Killers in the Brain: Essays in Science and Technology from the Royal Institution - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019850540X ISBN 13: 9780198505402

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1999

Synopsis

Killers in the Brain presents a selection of wide-ranging essays from the Royal Institution, offering fascinating and authoritative accounts of current thinking in many areas of science and technology. The subjects are as wide-ranging as ever, from Simon Conway Morris (author of the best-selling Crucible of creation) discussing the fossils of the Burgess Shale, and whether there can ever really be a chance of finding other life in the Universe, to Robert Matthews' highly entertaining scientific analysis of Murphy's Law. Also in this volume are essays on neurodegenerative diseases or 'brain killers', such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, a scientific exploration of the human singing voice, and Russell Stannard writing on the Big Bang, and whether, given our current knowledge of this event, a place can ever be found within such a theory for a Creator. The book finishes with a look at the worrying increase in asthma and allergies world-wide, and an account of the phenomenon called El Nino, an event which has a significant effect on the weather conditions throughout the world and causes death and destruction in many countries.

About this title

Review

"This is a small collection of eight short essays on science and technology, which were presented as lecture-style discourses at the Royal Institution in London. The intention was to make the lectures available to a larger audience. This book is directed to anyone, lay or scientist, with an interest in reading a wide variety of popularized scientific topics. Of the eight essays, two are medical, one a somewhat superficial treatise on degenerative brain diseases and the other on asthma and allergies as disorders of civilization. The essays are invariably interesting and . . . well written. It popularizes various aspects of the whole range of science without compromising their integrity." -- Gene Ball, Doody's Electronic Journal "This is a small collection of eight short essays on science and technology, which were presented as lecture-style discourses at the Royal Institution in London. The intention was to make the lectures available to a larger audience. This book is directed to anyone, lay or scientist, with an interest in reading a wide variety of popularized scientific topics. Of the eight essays, two are medical, one a somewhat superficial treatise on degenerative brain diseases and the other on asthma and allergies as disorders of civilization. The essays are invariably interesting and . . . well written. It popularizes various aspects of the whole range of science without compromising their integrity." -- Gene Ball, Doody's Electronic Journal "This is a small collection of eight short essays on science and technology, which were presented as lecture-style discourses at the Royal Institution in London. The intention was to make the lectures available to a larger audience. This book is directed to anyone, lay or scientist, with an interest in reading a wide variety of popularized scientific topics. Of the eight essays, two are medical, one a somewhat superficial treatise on degenerative brain diseases and the other on asthma and allergies as disorders of civilization. The essays are invariably interesting and . . . well written. It popularizes various aspects of the whole range of science without compromising their integrity." -- Gene Ball, Doody's Electronic Journal "This is a small collection of eight short essays on science and technology, which were presented as lecture-style discourses at the Royal Institution in London. The intention was to make the lectures available to a larger audience. This book is directed to anyone, lay or scientist, with an interest in reading a wide variety of popularized scientific topics. Of the eight essays, two are medical, one a somewhat superficial treatise on degenerative brain diseases and the other on asthma and allergies as disorders of civilization. The essays are invariably interesting and . . . well written. It popularizes various aspects of the whole range of science without compromising their integrity." -- Gene Ball, Doody's Electronic Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019850540X
• ISBN 13: 9780198505402
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 184
• Editor: Day Peter