Increasingly environmental scientists, palaeoceanographers and geologists are collecting quantitative records of environmental changes (time-series) from sediments, ice cores, cave calcite, corals and trees. This book explains how to analyse these records, using straightforward explanations and diagrams rather than formal mathematical derivations. All the main cyclostratigraphic methods are covered including spectral analysis, cross-spectral analysis, filtering, complex demodulation, wavelet and singular spectrum analysis. Practical problems of time-series analysis, including those of distortions of environmental signals during stratigraphic encoding, are considered in detail. Recent research into various types of tidal and climatic cycles is summarised. The book ends with an extensive reference section, and an appendix listing sources of computer algorithms. This book provides the ideal reference for all those using time-series analysis to study the nature and history of climatic and tidal cycles. It is suitable for senior undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental science, palaeoceanography and geology. Many ebooks have enhanced functionality, such as connectivity with reference management software, the ability to annotate and accessibility features. Access A myth-busting voyage into sexual anatomy. Buy Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus by David Quammen Introducing The Science of Earth - an informative, visually arresting introduction to planet Earth.

In the former camp was a man named Barnum Brown, who yearned to escape his humble origins in Kansas farm country. With sponsorship from curator Henry Fairfield Osborn of the American Museum of Natural History, Brown scoured the hills of Wyoming and Montana with, as Randall puts it, “a magical ability to unearth a specimen, like someone who can sit down and complete a jigsaw puzzle without first needing to find the edges.” Brown’s unassuming diligence contrasts with Osborn’s rigid—and skewed—vision of the natural world: Osborn saw the history of the Earth as a kind of morality tale, in which good prevails over evil, intelligence trumps brute strength (witness the extinction of the dinosaurs), and people of Anglo-Saxon descent inevitably rose to the top. The Monster’s Bones deftly weaves paleontology and adventure—and shows how “objective” science can be shaped by the personalities and ideologies of its practitioners. Earth is a big topic, and getting a handle on our planet's complexity and variability can seem daunting. So we asked geologist Robert M. Hazen to select five great books that he thinks offer compelling insights into the brilliant "blue marble" we call home. Here's what he recommends: Oxford Academic includes over 40,000 academic ebooks from Oxford University Press and other university presses, including:The surprising and illuminating look at how Tolkien's love of science and natural history shaped the creation of his Middle Earth, from its flora and fauna to its landscapes. In Breathless, David Quammen has constructed a masterful book about scientists’ efforts to understand SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Make no mistake, the book is not about healthcare and our response to Covid-19. The main character in this tale is the virus, and Quammen crafts a detective tale about the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 by chronicling the efforts of scientists around the world to identify it, search for its origins, understand how it mutates and respond to it. He interviewed 95 scientists and allows readers to look over the shoulders of many of them as they use their specialized expertise to study the virus. To show how the scientific process works on a global scale, he details the work of a genomic epidemiologist here, an evolutionary virologist there and a computational biologist somewhere else. Each expert adds or refutes some important detail about the rapidly evolving virus that has created a pandemic. Each discovery builds on those that came before.

Perhaps no aspect of our anatomy is both more fascinating and misunderstood than the vagina—down to the very common usage of what that word means. A vagina isn’t the whole of a woman’s reproductive anatomy. Instead, the vagina is a muscular canal that’s part of many people’s reproductive systems, of varying genders, whether they were born with it or had it surgically constructed. Nuance exists in this territory that is so often overwhelmed by a tangle of science, myth and cultural perceptions, and journalist Rachel E. Gross has composed an enthralling, sensitive book that’s relevant to everyone no matter what your personal topography looks like. This is an informative, visually arresting introduction to planet Earth. The core of The Science of the Earth features large, detailed photographs of single objects, many of them small enough to be held in the hand, that each speak volumes about an aspect of Earth's environments and how they work. For example, bubbles of ancient air trapped inside an Antarctic ice core reveal how Earth's climate has changed over time. A piece of pumice thrown several miles into the air by a volcano helps to explain what happens when tectonic plates collide. Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. Buy Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard

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A virtuosic debut from a gifted violinist searching for a new mode of artistic becoming. Buy Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard penned our favorite book by a scientist this year with her deeply personal and engaging Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. Simard grew up in Canada in a logging family and, at age 20, worked as a seasonal employee for a logging company. But even early on, she had a sense that clear-cutting forests and poisoning the earth so monocultures could grow was the wrong approach. Simard suspected that forests were made up of interconnected entities that helped each other out, and so she pursued a career in science—studying silviculture for the Forest Service and eventually earning a PhD in forest sciences at Oregon State University. In experiments, she documented that birch and Douglas fir trees traded carbon underground. She established that the forest is a “ wood-wide web,” with plants exchanging nutrients and chemical signals via their roots and fungal networks, and found that large old trees, or “ Mother Trees,” were at the center of these networks, often helping their offspring. Our planet’s epic story possesses power, poetry and a lot of important details, so my five books span genres. Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology and John Grotzinger and Tom Jordan’s Understanding Earth are elegant, accessible textbooks written almost two centuries apart. Andy Knoll’s Life on a Young Planet and David Beerling’s The Emerald Planet celebrate the 4-billion-year co-evolution of Earth and life from the perspective of paleontology. Finally, John McPhee’s rhapsodic Annals of the Former World provides a poetic tribute to our dynamic home and the geologists who devote their lives to its study. Explore the Earth’s natural riches with this beautiful book that brings every corner of the planet, from core to atmosphere, to life!

Hernandez grew up in Los Angeles, the child of immigrants pushed from their ancestral lands. Her Zapotec mother is from Oaxaca, Mexico, and her Maya Ch’orti’ father is from El Salvador. As Hernandez earned graduate degrees in environmental sciences in the United States, professors routinely belittled the Indigenous knowledge and perspectives she brought. Through Fresh Banana Leaves, Hernandez directly delivers Indigenous lessons that are missing from Western education and environmentalism.Suzanne Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths--that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life. The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration, by Sarah Everts The story of who the first peoples in the Americas were, how and why they made the crossing, how they dispersed south, and how they lived based on a new and powerful kind of evidence: their complete genomes. Buy Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson A rewarding combination of literary exploration and scientific discovery, The Science of Middle-earth reveals the hidden meaning of the Ring’s corruption, why Hobbits have big feet, the origins of the Dwarves, the animals which inspired the dragons, and even whether or not an Ent is possible. Did you know that bubbles of ancient air trapped inside the Antarctic ice core can reveal how Earth’s climate has changed over time? Or that a piece of pumice thrown several miles into the air by a volcano helps to explain what happens when tectonic plates collide? Well, now you do! Learn all about our weird and wonderful planet with The Science of Earth. The core of the book features large, detailed photographs of single objects, many of them small enough to be held in the hand, that each speaks volumes about an aspect of Earth’s environments and how they work. Structured around an imaginary journey that takes the reader from the inner core to Earth’s surface (including both land and oceans) and up to the top of the atmosphere, whilst taking in environments such as grasslands, forests, and reefs, the coverage includes both living and inanimate realms!

A comprehensive account of ore-forming processes, revised and updated The revised second edition of Introduction to Ore-Forming Processesoffers a guide to the multiplicity of geological processes that result in the formation of mineral deposits.The second edition has been updated to reflect the most recent developments in the study of metallogeny and earth system science. This second edition contains new information about global tectonic processes and crustal evolution that continues to influence the practice of economic geology and maintains the supply of natural resources in a responsible and sustainable way. The replenishment of depleted natural resources is becoming more difficult and environmentally challenging. There is also a change in the demand for mineral commodities and the concern around the non-sustainable supply of 'critical metals' is now an important consideration for planners of the future. The book puts the focus on the responsible custodianship of natural resources and the continuing need for all earth scientists to understand metallogeny and the resource cycle. This new edition: Provides an updated guide to the processes involved in the formation of mineral deposits Offers an overview of magmatic, hydrothermal and sedimentary ore-forming processes Covers the entire range of mineral deposit types, including the fossil fuels and supergene ores Relates metallogeny to global tectonics by examining the distribution of mineral deposits in space and time Contains examples of world famous ore deposits that help to provide context and relevance to the process-oriented descriptions of ore genesis Written for students and professionals alike, Introduction to Ore-Forming Processesoffers a revised second edition that puts the focus on the fact that mineral deposits are simply one of the many natural wonders of geological process and evolution. The world J.R.R. Tolkien created is one of the most beloved in all of literature, and continues to capture hearts and imaginations around the world. From Oxford to ComiCon, the Middle Earth is analyzed and interpreted through a multitude of perspectives.

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Tolkien was an acute observer of flora and fauna and mined the minds of his scientific friends about ocean currents and volcanoes. It is these layers science that give his imaginary universe—and the creatures and characters that inhabit it—such concreteness. Within this gorgeously illustrated edition, a range of scientists—from astrophysicists to physicians, botanists to volcanologists—explore Tolkien’s novels, poems, and letters to reveal their fascinating scientific roots. The story of the worldwide scientific quest to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source and create the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Buy Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff Native to Southeast Asia, banana trees were brought to the Americas by European colonists in the 1500s. The fruits adapted and flourished, nourishing Indigenous communities who have protected the plants and incorporated them into traditional dishes. To environmental scientist Jessica Hernandez, the transplanted fruits symbolize the resistance of Indigenous people, like her family; however their landscapes change, they find ways to adapt and nourish themselves. Did you know that bubbles of ancient air trapped inside the Antarctic ice core can reveal how Earth's climate has changed over time? Or that a piece of pumice thrown several miles into the air by a volcano helps to explain what happens when tectonic plates collide? Well, now you do! Learn all about our weird and wonderful planet with The Science of Earth. This is an informative, visually arresting introduction to planet Earth. The core of the book features large, detailed photographs of single objects, many of them small enough to be held in the hand, that each speak volumes about an aspect of Earth's environments and how they work. For example, bubbles of ancient air trapped inside an Antarctic ice core reveal how Earth's climate has changed over time. A piece of pumice thrown several miles into the air by a volcano helps to explain what happens when tectonic plates collide.