Popular Science

Rogue waves remain something of a mystery. Long believed to be a myth or an exaggeration, they haven't been the subject of any kind of serious in-depth research - until...

Tuberculosis has twisted through the millennia hand-in-hand with humanity, leaving its marks on our culture, our history and our DNA, from the birth of Homo sapiens right up to the...

Humans are mammals. Most of us appreciate that at some level. But what does it mean for us to have more in common with a horse and an elephant than...

'Highly recommended' Financial Times Today we know of only a single planet that hosts life: the Earth. But across a Universe of at least 100 billion possibly habitable worlds, surely...

Twenty years ago, the search for planets outside the Solar System was a job restricted to science-fiction writers. Now it's one of the fastest-growing fields in astronomy with thousands of...

If you could bring back just one animal from the past, what would you choose? It can be anyone or anything from history, from the King of the Dinosaurs, T....

Heat and fire have been at humanity's command for at least 100,000 years, but we've been in control of the cold for barely one hundred. Why it took so long...

'Gripping and wonderfully informative' Tom Holland, New StatesmanAdored by children and adults alike, Tyrannosaurus is the most famous dinosaur in the world, one that pops up again and again in...

NASA's history is a familiar story, one that typically peaks with Neil Armstrong taking his small step on the Moon in 1969. But America's space agency wasn't created in a...

The incredible story of spaceflight before the establishment of NASA.NASA's history is a familiar story, one that typically peaks with Neil Armstrong taking his small step on the Moon in...

The language of genes has become common parlance. We know they make your eyes blue, your hair curly or your nose straight. The media tells us that our genes control...

Silence is a mysterious and unfathomable realm, perhaps the most under-used of all resources, and one our modern culture has all but obliterated by turning up the volume control. Graham...

Here are the stories of the ten most popular equations of all time as voted for by readers of Physics World, including - accessibly described here for the first time...

The atom. The Big Bang. DNA. Natural selection. All ideas that have revolutionised science - and that were dismissed out of hand when they first appeared. The surprises haven't stopped:...

In a series of 50 accessible essays, Jo Baker introduces and explains all of the essential concepts, major discoveries and the very latest thinking in astrophysics.From heliocentrism to Newton's theory...

Charles Darwin is best known for his work on the evolution of animals, but in fact a large part of his contribution to the natural sciences is focused on plants....

Water is the most every day of substances. It pours from our taps and falls from the sky. We drink it, wash with it, and couldn't live without it. Yet,...

One of Time magazine's '32 Books You Need to Read This Summer' -- 'a riveting read'.'Intensely readable, downright terrifying, and surprisingly uplifting.'Vanity Fair'A fascinating work of imaginative futurology, a science...

Even as the popularity of videogames has skyrocketed, a dark cloud continues to hang over them. Many people who play games feel embarrassed to admit as much, and many who...

Most of us are clueless when it comes to the physics that makes our modern world so convenient. What's the simple science behind motion sensors, touch screens and toasters? How...

Acclaimed popular-science writer Brian Clegg and popular TV and radio astronomer Rhodri Evans give us a Top Ten list of physicists as the central theme to build an exploration of...

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CANNABIS AND YOUR HEALTHUnderpinned by his two-year research trial in partnership with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, involving up to 20,000 patients, which will create Europe's...

How much are the things you choose to do everyday--what you eat, how you vote, who you love--determined by your genes, and how much is your own free will? Using...

This magnificent volume offers a rich visual tour of the planets in our solar system. More than 200 breathtaking photographs from the archives of NASA are paired with extended captions...

Never has humble paper had such radical ambitions. Defying every expectation of what a book can be, this pop-up extravaganza transforms into six fully functional tools. Artist Kelli Anderson contributes...

Almost a third of your whole life is spent asleep. Night School uncovers the scientific truth about the sleeping brain - and gives powerful tips on how those hours of...

Shortly before his death in December 2012, Sir Patrick Moore began the annual task of planning the fifty-second consecutive Yearbook of Astronomy with his friend and colleague Dr John Mason....

'People are emotionally drawn to the supernatural. They actively want weird, spooky things to be true . . . Wiseman shows us a higher joy as he deftly skewers the...

'Hugely enjoyable' - Spectator'A lucid, elegantly written and thought-provoking social and intellectual history' - Evening Standard'As a historian trying to put Darwin in the context of his time, there is...

Professor Bryan Sykes, the world's leading expert on human genetics, set a goal to locate and analyse as many DNA samples as possible with links to the yeti. In doing...

In anaesthetist Dr Kevin Fong's television programmes he has often demonstrated the impact of extremes on the human body by using his own body as a 'guinea pig'. So Dr...

This is the book that Daniel Tammet, bestselling author and mathematical savant, was born to write. In Tammet's world, numbers are beautiful and mathematics illuminates our lives and minds. Using...

Calculus: A Complete Introduction is the most comprehensive yet easy-to-use introduction to using calculus. Written by a leading expert, this book will help you if you are studying for an...

Is this the right book for me?Understand Physics gives you a solid understanding of the key skills and ideas that run through the subject. You will explore the important concepts...

Explore the curiosities of our galaxy with this comprehensive, digestible guide to astronomy!Too often, textbooks obscure the beauty and wonder of outer space with tedious discourse that even Galileo would...

The next frontier in space exploration is Mars, the red planet- and human habitation of Mars isn't much farther off. In October 2015, NASA declared Mars "an achievable goal". Now...

For decades, beloved astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson has interpreted science with a combination of brainpower and charm that resonates with fans everywhere. In 2009, he founded StarTalk a wildly popular...

A leading science writer examines how our brains improve in middle age. Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Barbara Strauch explores the latest findings that demonstrate how the middle-aged brain is more...

Lured by a top academic position sponsored by the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Albert Einstein moved from Zurich to Berlin in 1914 and lived there until 1932, just weeks before...

Ever wonder why some people have difficulty recognizing faces or why food found delicious in one culture is reviled in another? John M. Henshaw ponders these and other surprising facts...

How did we get here? All cultures have a creation story, but a little over 150 years ago Charles Darwin introduced a revolutionary new one. We, and all living things,...

The Loch Ness Monster: a creature that should have died out with the dinosaurs, or a legend built on hoaxes and wishful thinking?Sir Peter Scott, internationally renowned naturalist and president...