The latest volume in the bestselling series from Edge.orgâdubbed âthe worldâs smartest websiteâ by The Guardianâbrings together 206 of the worldâs most innovative thinkers to discuss the scientific concepts that everyone should know.
As science informs public policy, decision making, and so many aspects of our everyday lives, a scientifically literate society is crucial. In that spirit, Edge.org publisher and author of Know This, John Brockman, asks 206 of the worldâs most brilliant minds the 2017 Edge Question: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known?
Contributors include: author of The God Delusion RICHARD DAWKINS on using animalsâ âGenetic Book of the Deadâ to reconstruct ecological history; MacArthur Fellow REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN on âscientific realism,â the idea that scientific theories explain phenomena beyond what we can see and touch; author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics CARLO ROVELLI on ârelative information,â which governs the physical world around us; theoretical physicist LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS on the hidden blessings of âuncertaintyâ; cognitive scientist and author of The Language Instinct STEVEN PINKER on âThe Second Law of Thermodynamicsâ; biogerontologist AUBREY DE GREY on why âmaladaptive traitsâ have been conserved evolutionarily; musician BRIAN ENO on âconfirmation biasâ in the internet age; Man Booker-winning author of Atonement IAN MCEWAN on the âNavier-Stokes Equations,â which govern everything from weather prediction to aircraft design and blood flow; plus pieces from RICHARD THALER, JARED DIAMOND, NICHOLAS CARR, JANNA LEVIN, LISA RANDALL, KEVIN KELLY, DANIEL COLEMAN, FRANK WILCZEK, RORY SUTHERLAND, NINA JABLONSKI, MARTIN REES, ALISON GOPNIK, and many, many others.