Were the first scientists hermetic philosophers? What do these occult origins of modern science tell us about the universe today? The Forbidden Universe reveals the secret brotherhood that defined the world, and perhaps discovered the mind of God.

In January 1959, after an exhaustive search through military service records, a number of Americas elite test pilots received orders to attend a series of top-secret briefings in Washington, D.C. These briefings were designed to assist in selecting a group of astronauts for the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its man-in-space program, Project Mercury.

An accessible look at the hottest topic in physics and the experiments that will transform our understanding of the universe
The biggest news in science today is the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and most powerful particle-smasher, and the anticipation of finally discovering the Higgs boson particle. But what is the Higgs boson and why is it often referred to as the God Particle? Why are the Higgs and the LHC so important? Getting a handle on the science behind the LHC can be difficult for anyone without an advanced degree in particle physics, but you don't need to go back to school to learn about it. In Collider, award-winning physicist Paul Halpern provides you with the tools you need to understand what the LHC is and what it hopes to discover.

“Mayshark, an experienced staff editor for the New York Times News Service, has written perhaps the first in-depth study of the major contributors to the culturally and cinematically aware, accessibly eccentric "post-pop cinema." Mayshark interprets the creative output of directors from Wes Anderson to David O. Russell to Sofia Coppola, among others, who deal so originally and truthfully with their characters' struggles for individuality and clarity. His study of Todd Haynes in particular, covering films such as &ISafe, Far from Heaven, and the controversial Superstar:

Turkey has been reforming its energy markets since the 1980s, culminating in two major bills in the early 2000s. The country has restructured electricity and natural gas markets, establishing an independent regulatory agency (EMRA) and passed legislation on renewable and nuclear energy. With these regulatory reforms, Turkey, as a candidate country for accession to the European Union (EU), has aimed to direct the energy markets to a more competitive environment in parallel with EU energy directives. This book contains an analysis of regulatory reforms in Turkish energy markets (electricity, natural gas, renewable and nuclear energy), the impact of these reforms on country’s energy portfolio and role in global energy trade, especially between the EU, the Caspian, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Finally, the book concludes with recommendations for Turkish energy policy. The authors are expert scholars who have written extensively on Turkish regulatory reform and energy economics and who have broad knowledge of global energy market dynamics. The book will be a unique guide for those concerned with the different areas of the Turkish economy and international audiences interested in energy markets of Turkey and surrounding regions, making the book of interest to not only researchers in academia but also industry practitioners, regulators and policy makers as well.

For years our place in the universe was the subject of theologians and philosophers, but in 1960 scientist Frank Drake changed all that by using a radio telescope to search for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Although the project resulted in silence, it led to one of the most seminal equations in science - the Drake Equation - which examined seven key elements necessary for ET intelligence to exist. To find out about the equation's influence, Dallas Campbell meets the scientists who have dedicated their lives to focusing on its different aspects.

We all learn at least one language as children. But what does it take to learn six languages, twenty . . . seventy? Such feats of linguistic prowess provide a glimpse into what the human brain is capable of—and hold up a mirror to our desire to live without language barriers on a shrinking planet. In Babel No More, Michael Erard, “a monolingual with benefits,” sets out on a quest to meet language superlearners and make sense of their mental powers. On the way he uncovers the secrets of historical figures like the nineteenth-century Italian cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, who was said to speak seventy-two languages and was such a legend that when he died people all over Europe vied for his skull. Emil Krebs, a pugnacious fin de siEcle German diplomat, spoke sixty-eight languages, and Erard sees the evidence of this in Krebs’s dissected brain. Lomb KatO, a Hungarian hyperpolyglot who taught herself Russian by reading Russian romance novels, believed that “one learns grammar from language, not language from grammar.” These massive multilinguals have long offered a natural experiment into the limits of the brain; here, at last, we can inspect the results.

Terence McKenna hypothesizes that as the North African jungles receded, giving way to savannas and grasslands near the end of the most recent ice age, a branch of our arboreal primate ancestors left the forest canopy and began living in the open areas beyond. There they experimented with new varieties of foods as they adapted, physically and mentally, to the environment. Among the new foods found in this environment were psilocybin-containing mushrooms growing near dung of ungulate herds occupying the savannas and grasslands.

Wageningen University and Research Centre is known for its practical and societally relevant research in spatial development. Stakeholders currently put much emphasis on participatory processes in landscape planning procedures. This poses a special challenge for research. What role does research play in our present world characterised by complexity, competing claims and development needs, and an increased concern for climate change and environmental impact? In the book 'Knowledge in Action' we explore different types of transdisciplinary research that scientists engage in. Depending on the societal context and the interests of local citizens, researchers apply different research approaches to optimally incorporate the various points of view in their research and promote processes enhancing dialogue and shared results.

“Mayshark, an experienced staff editor for the New York Times News Service, has written perhaps the first in-depth study of the major contributors to the culturally and cinematically aware, accessibly eccentric "post-pop cinema." Mayshark interprets the creative output of directors from Wes Anderson to David O. Russell to Sofia Coppola, among others, who deal so originally and truthfully with their characters' struggles for individuality and clarity. His study of Todd Haynes in particular, covering films such as &ISafe, Far from Heaven, and the controversial Superstar:

What can you get with twenty-five dollars and a dream? Adam Shepard graduated from college feeling disillusioned by the apathy around him and was then incensed after reading Barbara Ehrenreich's famous work Nickel and Dimed-a book that gave him a feeling of hopelessness about the working class in America. He set out to disprove Ehrenreich's theory-the notion that those who start at the bottom stay at the bottom-by making something out of nothing to achieve the American Dream.

Beautiful, romantic and spirited, Pannonica, known as Nica, named after her fathers favorite moth, was born in 1913 to extraordinary, eccentric privilege and a storied history. The Rothschild family had, in only five generations, risen from the ghetto in Frankfurt to stately homes in England. As a child, Nica took her daily walks, dressed in white, with her two sisters and governess around the parkland of the vast house at Tring, Hertfordshire, among kangaroos, giant tortoises, emus and zebras, all part of the exotic menagerie collected by her uncle Walter. As a debutante, she was taught to fly by a saxophonist and introduced to jazz by her brother Victor; she married Baron Jules de Koenigswarter, settled in a chateau in France and had five children. When World War II broke out, Nica and her five children narrowly escaped back to England, but soon after, she set out to find her husband who was fighting with the Free French Army in Africa, where she helped the war effort by being a decoder, a driver and organizing supplies and equipment.

Beautiful, romantic and spirited, Pannonica, known as Nica, named after her father’s favorite moth, was born in 1913 to extraordinary, eccentric privilege and a storied history. The Rothschild family had, in only five generations, risen from the ghetto in Frankfurt to stately homes in England. As a child, Nica took her daily walks, dressed in white, with her two sisters and governess around the parkland of the vast house at Tring, Hertfordshire, among kangaroos, giant tortoises, emus and zebras, all part of the exotic menagerie collected by her uncle Walter.

A Pulitzer Prize winning author tells the amazing story of William Jamess quest for empirical evidence of the spirit world
What if a world -renowned philosopher and professor of psychiatry at Harvard suddenly announced he believed in ghosts? At the close of the nineteenth century, the illustrious William James led a determined scientific investigation into unexplainable incidences of clairvoyance and ghostly visitations. James and a small group of eminent scientists staked their reputations, their careers, even their sanity on one of the most extraordinary quests ever undertaken: to empirically prove the existence of ghosts, spirits, and psychic phenomena. What they pursued and what they found raises questions as fascinating today as they were then.

For more than two decades, he was the target of intense scrutiny, with an entire unit at the CIA dedicated to tracking his every move and trying to determine what violence he might perpetrate. When 9/11 confirmed Osama bin Laden’s intentions, these same analysts and operatives were now blamed for failing to prevent it, though they had spent years warning about the possibility of an attack.

For more than two decades, he was the target of intense scrutiny, with an entire unit at the CIA dedicated to tracking his every move and trying to determine what violence he might perpetrate. When 9/11 confirmed Osama bin Laden’s intentions, these same analysts and operatives were now blamed for failing to prevent it, though they had spent years warning about the possibility of an attack.

For more than two decades, he was the target of intense scrutiny, with an entire unit at the CIA dedicated to tracking his every move and trying to determine what violence he might perpetrate. When 9/11 confirmed Osama bin Laden’s intentions, these same analysts and operatives were now blamed for failing to prevent it, though they had spent years warning about the possibility of an attack.

For more than two decades, he was the target of intense scrutiny, with an entire unit at the CIA dedicated to tracking his every move and trying to determine what violence he might perpetrate. When 9/11 confirmed Osama bin Laden’s intentions, these same analysts and operatives were now blamed for failing to prevent it, though they had spent years warning about the possibility of an attack.