| Acknowledgments |
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ix | |
| Introduction |
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1 | (4) |
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How Did the Universe Begin? |
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5 | (11) |
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The Big Bang has been the accepted theory for two decades, but does it explain everything? |
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How Did Life on Earth Get Started? |
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16 | (11) |
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What triggered the cell division that started the evolutionary chain? Did life come from outer space, buried in a chunk of rock? |
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What Causes Mass Extinctions? |
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27 | (12) |
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Five mass extinctions have rocked the planet, each altering the shape of life on Earth. Volcanic eruptions, continental drift, asteroid impacts-all have been suggested as causes |
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What Is the Inside of the Earth Like? |
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39 | (11) |
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What exactly is happening beneath our feet, and can we learn enough to help predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions? |
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50 | (9) |
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Are ice ages brought about by changes on the Earth or in the solar system? Is another one due? |
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Were Dinosaurs Warm-blooded? |
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59 | (11) |
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Instead, were they cold-blooded, or perhaps both? The answer could solve many mysteries surrounding evolution during the past 65 million years |
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70 | (13) |
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The story of human evolution is not complete. In addition to hoaxes such as ``Piltdown Man'' and extraordinary finds such as ``Lucy,'' many puzzles remain. What, in the end, do we mean by a ``missing link''? |
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What Caused the ``Big Bang'' in Human Culture? |
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83 | (10) |
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Where did what we call ``culture'' come from, and how did it seemingly spring up overnight? |
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How Do We Learn Language? |
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93 | (12) |
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Is language acquisition an inborn biological ability, or does every child have to start from scratch? |
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Are Dolphins As Smart As We Are? |
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105 | (9) |
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According to brain-size rankings, they are very close to us in intelligence, but is there any chance of communicating with them? |
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114 | (9) |
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Some bird species travel 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers) round trip on their yearly migrations. How can they possibly find their way? |
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123 | (8) |
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Does color exist in nature, or is it all in our heads? If we study how the color-blind see, as well as many animals, we find that a sense of color is located in our brains |
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How Did Mayan Astronomers Know So Much? |
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131 | (9) |
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They Knew more than their European counterparts at the time, but how did they come by such knowledge? |
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140 | (10) |
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Newton's apple just got the arguments started. Einstein made things more complicated. Just how does gravity fit in with qunatum theory? |
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150 | (9) |
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The debate has raged for decades: Is light a wave, a particle, or both? |
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Why Is There So Much Quantum Frustration? |
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159 | (11) |
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Quantum physics works, but it is so bizarre that even Nobel Prize winners have trouble understanding it-why is that? |
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What Are Black Holes Really Like? |
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170 | (10) |
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Do black holes destroy everything that enters them, or could they be a tunnel to another universe? |
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180 | (8) |
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Measurements keep coming up with a universe younger than its oldest stars. What's wrong here? |
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Are There Multiple Universes? |
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188 | (9) |
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There have to be, say some quantum physicists. Could we pay them a visit? |
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How Many Dimensions Are There? |
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197 | (9) |
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Einstein's spacetime continuum brought us up to 4; computers can visualize 10; and some scientists would be happier with 11, or even 26. Which way is up? |
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How Will the Universe End? |
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206 | (9) |
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Will it be with a bang or a whimper? Recent findings have further clouded the issue |
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| Index |
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215 | |
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