Ask the Experts: Answers to the Most Puzzling & Mind-blowing Science Questions

by Scientific American

Why is the night sky dark? How do dolphins sleep without drowning? Why do hangovers occur? Will time travel ever be a reality? What makes a knuckleball appear to flutter? Why are craters always round?

There's only one source to turn to for the answers to the most puzzling and thought-provoking questions about the world of science: Scientific American. Writing in a fun and accessible style, an esteemed team of scientists and educators will lead you on a wild ride from the far reaches of the universe to the natural world right in your own backyard. Along the way, you'll discover solutions to some of life's quirkiest conundrums, such as why cats purr, how frogs survive winter without freezing, why snowflakes are symmetrical, and much more. Even if you haven't picked up a science book since your school days, these tantalizing Q & A's will shed new light on the world around you, inside you, below you, above you, and beyond!

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Physics, Reference

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Scientific American , as an institutional author, is a popular science magazine founded by Rufus M. Porter and controlled by Nature Publishing Group since autumn, 2008. Mariette DiChristina has been editor-in-chief since December, 2009.

Reviews

[Anna Engel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of silly, but chock-full of tidbits that may you think, "wow, neat."

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ask The Experts is a charming volume of questions followed by answers. It doesn't take long to read, and it is a great way to brush up on some grade school and middle school level science.

I am familiar with most of the information in this book. For example, it covers Olber's Paradox. It asks why is the night sky dark if the universe is infinite and filled with stars.

The book is slightly dated, but that only means that we have nine planets again. Even back when they published this, astronomers questioned Pluto's place on the planetary roster.

Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

For fans of the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series--that is, for those people who, like me, must have something to read while sitting on a toilet--Ask the Experts is a perfect book to keep on hand in the bathroom, especially for those of a more serious scientific bent. The topics covered are divided into broad categories--Astronomy, Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Science--and the answers to individual questions vary in length from a fraction of a page, to 3 or 4 pages of explanation, so the individual discussions fit any length of time spent on the commode. (I would recommend this as a great book for carrying around with one all the time, to have on hand to read when waiting in line at a supermarket, etc., except that its trade paperback size of 5 x 8 inches precludes carrying it in one's back pocket.)

[Arianna Romero · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy reading this book at all. I know that this will probably benefit many young readers, but I feel like a lot of these "puzzling and mind-blowing" questions are common knowledge. For example: "How long can humans stay awake?" can be answered just by looking in the Guinness Book of World Records, which I'm sure most kids are obsessed with. It was entertaining at first, but to me, knowing why hair turns gray as you age seems like something you'd learn in elementary school, perhaps third grade. Also the reason your knuckles crack? No one thinks it's your bones breaking. All in all, this book was very boring and I would not read. If you're a young reader who is curious about the world, I'd give it a go. Otherwise, it's very boring. Maybe I picked a book that was way below my reading level, or maybe way above. Regardless, I did not enjoy it. 4/10

[Alba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estaba subrayado por mi abuelo y ha sido como leerlo juntos

[Bradley White · Rating 4 out of 5]

With this book you can become a clever clogs! And irritate others!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aquest és un d'aquells llibres que feia temps que tenia a la pila de llibres per llegir, però que s'havia quedat apartat, i un cop llegit, em pregunto: "Per què no el vaig llegir abans?"

Que ningú es pensi que aquest llibre aporta la solució a tots els problemes :-) Aquest llibre, simplement, formula preguntes que tots ens hem formulat alguna vegada, o que quan les veiem pensem que ens les podríem haver preguntat, i en dóna les respostes. Les respostes no són res que no es pugui trobar buscant uns minutets per internet (o unes miques més en algun llibre). Aleshores, quin és el secret del llibre?

El secret del llibre és la senzillesa amb la que experts en el tema expliquen les coses: dóna la impressió que no només tu ho entens, sinó que ho entendria qualsevol persona que es posés a llegir el llibre. A més, les preguntes són molt concretes i les respostes són senzilles i no ocupen gaire espai, el que fa que, cada cop que acabes una pregunta, et posis a llegir la resposta de la següent, perquè "només és un momentet més".

El llibre està dividit en parts que són temes diferents. La primera part és l'astronomia, que definitivament, va fer que m'engresqués més en el llibre. La gràcia, si és que se'n pot dir una gràcia, és que pregunta coses que penses "sí, això és molt senzill", però encara que sigui senzill, les respostes a vegades t'expliquen coses que no sabies (i coses d'aquelles curioses que llavors - almenys a mi - fa gràcia saber). De la part d'astronomia em va agradar especialment la pregunta de què és la Lluna blava. Bé, la pregunta no, la resposta: què havia sigut al principi, com va canviar i l'error que va fer que canviés la seva definició. És clar que també es veu que el llibre no és "actual" del tot, ja que una de les preguntes és: "Per què Plutó no s'hauria de considerar un planeta?"

La segona part són qüestions més aviat relacionades amb la biologia. Aquí la cosa em va desinflar una mica, tant per les preguntes com per les respostes. Tot i que em va agradar la pregunta sobre si els hipopòtams tenien la suor rosa... i em van encantar la pregunta de com s'ho fan els mamífers marins per aconseguir aigua no salada i la resposta de com dormen els dofins. La tercera part són preguntes relacionades amb el cos humà. Tampoc hi tinc res a destacar.

Però la tercera part són coses relacionades amb la química. Em va agradar la pregunta (i la resposta) de per què no s'oxida l'acer inoxidable.

De la geologia em va agradar molt la pregunta sobre l'aigua dels oceans. No només per la resposta, sinó perquè vaig tornar a pensar que en un llibre que té 10 anys les respostes ara són molt més complertes: ara sabem molt més dels cometes!

Al final es desinfla una mica, sobretot la part de matemàtiques i informàtica...

Però, tot i així, molt recomanable de llegir!

[Jamie Mealey · Rating 3 out of 5]

My experience reading this book was overall pretty easy. Ask the Experts is a book filled with puzzling science questions many people don't normally think of, and then an expert on the subject will answer below. As one could probably assume, not everything in the book was interesting to me, but other parts were extremely intriguing. This, however, made the book a little boring because I had the urge to skip past many individual questions or even whole sections. I really loved the section titled, “Anatomy 101”, because it was filled with really cool questions that had never crossed my mind before and a credible answer to it since it was written by an expert in that field. The question that caught my eye the most in this section was, “What makes the sound when we crack our knuckles?” (Scientific American 115). The answer to this question is explained as, “If you take an x-ray of the joint after cracking, you can see a gas bubble inside the joint. This gas increases the joint volume by 15 to 20 percent” (Scientific American 117). This book relates directly to the topic of ethos, or credibility, because of the way it is formatted and how each question is answered by a specific expert. If the book was written solely by one person who has background in science it would definitely have credibility, but not as much as a book where things get specific and you have hundreds of specialists taking part in the writing process. A book such as this one that covers so many branches of science would be almost impossible to write single-handedly, so again, the fact that there are many specialists involved is a direct approach to ethos. I would recommend this book to anyone like me who enjoys learning a great deal of a vast amount of topics and subjects or just knowing answers to questions the common person does not. After all, the cover of this book does in fact say “Answers to the Most Puzzling and Mind-Blowing Science Questions”.

[Remo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otro estupendo libro a cuyo espíritu se apuntó CPI. Un montón de lectores mandan preguntas a la revista Scientific American (en español, Investigación y Ciencia), donde cada pregunta es respondida por un especialista en la materia (a veces, incluso, por el premio Nobel cuya investigación respondió a la pregunta formulada).

Hay unas cuantas preguntas, muchas, que son realmente interesantes: ¿Cómo se mide el peso de un planeta? ¿Cómo sobreviven los delfines y las ballenas si se pasan el día bebiendo agua salada? ¿Por qué muchos perros y gatos aparecen con los ojos azules o verdes en las fotos con flash, en vez de rojos? ¿Cómo conseguía levantarse el T. Rex con esas patitas delanteras tan pequeñas? ¿Cómo se produce una resaca? ¿Por qué marea leer en el coche? ¿Por qué no hay cáncer de corazón? ¿Por qué en ocasiones el arco iris se ve más grande que en otras?

Es un libro muy cortito pero muy aprovechable. El único defecto que le veo es que a veces las respuestas son demasiado cortas, dejándonos con ganas de más o, en un par de ocasiones, simplificando demasiado. Ejemplo: El cielo es azul porque absorbe más el rojo, igual que el agua del mar. Uf.

En cualquier caso, cualquier libro que comparta el espíritu CPI me parece bueno, aquí reconozco que no soy imparcial. El hecho de que muchas preguntas dispares tengan respuestas basadas en lo que la humanidad ha ido observando a lo largo de la historia me parece increíble. Einstein ya lo dijo mejor:

Lo más incomprensible del Universo es que sea comprensible.

[Cat. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book with lots of very factual, easy-to-understand answers to some good science questions. I just am not that interested in a lot of the issues. One I skipped before I finished reading the question was "If we cannot see electrons and protons, or smaller particles such as quarks, how can we be sure they exist?" A good question, with, I'm sure, a clear answer, which I also didn't read.

BUT, I did read the bits about what I consider practical science: the origin of zero, how long can people survive without water or sleep (two separate questions), what makes spicy foods "hot," and why do hangovers occur. Obviously, this encompasses the gamut of questions. The best thing is that the people answering each individual question are specifically identified, with their qualifications listed as well. So the question about how long it is possible to go without sleep is answered appropriately enough, by J. Christian Gillin, Professor of Psychiatry at the Univesity of California at San Diego. [Guinness says officially 264 hours, by the way, but there are instances of people going months without real sleep, just micronaps--and hallucinations--for an hour or so each night.]

[za · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baca di library@senayan. Ide-nya sederhana, namun ditampilkan secara menarik. Pertanyaan terbagi-bagi dari mulai kosmologi, komputer, hingga fenomena alam sehari-hari. Dijawab oleh berbagai kalangan pakar/akademisi kampus. Patut ditiru di Indonesia(?). Ada penerbit yang tertarik?

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the QnA was interesting to read about, but some not so much (for me personally). I wouldn't say much revealed was mind-blowing and many of the answers consisted of "we don't know for sure" "we don't know exactly why". A quick read.

[Brian Rast · Rating 5 out of 5]

The learner in me was quenched with this one... for a while

[Mauricio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es un libro muy desactualizado.