Vetenskap

One of our best-known living philosophers Guardian How do we respond to the refugee crisis - by opening our doors, or pulling up the drawbridge? Both solutions, argues Slavoj Zizek, offer ideological blackmail, and both are wrong. He proposes that instead we see the crisis as an opportunity: a unique chance for Europe to redefine itself and its future. Zizek identifies the refugee crisis as one of the major global challenges of our time ...he argues for a politics of solidarity The Times Literary Supplement

Distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFS) are capable of revealing information about temperature, strain, vibration, pressure, or magnetic field from anywhere along the fiber. This book explains their physical principles, unique benefits, broad categories, implementation aspects, and performance criteria.

An examination of telepresence technologies through the lens of contemporary artistic experiments, from early video art through current "drone vision" works.

The fourth edition of an authoritative overview, with all new chapters that capture the state of the art in a rapidly growing field.Science and Technology Studies (STS) is a flourishing interdisciplinary field that examines the transformative power of science and technology to arrange and rearrange contemporary societies. The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the field, reviewing current research and major theoretical and methodological approaches in a way that is accessible to both new and established scholars from a range of disciplines. This new edition, sponsored by the Society for Social Studies of Science, is the fourth in a series of volumes that have defined the field of STS. It features 36 chapters, each written for the fourth edition, that capture the state of the art in a rich and rapidly growing field. One especially notable development is the increasing integration of feminist, gender, and postcolonial studies into the body of STS knowledge. The book covers methods and participatory practices in STS research; mechanisms by which knowledge, people, and societies are coproduced; the design, construction, and use of material devices and infrastructures; the organization and governance of science; and STS and societal challenges including aging, agriculture, security, disasters, environmental justice, and climate change.

Want to know what's next for the human race? Step into Jim Al-Khalili's time machine ...

A philosophical examination of the theoretical terrain of contemporary Maoism premised on the counter-intuitive assumption that Maoism did not emerge as a coherent theory until the end of the 1980s.

The ultimate guide to understanding biologyHave you ever wondered how the food you eat becomes the energy your body needs to keep going? The theory of evolution says that humans and chimps descended from a common ancestor, but does it tell us how and why? We humans are insatiably curious creatures who can't help wondering how things work--starting with our own bodies. Wouldn't it be great to have a single source of quick answers to all our questions about how living things work? Now there is.From molecules to animals, cells to ecosystems, Biology For Dummies answers all your questions about how living things work. Written in plain English and packed with dozens of enlightening illustrations, this reference guide covers the most recent developments and discoveries in evolutionary, reproductive, and ecological biology. It's also complemented with lots of practical, up-to-date examples to bring the information to life.* Discover how living things work* Think like a biologist and use scientific methods* Understand lifecycle processesWhether you're enrolled in a biology class or just want to know more about this fascinating and ever-evolving field of study, Biology For Dummies will help you unlock the mysteries of how life works.

What do pure mathematicians do, and why do they do it? Looking beyond the conventional answersfor the sake of truth, beauty, and practical applicationsthis book offers an eclectic panorama of the lives and values and hopes and fears of mathematicians in the twenty-first century, assembling material from a startlingly diverse assortment of scholarly, journalistic, and pop culture sources.Drawing on his personal experiences and obsessions as well as the thoughts and opinions of mathematicians from Archimedes and Omar Khayym to such contemporary giants as Alexander Grothendieck and Robert Langlands, Michael Harris reveals the charisma and romance of mathematics as well as its darker side. In this portrait of mathematics as a community united around a set of common intellectual, ethical, and existential challenges, he touches on a wide variety of questions, such as: Are mathematicians to blame for the 2008 financial crisis? How can we talk about the ideas we were born too soon to understand? And how should you react if you are asked to explain number theory at a dinner party?Disarmingly candid, relentlessly intelligent, and richly entertaining, Mathematics without Apologies takes readers on an unapologetic guided tour of the mathematical life, from the philosophy and sociology of mathematics to its reflections in film and popular music, with detours through the mathematical and mystical traditions of Russia, India, medieval Islam, the Bronx, and beyond.

Some of our most burning questions surround consciousness: What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Is consciousness itself an illusion? The rapid rate of developments in brain science continues to open up debate on these issues. This book clarifies the complex arguments and illuminates the major theories on consciousness.

An indispensable guide to living a full life from the bestselling author of An Intimate History of Humanity

A cultural history of the face in Western art, ranging from portraiture in painting and photography to film, theater, and mass mediaThis fascinating book presents the first cultural history and anthropology of the face across centuries, continents, and media. Ranging from funerary masks and masks in drama to the figural work of contemporary artists including Cindy Sherman and Nam June Paik, renowned art historian Hans Belting emphasizes that while the face plays a critical role in human communication, it defies attempts at visual representation.Belting divides his book into three parts: faces as masks of the self, portraiture as a constantly evolving mask in Western culture, and the fate of the face in the age of mass media. Referencing a vast array of sources, Belting's insights draw on art history, philosophy, theories of visual culture, and cognitive science. He demonstrates that Western efforts to portray the face have repeatedly failed, even with the developments of new media such as photography and film, which promise ever-greater degrees of verisimilitude. In spite of sitting at the heart of human expression, the face resists possession, and creative endeavors to capture it inevitably result in masks-hollow signifiers of the humanity they're meant to embody.From creations by Van Eyck and August Sander to works by Francis Bacon, Ingmar Bergman, and Chuck Close, Face and Mask takes a remarkable look at how, through the centuries, the physical visage has inspired and evaded artistic interpretation.

Forrenowned art historian Georges DidiHuberman, artist James Turrell is aninventor of impossible spaces and unthinkable sites, of aporias, of fables. Creator of some of the most fascinating works of the late twentieth and earlytwentyfirst century, Turrell uses as his medium the most elemental material ofsight and art: light.

Exploring the idea that plants can think, feel, and communicate as a way of reconfiguring our relationship with the natural world

Now available in its complete form, including the Chinese characters and English text, this essential examination of the art of strategic thinking features extensive commentary and an insightful historical introduction written by Lionel Giles, its original translator

Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for usit empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But, Jason Brennan says, they are all wrong.In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its resultsand the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worsemore irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of governmentepistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeablemay be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out.A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines.

The author has spent several years exploring what it means to be 100 per cent healthy. In this book, he explores various avenues of the search for a deeper understanding and experience of connection, and finds connections between cultural, scientific and spiritual traditions in the search for higher understanding.

This handy guide includes end-of-chapter questions for review and appendixes detailing key related physics concepts for further study.

A hands-on guide supporting both students and supervisors on the doctoral journey, helping make the process of achieving a PhD both enjoyable and productive.

Bestselling author Max van ManenΓÇÖs Writing in the Dark brings together a wide range of studies of relevance to qualitative researchers and professional practitioners. Each of the sixteen original chapters by accomplished scholars serves as an example of how a different kind of human experience may be explored, and of how the methods used for investigating phenomena may contribute to the process of human understanding. Van Manen provides the opening and closing chapters for the book, and also an introduction to each selection. This book is a valuable and rich resource for people who would like to learn more about phenomenological reflection and writing.Van Manen and his contributing authors:-Show how the challenge of doing qualitative research can be pursued through the process of inquiry, reflection and writing-Are from a variety of fields such as education, health sciences, psychology, arts and design, communication technology, and religious studies-Include numerous recognizable human experiences including common ones, forgotten ones, and ritualized ones

Using newly declassified documents, this book explores why U.S. military leaders after World War II sought to monitor the far north and understand the physical environment of Greenland, a crucial territory of Denmark.

This edited book by Mills and Karp brings together political, legal and moral perspectives on the responsibilities of human rights protection in world politics today. It critiques a narrow focus on states' 'violations' of human rights, incorporates non-state actors, and looks beyond the 'Responsibility to Protect' policy framework.