The Matter of Everything. Twelve Experiments that Changed Our World

"Эволюция: Развитие в рамках мегаистории, эволюционной и мир-системной парадигм". Альманах на английском языке. The application of the evolutionary approach to the history of nature and society has remained one of the most effective ways to conceptualize and integrate our growing knowledge of the Universe, life, society and human thought. The present volume demonstrates this in a rather convincing way. This is the third issue of the Almanac series titled 'Evolution'. The first volume came out with the sub-heading 'Cosmic, Biological, and Social', the second was entitled 'Evolution: A Big History Perspective'. The present volume is subtitled Development within Big History. Evolutionary and World-System Paradigms. In addition to the straightforward evolutionary approach, it also reflects such adjacent approaches as Big History, the world-system analysis, as well as globalization paradigm and long wave theory. The volume includes a number of the exciting works in these fields. The Almanac consists of five sections. The first section (Globalization as an Evolutionary Process: Yesterday and Today) contains articles demonstrating that the Evolutionary studies is capable of creating a common platform for the world-system approach, globalization studies, and the economic long-wave theory. The articles of the second section {Society, Energy, and Future) discuss the role of energy in the universal evolution, human history and the future of humankind. The third section (Aspects of Social Development) touches upon four aspects of social evolution technological, environmental, cultural, and political. The fourth section (The Driving Forces and Patterns of Evolution) deals with various phases of megaevolution. There is also a final section which is devoted to discussions of contemporary evolutionism. This Almanac will be useful both for those who study interdisciplinary macro-problems and for specialists working in focused directions, as well as for those who arc interested in evolutionary issues of Cosmology, Biology, History, Anthropology, Economics and other areas of study. More than that, this edition will challenge and excite your vision of your own life and the new discoveries going on around us!

A revised checklist of the Palaearctic Procridinae is given. The order of tribes, genera and species differs from that published in the previous checklists (Efetov & Tarmann, 1995; 1999). Artonini are placed at the beginning as they are considered to represent a more ancient group than Procridini. The 'Clelea-group' as well as Chrysartona, Hysteroscene, Tasema, Morionia, and Inope are transferred to Artonini. Funeralia is transferred to Procridini. The order of the genera Theresimima, Rhagades, Zygaenoprocris, Adscita, Jordanita and their subgenera is in accordance with the latest phylogenetic investigations (Efetov, 2004; 2005) and new molecular data (Efetov et al., 2010; 2011; 2012). The following taxa are newly described: Fuscartona Efetov & Tarmann, gen. n., Striartona Efetov & Tarmann, gen. n., Pseudoilliberis Efetov & Tarmann, gen. n., and Nikilliberis Efetov & Tarmann, subgen. n. In addition, Hedina Alberti, 1954, stat. n., and Zama Herrich-Schaffer, 1855, stat. rev., are raised from subgeneric to generic rank.

What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter? In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself - a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind's fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so - a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take. But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually 'think for themselves'? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind - and on our own.

Magic takes many forms. The ancient Egyptians explained the night by suggesting that the goddess Nut swallowed the sun. The Vikings believed a rainbow was the gods' bridge to earth. These are magical, extraordinary tales. But there is another kind of magic, and it lies in the exhilaration of discovering the real answers to these questions. It is the magic of reality - science. Packed with inspiring explanations of space, time and evolution, laced with humour and clever thought experiments, The Magic of Reality explores a stunningly wide range of natural phenomena. What is stuff made of? How old is the universe? What causes tsunamis? Who was the first man, or woman? This is a page-turning, inspirational detective story that not only mines all the sciences for its clues but primes the reader to think like a scientist too. Richard Dawkins elucidates the wonders of the natural world to all ages with his inimitable clarity and exuberance in a text that will enlighten and inform for generations to come.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will his products be, compared with those accumulated by nature during whole geological periods.' Still considered one of the most important and groundbreaking works of science ever written, Darwin's eminently readable exploration of the evolutionary process challenged most of the strong beliefs of the Western world. Forced to question the idea of the Creator, mid-nineteenth century readers were faced with Darwin's theories on the laws of natural selection and the randomness of evolution, causing massive controversy at the time. However, Darwin's theories remain instrumental in providing the backbone to modern biology today.