An engaging journey into the biological principles underpinning a beloved science fiction franchise
In Star Trek, crew members traveled to unusual planets, met diverse beings, and encountered unique civilizations. Throughout these remarkable space adventures, has Star Trek reflected biology and evolution as we know it? What can the science in the science fiction of Star Trek teach us? In Live Long and Evolve, biologist and die hard-Trekkie Mohamed Noor takes readers on a fun, fact-filled scientific journey into biological concepts--particularly evolution and genetics--by voyaging through multiple Star Trek series and movies.
With a plethora of scenes, examples, and in-depth explanations, Noor offers Trekkies, science fiction fans, and anyone curious about how life works a cosmic gateway into introductory biology, including the definitions and origins of life, DNA, reproduction, and evolutionary processes, such as natural selection and genetic drift. For instance, in the episode "Evolution," he shows how the rapid change in a population of nanite robots follows basic principles of natural selection that apply to species on Earth. With the well-known "The Trouble with Tribbles," Noor explains how the fertile creatures are bisexual and not asexual, and what evolutionary advantage that difference provides. And through the segments "Melora," "Demons," and "Terra Prime," he considers the biological issues of interspecies mating. Noor further discusses the importance of research and how Star Trek has influenced scientists to engage in cutting-edge work.
Live Long and Evolve gives readers an irresistible, entertaining vehicle to deconstruct some of the powerful science behind one of the longest-running science fiction series in popular culture.
Автор: Dalrymple William Название: Koh-I-Noor ISBN: 140888884X ISBN-13(EAN): 9781408888841 Издательство: Bloomsbury Рейтинг: Цена: 2523.00 р. Наличие на складе: Поставка под заказ.
Описание: The first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i-Noor, arguably the most celebrated and mythologised jewel in the world. On 29 March 1849, the ten-year-old maharaja of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over great swathes of the richest country in India in a formal Act of Submission to a private corporation, the East India Company.
He was also compelled to hand over to the British monarch, Queen Victoria, perhaps the single most valuable object on the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light. The history of the Koh-i-Noor that was then commissioned by the British may have been one woven together from gossip of Delhi bazaars, but it was to become the accepted version.
Only now is it finally challenged, freeing the diamond from the fog of mythology that has clung to it for so long. The resulting history is one of greed, murder, torture, colonialism and appropriation told through an impressive slice of south and central Asian history. It ends with the jewel in its current controversial setting: in the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Masterly, powerful and erudite, this is history at its most compelling and invigorating.
An engaging journey into the biological principles underpinning a beloved science fiction franchise
In Star Trek, crew members traveled to unusual planets, met diverse beings, and encountered unique civilizations. Throughout these remarkable space adventures, has Star Trek reflected biology and evolution as we know it? What can the science in the science fiction of Star Trek teach us? In Live Long and Evolve, biologist and die hard-Trekkie Mohamed Noor takes readers on a fun, fact-filled scientific journey into biological concepts--particularly evolution and genetics--by voyaging through multiple Star Trek series and movies.
With a plethora of scenes, examples, and in-depth explanations, Noor offers Trekkies, science fiction fans, and anyone curious about how life works a cosmic gateway into introductory biology, including the definitions and origins of life, DNA, reproduction, and evolutionary processes, such as natural selection and genetic drift. For instance, in the episode "Evolution," he shows how the rapid change in a population of nanite robots follows basic principles of natural selection that apply to species on Earth. With the well-known "The Trouble with Tribbles," Noor explains how the fertile creatures are bisexual and not asexual, and what evolutionary advantage that difference provides. And through the segments "Melora," "Demons," and "Terra Prime," he considers the biological issues of interspecies mating. Noor further discusses the importance of research and how Star Trek has influenced scientists to engage in cutting-edge work.
Live Long and Evolve gives readers an irresistible, entertaining vehicle to deconstruct some of the powerful science behind one of the longest-running science fiction series in popular culture.
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