What's Next - Dispatches from the Future of Science

Zusatztext “Captivating. . . . Diverse. . . . While each essay is its own gem! together they form a remarkable dialogue about what it is to be human now! and what it will be in the future. . . . Fascinating.” — New Scientist   “Like reading a set of interesting blog posts! but on paper. And most of these folks don’t have blogs!” — Discover Magazine ’s “Things Going On” blog   “Engrossing. . . . Offers a youthful spin on some of the most pressing scientific issues of today—and tomorrow. . . . Super smart and interesting.” — New York Observer ’s “Very Short List” “A fantastic cross-section of societal concerns! focusing largely on issues of ethics and the human mind. . . . This absorbing collection makes easy-to-read but thought-provoking material for even casual science buffs.” — Publishers Weekly   “Capaciously accessible! these writings project a curiosity to which followers of science news will gravitate.” — Booklist   “If these authors are the future of science! then the science of the future will be one exciting ride! Find out what the best minds of the new generation are thinking before the Nobel Committee does. A fascinating chronicle of the big! new ideas that are keeping young scientists up at night.” —Daniel Gilbert! author of Stumbling on Happiness   “A preview of the ideas you're going to be reading about in ten years.” —Steven Pinker! author of The Stuff of Thought Informationen zum Autor Max Brockman Klappentext Will climate change force a massive human migration to the Northern Rim? How does our sense of morality arise from the structure of the brain? What does the latest research in language acquisition tells us about the role of culture in the way we think? What does current neurological research tell us about the nature of time? This wide-ranging collection of never-before-published essays offers the very latest insights into the daunting scientific questions of our time. Its contributors—some of the most brilliant young scientists working today—provide not only an introduction to their cutting-edge research, but discuss the social, ethical, and philosophical ramifications of their work. With essays covering fields as diverse as astrophysics, paleoanthropology, climatology, and neuroscience, What's Next? is a lucid and informed guide to the new frontiers of science.Will We Decamp for the Northern Rim? Laurence C. Smith Like so many other cultural shifts, it gathered long, then broke quickly. At last the world--including a majority of people in the United States--has acknowledged that global warming is real. Changing the public's opinion was not easy. It took the work of thousands of scientists, painstakingly accumulated over more than three decades. Their findings were then steadily communicated to the world through massive synthesis reports in 1990, 1995, 2001, and 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), displaying a level of organization unprecedented in science. These reports document the evidence, now overwhelming, of our new man-made climate. Pivotal to the public opinion shift were ardent "Third Culture" scientists--among them James Hansen, at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Lonnie Thompson, at Ohio State University; Richard Alley, at Pennsylvania State University; and Mark Serreze, at the University of Colorado--with a talent for grasping the most significant discoveries and channeling them to the public through books, interviews, YouTube, and popular magazines like Rolling Stone. These efforts at public outreach represented a significant shift in the culture of science. As a graduate student in the mid-1990s, I witnessed the widespread, if subtle, scorn directed at the remarkable astronomer and writer Carl Sagan by his professional colleagues for his efforts in...

Product details

• Authors: Max Brockman
• Assisted by: Max Brockman (Editor)
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 26.05.2009
• EAN: 9780307389312
• ISBN: 978-0-307-38931-2
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 203 mm x 15 mm
• Series: VINTAGE BOOKS
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general)