Fascinating Experiment That Should Be Examined
358508
Here is what should be one of the more interesting releases to come out in the year 2016. Ulver has come back with an album full of new material for all of us to enjoy (or so you might think). The material on this album is actually created out of live multitrack performances of older songs ("Moody Styx" using samples from "Doom Sticks" for example) along with improvisational soundscapes. Some might complain about that move and worry that it could be a sign of declining originality (a'la AC/DC), however in this case it is executed brilliantly and shows that this band knows how to read between the lines and reinterpret new meaning from old works, thus breathing new life into them in the process. This band never fails to create something new and interesting (even out of something that's been done before). I highly recommend this one.
2519308
In retrospect, bringing The Mystery of Metamorphosis on vacation wasn't a brilliant idea. While it is accessible to non-science readers like me, it's still not exactly fluffy. (Trying to pay full attention while slapping away mosquitoes probably meant that I missed some of the finer points.)

That said, author Frank Ryan takes us a fascinating journey into one of the strangest phenomena in biology: metamorphosis. Since I didn't know much about the subject, I loved the opening chapters describing just how weird and unintuitive the process is. Caterpillars don't slowly morph into butterflies inside their chrysalises; they sort of turn into a primordial goo from which a completely new animal is assembled. One quirky sea star, the Luidia, starts off as a swimming, bilaterally symmetrical larva. The radial adult form grows within its tissues and emerges to become an independent organism with a completely different body plan and life cycle. In other animals, the adult form devours or discards the larva's organs. And in still other animals, including octopuses, no metamorphosis takes place at all.

You don't have to be an evolutionary biologist to wonder how metamorphosis can possibly fit into the traditional Darwinian model of gradual change and adaptation over generations. The Mystery of Metamorphosis explores British planktologist Don Williamson's controversial theory that metamorphosis could be the result of long-ago hybridizations between completely different species. Although solid molecular evidence has yet to be found, Frank Ryan lays out Williamson's experiments and results, and builds up, if nothing else, a persuasive argument for further investigation.

I found the second part of the book, which deals with the mechanisms of metamorphosis and their triggers, less interesting. It's all about the process of scientific testing and discovery, specifically the appropriately named Vincent Wigglesworth's Frankenstein-ish experiments on insects. (My ears did perk up when I learned that our resulting knowledge of juvenile hormone could be applied towards mosquito control.) In later parts of the book, Ryan goes on to look briefly at amphibians, the Cambrian explosion, and even human development in the light of metamorphosis through hybridization.

The Mystery of Metamorphosis is not always an easy read, but it is chock full of new ideas to think about -- some of them still in development and with the potential to seriously shake up evolutionary science as we know it.
4453018
This is a thin book and a fast read for anyone with prior knowledge concerning Wally Broecker and climate science. For the rest of us, it is well worth the small effort required to embark on a fascinating journey through the geologic ages of much of North America and the Earth. It is expected that most people who have paid attention to news or science articles on climate change would have seen Keeling's CO2 (carbon dioxide) curve, which is inexorably increasing over time. Far fewer people would know of Keeling's son and his O2 (oxygen) curve, which is decreasing over time. Well, both are shown here, and furthermore, a simple but accurate explanation is given of how scientists know what proportion of human emissions of CO2 is absorbed by plants, absorbed by the oceans, and left lingering in the atmosphere.

As the reader progresses through the book, an interesting picture emerges of what it was like to be a scientist in the middle of the 20th century. The resourcefulness of the young climate scientists is deftly conveyed to the reader, and it is clear that they were primarily curiosity-driven. It certainly wasn't about grants or recognition as some people have impugned, it was the resolution of puzzles that drove the early climate scientists like Wally Broecker and his colleagues, in their work to uncover evidence about past climate changes. Indeed, Wally Broecker's strong belief was that understanding our current climate system required an understanding of past climate.

The biggest puzzle that Wally is famous for identifying and communicating is that of the global conveyor belt - the transfer of heat by thermohaline currents - of which the gulf stream is a part. His insight was to pose the question of whether the conveyor belt may be disrupted, and what would be the consequences. The shutting down of the gulf stream, for instance, would trigger a drop in temperature across western Europe, leading to harsh winters and miserable summers. It sounds improbable but the global warming currently underway might sufficiently alter the salinity (indirectly) and temperature of the surface waters crucial to the conveyor's operation, that it shuts down and consequently induces freezing winters in western Europe and elsewhere.

Aside from the first dozen or so pages which felt a bit clunky, the book hits its stride early on. I would recommend this to anyone with an enquiring mind - and especially to people who are still somewhat sceptical about the notion of humans affecting climate. You don't need to be a scientist to enjoy the unfolding story within.
4348039
An interesting and well documented investigation into the merits of citizen scientist. 'Knowing with better accuracy what we are looking at is a virtue of citizen science'. It is a new trend that as in the case of 'citizen journalism' it has the merit of involving more human resources and diverse backgrounds into the scientific investigation. Such an approach, can, for instance, contribute to a comprehensive research into the case of endangered species. It is written simply yet with poignant scientific references, that as in the case of 'H is for Hawk' inserts personal memories into the narrative. An interesting lecture for both scientists and anyone with an interest for serious science.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange of an honest review
3107563
Sight Beyond Light offers documented scientific research into the world of Electro Magnetic Fields,  It shows historical progression of theoretical physics.  Specific Insights into extra-sensory perception, quantum theory, mind and brain telepathy are presented with references to appropriate scientific papers.  Sight Beyond Light discusses scientists and their research. It exposed para-normal experiences and communications.  As an engineer, I found this book intriguing and educational.

Arnold Hollander
4630449
A fascinating read!  I was given this title as an introduction to the field of parthenogenesis and sex ratio distortion, before starting a postdoc in the field.  However, it is suitable, I believe, for a lay audience moderately educated in biology.  (More specifically, you will probably need to have taken and understood a college-level basic biology course in order to be able to read and enjoy this book.)  It delves into the questions of why sex exists, why most (but not all) species have males, and the evolutionary roots of equal numbers of males and females in most populations.  It also opens up the world of sex-ratio distorting endosymbionts and the "arms race" between the endosymbionts (trying to move towards an all female strain to maximize their transmission to the next generation) and the hosts (trying to achieve a stable male-female sex ratio).  The book is well written and full of astonishing examples, making it an entertaining read as well as a solid introduction to the dynamic and often "stranger than fiction" ecology of sex.
4288622
This book is a fascinating excursion through contemporary quantum physics,  buddhist emptiness, and Jungian psychology.  Much ado has been made in  pop-science about the failure of the Cartesian dichotomy and the search for  quantum-informed world-views, quantum physics and its possible effects on  health, consciousness, the nature of reality, and so on and on.  Some of it  is rather interesting. But most of those works remain at the level of  sympathetic magic, turning on mere analogies.  This book was written by a  practicing physicist and buddhist, and next to it, the highly influential  (but much over-rated) "Tao of Physics" pales by comparison.  The  author delves deeply into what it might mean to our world-view to take  seriously the non-local nature of physical reality and the fundamental  connectedness of the universe, as implied by Bell's theorem, buddhist  "dependent origination," and synchronicity.  If, like me, you  remember  learning about Kant and the death of metaphysics, you will find  the description of Bell's theorem as "experimental metaphysics"  (p. 75) simply staggering.  And if nonlocality does prevail in our  universe, it provides some support for Jung's concept of synchronicity, not  just for explaining those eerie coincidences but as an enlarged perspective  on linear cause-and-effect. Remember that Jung was not a physicist so in  some ways his theory needs to be informed by a physicist.  And anyone who's  had a powerful synchronicity experience knows how radically it can upset  our day-to-day notions of physical reality and causality.  Much of the  virtue of this book is that it isn't just some philosophical arguments and  popular science spiced up with a few graphs and equations.  The book  creatively weaves a view of physics, mind, and causality around  descriptions of the lived synchronicity experience of various friends and  colleagues.  For example, the "Philosopher's Stone" describes a  woman's shamanic experience of discovering a stone face by a lake-shore  (pp. 161-165).  "The spirits of the lake love to hear their old  name," she was told, "They respond."  So she chanted. Well,  they responded by directing her, via feeling warmth on a cold day, to a  small stone face laying on the shore (see cover photo).  It turned out to  be named Singing Stone, from an old Native American story about a woman's  search for her true self, and the stone itself "a compelling carrier  for the archetype of the self."  The story about Jung's  "Aion" spontaneously leaping several feet off a bookshelf (p.  162) is equally astonishing.  I'm a little surprised the author doesn't  discuss Everett's "many worlds" interpretation of quantum  mechanics--after all, it gets rid of the need for a external observer of  the universe by postulating the existence of all alternative event  outcomes, with some rather obvious connections to transmigration.  Despite  my sympathy, I also have to wonder about the merit of this connection with  "soul-making"--after all, buddhists don't believe in a soul, and  Jungian individuation is a quite different goal than Eastern liberation (p.  212).  But, given Jung's highly ambivalent attitude toward Eastern  liberation, that is a question that *no one* has answered yet.  The author  deserves a great deal of credit for even addressing that issue, let alone  for writing such an interesting book so clearly at odds with normal  materialistic science. Even if all you got was the beautiful drawing of the  Indian god, Ganesha (p. 74), the great photo of the impish John Bell (p.  122), or the fabulous picture of Pauli and Bohr, both middle-aged and  merrily spinning a top like a couple of schoolboys (p. 10), this book would  be worth its price. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an  interest in Jungian synchronicity, or more than a passing interest in  either of the other 2 topics. In fact, if you're reading this review, maybe  now is time to buy the book!
3195988
By Richard Schwartzman on September 26, 2015

Wilhelm Reich, Biologistby James E. Strickis an extremely important book as it has the potential to overturn a number of fundamental beliefs in science. One of these, that is set in stone and if refuted will prove a bombshell, is that life must develop from preexisting life. Reich certainly appears to have proved this age-old maxim false. Exactly how he conducted his groundbreaking experimentsalmost 80 years agocan now be found in this book.

Drawing upon archival material never before available, Strick has provided documentation that confirms Reich was a serious scientist. Material taken from unpublished laboratory notebooks and published reports show his research was conducted with meticulous care.

Working with living matter rather than with dead preparations that had been fixed and stained, Reich was able toproduce microscopic vesicles that were non-living, yet capable of replication in culture media. This, according to classical scientific theory, is impossible. If these experiments can be duplicatedand this should not be too difficult as Reichs methods are clearly set forth in Professor Stricks bookthe implications are staggering!

These bions as Reich called them were not just transitional life forms. More importantly, they appeared to be involved in health and disease. This finding has opened the way to an entirely new understanding of why people become ill, or remain well.

Later, taking it even a step further, Reich was able to record with time-lapse filming that dying autumnal moss could lead to the natural organization of life as protozoa. Life from non-life! From this he hypothesized that cancer cells might form in a like manner from dying animal tissue that had disintegrated into bions.

Wilhelm Reich, Biologistcalls into question other accepted tenets of biology and medicine, too many to cite here. We can only hope this new publication will interest researchers worldwide and stimulate their curiosity. What remarkable benefits might come from examining health and illness from this different perspective remains to be seen. Now those wishing to test Reichs findings need only familiarize themselves with his concepts and then exactly follow the straightforward steps outlined for each experiment.

As a psychiatrist who has been employing Reichs method of therapy since the 1970s, and as one who has spent a lifetime studying his work, I think this book could well be a game-changer. Wilhelm Reich, Biologist stands apart from all thats been published about the man and his discoveries because it is based upon archival material never before made available to the public. This newly released information shows us Reich as he was, not as he has been variously portrayed by others.

James Strick has done a masterful job in presenting the development of Reichs research in a most engaging way. He has deftly interwoven science with history and set both against a backdrop of what Reich was to experience all his lifethe reactions of the established experts who refused to examine findings they knew to be wrong. Wilhelm Reich, Biologistis so well written that readers may not realize they are absorbed in a scholarly book about a scientific revolution. Rather, to their surprise and enjoyment, they may think they are involved in a fascinating mystery novel, and are eager to find out how the plot unfolds.
4815263
The Yoni Experiments may be fiction for the moment, but rapid scientific advancements may soon transform it into fact. It is a fascinating tale where science redefines terms like "family" and "children." This story moves along at a steady pace and builds to an exciting and thoughtful conclusion.
B.Geller
4694932
This book raised some disturbing questions about the future of human medical experimentation that don't have simple answers, which I guess was the author's point. Having said that, it's not a dry philosophical treatise. I became involved in the lives of these characters, and as others have said, saw a similarity to A Christmas Carol. It's a whole new take on Dicken's famous story, with a successful experiment playing the role of the Christmas Spirits to teach Professor Marlowe (the Scrooge of the story) a few invaluable life lessons. You'll be disappointed if your idea of a good SciFi novel is  non-stop action, since Wakely's book is more deliberately paced and thoughtful. Instead of fast food literature, this is a sit-down kind of meal that- in the end- is not only more satisfying, but more nourishing (and better for you) than anything from a drive-through window.  An Audience for Einstein is a very good, intelligent book that deserves to be discussed.
4497014
Connected seeks to show the unique power of social networks. This is achieved through laying out the findings of many studies that have ultimately illuminated how the links between humans impact on our experiences in life. The authors look at topics including: the transfer of contagious illnesses, finding a spouse or partner, and political beliefs.

I found the book fascinating. At times I wondered about correlation vs causation. The lines did appear to be blurry. However, on balance the findings presented and the author's arguments provide strong support for the broad thesis. We are influenced by others in almost everything we do, and we influence others in almost everything that we do. A specific point that the book draws out is that this influence can be indirect and hidden (through degrees of separation).

The biggest insight to arise as I reflect on this book is the idea that humans are fundamentally relational beings. We are impacted by who we know moreso than we are impacted by what, exactly, we hear.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how humans relate to one another.
2529947
This is an important book.  Dr. Tart explores the "big five" psychic phenomena:  telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, and psychic healing.  He painstakingly describes many of his own experiments in each of these areas, and those of other respected investigators.  I learned considerably more about these subjects and other "psi" events than I ever wanted to know, but I'm glad somebody has done significant research to support what I already knew through my own intuition and personal experience.  He describes in great detail the set-up, execution, and results of the experiments, and discusses the conclusions and possible alternative explanations derived from them.

Through his 50-plus years of well documented scientific research and experimentation, he has proven the existence of these five parapsychological phenomena, challenging even the most hardened "pseudoskeptics" and non-believers.  Several times throughout the book he excoriates adherents to "scientism" which limits experimentation and theorizing only to the physical sciences, and who dismiss psychic phenomena out of hand, in the face of overwhelming observable evidence.

I highly recommend this book, even though the reader may have to drink a few more cups of coffee to get through it!
2882077
"My Brain Made Me Do It" begins with an account of a crime, and a defense attorney's attempt to cite the level of brain chemical's in the defendant's brain as an excuse for his behavior.  From here, Sternberg launches into a gripping investigation of whether recent developments in brain research--from rare clinical cases to studies of neurological behavior prediction--to invalidate our notion of free will and moral responsibility, eventually making his own argument as to how the issues can be reconciled.

Each chapter begins with an illustrative example or story that leads into a question to think about.  The author then proceeds to provide accounts of actual experiments that have been done.  The science, though not oversimplified, is explained very clearly, to the point that they often seem very worrisome.  At points I thought to myself that the research was direct proof that we are all just automatons.  But Sternberg finds the subtle flaws in each case and shows that there is a fundamental problem with the scientific approach to issues of human decision-making.

The questions and arguments build up until the last few chapters, in which Sternberg puts forth a new approach that could be taken that could integrate what neuroscientists know about the brain, and what we, as individuals, know about our minds and selves.  It's extremely well-written, and it's one of those books that will make you think, and motivate you to have lengthy discussions about the big philosophical questions that, in some way, we all wonder about.
1867310
The Touryan Family carefully uses examples from Science to help persons understand the God who created it all. The experiments presented can add emphasis to the truths being explored.
1744860
The quest for immortality has been a persistent theme in human history. From the mythology of ancient Greece through the ages to the present we have sought limitless life. Stories of vampires, for instance, are in part predicated on the quest for eternal life. So is the story of Frankenstein. But Sidney Perkowitz, professor of physics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, demonstrates in this important new book written for a general audience that the quest has taken the form of androids, robots, and cyborgs for millennia. For example, Talos of Greek myth was a bronze automaton created by Hephaestus. More recently, fiction has given us robots, cyborgs, and replicants that all demonstrated this quest for immortality. For the first time modern science has created the possibility that the bionic human might be possible in the twenty-first century.

After an introduction that suggests that androids are all around us, Perkowitz divides his study into two parts--"Artificial Beings: Meaning and History" and "How Far Along are We?"--and proceeds to discuss the evolution of the quest for eternal life and the possibilities that exist at the present. In the process he argues that humans have always been bionic from the point that they picked up the first stick and used it as a club to the ultimate merging of humans and machines in cyborgian symbiosis. We see this all the time with artificial body parts made for amputees or hip or knee or other replacements. We also see it with pacemakers and diabetic pumps and hearing aids and eyeglasses.

Perkowitz believes that this is just the beginning of the merging of human and machines and finds the possibilities for the future truly exciting. He does envision serious moral and ethical concerns that require concentrated and long-term consideration. He does not, however, envision any way of stopping this inexorable movement toward ever-greater symbiosis between living beings and technology.

The quest for a bionic person is well underway in laboratories around the world and Perkowitz takes us on a tour of some of the most inventive people and places, ranging from Rodney Brooks and Cynthia Breazeal at MIT to the Honda Corporation lab to the ROBODEX 2003 exposition where the latest ideas on robotics found expression. There is, in Perkowitz's thinking, a critical mass driving humanity toward a new and different level of life and consciousness. Science is exploiting fast developing knowledge of materials, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and molecular biology to move toward the creation of ever more complex machines that look and act like people. At the same time scientists are incorporating into humans more and more technology to enhance the quality and longevity of life.

As written on the dust jacket of "Digital People": "In short, we are going beyond what was once the stuff of books and films to create genuine bionic people with fully integrated artificial components--and it will not be long before we reach the ultimate goal of constructing a completely synthetic human-like being." Perkowitz asks, will this step lead to reinterpretations of the meaning of life and debase the human spirit? As text on the dustjacket indicates: "Certainly this God-like ability brings us face-to-face with a host of troubling spiritual, ethical, and legal dilemmas."

This is a stimulating book, one that educates and provokes and questions all at the same time. I highly recommend it.
383969
For the last couple of days I have been browsing through No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale, a collaboration between art and science that has yielded a stunning new way of looking at a world we never see. The goal is to present through photography a way of looking at and thinking about how life and nature work at the smallest scale.

What I find so powerful about the book is the way in which it leads the reader to understand how little we know about the such fundamental things as water and the role it plays in the chemistry of living and non-living things. That's assuming we know exactly where that line is, which after reading this book you might not be so sure about any more.

This is a wonderful work of art and some of the most lucid science writing I have ever come across. Makes you thing anew about the vast void that exists in our understanding of just about anything.
1334994
Kumar's masterstroke is giving us just enough information to understand each significant discovery as it occurs. First we see quanta in energy, then the photoelectric effect, then the evolution of the concept of the atom. Kumar expertly balances descriptions of experiments and challenges to conventional thinking with the payoff of new ideas, generating suspense and wonder in equal measure.

This eminently readable book also reminds us that even geniuses can be trapped by their own ideas. In tracing the development of quantum theory, we see great physicists fail to accept the evidence for everything from atoms to electrons to the probability clouds of quantum theory. For instance, the great experimentalist Max Planck, who first quantized energy when studying blackbody radiation, was never able to fully accept the implications of his discovery - and this despite the equation flying in the face of all established  "truth" up to that point.

So we can forgive Einstein for never being able to accept quantum theory (despite his contributions via the photoelectric effect). Maybe it was because he was a theorist rather than an experimentalist, and quantum theory at the time did not easily lend itself to top-down theorizing. Maybe it was because he was old. He certainly didn't like the look of all those probability clouds. In any event, Kumar's description of his thought experiment that (temporally) rocked Bohr and the experiment's surprise resolution is pure gold - and one of the book's great payoffs. Highly recommended.