A mind-warping excursion into the wildly improbable truths of science.
Echoing Sherlock Holmes' famous dictum, John Gribbin tells us: 'OnceĀ you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, is certainlyĀ possible, in the light of present scientific knowledge.' With that in mind, in his sequel to the hugely popularĀ Six Impossible ThingsĀ andĀ 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 ā and also that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up. We can detect ripples in spaceĀ Ā that are one ten-thousandth the width of a proton,Ā 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 cellĀ ā butĀ without the stabilising influence of the Moon, life forms like us could never have evolved.

eBook - ePub
Eight Improbable Possibilities
The Mystery of the Moon, and Other Implausible Scientific Truths
- 160 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Eight Improbable Possibilities
The Mystery of the Moon, and Other Implausible Scientific Truths
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Information
Topic
Sciences physiquesSubtopic
Astronomie et astrophysiqueTable of contents
- Praise for Six Impossible Things
- Praise for Seven Pillars of Science
- Title Page
- Contents
- About the Author
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- Epigraph
- PREFACE: What Do We Know?
- IMPROBABILITY 1: The Mystery of the Moon
- IMPROBABILITY 2: The Universe Had a Beginning, and We Know When it Was
- IMPROBABILITY 3: The Expansion of the Universe is Speeding Up
- IMPROBABILITY 4: We Can Detect Ripples in Space Made by Colliding Black Holes
- IMPROBABILITY 5: Newton, the Bishop, the Bucket, and the Universe
- IMPROBABILITY 6: Simple Laws Make Complicated Things, or Little Things Mean a Lot
- IMPROBABILITY 7: All Complex Life on Earth Today is Descended From a Single Cell
- IMPROBABILITY 8: Ice Age Rhythms and Human Evolution: People of the Ice
- Further Reading
- Also by John Gribbin
- Copyright
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Yes, you can access Eight Improbable Possibilities by John Gribbin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Sciences physiques & Astronomie et astrophysique. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.