Brian, Clegg – The Bell Bookshop

Interstellar Tours

Emma — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

‘Strap in and enjoy the ride!‘ JOHN GRIBBIN

‘A window seat on a flight to our galaxy’s sites of outstanding beauty’ MARCUS CHOWN, AUTHOR OF THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW

‘His best yet!‘ HENRY GEE, WINNER OF THE 2022 ROYAL SOCIETY TRIVEDI SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE

‘Buckle up for the ride of a lifetime’ PHILIP BALL, AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF MINDS AND BEYOND WEIRD

Take a voyage into space to explore the wonders of the galaxy and beyond.

With award-winning science writer Brian Clegg as your deep space guide, step on board the starship Endurance and marvel at the fascinating sights of deepest, darkest space.

Although our vessel is fictional, the phenomena you will visit, from the vast nebulae that are birthplaces of stars to stellar explosions in vast supernovas, creating the elements necessary for life – or from the planets of other solar systems to the unbelievably supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way – all reflect the best picture current science has to offer.

Accompanying Interstellar Tours is an online gallery with over fifty images and videos in full colour, each directly accessible from the page using QR codes.

It may never be possible to undertake a voyage through the stars for real. But with Interstellar Tours, you can enjoy the ultimate cruise across the Milky Way.

Biomimetics

Emma — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

An exploration of the transformative ways in which nature has inspired the technological advancement of humankind.

Biomimetics literally means emulating biology – and in a broader sense the term covers technological advances where the original inspiration came from nature. The Earth is a vast laboratory where the mechanisms of natural selection have enabled evolutionary solutions to be developed to a wide range of problems.

In this new title in the Hot Science series, science writer Brian Clegg looks at how humans have piggybacked on natural experimentation, redeploying a solution to create things that make our lives easier. He looks at how the hooks on burdock seeds inspired the creation of Velcro, how the stickiness of the feet of geckos and frogs has been used to create gripping surfaces, such as tyre treads, and how even the most basic optical enhancement in the form of spectacles is itself a form of biomimetics.

Quantum Computing

Emma — Thu, 06 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The ultimate non-technical guide to the fast-developing world of quantum computing

Computer technology has improved exponentially over the last 50 years. But the headroom for bigger and better electronic solutions is running out. Our best hope is to engage the power of quantum physics.

‘Quantum algorithms’ had already been written long before hardware was built. These would enable, for example, a quantum computer to exponentially speed up an information search, or to crack the mathematical trick behind internet security. However, making a quantum computer is incredibly difficult. Despite hundreds of laboratories around the world working on them, we are only just seeing them come close to ‘supremacy’ where they can outperform a traditional computer.

In this approachable introduction, Brian Clegg explains algorithms and their quantum counterparts, explores the physical building blocks and quantum weirdness necessary to make a quantum computer, and uncovers the capabilities of the current generation of machines.