These well-crafted tales of bio-inspired innovation will entrance general readers and warrant the close attention of...
Los Angeles Times science writer Khan debuts with a richly detailed account of biologically inspired engineering.
Snakes that fly; geckos that walk on walls; blindfolded seals that track swimming objects by following their invisible wakes. These are among the “weird and wonderful” discoveries in nature that are helping scientists find ways to improve human technology, writes the author of this meticulous, well-written book. Following researchers from Woods Hole to an African desert, she reveals how cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research is harnessing the efficiency of nature’s “most astounding innovations” to make human life better “in a world where we’re running out of resources, in which we need to learn to live sustainably.” Grouping her stories into thematic sections—materials science, mechanics of movement, architecture of systems, and sustainability—she offers lucid, engaging discussions of a remarkable range of scientific work. Consider the cuttlefish, a cousin of the octopus. A shape-shifter with the many-fingered face of H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional god, Cthulhu, the creature can blend in to its surroundings by changing colors and patterns (with an obvious application to camouflage). It uses the same color-changing to hypnotize prey. Other stories show how scientists are building robots that mimic the gecko’s ability to cling to smooth walls (for possible use in disaster zones); refining hydrogen-producing artificial leaves that can serve as clean, renewable energy sources; and studying mound-building termites to inform human architecture. Khan explores fully the science behind nature’s many innovative abilities and how it is being harnessed. At the same time, she offers fascinating portraits of scientists at work—e.g., the ant researcher who studies the “personalities” of some 300 ant colonies in annual visits to the Southwest and two physicists whose dead-serious study of termite mounds is offset by their hilarious “odd-couple” behavior, reminiscent of the TV sitcom Parks and Recreation.
These well-crafted tales of bio-inspired innovation will entrance general readers and warrant the close attention of scientists and technologists.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-06040-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
A quirky wonder of a book.
A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.
Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.
A quirky wonder of a book.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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