State of the Universe 2008

State of the Universe 2008 PDF

Author: Martin A. Ratcliffe

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-02-01

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 038773998X

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The State of the Universe annuals provide an annual astronomy review suitable for the popular science-level reader. The 2008 annual covers the year’s astronomical news on topics beyond the Solar System, placing them in the context of the longer-term goals of astronomers and astrophysicists around the world. The book also includes web links for all major news stories, providing a bridge between the public news stories and the actual research web sites.

State of the Universe 2008

State of the Universe 2008 PDF

Author: Martin Ratcliffe

Publisher: Praxis

Published: 2007-12-06

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 9780387716749

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The State of the Universe annuals provide an annual astronomy review suitable for the popular science-level reader. The 2008 annual covers the year’s astronomical news on topics beyond the Solar System, placing them in the context of the longer-term goals of astronomers and astrophysicists around the world. The book also includes web links for all major news stories, providing a bridge between the public news stories and the actual research web sites.

The Center of the Universe

The Center of the Universe PDF

Author: Anita Liberty

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2008-07

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1416957898

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An angst-ridden fictional memoir of Anita Liberty's last two years in high school is presented through diary entries, poems, sarcastic advice, scorecards of parental infractions, and definitions of SAT vocabulary words.

Statistical Abstract of the United States 2010

Statistical Abstract of the United States 2010 PDF

Author: Census Bureau

Publisher: Bureau of Census

Published: 2009-12

Total Pages: 1016

ISBN-13: 9780160838842

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The 129th edition of the Statistical Abstract continues a proud tradition of presenting a comprehensive and useful portrait of the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. The 2010 edition provides: More than 1,300 tables and graphs that cover a variety of topics such as religious composition of the U.S. population, the amount of debt held by families, parent participation in school-related activities, federal aid to state and local governments, types of work flexibility provided to employees, energy consumption, public drinking water systems, and suicide rates by sex and country. Expanded guide to other sources of statistical information both in print and on the Web. Listing of metropolitan and micropolitan areas and their population. Book jacket.

Space Exploration—A History in 100 Objects

Space Exploration—A History in 100 Objects PDF

Author: Sten Odenwald

Publisher: The Experiment

Published: 2019-11-01

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1615196145

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This is no ordinary space book. Within the pages of this eclectic pop-history, scientist and educator Sten Odenwald at NASA examines 100 objects that forever altered what we know and how we think about the cosmos. From Sputnik to Skylab and Galileo’s telescope to the Curiosity rover, some objects are iconic and some obscure—but all are utterly important. The Nebra sky disk (1600 BCE) features the first realistic depiction of the Sun, Moon, and stars. The Lunar Laser Ranging RetroReflector finally showed us how far we are from the Moon in 1969. In 1986, it was the humble, rubber O-ring that doomed the space shuttle Challenger. The Event Horizon Telescope gave us our first glimpse of a black hole in 2019. These 100 objects, as Odenwald puts it, showcase “the workhorse tools and game-changing technologies that have altered the course of space history . . . the tools and devices that, taken together, represent the major scientific discoveries—and celebrate the human ingenuity—of space technology, showing the ways physics and engineering have brought about our greatest leaps in understanding the way our universe works. . . . They make it clear that we have made giant strides in our quest to search ever more deeply into the farthest reaches of the universe—and behind each new discovery is an object that expands our appreciation of space as well as the boundless imagination and resourcefulness we carry within us.”

Endless Universe

Endless Universe PDF

Author: Paul J. Steinhardt

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2007-05-29

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0385523114

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Two world-renowned scientists present an audacious new vision of the cosmos that “steals the thunder from the Big Bang theory.” —Wall Street Journal The Big Bang theory—widely regarded as the leading explanation for the origin of the universe—posits that space and time sprang into being about 14 billion years ago in a hot, expanding fireball of nearly infinite density. Over the last three decades the theory has been repeatedly revised to address such issues as how galaxies and stars first formed and why the expansion of the universe is speeding up today. Furthermore, an explanation has yet to be found for what caused the Big Bang in the first place. In Endless Universe, Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turok, both distinguished theoretical physicists, present a bold new cosmology. Steinhardt and Turok “contend that what we think of as the moment of creation was simply part of an infinite cycle of titanic collisions between our universe and a parallel world” (Discover). They recount the remarkable developments in astronomy, particle physics, and superstring theory that form the basis for their groundbreaking “Cyclic Universe” theory. According to this theory, the Big Bang was not the beginning of time but the bridge to a past filled with endlessly repeating cycles of evolution, each accompanied by the creation of new matter and the formation of new galaxies, stars, and planets. Endless Universe provides answers to longstanding problems with the Big Bang model, while offering a provocative new view of both the past and the future of the cosmos. It is a “theory that could solve the cosmic mystery” (USA Today).

Landmarks for Sustainability

Landmarks for Sustainability PDF

Author: Wayne Visser

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-30

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1351279637

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Landmarks for Sustainability is a high-impact, quick-reference guide to many of the most critical events and initiatives that have shaped our world, and the sustainable development agenda, over the past 20 years and more. These include high-profile historic events – such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Rio Earth Summit, the anti-globalisation protests in Seattle and Genoa and the collapse of Enron – as well as more subtle but no less important developments, such as trends in fairtrade, ethical codes and sustainable investment. By shining a spotlight on these and other landmark events and initiatives, the book draws into sharp relief the most significant social and environmental challenges of our time – from climate change and the state of the planet to poverty and corruption. Equally importantly, however, more than half of the book is dedicated to constructive global responses, such as the boom in clean technology, the role of the World Economic and World Social Forums, and the growth of ISO 14001 and SA8000 standards. Each of the 20 chapters follows a similar easy-access full-colour design, with inspiring quotations, compelling photographs, a timeline of associated events, a narrative description of trends, and spotlight features of specific initiatives or events, including charts, factboxes and suggestions for further reading and websites. Also included is the world's most comprehensive sustainability timeline, listing and dating 190 key sustainability-related events and initiatives that occurred between 1919 and 2008. All these features combine to make the book an essential and highly accessible resource for managers, teachers, students, government officials, consultants and activists alike. For the first time, these crucial change agents will have a single-source reference book, which is not only packed with useful facts and figures, but is also fascinating to look at and full of inspirational material.

Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies

Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2010-01-30

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 0309143616

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The United States is currently the only country with an active, government-sponsored effort to detect and track potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs). Congress has mandated that NASA detect and track 90 percent of NEOs that are 1 kilometer in diameter or larger. These objects represent a great potential hazard to life on Earth and could cause global destruction. NASA is close to accomplishing this goal. Congress has more recently mandated that by 2020 NASA should detect and track 90 percent of NEOs that are 140 meters in diameter or larger, a category of objects that is generally recognized to represent a very significant threat to life on Earth if they strike in or near urban areas. Achieving this goal may require the building of one or more additional observatories, possibly including a space-based observatory. Congress directed NASA to ask the National Research Council to review NASA's near-Earth object programs. This interim report addresses some of the issues associated with the survey and detection of NEOs. The final report will contain findings and recommendations for survey and detection, characterization, and mitigation of near-Earth objects based on an integrated assessment of the problem.

The Conflict Over Environmental Regulation in the United States

The Conflict Over Environmental Regulation in the United States PDF

Author: Frank T. Manheim

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-11-30

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 0387758771

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in Congress – are not considered, they may affect future energy programs just as they have past programs. Finally, potentially ruinously costly increases in energy imports force attention to the problem of how major public policy plans have been and are prepared in the United States. A witches’ brew of some 500 energy bills proposed in the 110th C ongress in the House and Senate is now being stirred up. This “inspirational” approach to public policymaking bears little resemblance to the thoughtful way critical policies have been developed in the EU. A change of the way major national planning is undertaken may do more than anything else to bring facts and reality into play, reduce hostilities, open up cooperation, new resources, technologies, creative energies, and productivity toward energy policy transitions. Chapter 6 Foreign Experience 6. 1 The European Union and Other Nations Take the Lead “The EU has pioneered a new form of post-national government, in which nation-states pool some of their sovereignty for the common good. Many of its admirers see this as a useful potential model for Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, China-Taiwan, Latin America, parts of Africa and so on. The EU takes some issues, like human rights, global warming and the fostering of an international system of justice, with admirable seriousness . . . . . . Considering the kind of Europe it replaced, the EU has been an almost miraculous success (Walker, 2007).

Launching Science

Launching Science PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-02-12

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 0309178118

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In January 2004 NASA was given a new policy direction known as the Vision for Space Exploration. That plan, now renamed the United States Space Exploration Policy, called for sending human and robotic missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. In 2005 NASA outlined how to conduct the first steps in implementing this policy and began the development of a new human-carrying spacecraft known as Orion, the lunar lander known as Altair, and the launch vehicles Ares I and Ares V. Collectively, these are called the Constellation System. In November 2007 NASA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to evaluate the potential for new science opportunities enabled by the Constellation System of rockets and spacecraft. The NRC committee evaluated a total of 17 mission concepts for future space science missions. Of those, the committee determined that 12 would benefit from the Constellation System and five would not. This book presents the committee's findings and recommendations, including cost estimates, a review of the technical feasibility of each mission, and identification of the missions most deserving of future study.