Present at the future : from evolution to nanotechnology, candid and controversial conversations on science and nature / Ira Flatow.

New York : Collins, [2007], ©2007.

xiv, 354 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

1st ed.

Three pounds of grey matter -- The mind's window -- Memory : senior jeopardy!, anyone? -- Oliver sacks : music makes the memory -- Pathways of addiction -- Sleep and learning : caffeine in your beer -- Cosmology -- Where the very big meets the very little -- It's a dark world after all -- String theory : we have a problem -- Getting ready for global warming -- Is every coastal town a New Orleans waiting to happen? -- The moral imperative -- Energy : which way to go? -- It makes your hair hurt -- Forests and fields of alcohol -- The nuclear option -- Is coal still king? -- The wind rush is on! -- Nanotechnology -- The new small is big -- Leaving the earth -- There's no business like space business -- The oceans are in trouble -- Sylvia Earle : sounding the alarm -- Craig Venter goes fishing for genes -- Science and religion -- Fitting God into the equation -- Evolution : still under attack -- The Dover School Board case -- Pioneers present at the future -- Jane Goodall -- Ian Wilmut : Dolly plus ten -- The Wizard of Woz -- The ultimate computer -- Whither cyberspace? -- The universe as computer -- Beauty in the details -- The joy of knowing -- The case of the mice cured of diabetes -- The misbehaving shower curtain -- Why an airplace flies : debunking the myth -- The great champagne bubble mystery -- Open source biology -- The quest for immortality -- Stem cells, cloning, and the quest for immortality.

Includes index.