam-Halls explores the lightning speed, echoing howl and family life of these mysterious animals, revealing astonishing facts and overturning misconceptions as she does so. Wildlife illustrator Jonathan Woodward brings the creatures to life with breathtaking papercut collage artwork. This is non-fiction storytelling at its very finest.The Ways of the Wolf has been endorsed by the UK Wolf Conservation Trust.IN THE SAME SERIES: The World of the Whale.
Ways of Thinking in STEM-based Problem Solving: Teaching and Learning in a New Era
by Lyn D. English Timothy LehmannTaking a future-oriented approach, this book addresses students’ ways of thinking in STEM-based problem solving. It provides a rich set of chapters that explore how we can advance important thinking skills in STEM education for K-12 students. STEM education is essential to understanding and solving many of the world’s major challenges. However, the kind of interdisciplinary modes of thinking required to tackle such unforeseen problems is lacking in most STEM education delivery. This book examines the various ways of thinking that can be applied to effective STEM-based problem solving across K-12 education. These include design and design-based thinking, systems thinking and modeling, critical thinking, innovative and adaptive thinking, intuition in problem solving, and computational and algorithmic thinking. Across the chapters, the authors’ interdisciplinary perspectives give further depth to understanding how students learn and apply their thinking to solve STEM-based problems. The book also provides guidance on how to assess ways of thinking in STEM education, to ensure educators can recognize students’ progress and development.Bringing together a team of international experts, this book is essential reading for pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in STEM education.
Ways Out of the Climate Catastrophe: Ingredients for a Sustainable Energy and Climate Policy
by Lars JaegerFloods, species extinction, migration, droughts, super tornadoes - climate change is no longer a threat looming on the horizon but has long since become part of our everyday lives. Limiting the emerging and worsening climate changes is one of the most important challenges of our time.All human induced climate impacts can be traced back to a single factor: Energy. This book provides a comprehensive and readable introduction to the interplay between energy and climate, which also includes the fields of technology, economics, and politics. At the same time, the issue is highly complex and can only be understood in all its details by expert scientists, meaning that the facts are often poorly presented in the political discussion about climate. To put it simply: If we want to stop and even reverse the current climate trends, we need to find answers to the following three questions: · How exactly does our existing way of consuming energy affect the climate? · What options are there for generating energy without negative climate effects, and what do these mean for our lives? · What technological advances will directly help us to achieve this in future? In a non-alarmist yet entertaining manner, the book highlights the key determinants of global energy supply. Readers will come to appreciate the crucial facts about "energy and climate", will be up to date with the latest scientific and technological knowledge, and will understand the global political and economic framework that we need to consider when designing an appropriate future energy and climate policy. At the same time, the author conveys a clear and optimistic message: We already have the technical capabilities (which will be further enhanced in the future) to reverse the devastating climate trends without significantly limiting prosperity. The obstacles lie primarily in economic and political "constraints" and particular conflicts of interest. “A very important book that explains one of the most essential questions of our time - how we can master climate change by an energy transition - with scientific precision and clear words.” Georg Kell, founder and former Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact
Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work: Seven Spiritual Practices in a Scientific Age
by Rupert SheldrakeTo go beyond is to move into a higher state of consciousness, to a place of bliss, greater understanding, love, and deep connectedness, a realm where we finally find life's meaning - experiences for which all spiritual seekers seek.Dr Rupert Sheldrake, writing as both a scientist and a spiritual explorer, looks at seven spiritual practices that are personally transformative and have scientifically measurable effects. He combines the latest scientific research with his extensive knowledge of mystical traditions around the world to show how we may tune into more-than-human realms of consciousness through psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, and by taking cannabis. He also shows how everyday activities can have mystical dimensions, including sports and learning from animals. He discusses traditional religious practices such as fasting, prayer, and the celebration of festivals and holy days.Why do these practices work? Are their effects all inside brains and essentially illusory? Or can we really make contact with forms of consciousness greater than our own? We are in the midst of a spiritual revival. This book is an essential guide.
Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work: Seven Spiritual Practices in a Scientific Age
by Rupert SheldrakeBy the author of The Science Delusion a detailed account of how science can authenticate spiritualityTo go beyond is to move into a higher state of consciousness, to a place of bliss, greater understanding, love, and deep connectedness, a realm where we finally find life's meaning - experiences for which all spiritual seekers seek.Dr Rupert Sheldrake, writing as both a scientist and a spiritual explorer, looks at seven spiritual practices that are personally transformative and have scientifically measurable effects. He combines the latest scientific research with his extensive knowledge of mystical traditions around the world to show how we may tune into more-than-human realms of consciousness through psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, and by taking cannabis. He also shows how everyday activities can have mystical dimensions, including sports and learning from animals. He discusses traditional religious practices such as fasting, prayer, and the celebration of festivals and holy days.Why do these practices work? Are their effects all inside brains and essentially illusory? Or can we really make contact with forms of consciousness greater than our own? We are in the midst of a spiritual revival. This book is an essential guide.(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Wayward Comet: A Descriptive History of Cometary Orbits, Kepler's Problem and the Cometarium
by Martin BeechComets have not only blazed across the celestial vault throughout human history, they have embellished the night sky since the Earth itself formed some 4.5 billion years ago. Comets were among the first-born solid bodies in the solar system, and their frozen nuclei tell of the primordial chemistry and chaos that ultimately resulted in the formation of the planets, the evolution of life and us. For all this, however, comets have long been celestial oddities: they baffled our distant ancestors, and human society continues to marvel and speculate wildly at their appearance even to the present day. Cutting against the perceived constancy of the stars, comets seemingly present themselves at random times and they are often interpreted as harbingers of terrestrial change - both good and ill. How then are we to tame the comet: where do they form, how do they move, and can their appearances be predicted? Such questions have preoccupied astronomers for centuries but comets have only gradually allowed the secrets of their wayward flight to be revealed. In this book I explore the historical struggle to understand not only the place of comets within a societal context, but also the scientific quest to make their paths amenable to mathematical certitude. The latter narrative is the more technical in content, but it took tactile form with the invention, in 1732, of the cometarium, a mechanical device to demonstrate the first two of Kepler's planetary laws. And, this development was later paralleled, in the mid to late 19th century, by the development of various mechanical devices (analog computers) to help obtain solutions to Kepler's Problem - the problem which asks, exactly where in its orbit is a given comet at some specific set time. The telling of the wayward comets story covers the past two millennia of human history, and it takes us from the phenomenological musings of Aristotle, through the exactitude of Newton's gravitational theory and calculus, to the truly incredible study of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, in the modern era.
WCFS2019: Proceedings of the World Conference on Floating Solutions (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering #41)
by Chien Ming Wang Soon Heng Lim Zhi Yung TayThis book highlights recent research and developments in floating structures on rivers, lakes, seas and oceans for energy harvesting, aquaculture and farming, leisure activities, infrastructure, industrial plants, real estate and cities, with a focus on sustainably living, relaxing and working offshore. Bringing together international experts and leaders, from both industry and academia it reviews and discusses ocean space utilization, and offers an ideal platform for those wanting to establish new collaborations on floating structure projects.
We All Feel: Understanding Animal Grief & Love (Chicago Shorts)
by Barbara J. KingFrom the time of our earliest childhood encounters with animals, we casually ascribe familiar emotions to them, though scientists have long cautioned against such anthropomorphizing. Recently, however, things have begun to shift in the other direction, and anthropologist Barbara J. King is at the forefront of that movement, arguing strenuously that we can—and should—attend to animal emotions. In the stories she tells here, King relays how some farm animals—horses, goats, chickens, and ducks—bond with others and engage in mourning when their friends die. Here, too, dolphins and whales exhibit striking signs of suffering over the loss of babies and companions: a mother dolphin will not give up her dead baby, and whales risk stranding themselves in small groups rather than abandon kin. As part of a larger web of life, death, love, and loss, King calls our attention to emotions—both our own and those of our companion species.
We Are Agora: How Humanity Functions as a Single Superorganism That Shapes Our World and Our Future
by Byron ReeseDiscover a groundbreaking new way of thinking about life, society, and the future of our species that bridges science and human history. Could humans unknowingly be a part of a larger superorganism—one with its own motivations and goals, one that is alive, and conscious, and has the power to shape the future of our species? This is the fascinating theory from author and futurist Byron Reese, who calls this human superorganism &“Agora.&” In We Are Agora, Reese starts by asking the question, &“What is life and how did it form?&” From there, he looks at how multicellular life came about, how consciousness emerged, and how other superorganisms in nature have formed. Then, he poses eight big questions based on the Agora theory, including: If ants have colonies, bees have hives, and we have our bodies, how does Agora manifest itself? Does it have a body? Can Agora explain things that happen that are both under our control and near universally undesirable, such as war? How can Agora theory explain long-term progress we&’ve made in the world? In this unique and ambitious work that spans all of human history and looks boldly into its future, Reese melds science and history to look at the human species from a fresh new perspective. Told with his characteristic wit and compulsive readability, We Are Agora will give readers a better understanding of where we&’ve been, where we&’re going, and how our fates are intertwined.