This one-of-a-kind book presents many of the mathematical concepts, structures, and techniques used in the study of rays, waves, and scattering. Panoramic in scope, it includes discussions of how...

Why seismologists still can't predict earthquakesAn earthquake can strike without warning and wreak horrific destruction and death, whether it's the catastrophic 2010 quake that took a devastating...

An accessible illustrated introducton to the networks we use every day, from Facebook and Google to WiFi and the Internet What makes WiFi faster at home than at a coffee shop? How does Google order...

An entertaining look at the origins of mathematical symbolsWhile all of us regularly use basic math symbols such as those for plus, minus, and equals, few of us know that many of these symbols...

An exquisite visual celebration of the 2,500-year history of geometryIf you've ever thought that mathematics and art don't mix, this stunning visual history of geometry will change your mind. As much...

Unraveling the mystery of the catastrophic age of extinctionsTwo hundred sixty million years ago, life on Earth suffered wave after wave of cataclysmic extinctions, with the worst wiping out nearly...

The Greeks and Romans lived according to a distinctively Hellenic conception of time as an aspect of cosmic order and regularity. Appropriating ideas from Egypt and the Near East, the Greeks...

A fascinating look at the perils and promise of geoengineering and our potential future on a warming planetThe risks of global warming are pressing and potentially vast. The difficulty of doing...

Motivated by the theory of turbulence in fluids, the physicist and chemist Lars Onsager conjectured in 1949 that weak solutions to the incompressible Euler equations might fail to conserve energy if...

Quantitative analysis is an increasingly essential skill for social science research, yet students in the social sciences and related areas typically receive little training in it--or if they do,...

How genomics is revolutionizing the social sciences For a century, social scientists have avoided genetics like the plague. But the nature-nurture wars are over. In the past decade, a small but...

Asymptotic differential algebra seeks to understand the solutions of differential equations and their asymptotics from an algebraic point of view. The differential field of transseries plays a...

In line with the emerging field of philosophy of mathematical practice, this book pushes the philosophy of mathematics away from questions about the reality and truth of mathematical entities and...

A concise and authoritative introduction to one of the central theories of modern physicsFor a theory as genuinely elegant as the Standard Model—the current framework describing elementary particles...

Watch Craig Bauer discuss the Zodiac Killer's cipher on HISTORY's miniseries The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer In 1953, a man was found dead from cyanide poisoning near the Philadelphia airport with a...

The twentieth century witnessed the birth of analytic philosophy. This volume covers some of its key movements and philosophers, including Frege and Wittgenstein's Tractatus.

Catalysis occupies a pivotal position in the physical and biological sciences. As well as being the mainstay of the chemical industry, it is the means of effecting many laboratory syntheses and the...

In Civilizing the Machine, John F. Kasson asks how new technologies have affected this drive for a republican civilization-and the question is as vital now as ever. A major theme of American history...