Libros de Estudios generales, página 11 de 115

EL CEREBRO presenta al lector, de manera inteligente y asequible, y también con mucho humor pero sin caer en la divulgación trivial, todos los aspectos relacionados con el cerebro humano: percepción, inteligencia, consciencia, pensamiento, memoria, aprendizaje, creatividad, voluntad, sociabilidad, sueño, recuperacion. Este conjunto de temas es tratado de manera amena mediante ejemplos, actividades, infografias y esquemas. Al finalizar cada bloque se ofrecen experimentos ingeniosos y fascinantes que ayudan al lector a poner en practica como funciona el cerebro, el dispositivo de procesamiento de informacion mas complejo del universo.Divulgacion cientifica de calidad de la mano de New Scientist, el semanario sobre temas cientificos mas vendido en el mundo, que acompaña al lector en un viaje a traves de toda la variedad de peculiaridades del cerebro humano.

Coloquio de Crisy Newton dio, en el siglo XVII, sus títulos de nobleza a la física de los fenómenos repetitivos y reversibles. Todos sabemos la influencia que ésta ha tenido sobre el fulminante desarrollo del mundo contemporaneo. Esta fisica, sin embargo, no puede explicarlo todo. Ilya Prigogine (Premio Nobel de quimica en 1977) forma parte de los sabios del siglo XX que han lanzado la fisica sobre las nuevas vias: la de los fenomenos irreversibles, las fluctuaciones, los puntos de bifurcacion, las estructuras disipativas. Sus trabajos son una contribucion esencial al desarrollo de la fisica y de la quimica. Ademas tienen el gran valor de haber suscitado nuevas investigaciones en dominios tan diferentes como la economia, la sociologia, la biologia y la filosofia. Esta obra es el resultado del coloquio "Tiempo y devenir", a partir de la obra de Ilya Prigogine que se realizo en 1983 en el Centro Cultural Internacional de Cerisy-la-Salle y que reunio, en torno del profesor Prigogine, a eminentes especialistas para hacer un balance de sus trabajos.

Smell is arguably the most evocative of senses linked to memories and associations For most animals it is vital for survival For us it enriches our experience of the world our pleasure in food and drink and affects all human interaction Paolo Pelosi describes how scientists are finally unravelling the science of smell

Si hay historias que nos atraen, que desearíamos conocer en todos sus detalles, una, seguramente la más importante y atractiva, es la de cómo se ha ido transformando la vida en la Tierra, cómo pudieron surgir los primeros organismos unicelulares y luego asociarse formando estructuras pluricelulares complejas que dieron lugar a procesos en los que un huevo termina convirtiendose en un ser capaz de aprender a andar, hablar e integrarse en una sociedad. De las celulas a las civilizaciones, un libro profusamente ilustrado, ofrece una explicacion unificada, basada en unos pocos principios, de como la vida se fue transformando hasta producir civilizaciones complejas. Trata, por consiguiente, no solo de los procesos biologicos y evolutivos que dieron lugar a la variedad de organismos que existen, sino tambien de aprendizajes y culturas. Para ello, su autor, Enrico Coen, examina historias tan fascinantes como el desarrollo de la cebra, como hacen predicciones los perros, las pinturas rupestres de la cueva de Lascaux o la forma en que distingue nuestro cerebro una pintura de Modigliani de una de Rembrandt.a

Ciudadanos como somos de un pequeño planeta situado en uno de los innumerables sistemas solares que existen en el universo, según avanzamos en el conocimiento de este, surgen, inevitables, una serie de preguntas que tienen que ver con nuestra propia existencia. Preguntas como que lugar ocupamos en el cosmos y de que modo lo ocupamos. O como llegamos a ser. O si estamos solos en el universo. Cuestiones estas que, a su vez, nos conducen a plantearnosmas preguntas. Preguntas realmente complejas. ¿Que es la vida? ¿Como podemos reconocerla? ¿Como funciona?Este libro, La vida en el espacio, trata de contestar a cuestiones como estas o, cuando menos, mostrarnos lo que sabemos en la actualidad sobre ellas. Su protagonista es, en consecuencia, la astrobiologia, una disciplina joven y poco conocida -pero fascinante- que se ocupa del estudio cientifico de la vida que conocemos en la Tierra igual que de otras que es posible imaginar. Ciencia interdisciplinar donde las haya, la astrobiologia intenta reunir y dar coherencia a lo que dicen sobre la vida la astronomia, la fisica, la ciencia planetaria, la geologia, la quimica, la biologia y varias disciplinas mas.

Cómo nuestras ideas sobre la belleza y el arte se entrelazan con nuestra comprensión científica del cosmosEl premio Nobel Frank Wilczek nos guía en un viaje por descubrimientos relacionados, de Platón a Pitagoras y de ahi hasta el presente. El trabajo revolucionario de Wilczek en fisica cuantica estuvo inspirado por su intuicion de buscar un orden profundo de la belleza en la naturaleza. De hecho, todos los avances importantes de su carrera vinieron de esta intuicion: de asumir que el universo encarna formas bellas, formas cuyos distintivos son la simetriaarmonia, equilibrio, proporciony la economia. Hay otros significados de belleza, pero esa es la logica profunda del universo; y no es casualidad que tambien este en el corazon de lo que encontramos agradable e inspirador. Wilczek no es en absoluto el unico gran cientifico que ha trazado su itinerario utilizando la belleza como brujula. Como revela en El mundo como obra de arte, esto se ha situado en el corazon del empeño cientifico desde Pitagoras, el antiguo griego que proclamo por primera vez que todas las cosas son numero, pasando por Galileo, Newton, Maxwell, Einstein y hasta las aguas profundas de la fisica del siglo XX. Aunque los antiguos no tenian razon en todo, su ferviente creencia en la musica de las esferas se ha mostrado correcta incluso al nivel cuantico. En realidad, Wilczek explora hasta que punto nuestras ideas sobre la belleza y el arte se entrelazan con nuestra comprension cientifica del cosmos.

Was it fun to do a space walk? How squashed were you in the capsule on the way back? What were your feelings as you looked down on Earth for the first time? Were you ever scared? Where to next--the Moon, Mars, or beyond?Based on his historic mission to the International Space Station, Ask an Astronaut is Tim Peake''s guide to life in space, and his answers to the thousands of questions he has been asked since his return to Earth. With explanations ranging from the mundane--how do you wash your clothes or go to the bathroom while in orbit?--to the profound--what''s the point?--all written in Tim''s characteristically warm style, Tim shares his thoughts on every aspect of space exploration. From training for the mission to launch, to his historic spacewalk, to re-entry, he reveals for readers of all ages the cutting-edge science behind his groundbreaking experiments, and the wonders of daily life on board the International Space Station. The public was invited to submit questions using the hashtag #askanastronaut, and a selection are answered by Tim in the book, accompanied with illustrations, diagrams, and never-before-seen photos

Eagerly awaited, must-read new science book from the UK's bestselling non-fiction writer. Bryson is the prize-winning author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Road to Little Dribbling.In the bestselling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe.Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up.A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this book will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again.

With humor easy to understand language and fun illustrations marine scientist Ellen Prager and meteorologist Dave Jones use frequently asked and zany questions about the ocean and atmosphere to combat misinformation and make science engaging and understandable for all

A THE TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2025 SO FAR A transporting exploration of the deep sea and how our planet s strangest most ancient and astonishing creatures have urgent relevance to cutting edge science today Revelatory WILLIAM GIBSON Each page is full of wonder and surprise STEVE BRUSATTE Magic TOM MUSTILLHundred year old giant clams coral kingdoms the size and shape of cities and jellyfish that glow in the dark ocean invertebrates are among the oldest and most diverse organisms on Earth seeming to bend the rules of land based biology Although sometimes unseen in the deep these incredible spineless creatures contain 600 million years of adaptation to problems of disease energy consumption nutrition and defence Marine ecologist Dr Drew Harvell takes us diving from Hawaii to the Salish Sea from the Caribbean to Indonesia to uncover the incredible underwater superpowers of spineless creatures we meet corals many times stronger than steel or concrete sponges who create potent chemical compounds to fight off disease and sea stars who garden the coastlines keeping all the other nearby species in perfect balance As our planet changes fast the biomedical engineering and energy innovations of these wondrous creatures hold ever more important secrets to ou

The life death and afterlife of one of the true icons of extinction the Great Auk The great auk was a flightless goose sized bird superbly adapted for life at sea Fat flush with feathers and easy to capture the birds were in trouble whenever sailors visited their once remote breeding colonies Places like Funk Island off north east Newfoundland became scenes of unimaginable slaughter with birds killed in their millions By 1800 the auks of Funk Island were gone A scramble by private collectors for specimens of the final few birds then began a bloody unthinking destruction of one of the world s most extraordinary species But their extinction in 1844 wasn t the end of the great auk story as the bird went on to have a remarkable afterlife skins eggs and skeletons became the focus for dozens of collectors in a story of pathological craving and unscrupulous dealings that goes on to this day In a book rich with insight and packed with tales of birds and of people Tim Birkhead reveals previously unimagined aspects of the bird s life before humanity its death on the killing shores of the North Atlantic and the unrelenting subsequent quest for its remains The great auk remains a symbol of human folly and the necessity of conservation This book tells its st

Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2024 Couldn t be a bolder more forthright SOS for sport The ObserverThe world of sport has a new opponent climate change In recent years a world championship marathon was held at midnight to avoid the blistering sun Professional athletes needed oxygen tanks to play during wildfire season in California Players collapsed and play was suspended amid the heat and bushfire smoke at the Australian Tennis open Ski resorts in the Alps have turned into ghost towns Golf courses are sinking into the sea And then there s the Qatar World Cup among the greatest follies in sporting history one that saw hundreds perhaps thousands of heat induced deaths before a ball was even kicked The threat climate change poses to sport is clear but with billions of participants and fans around the world who rely on the sector for entertainment jobs fitness and health this is one industry we can t afford to lose In this book Madeleine Orr shows it doesn t have to be this way There are ways to mitigate and perhaps counter even the worst elements of climate change A world leading sport ecologist Madeleine interviews athletes coaches politicians and thought leaders to learn more about the inevitable consequences for thi

For all the selfishness of genes they team up to survive Is the history of life in fact a story of cooperation Amid the violence and brutality that dominates the news it s hard to think of ourselves as team players But cooperation Jonathan Silvertown argues is a fundamental part of our make up and deeply woven into the whole four billion year history of life Starting with human society Silvertown digs deeper to show how cooperation is key to the cells forming our organs to symbiosis between organisms to genes that band together to the dawn of life itself Cooperation has enabled life to thrive and become complex Without it life would never have begun

This award winning science book uses the latest findings from neuroscience research and brain imaging technology to take you on a journey into the human brain CGI artworks and brain MRI scans reveal the brain s anatomy in unprecedented detail Step by step sequences unravel and simplify the complex processes of brain function such as how nerves transmit signals how memories are laid down and recalled and how we register emotions The book answers fundamental and compelling questions about the brain what does it means to be conscious what happens when we re asleep and are the brains of men and women different Written by award winning author Rita Carter this is an accessible and authoritative reference book to a fascinating part of the human body Thanks to improvements in scanning technology our understanding of the brain is changing fast Now in its third edition the Brain Book provides an up to date guide to one of science s most exciting frontiers With its coverage of over 50 brain related diseases and disorders from strokes to brain tumours and schizophrenia it is also an essential manual for students and healthcare professionals

This lucid and entertaining book presents compelling scientific evidence that proves what many of us have perhaps long suspected nature is really good for us I found it revelatory Richard Deverell Director of Kew A revolutionary science based look at the ways nature can help make us healthier Fifteen years ago University of Oxford Professor Kathy Willis read a study that radically changed her view of our relationship to the natural world The study revealed that hospital patients recovering from surgery improved three times faster when they looked out of their windows at trees rather than seeing walls Since then she has dedicated her research to proving this link between the amount of green space in our lives and our better health mood and longevity For the first time ever Good Nature brings together these recent scientific findings and shares the simple changes we can all make in our lives The book is full of surprising and practical ways that nature can improve our lives such as did you know that cedar enhances cancer fighting cells in our immune system Or that touching wood makes us feel calmer the woodier the knot ier the better Or that the scent of roses helps people drive more calmly and safely Even having a pot plant by your desk can make a

A Crack in Everything is the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage As a journalist Marcus Chown interviews many of the scientists who made the key discoveries and as a former physicist he translates the most esoteric of science into everyday language The result is a uniquely engaging page turner that tells one of the great untold stories in modern science What is space What is time Where did the universe come from The answers to mankind s most enduring questions may lie in science s greatest enigma black holes A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing not even light can escape This can occur when a star approaches the end of its life Unable to generate enough heat to maintain its outer layers it shrinks catastrophically down to an infinitely dense point When this phenomenon was first proposed in 1916 it defied scientific understanding so much that Albert Einstein dismissed it as too ridiculous to be true But scientists have since proven otherwise In 1971 Paul Murdin and Louise Webster discovered the first black hole Cygnus X 1 Later in the 1990s astronomers found that not only do black holes exist supermassive black holes lie at the heart of almost every galaxy It would

For almost four billion years microbes had the primordial oceans all to themselves The stewards of Earth these organisms transformed the chemistry of our planet to make it habitable for plants animals and us Life s Engines takes readers deep into the microscopic world to explore how these marvelous creatures made life on Earth possible and h

Each animal on the planet owes its existence to one very simple but crucial piece of evolutionary engineering the egg It s time to tell a new story of life on Earth

AN INTRIGUING AND BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF YORICK WILKS INSIDERS GUIDE TO AIThe benefits and potential nightmares of artificial intelligence have long inspired science fiction writers but in a world where most of us carry a portable device that knows infinitely more than we do these are increasingly real concerns Artificial Intelligence is the essential companion to this unsettling science It surveys the history philosophies and current state of AI and asks key questions such as how should robots think and can machines really learn With subjects ranging from the World Wide Web to artificial companions the book considers such ethical issues as automated warfare internet surveillance and fake news speculating on just how far robots will infiltrate our future This illustrated edition combines compelling photographs with circuit board infographics to lift the curtain on the hidden world of AI