Do you like beer? Do you fully understand the process of brewing beer? There is no doubt that beer is a highly popular alcoholic drink but how many of those who enjoy it stop to think about how its four ingredients – hops, malted barley, water and yeast – miraculously combine.
Tag: science
Great discoveries in medicine
Sickness and health, birth and death, disease and cure: medicine and our understanding of the workings of our bodies and minds are an important part of how we know who we are. Great Discoveries in Medicine is a fascinating account of the evolution of medical knowledge and practice from ancient Egypt, India, and China […]
Winner of Costa award: Biography of Alexander von Humboldt
The invention of nature : the adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the lost hero of science / by Andrea Wulf. Winner of Costa Biography award 2015. Why is this man not better known? That is the first thought which came to mind as I began to read this gripping and thoroughly researched biography, which is also a […]
Engaging with the science collections
Photo credit: John Wiley & Sons Cover shows two astronauts beside a spaceship setting up equipment on a moon-like surface Just why do stars appear to twinkle? How are the Moon and tides connected? Did the Moon landing in 1969 really happen, or was it all a big hoax? Explanations of these and other […]
Because we are bipeds
I’m the worst kind of scientist, because I’m not one. A little knowledge and all that… When someone is behaving in an irritable way, it is quite reasonable to think of the experience as an emotional one, not as a biochemical crisis (leaving aside whether emotions are just biochemical processes anyway). But we shouldn’t rule […]
10% human
For every single cell that makes up the human body, there are nine cells of microbes living both on and within our bodies. This rather shocking fact, is revealed by the title of one of the latest additions to our catalogue: “10% Human : How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness”. […]
The new celebrity scientists: out of the lab and into the limelight
(Photo credit: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers) (Image shows front cover of the book displaying a man in a suit with his back to camera, the title of the book ‘The new celebrity scientists: out of the lab and into the limelight’ and the name of the author: Declan Fahy) When thinking of celebrity culture, science […]
Never look a polar bear in the eye
Welcome to Churchill, Manitoba. Year-round population: 943. Despite the isolation and the freezing cold at the arctic’s edge, visitors from around the globe flock to the town every autumn, driven by a single purpose: to see polar bears in the wild. For six weeks in October and November, this little town of nine hundred people […]
The most human human
(Photo credit: The most human human written by Brian Christian, published by Penguin) (Image shows the title of the book and a cartoon picture of a robot) Telling the difference between humans and computers used to be easy. But artificial intelligence is now so advanced that it is capable of behaving, and even thinking, in […]
The story of astronomy
(Photo credit: Quercus. Image above shows two men in period dress next to a large telescope in front of a large image of a globe) From the ancient origins of astronomy to Dark Matter and Dark Energy, The Story of Astronomy charts the discoveries of some of the greatest minds in human history, and their attempts […]