Archive for the “Popular Science” Category
Science-related books & resources intended for a general audience
Morning Glory, Mammatus, Kelvin-Helmholz are some names given to clouds. What do they look like, how are they formed? Wired Science provides the answers.
Learn more about them :
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The Book of Clouds
John A. Day
Silver Lining Books, 2006
Call number : QC921.3.D274 Lee Wee Nam Library, Popular Science |
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Clouds
Eric M. Wilcox
Duncan Baird Publishers, 2003
Call number : QC921.W667 Lee Wee Nam Library, Science collection |
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Twinkie, deconstructed : my journey to discover how the ingredients found in processed foods are grown, mined (yes, mined), and manipulated into what America eats
Hudson Street Press, 2007
Call number : TX553.A3E85, Business Library Open Shelf
For consumers who have wondered about multisyllabic ingredients in processed foods, a New York author who has appeared on the Food Network and worked as a chef demystifies them. Drawing on interviews with industry professionals, Ettlinger reveals that these snack cakes and other popular products are concocted from byproducts of chlorine bleaching, gypsum mining, petroleum processing, and other chemicals also used in non-food products–which explains the Department of Homeland Security’s role in food supply protection. Cover image & summary from: Syndetics Solutions, Inc.
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(Source: News at Princeton, accessed on 7 September 2009)
Princeton researchers have beaten the present world record for packing the most tetrahedra into a volume.
In the cover story of the 13 August 2009 issue of Nature, Salvatore Torquato, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, and Yang Jiao, a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, report that they have bested the world record, set last year by Elizabeth Chen, a graduate student at the University of Michigan.
Finding the best way to pack the greatest quantity of a specifically shaped object into a confined space may sound simple, yet it consistently has led to deep mathematical concepts and practical applications, such as improved computer security codes.
NTU staff and students can click here to read the full text of published article in Nature.
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Source: Abel Prize Website |
The Abel Prize, the math field’s counterpart to the Nobel, is an international prize presented annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians.
The Russian-French mathematician Mikhail Gromov was announced the winner of the Abel Prize 2009 by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters for his “revolutionary contributions to geometry.”
Mikhail Gromov has led some of the most important developments, producing profoundly original general ideas which have resulted in new perspectives on geometry and other areas of mathematics. For more information about the laureate, his achievements and the Abel Prize, please visit the Abel Prize website.
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If your answer to the above is yes; and if you also religiously read food labels, try to drink eight glasses of water a day and wonder why butter seems to be in fashion again, then these two books are for you. If you only have time to read one, then go for The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It is a very compelling read. The gist of In Defense of Food is well encapsulated in the mantra ‘Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants.’
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Penguin Press, 2006 Call number : GT2850.P771 Business Library
Humans were clearly designed to eat all manner of meats, vegetables, fruits, and grains. But, as Pollan points out, America’s farmers have succeeded so wildly that today’s fundamental agricultural issue has become how to deal sensibly with overproduction. The result of this surfeit of grain is behemoth corn processors, who have commoditized the Aztecs’ sacred grain and developed ways to separate corn into products wholly removed from its original kernels. This excess food and Americans’ wealth and rapid-paced lifestyles now yield supersized portions of less-than-nutritious eatables. Pollan contrasts the technologically driven life on an Iowa corn farm’s feedlots with the thriving organic farm movement supplying retailers such as Whole Foods. Throughout, he takes care to consider all sides of issues, and he avoids jingoistic answers. Pollan’s easy writing style and unique approach freshen this contemporary debate. Cover image & summary from: Syndetics Solutions, Inc.
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In defense of food
Penguin Press, 2008
Call number : RA784.P771 Lee Wee Nam Library, Popular Science Collection
Expanding on a theme from his popular The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2007), Pollan mounts an assault on a reigning theory of the relationship between food and health. For Pollan, “nutritionism” offers too narrow a view of the role of eating, confining its benefits solely to food’s chemical constituents. This has resulted in an unnatural anxiety about the things we humans eat. To counteract this, Pollan appeals to tradition and common sense. Although Pollan doesn’t advocate eliminating meat or any other whole food, he wants to place vegetables and fruits in the center of things, reassigning meat to the status of a side dish. Cover image & summary from: Syndetics Solutions, Inc.
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Six degrees : our future on a hotter planet
Author: Mark Lynas
Publisher: National Geographic, 2008
Call number: QC981.8.G56L987S, Lee Wee Nam Library, (Level 4), Science Collection
By the end of this century, the planet will heat up between 1.4[degree] and 5.8[degree] Celsius, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Six degrees may not sound like much, but as this sobering, engrossing, up-to-the-minute books warns, a six-degree rise in Earth’s average temperature would be enough to reshape our world almost beyond recognition. Degree by degree, chapter by chapter, Mark Lynas explains the processes and examines the effects of this unprecedented phenomenon, drawing on a full range of state-of-the-art research and sophisticated computer models that show conclusively that today’s climate change is a new and different challenge, not a routine swing of a slow and climatic pendulum.
Cover image from Syndetics Solutions, Inc., summary from book jacket
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The computer animation used in movies and games is now so lifelike, it is very hard to believe that you are actually watching a surface built from simple shapes of triangles. There is an article titled “It’s all in the detail” by Rachel Thomas who interviewed Phil Dench who tells how he uses mathematics to help bring these models to life. Click here to read more.
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Why do buses come in threes : the hidden mathematics of everyday life
Robson Books, 1998
Call number : QA99.E13 Lee Wee Nam Library, Popular Science Collection
Why is it better to buy a lottery ticket on a Thursday? Why are showers always too hot or too cold? These and many other fascinating questions are answered in this entertaining and informative book ideal for anyone wanting to remind themselves – or discover for the first time – that math is relevant to almost everything that we do. As explained here, dating, cooking, travelling, gambling and even life-saving are linked with intriguing mathematical problems. Cover image & summary from: Syndetics Solutions, Inc.
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How long is a piece of string : more hidden mathematics of everyday life
Robson Books, 2005
Call number : QA99.E13H Lee Wee Nam Library, Popular Science Collection
Discover the secrets behind some of the best con tricks, the hidden workings of the taxi meter and the explanation of how epidemics start and stop. Cover image & summary from: Syndetics Solutions, Inc.
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