Are we alone? In 1995 planet hunters discovered the first alien solar system around a star like our own Sun. Ken Croswell tells the fascinating story of this discovery and the people who made it, then explores the possibility that one day we may have the technology to travel to different solar systems and find life.

“Fans of hard sf will enjoy this space adventure” that follows Farside in the Grand Tour series from the six-time Hugo Award winner (Library Journal). The entire world is thrilled by the discovery of a new Earthlike planet. Advance imaging shows that the planet has oceans of liquid water and a breathable oxygen-rich atmosphere. Eager to gain more information, a human exploration team is soon dispatched to explore the planet, now nicknamed New Earth. All of the explorers understand that they are essentially on a one-way mission. The trip takes eighty years each way, so even if they are able to get back to Earth, nearly 200 years will have elapsed. They will have aged only a dozen years thanks to cryonic suspension, but their friends and family will be gone and the very society that they once knew will have changed beyond recognition. The explorers are going into exile, and they know it. They are on this mission not because they were the best available, but because they were expendable. Upon landing on the planet they discover something unexpected: New Earth is inhabited by a small group of intelligent creatures who look very much like human beings. Who are these people? Are they native to this world, or invaders from elsewhere? While they may seem inordinately friendly to the human explorers, what are their real motivations? What do they want? Moreover, the scientists begin to realize that this planet cannot possibly be natural. They face a startling and nearly unthinkable question: Could New Earth be an artifact?

"In a global tour de force, Weighing the World recounts the 100-year quest to discover the enigmatic natural energy - the curious capability that mountains have to bend gravity - and of an extraordinary experiment that transformed our understanding of the world. Written to appeal to general readers interested in popular science and geographical intrigues, this book will also be greeted enthusiastically by surveyors, historians of science, physicists, teachers, and other specialist audiences."--BOOK JACKET.

We are squandering our planet’s natural capital—its biodiversity, water and soil, and climate stability—at a blistering pace. Major changes must be made to steer our planet and people away from our current, doomed course. Though technology has been one of the drivers of the current trend of unsustainable development, it is also one of the essential tools for remedying it. Earth at Risk maps out the necessary transition to sustainability, detailing the innovations in science and technology, along with law, institutional design, and economics, that can and must be put to use to avert environmental catastrophe. Claude Henry and Laurence Tubiana begin with a measure of the costs of ecological damage—the erosion of biodiversity; air, water, and soil pollution; and the wide-reaching effects of climate change—and then consider the solutions that are either now available or close on the horizon and that may lead to a more sustainable global trajectory. What community-driven or market-based tools can be used to promote sustainable development? How can renewable energy and energy storage advances help us decrease our use of fossil fuels? How can we substitute agroecology for the damaging chemical methods of industrialized agriculture? Is international agreement on climate goals possible? Building on the experience of the most significant climate negotiation of the decade, Earth at Risk shows what a world organized along the principles of sustainability could look like, no matter how optimistic it may seem at the present moment. Though formidable obstacles remain to the realization of this significant transition, Henry and Tubiana present the case for collective initiatives and change that build momentum for implementation and action.

In the Quest for Middle-earth he suggests that The Lord of the Rings may be more than an imaginary tale set thousands of years in the past in a place called Middle-earth! What if J.R.R. Tolkien weaved his fictional characters into a tapestry created from the secret knowledge of earth's ancient history?" Is there historical and archaeological evidence that supports this position and was any of this knowledge known to Tolkien? Recent discoveries in Iraq (ancient Sumer, Babylon), Greece and Finland confirm the possibility that intelligent creatures once lived and worked alongside man. There are clues that point to the fact, that as a race, we were the labor force required to serve superior beings - Gods - to create their vision of heaven on earth. Discover the truth about the Sang Real (Royal Blood), Rennes-la-Chateau and the Templar Knights!

From the primordial soup to meteorite impact zones, the Manhattan Project to the latest research, this book is the first full history of the scientists who strive to explain the genesis of life. How did life begin? Why are we here? These are some of the most profound questions we can ask. For almost a century, a small band of eccentric scientists has struggled to answer these questions and explain one of the greatest mysteries of all: how and why life began on Earth. There are many different proposals, and each idea has attracted passionate believers who promote it with an almost religious fervor, as well as detractors who reject it with equal passion. But the quest to unravel life’s genesis is not just a story of big ideas. It is also a compelling human story, rich in personalities, conflicts, and surprising twists and turns. Along the way, the journey takes in some of the greatest discoveries in modern biology, from evolution and cells to DNA and life’s family tree. It is also a search whose end may finally be in sight. In The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall shows how the quest to understand life’s beginning is also a journey to discover the true nature of life, and by extension our place in the universe.