‘The Science of Doctor Who’ by Paul Parsons
One of the fascinations of Dr Who is that it is not entirely science fiction. Another Doctor, Paul Parsons, has written this wonderfully entertaining book, The Science of Doctor Who, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the science and the fiction. He wrote the book “to entertain, to boost enjoyment of the show and to answer the questions … of intelligent fans”. He adds: “If I did manage to educate anyone along the way, then I sincerely apologise”. He might well need to do some apologising! Dr Who seems timeless and ubiquitous. I watched the first Dalek story back in 1963 as a...
Read More‘Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity and the Exploration of the Red Planet’ by Steve Squyres
“Suppose just for a moment that the miracle of genesis really did occur on Mars… then evidence for how it happened may still be there, a story in the rocks waiting to be read.” – Steve Squyres. The tale of Spirit and Opportunity, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, is surely one of the most gripping adventures in scientific history. But what did it take for Steve Squyres and his team of scientists and engineers to put Spirit and Opportunity on Mars? The short answer? Two decades of planning and preparation, the toil of hundreds of dedicated scientists and engineers spread over the earth,...
Read More‘The Role of Radiation in the Origin and Evolution of Life’ by Mitsuhiko Akaboshi, Noriko Fujii & Rafael Navarro-Gonzales (eds)
Ionising radiation is often maligned in astrobiological discussions. Radiation from sources such as cosmic rays or decay of radionuclides is often a harmful influence on life, inducing mutations and inactivating cells. The collection of 25 papers gathered in The Role of Radiation in the Origin and Evolution of Life, however, takes a broader perspective on the issue and explains many of the ways that radiation can have a beneficial effect. The book is the result of an international conference held in 1998 near Osaka, Japan. It is split into three sections which in turn deal with the...
Read More‘Planets in Binary Star Systems’ by Nader Haghighipour
The latest addition in Springer’s ongoing series Astrophysics and Space Science Library is Planets in Binary Star Systems. The book represents an excellent introduction to ongoing research into the existence, formation, evolution and potential habitability of planets in binary and multiple star systems. Editor Nader Haghighipour has succeeded in soliciting a series of articles from excellent researchers spanning both the observational and theoretical aspects of the study of planets around multiple stars and, as such, the book gives a fantastic overview of the newly emerging field. In the...
Read More‘Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology’ by Woodruff Sullivan & John Baross (eds)
Astrobiology is an emerging field, and as such it has for a long time lacked an authoritative textbook – one that assembles the various lines of research into a cohesive story, highlights where the field has been, and charts its future path. Planets and Life is among the first contenders for this throne. Astrobiology is a fiercely interdisciplinary field and so this type of rigorous academic synthesis is both more difficult and more important than usual. Editors Woodruff Sullivan and John Baross have assembled an impressive team of experts, making full use of their University of...
Read More‘The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity’ by Julie Thompson Klein, Carl Mitcham & Robert Frodeman (eds)
Astrobiology is a deeply interdisciplinary research field. What lessons on effective operation and communication might be learned from other similarly diverse fields? The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity is a collection of essays on a broad range of subjects, providing an extensive overview of interdisciplinarity in various research fields including physical, biological and social sciences, arts and humanities, as well as in education, environment and government. The book’s thirty-seven chapters are grouped into five broad categories, and are essentially essays on different areas of...
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