What's the Point of Science?


Book Description

Bored of biology? Crushed by chemistry? Perplexed by physics? DOES SCIENCE REALLY MATTER ANYWAY? Oh, only for... JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING! From how to stop a virus to defy gravity, and from how to predict the future to how to see the past, this ebook shows you where science started, why it matters now, and the jaw-dropping places it may lead us to in the future. It will change the way you think about science FOREVER! Beautiful hand-drawn illustrations show you how history's most ingenious and daring scientists solved mysteries that had puzzled the ancient world for millennia, triggering an age of discovery that gave us telescopes, flying machines, steam engines, antibiotics, electricity, radio, space travel, and computers. Discover the amazing men and women who challenged conventional thinking and put their lives at risk to learn about everything, from planetary orbits and gold to germs, and from gunpowder to radioactivity. What's the Point of Science? explains in super-simple terms how science really works and why it changed the world. It's packed with surprising facts, tales of ingenuity and endeavour, and beautiful, unique illustrations. This ebook is about how scientists changed the world, one breakthrough at a time, and it is guaranteed to inspire, surprise, amuse, and entertain everybody who downloads it.




What's the Point of Science?


Book Description

Find out about the wonderful world of scientific discovery, how science works and why it has changed the world. Turn boredom into awe! Learn about the most notable scientists in history, scientific discoveries, and the answers to your questions about biology, chemistry and physics. This illustrated science book is packed with stories and hand-drawn graphics that will make science fun! Wondering where science started and how scientists solve centuries-old mysteries? Inside this science book, you’ll find: • Each main topic features a discovery or breakthrough presented as an illustrated story. • Real-world examples of modern science and technology bring the story up to date, and make each topic relevant. • Occasional timeline spreads reveal how scientific ideas have evolved. • "Try it out" boxes show readers how to carry out hands-on science activities at home or at school. • Amazing facts and stories keep the tone light and entertaining. • Timeline spreads show scientific development in a specific field over the ages. Discover the amazing humans who challenged the thinking of their time and put their lives at risk to learn about everything on the planet — and in space! Understand why science matters so much, and the incredible places it will take us in the future. This illustrated science reference guide will intrigue and inspire children ages 9-12 to love science, and to marvel at the world around them. Students will learn how science is practical and applicable to the real world, and helps to solve everyday problems through the stories and discoveries of notable scientists. The easy-to-follow format explores the origins of science and answers important questions like how the universe started, how to build a pyramid, how to save a life, how to capture lightning and even how to live on Mars. The answers and stories in this scientific book will change the way children think about science forever! DK’s What’s the Point? series is packed with surprising facts, tales of ingenuity and endeavor, and beautiful, unique illustrations. Each book in the series includes crazy facts, quizzes and puzzles. Look out for What's the Point of Maths? to encourage young students to find fun in their math homework!




Science, Policy, and the Value-Free Ideal


Book Description

The role of science in policymaking has gained unprecedented stature in the United States, raising questions about the place of science and scientific expertise in the democratic process. Some scientists have been given considerable epistemic authority in shaping policy on issues of great moral and cultural significance, and the politicizing of these issues has become highly contentious. Since World War II, most philosophers of science have purported the concept that science should be "value-free." In Science, Policy and the Value-Free Ideal, Heather E. Douglas argues that such an ideal is neither adequate nor desirable for science. She contends that the moral responsibilities of scientists require the consideration of values even at the heart of science. She lobbies for a new ideal in which values serve an essential function throughout scientific inquiry, but where the role values play is constrained at key points, thus protecting the integrity and objectivity of science. In this vein, Douglas outlines a system for the application of values to guide scientists through points of uncertainty fraught with moral valence.Following a philosophical analysis of the historical background of science advising and the value-free ideal, Douglas defines how values should-and should not-function in science. She discusses the distinctive direct and indirect roles for values in reasoning, and outlines seven senses of objectivity, showing how each can be employed to determine the reliability of scientific claims. Douglas then uses these philosophical insights to clarify the distinction between junk science and sound science to be used in policymaking. In conclusion, she calls for greater openness on the values utilized in policymaking, and more public participation in the policymaking process, by suggesting various models for effective use of both the public and experts in key risk assessments.




The Varieties of Scientific Experience


Book Description

“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith “A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.” —Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as "informed worship." Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.




Reproducibility and Replicability in Science


Book Description

One of the pathways by which the scientific community confirms the validity of a new scientific discovery is by repeating the research that produced it. When a scientific effort fails to independently confirm the computations or results of a previous study, some fear that it may be a symptom of a lack of rigor in science, while others argue that such an observed inconsistency can be an important precursor to new discovery. Concerns about reproducibility and replicability have been expressed in both scientific and popular media. As these concerns came to light, Congress requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conduct a study to assess the extent of issues related to reproducibility and replicability and to offer recommendations for improving rigor and transparency in scientific research. Reproducibility and Replicability in Science defines reproducibility and replicability and examines the factors that may lead to non-reproducibility and non-replicability in research. Unlike the typical expectation of reproducibility between two computations, expectations about replicability are more nuanced, and in some cases a lack of replicability can aid the process of scientific discovery. This report provides recommendations to researchers, academic institutions, journals, and funders on steps they can take to improve reproducibility and replicability in science.




Can Science Make Sense of Life?


Book Description

Since the discovery of the structure of DNA and the birth of the genetic age, a powerful vocabulary has emerged to express science’s growing command over the matter of life. Armed with knowledge of the code that governs all living things, biology and biotechnology are poised to edit, even rewrite, the texts of life to correct nature’s mistakes. Yet, how far should the capacity to manipulate what life is at the molecular level authorize science to define what life is for? This book looks at flash points in law, politics, ethics, and culture to argue that science’s promises of perfectibility have gone too far. Science may have editorial control over the material elements of life, but it does not supersede the languages of sense-making that have helped define human values across millennia: the meanings of autonomy, integrity, and privacy; the bonds of kinship, family, and society; and the place of humans in nature.




Pandora's Lab


Book Description

Exploring the most fascinating and significant scientific missteps, the author presents seven cautionary lessons to separate good science from bad.




What's Under the Sea?


Book Description

Each book in this bright, exciting series for young children introduces an aspect of the natural or technological world, providing a wealth of fascinating information. The series explores a wide variety of subjects such as what makes a shadow, why flamingos are pink, what makes your tummy rumble and how fish breathe underwater. Where it is appropriate, there are safe and easy experiments to help clarify explanations. The simple text and detailed illustrations combine to answer the question of each title in clear, step-by-step stages. Young children who are just beginning to read will enjoy sharing these books with an adult, while more confident readers will have fun discovering for themselves.




Science Education from People for People


Book Description

Contributing to the social justice agenda of redefining what science is and what it means in the everyday lives of people, this book introduces science educators to various dimensions of viewing science and scientific literacy from the standpoint of the learner, engaged with real everyday concerns within or outside school; develops a new form of scholarship based on the dialogic nature of science as process and product; and achieves these two objectives in a readable but scholarly way. Opposing the tendency to teach and do research as if science, science education, and scientific literacy could be imposed from the outside, the authors want science education to be for people rather than strictly about how knowledge gets into their heads. Taking up the challenges of this orientation, science educators can begin to make inroads into the currently widespread irrelevance of science in the everyday lives of people. Utmost attention has been given to making this book readable by the people from whose lives the topics of the chapters emerge, all the while retaining academic integrity and high-level scholarship. Wolff Michael Roth has been awarded the Distinguished Contributions Award by The National Association for Research in Science Teaching, for his contributions to research in this field. He has also been elected to be the Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.




What's Inside You?


Book Description

Using simple text this mini book offers an introduction to what's inside the body, written with the aim of helping to answer children's questions. It is one of a series of books about the natural and scientific world which offers safe and easy experiments to help clarify explanations.