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The sense of position and movement is often called the sixth sense; the brain's connection to the immune system might be a seventh. In this audiobook, we examine the diverse functions of the brain beyond the five senses, including the glymphatic system for maintaining brain health, the processes behind intuition, and new research raising questions about "brain death."
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If climate catastrophes like Hurricane Sandy seem to be on the rise, it's for a reason. The likelihood of these extreme weather events are increasingly being tied to man-made global warming, mostly through overproduction of carbon dioxide. It's no longer an abstract idea; it's being felt locally, on every level.
Climate Change and Extreme Weather gives you the tools to better understand what's behind climate change, what might be in store during...
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We humans are a strange bunch. We have self-awareness and yet often act on impulses that remain hidden. How did we get here? What is to become of us? To these age-old questions, science has in recent years brought powerful tools and reams of data, and in this audiobook, Becoming Human, we look at what these data have to tell us about who we are.
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The editors of Scientific American's bestselling Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths return with Fact or Fiction 2: 50 (More) Popular Myths Explained.
In it, we cast an analytical eye on another collection of urban lore and cultural myths that persist so long in our collective consciousness they acquire a ring of truth. Who hasn't heard the "five-second rule," which insists that food dropped on the floor is safe to eat if it's picked...
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The extreme drought in the US Southwest has brought the issues of water use and management to the forefront of media attention. Historically, arguments over water rights have plagued this area since the days of John Wesley Powell, and disputes mark the relations between states, city-dwellers, farmers, and environmentalists to this day. Add to that the challenges of climate change, which is altering rainfall patterns the world over, and the imperative...
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Neuroscientists have shown that music recruits nearly every area of the brain, fostering connections across different regions. In this book, we examine the latest imaging studies and discuss the effects of music on emotion, cognition, sensation, and motor function. This includes an examination of the brain's anatomy when listening to or creating music, of music's relationship to learning math and language skills, and of its role in promoting social...
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The fundamental outlines of the physical world, from its tiniest particles to massive galaxy clusters, have been apparent for decades. Does this mean physicists are about to tie it all up into a neat package? Not at all. Just when you think you're figuring it out, the universe begins to look its strangest, and this audiobook illustrates how answers often lead to more questions and open up new paths to insight.
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For going on two decades, Scientific American's “Ask the Experts” column has been answering listener's questions on all fields of science. We've taken your questions from the basic to the esoteric and reached out to top scientists, professors, and researchers to find out why the sky is blue or whether we really only use 10 percent of our brains.
Now, we've combed through our archives and have compiled some of the most interesting questions (and...
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Understanding why we age and how to prevent age-related physical and mental decline can help us to live in the moment and enjoy our health at any age. In this audiobook, we explore the latest thinking in why we age, strategies to help maintain good health, as well as research into the limits of human longevity.
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Creativity was long thought to be a gift from the muses, a special quality of a select minority of people. Fortunately, more recent studies have debunked this belief and have shown promise for techniques to help us all boost our creative potential. Nature gives some people a genetic edge, but nurture has a large role in developing creative genius. In this audiobook, we look at this difficult-to-define quality from all angles: where creativity comes...
11) Quantum Universe
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Strange and probabilistic, physics at the smallest scales is driving innovation and research into the nature of reality. In this audiobook, we examine the latest mind-bending studies in quantum mechanics, including theoretical mysteries such as entanglement, real-world applications, innovations in communications and computing, and more.
12) Dinosaurs!
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Terrible lizards. That's what the word "dinosaurs" means. Yet dinosaurs are not true lizards, and they are not necessarily terrible either. Paleontologists have overturned many misconceptions, and in Dinosaurs!, we look at what the latest research tells us and what we still have to learn about these endlessly fascinating creatures.
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The complex story of human evolution is a tale seven million years in the making. Each new discovery adds to or revises our story and our understanding of how we came to be the way we are.
In this audiobook, The Human Odyssey, we explore the evolution of those characteristics that make us human. The first section looks at our family tree and why some branches survived and not others. Swings in climate are emerging as a factor in what traits succeeded...
14) How It All Ends
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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.
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Why can you vividly recall the day your father took you to your first baseball game many years ago, but you can't remember where you just put the car keys? The process of how-and what-we remember is a fascinating window into who we are and what makes us tick. In this audiobook, we explore what science can and can't tell us about memory.
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Genetic engineering, which refers to the direct manipulation of DNA, became a reality in the 1970s. In this audiobook, we take a look at how far the field has come, starting with a revolutionary gene-editing tool called CRISPR that's taking the research world by storm. We then examine how CRISPR and other approaches are being investigated to treat disease, the fantastic-sounding research being done in synthetic biology, controversial efforts in modifying...
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Physicists argue that any slight change to the laws of physics would mean a disruption in the evolution of the universe, and thus our existence. With the many factors that had to align for us to exist, it can seem like the laws of physics might seem finely tuned to make our existence possible. Instead of a supernatural or divine explanation, this book explores the possibility is that our universe isn't the only one.
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How do we define genius? Standardized testing to measure intelligence began in the first half of the twentieth century, but a high IQ score is only one way to quantify genius. Another is by virtue of extraordinary achievement and expertise in science and the arts. The second is probably more useful, but these debates illustrate how little we know about the origins, development, or processes of intelligence.
In this audiobook, Eureka! The Science...
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In this installment of the Ask the Experts series, Chemistry, our professors, scientists, and researchers tackle reader questions about the substances that compose all matter, their properties, and how they interact and change. Queries range from elementary questions, such as why some elements change color over a flame, to how chemistry works in everyday life, to how certain substances affect the body and more.
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The zombie has had a bit of a renaissance over the last decade. Hollywood churns out films like World War Z and TV shows like The Walking Dead, and communities throughout the country hold zombie runs and races. So what's driving the zombie obsession? Where did the fear of this creature originate? In this audiobook, The Real Zombies of Nature, we look at the myth of the zombie versus real instances of zombification in the natural world and engage in...
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