Mother deer that grieve? Horses that feel shame? Squirrels that adopt their grandchildren? We humans tend to assume that we are the only living things able to experience feelings intensely and consciously. But have you ever wondered what's going on in an animal's head?
From the leafy forest
floor to the inside of a bee hive, The Inner Life of Animals takes us
microscopic levels of observation to the big philosophical, ethical and
scientific questions. We hear the stories of a grateful humpback whale, of a
hedgehog who has nightmares, and of a magpie who commits adultery; we meet bees
that plan for the future, pigs who learn their own names and crows that go
tobogganing for fun.
And at last we find out why wasps exist. As more and more
researchers are discovering, animals experience a rich emotional life that is
ready to be explored. The Inner Life of Animals will show you these living
things in a new light and will open up the animal kingdom like never before.
The Secret Life of
Cows, Rosamund
Young - £9.99
Cows are as varied as people. They can be highly intelligent
or slow to understand, vain, considerate, proud, shy or inventive. Although
much of a cow's day is spent eating, they always find time for extra-curricular
activities such as babysitting, playing hide and seek, blackberry-picking or
fighting a tree. This is an affectionate record of a hitherto secret world.
A tribute to the natural history of some of our most iconic
British woods. The National Trust manages hundreds of woods, covering over
60,000 acres of England and Wales. They include many of the oldest woodlands in
the land and some of the oldest living things of any kind - trees that are
thousands of years old.
From Dean to Epping, from Hatfield to Sherwood, this book
covers the natural history of our forests and how they have changed the face of
our landscape. Covering the different species of trees that give our woods
their unique characters, the plants and animals that inhabit them and the way
their appearance changes throughout the seasons, Woods is a fascinating and
beautifully illustrated celebration of Britain's trees and the ancient stories
that surround them.
What's Next? Jim Al-Khalili - £8.99
Thought the science of the future was all hoverboards and
space travel? Think again. Every day, scientists come up with the ingenious
solutions and surprising discoveries that will define our future. So here, Jim
Al-Khalili and his crack team of experts bin the crystal ball and use
cutting-edge science to get a glimpse of what's in store.
From whether teleportation is really possible (spoiler: it
is), to what we'll do if artificial intelligence takes over, What's Next? takes
on the big questions. And along the way, it'll answer questions like: Will we
find a cure to all diseases? An answer to climate change? Will bionics make us
into superheroes? Touching on everything from genetics to transport, and
nanotechnology to teleportation, What's Next? is a fascinating, fun and
informative look at what's in store for the human race.
Furry Logic, Matin Durrani &
Liz Kalaugher - £9.99
The animal world is full of mysteries. Why do dogs slurp
from their drinking bowls while cats lap up water with a delicate flick of the
tongue? How does a tiny turtle hatchling from Florida circle the entire
northern Atlantic before returning to the very beach where it hatched? And how
can a Komodo dragon kill a water buffalo with a bite only as strong as a
domestic cat's?
These puzzles - and many more besides - are all explained by
physics. From heat and light to electricity and magnetism, Furry Logic unveils
the ways that more than 30 animals exploit physics to eat, drink, mate and
dodge death in their daily battle for survival.
Along the way, science journalists Matin Durrani and Liz
Kalaugher introduce the great physicists whose discoveries helped us understand
the animal world, as well as the animal experts of today who are scouring the
planet to find and study the animals that seem to push the laws of physics to
the limit. Presenting mind-bending physics principles in a simple and engaging
way, Furry Logic will appeal both to animal lovers and to those curious to see
how physics crops up in the natural world. It's more of a `howdunit' than a
whodunit, though you're unlikely to guess some of the answers.
The Infinite Monkey Cage, the legendary BBC Radio 4
programme, brings you this irreverent celebration of scientific marvels. Join
us on a hectic leap through the grand and bizarre ideas conjured up by human
imagination, from dark matter to consciousness via neutrinos and earthworms.
Professor Brian Cox and Robin Ince muse on multifaceted subjects involved in
building a universe, with pearls of wisdom from leading scientists and
comedians peppered throughout.
Covering billions of concepts and conundrums, they tackle everything
from the Big Bang to parallel universes, fierce creatures to extraterrestrial
life, brain science to artificial intelligence. How to Build a Universe is an
illuminating and inspirational celebration of science - sometimes silly,
sometimes astounding and very occasionally facetious.
Science is Beautiful, Colin Salter - £20
Our understanding of disease and the powers of medicine
today are unparalleled, and their documentation has increased signficantly.
Science is Beautiful collects the most fascinating microscopic photographs of
our diseases along with the medicines we use to treat them. These photographs
are profoundly fascinating - and also beautiful.
Featured are some of the most illuminating microscopic
images of bacteria, viruses and cancers ever captured, now made possible by
electron micrograph technology. It also uncovers some diseases specific to animals.
But
there are also dazzling images of the crystals, powders and potions that we
take to cure ourselves, including magnified versions of aspirin, insulin,
morphine and caffeine. This collection of images, as beautiful as any artwork,
can be enjoyed purely as a visual voyage but also as a way to understand more
of the science behind the image, whether it's the work of a meningitis virus,
our chromosomes in a cancer cell or the breakdown of painkillers.
The Zoomable Universe, Caleb Scharf - £20
Embark on a breath-taking, cutting-edge voyage through the
enormity of our reality - travelling one "power of ten" or order of
magnitude at a time. Echoing the classic film by Charles and Ray Eames,
acclaimed astrobiologist Caleb Scharf and artist Ron Miller guide us from the
very edge of the observable universe - about 91 billion light-years away - to
the subatomic realm, where the fabric of space-time itself behaves in a way
that confounds all the rules of physics we currently know.
Gorgeously designed
and visually inspiring, The Zoomable Universe takes a truly unique approach
toward explaining our place in the universe, charting an unforgettable course
through galaxies, black holes, solar systems, stars and planets, oceans, plants
and animals, microorganisms, atoms, quantum fields, and much more.
Illustrated with stunning colour artwork and infographics,
this is an unforgettable journey that will thrill readers who want to discover
more about the incredible reality we inhabit.
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