Lewis Dartnell

How would you go about rebuilding a technological society from scratch? If our technological society collapsed tomorrow, perhaps from a viral pandemic or catastrophic asteroid impact, what would be the one book you would want to press into the hands of the postapocalyptic survivors? What crucial knowledge would they need to survive in the immediate aftermath and to rebuild civilization as quickly as possible—a guide for rebooting the world? Human knowledge is collective, distributed across the population. It has built on itself for centuries, becoming vast and increasingly specialized. Most of us are ignorant about the fundamental principles of the civilization that supports us, happily utilizing the latest—or even the most basic—technology without having the slightest idea of why it works or how it came to be. If you had to go back to absolute basics, like some sort of postcataclysmic Robinson Crusoe, would you know how to re-create an internal combustion engine, put together a microscope, get metals out of rock, accurately tell time, weave fibers into clothing, or even how to produce food for yourself? Regarded as one of the brightest young scientists of his generation, Lewis Dartnell proposes that the key to preserving civilization in an apocalyptic scenario is to provide a quickstart guide, adapted to cataclysmic circumstances. The Knowledge describes many of the modern technologies we employ, but first it explains the fundamentals upon which they are built. Every piece of technology rests on an enormous support network of other technologies, all interlinked and mutually dependent. You can’t hope to build a radio, for example, without understanding how to acquire the raw materials it requires, as well as generate the electricity needed to run it. But Dartnell doesn’t just provide specific information for starting over; he also reveals the greatest invention of them all—the phenomenal knowledge-generating machine that is the scientific method itself. This would allow survivors to learn technological advances not explicitly explored in The Knowledge as well as things we have yet to discover. The Knowledge is a brilliantly original guide to the fundamentals of science and how it built our modern world as well as a thought experiment about the very idea of scientific knowledge itself.

A New York Times-bestselling author explains how the physical world shaped the history of our speciesWhen we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, population forces, and decisive wars. But how has the earth itself determined our destiny? Our planet wobbles, driving changes in climate that forced the transition from nomadism to farming. Mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece. Atmospheric circulation patterns later on shaped the progression of global exploration, colonization, and trade. Even today, voting behavior in the south-east United States ultimately follows the underlying pattern of 75 million-year-old sediments from an ancient sea. Everywhere is the deep imprint of the planetary on the human.From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the breathtaking impact of the earth beneath our feet on the shape of our human civilizations.

Being Human is history made flesh. Our biology will change how you see the world.'Illuminating' TIM MARSHALL'A gripping, red-blooded narrative from a master storyteller' JO MARCHANT'Refreshing' THOMAS HALLIDAY'A wild ride' TIM HARFORDHow did haemophilia bring down the Russian royal family? And scurvy give rise to the Mafia?We are a wonder of evolution. Our exceptional abilities created life as we know it, but we're also deeply flawed. This extraordinary contradiction between our faculties and frailties is the essence of what it means to be human. And history has played out in the balance between them.Here, Lewis Dartnell tells our story through the lens of this uniquely fragile nature for the first time. From cognitive biases to endemic diseases, he explores how human biology has shaped relationships, societies, economies and wars across the globe - and considers how, importantly, it continues to challenge and define our progress.Praise for Lewis 'Stands comparison with Yuval Harari's Sapiens ... A thrilling piece of big history' Sunday Times on Origins

Astrobiology, the study of life and its existence in the universe, is one of the hottest areas of scientific research. Lewis Dartnell considers some of the fascinating questions facing researchers today. Could life exist anywhere else in the universe? What might aliens really look like? Dartnell explains why Earth is uniquely suited for life and reveals our profound connection to the cosmos.

"Includes collectible keychain "Fast forward to the future when outer space is no longer the final frontier, but the ultimate vacation destination"My Tourist Guide to the Solar System & Beyond" catapults armchair astronauts on a wild exploration of the planets, moons and stars. By way of a quirky guidebook approach, young readers will survey the lay of the land by hiking the Mariner Valley on Mars, collecting icy pebble souvenirs from a flight through Saturn's rings, and bouncing on the gravity-light moon Enceladus. Stunning images and photographs combine with text boxes detailing "Things to see" and "What to pack" to create an out-of-this-world experience for all."My Tourist Guide to the Solar System & Beyond" is bound to be an astronomical success

The study of astrobiology, or the study of life and its existence in the universe, brings forth many important theories and findings every day. This stellar guide discusses those findings and theories in a straightforward and interesting manner. Detailed black and white photographs and illustrations are included.

一本末日版「大人的科學」，得到英國《泰晤士報》、《新科學人》科學類選書、亞馬遜讀者5顆星推薦，售出全球十三國版權世界毀滅，只是一瞬間的事，突發海嘯、重量級地震、超級流感肆虐、核電廠大爆炸……如果你所知道的文明已經不存在了，你要如何在新世界活下去？★來自科學家的文明保存計畫，一部全景式科學簡史，一個重建文明社會的技術解決方案。★從現象觀察到作實驗，從科學原理延伸到工業應用，明白今日科學文明的背後，科技如何建構了生活。★書中從食、衣、住、行，農耕、水力風力發電到復興化學工業，還有如何重回電力生活，皆詳細解說，要給末日知識人最實用的建議。你是否曾經想過：＊種子、農具及肥料哪裡來？冬天缺糧怎麼辦？＊飲用水如何過濾、消毒？沒有冰箱，食物如何在土盆中保鮮？＊為了重建家園，該怎麼從頭製造磚塊、水泥和鋼筋混凝土？ ＊如何利用汽車引擎和廢棄零件，組成暖爐、臨時水上發電機等維生設備？＊燃料耗竭，怎麼開車、烹飪，甚至燒製玻璃、煉鐵？ ＊病毒肆虐，沒有顯微鏡和藥物，怎麼對抗微生物大軍？＊欠缺電力設備，如何自行發電、製造能源？＊如何組裝、架構通訊設備，與外面世界搭上線？＊只用「公尺」就能推算出體積、容量、面積、溫度等度量衡單位 …………在末日，現代人類習以為常的事物，都會因資源匱乏而不敷使用。人類的生活會變成什麼樣子？會回到遠古採集漁獵的洞穴生活？還是從廢紙堆中撿拾各種被忽略的知識，重新發現生活日用品的發明之祕，盡可能早日重啟科學文明？◆ 如果身處戈馬克．麥卡錫《長路》世界中，你需要這本末日生存科普指南◆ 若是不幸成為《我是傳奇》中的地球最後一人，這本所說的生存技能最好盡可能記得◆ 不小心被捲入《瘋狂麥斯》的資源爭奪戰，除了活命還要守住機械工具和零件，保護重要的人事物……科學家路易斯‧達奈爾探討現代文明社會的物質基礎，發現已少有人能完整掌握建構器物的技術和原理，於是從農業、建築、材料、醫學、運輸、製造、通訊等面向，帶領讀者重新認識建構文明社會必備的知識和技能，在世界向人類反撲、末日來臨之前，我們要為成為「最後一個知識人」做準備，也讓你我思索：如果重新來過，科技該如何發展，世界又該演變成什麼樣貌？人們將告別用金錢換取商品的資本主義社會，來到人人都是科學家的大實驗室時代，你帶著化學及物理知識的操作手冊，四處探索，尋找能夠點石成金的物件和文明棄物，按圖索驥，學著自己過濾飲水，用廚餘製作肥料，收集罐頭，用簡易鑄鐵設備煉鐵，吹出玻璃瓶，試圖找到可種植的種子，最後開墾田地，把人集合起來變成村莊，想辦法收集所有資源，想著如何重啟第二次工業革命。達奈爾所相信的是，物質文明也許有一天將走到最後，但只要知識沒有被破壞，人類就能按部就班重建生活。這本書，不只是關於科幻、後末日的反英雄或者黑暗冒險故事，關於隕石撞地球、核子冬天、城市變廢墟的景象，你不知道什麼時候來臨，也不知道是否成真。但是人們要是對現代科技麻木無感，對事物的製造過程一知半解，末日魯賓遜又該怎麼求生？反之，當人們一次次對日常、無用之物產生興趣，有一天將使科學再生！

Any microbial life extant in the top meters of the martian subsurface is likely to be held dormant for long periods of time by the current permafrost conditions. In this potential habitable zone, a major environmental hazard is the ionising radiation field generated by the flux of exogenous energetic solar energetic protons and galactic cosmic rays. The research reported here constitutes the first multidisciplinary approach to assessing the astrobiological impact of this radiation on Mars. A sophisticated computer model has been constructed to characterise this complex subsurface ionising radiation field and explore the influence of variation in crucial parameters such as atmospheric density, surface composition, and primary radiation spectra. Microbiological work has also been conducted to isolate novel cold-tolerant bacterial strains from the Dry Valleys environment of Antarctica, an analogue site to the martian surface, and determine their phylogenetic diversity and survival under high-dose gamma-ray exposure frozen at -80°C, a temperature characteristic of the martian mid-latitude permafrost.