Explore the Latest Full Audiobooks in Non-Fiction, Biology & Chemistry

It's a Gas: The Sublime and Elusive Elements That Expand Our World by Mark Miodownik

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/625252 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/625252] to listen full audiobooks. Title: It's a Gas: The Sublime and Elusive Elements That Expand Our World Author: Mark Miodownik Narrator: Daniel Weyman Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 50 minutes Release date: September 17, 2024 Genres: Biology & Chemistry Publisher's Summary: The New York Times bestselling author of Stuff Matters presents a rollicking guided tour of the secret lives of gases: the magnificent, strange, and fascinating substances that shape our world. Gases are all around us—they fill our lungs, power our movement, create stars, and warm our atmosphere. Often invisible and sometimes odorless, these ubiquitous substances are also the least understood materials in our world, and always have been. It wasn’t long ago that gases were seen as the work of ancient spirits: the sudden closing of a door after a change in airflow signaled a ghost’s presence. Scientists and engineers have struggled with their own gaseous demons. The development of high-pressure steam power in the eighteenth century literally blew away some researchers, ushering in a new era for both safety regulations and mass transit. And carbon dioxide, that noxious by-product of fossil fuel consumption, gave rise to modern civilization. Its warming properties known for centuries, it now spells ruin for our fragile atmosphere. In It’s a Gas, bestselling materials scientist Mark Miodownik chronicles twelve gases and technologies that shaped human history. From hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and neon to laughing gas, steam, and even wind, the story of gases is the story of the space where science and belief collide, and of the elusive limits of human understanding.

A Brief History of Intelligence: Why the Evolution of the Brain Holds the Key to the Future of AI by Max Bennett

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/621893 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/621893] to listen full audiobooks. Title: A Brief History of Intelligence: Why the Evolution of the Brain Holds the Key to the Future of AI Author: Max Bennett Narrator: George Newbern Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 17 minutes Release date: October 24, 2023 Genres: Biology & Chemistry Publisher's Summary: Bridges the gap between AI and neuroscience by telling the story of how the brain came to be. 'I found this book amazing' Daniel Kahneman, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and bestselling author of Thinking Fast & Slow The entirety of the human brain’s 4-billion-year story can be summarised as the culmination of five evolutionary breakthroughs, starting from the very first brains, all the way to the modern human brains. Each breakthrough emerged from new sets of brain modifications, and equipped animals with a new suite of intellectual faculties. These five breakthroughs are the organising map to this book, and they make up our itinerary for our adventure back in time. Each breakthrough also has fascinating corollaries to breakthroughs in AI. Indeed, there will be plenty of such surprises along the way. For instance: the innovation that enabled AI to beat humans in the game of Go – temporal difference reinforcement learning – was an innovation discovered by our fish ancestors over 500 million years ago. The solutions to many of the current mysteries in AI – such as ‘common sense’ – can be found in the tiny brain of a mouse. Where do emotions come from? Research suggests that they may have arisen simply as a solution to navigation in ancient worm brains. Unravelling this evolutionary story will reveal the hidden features of human intelligence and with them, just how your mind came to be.

A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max Bennett

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/618160 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/618160] to listen full audiobooks. Title: A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains Author: Max Bennett Narrator: George Newbern Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 17 minutes Release date: October 24, 2023 Genres: Biology & Chemistry Publisher's Summary: Equal parts Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs” in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow.  In the last decade, capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm of science fiction have, for the first time, become our reality. AI is now able to produce original art, identify tumors in pictures, and even steer our cars. And yet, large gaps remain in what modern AI systems can achieve—indeed, human brains still easily perform intellectual feats that we can’t replicate in AI systems. How is it possible that AI can beat a grandmaster at chess but can’t effectively load a dishwasher? As AI entrepreneur Max Bennett compellingly argues, finding the answer requires diving into the billion-year history of how the human brain evolved; a history filled with countless half-starts, calamities, and clever innovations. Not only do our brains have a story to tell—the future of AI may depend on it. Now, in A Brief History of Intelligence, Bennett bridges the gap between neuroscience and AI to tell the brain’s evolutionary story, revealing how understanding that story can help shape the next generation of AI breakthroughs. Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience, Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework, identifying the “Five Breakthroughs” that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward. Each breakthrough brings new insight into the biggest mysteries of human intelligence. Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI, A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains, as well as where AI systems still fall short. Simply put, until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey, AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence. Endorsed and lauded by many of the top neuroscientists in the field today, Bennett’s work synthesizes the most relevant scientific knowledge and cutting-edge research into an easy-to-understand and riveting evolutionary story. With sweeping scope and stunning insights, A Brief History of Intelligence proves that understanding the arc of our brain’s history can unlock the tools for successfully navigating our technological future.  Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Talking Heads: The New Science of How Conversation Shapes Our Worlds by Shane O'mara

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/641319 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/641319] to listen full audiobooks. Title: Talking Heads: The New Science of How Conversation Shapes Our Worlds Author: Shane O'mara Narrator: Shane O'mara Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 7 hours 38 minutes Release date: August 3, 2023 Genres: Biology & Chemistry Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. Language and talking is part of what makes us human. It forms the basis of all our lives. Every day we speak to ourselves and to each other, about ourselves and about others. Whether ruminating on a past event alone or gossiping with a group of friends, we move through life in a state of near-constant chatter - even during those moments we profess to wanting nothing more than some peace and quiet. So, why do we do it, and what purpose does talking serve? In this paean to conversation, neuroscientist Shane O'Mara encourages us to marvel at our brains distinct mechanisms for communicating. In the process, he reveals how our unique ability to remember and, critically, our instinct to share memories fashions the world as we know it: a complex social world born out of thoughts and feelings, modified by the stories we tell about ourselves and others, divided by constructed borders and shared cultures, and propelled forward by our longing for a better, alternative tomorrow. Talking Heads is a deep dive into the science of how we talk, why we speak to each other, and what happens when we do. From neurons to nations, this is the story of how conversation shapes us and builds the world around us. ©2023 Shane O'Mara (P)2023 Penguin Audio

The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather by Roland Ennos

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/644811 [https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/644811] to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather Author: Roland Ennos Narrator: Matt Godfrey Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 7 hours 26 minutes Release date: July 18, 2023 Genres: Biology & Chemistry Publisher's Summary: What exactly made the earth round? How do boomerangs turn around mid-air? And why do cats always land on their feet? “A basic scientific concept receives long overdue attention” (Kirkus Reviews) in this “fascinating” (Wall Street Journal) new book from the masterful author of The Age of Wood. From the solar system to spinning tops, hurricanes to hula hoops, power plants to pendulums, one mysterious force shapes almost every aspect of our lives: spin. Despite its ubiquity, rotational force continues to baffle and surprise, and few people realize how it makes our planet habitable or how it has been tamed by engineers to make our lives more comfortable. Charting the development of engineering and technology from the earliest prehistoric drills to the gas turbine, critically acclaimed author and scientist Roland Ennos presents a riveting account of human ingenuity and the seemingly infinite ways spin affects our daily lives. He also shows how this new approach not only helps us better understand the world but also ourselves. After all, even our own bodies are complex systems of rotating joints and levers. Artfully moving between astrophysics and anthropology, The Science of Spin shows how, whether natural or engineered, spin is really what makes the world go round.