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  1. Books
  2. Natural sciences
  3. Physics and chemistry

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Eight Improbable Possibilities : The Mystery of the Moon, and Other Implausible Scientific Truths

A mind-warping excursion into the wildly improbable truths of science.

Echoing Sherlock Holmes' famous dictum, John Gribbin tells us: 'Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, is certainly possible, in the light of present scientific knowledge.' With that in mind, in his sequel to the hugely popular Six Impossible Things and Seven Pillars of Science, Gribbin turns his attention to some of the mind-bendingly improbable truths of science. For example:

We know that the Universe had a beginning, and when it was – and also that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up. We can detect ripples in space that are one ten-thousandth the width of a proton, made by colliding black holes billions of light years from Earth.

And, most importantly from our perspective, all complex life on Earth today is descended from a single cell – but without the stabilising influence of the Moon, life forms like us could never have evolved.


Author:

  • John Gribbin

Format:

  • E-book

Duration:

  • 91 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Natural sciences
  • Physics and chemistry

More by John Gribbin

Skip the list
  1. Richard Feynman : A Life in Science

    John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin

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  2. Ten Tantalising Truths : Why the Sky is Blue, and other Big Answers to Simple Questions

    John Gribbin

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  3. Nine Musings on Time : Science Fiction, Science Fact, and the Truth about Time Travel

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  4. Impossible, Possible, and Improbable : Science Stranger Than Fiction

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  5. On the Origin of Evolution : Tracing ‘Darwin’s Dangerous Idea’ from Aristotle to DNA

    John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin

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  6. In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat : Quantum Physics and Reality

    John Gribbin

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  7. Seven Pillars of Science : The Incredible Lightness of Ice, and Other Scientific Surprises

    John Gribbin

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  8. Six Impossible Things : The 'Quanta of Solace' and the Mysteries of the Subatomic World

    John Gribbin

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  9. Out of the Shadow of a Giant : How Newton Stood on the Shoulders of Hooke and Halley

    John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin

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  10. 13.8 : The Quest to Find the True Age of the Universe and the Theory of Everything

    John Gribbin

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  11. Einstein's Masterwork : 1915 and the General Theory of Relativity

    John Gribbin

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