Biology & Chemistry Audiobooks | Science & Technology

The Digital Mind: How Science is Redefining Humanity

What do computers, cells, and brains have in common? Computers are electronic devices designed by humans; cells are biological entities crafted by evolution; brains are the containers and creators of our minds. But all are, in one way or another, information-processing devices. The power of the human brain is, so far, unequaled by any existing machine or known living being. Over eons of evolution, the brain has enabled us to develop tools and technology to make our lives easier. Our brains have even allowed us to develop computers that are almost as powerful as the human brain itself. In this book, Arlindo Oliveira describes how advances in science and technology could enable us to create digital minds.Exponential growth is a pattern built deep into the scheme of life, but technological change now promises to outstrip even evolutionary change. Oliveira describes technological and scientific advances that range from the discovery of laws that control the behavior of the electromagnetic fields to the development of computers. He calls natural selection the ultimate algorithm, discusses genetics and the evolution of the central nervous system, and describes the role that computer imaging has played in understanding and modeling the brain. Having considered the behavior of the unique system that creates a mind, he turns to an unavoidable question: Is the human brain the only system that can host a mind? If digital minds come into existence--and, Oliveira says, it is difficult to argue that they will not--what are the social, legal, and ethical implications? Will digital minds be our partners, or our rivals?

Arlindo Oliveira (Author), Braden Wright (Narrator)

Audiobook

Cave of Bones

In the summer of 2022, Lee Berger lost 50 pounds in order to wriggle though impossibly small openings in the Rising Star cave complex in South Africa—spaces where his team has been unearthing the remains of Homo naledi, a proto-human likely to have coexisted with Homo sapiens some 250,000 years ago. The lead researcher on the site, still Berger had never made his way into the dark, cramped, dangerous underground spaces where many of the naledi fossils had been found. Now he was ready to do so. Once inside the cave, Berger made shocking new discoveries that expand our understanding of this early hominid—discoveries that stand to alter our fundamental understanding of what makes us human. So what does it all mean? Join Berger on the adventure of a lifetime as he explores the Rising Star cave system and begins the complicated process of explaining these extraordinary finds—finds that force a rethinking of human evolution, and discoveries that Berger calls 'the Rosetta stone of the human mind.'

John Hawks, Lee Berger (Author), Lee Berger (Narrator)

Audiobook

Determined: Life Without Free Will

Brought to you by Penguin. In a masterful synthesis of science and philosophy, one of the world's pre-eminent behavioural scientists demonstrates that free will is a powerful and dangerous illusion. The result is a new way to think about choice, identity, responsibility, justice, morality and how we live together. Behind every thought, action and experience there lies a chain of biological and environmental causes, stretching back from the moment a neuron fires to the dawn of our species and beyond. Nowhere in this infinite sequence is there a place where free will could play a role. Without free will, it makes no more sense to punish people for antisocial behaviour than it does to scold a car for breaking down. It is no one's fault they are poor or overweight or unsuccessful, nor do people deserve praise for their talent or hard work; 'grit' is a myth. This mechanistic view of human behaviour challenges our most powerful instincts, but history suggests that we have already made great strides toward it: where once we saw demonic possession or cowardice, for example, now we diagnose illness or trauma and offer help. Determined confronts us with our true nature: who and what we are is biology and nothing more. Disturbing and liberating in equal measure, it explores the far-reaching implications for society of accepting this reality. Monumentally difficult as it may be, the reward will be a far more just and humane world. ©2023 Robert M Sapolsky (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Robert M. Sapolsky (Author), Kaleo Griffith (Narrator)

Audiobook

Setting Boundaries That Stick: How Neurobiology Can Help You Rewire Your Brain to Feel Safe, Connect

Do you struggle to set boundaries with others in your life? Has your past conditioned you to expect pushback when setting boundaries, or caused you to give up on trying to set boundaries altogether? The prospect of setting boundaries can be scary and intimidating and can put you in a very vulnerable place where your mental health and wellbeing may even be at risk. There is a science to creating boundaries-one that will empower you, deepen your connection with others, and improve your self-esteem. Setting Boundaries That Stick offers a scientific, neurobiological approach to boundary work. This unique guide will teach you to set healthy boundaries from the inside out by cultivating an 'integrated brain,' which allows you to respond to others with intention, rather than simply reacting based on instinct. Also included are exercises and activities to help you understand and create both physical and psychological boundaries, thereby building a solid, holistic framework for a more authentic sense of connection with others. It's time to set boundaries in a way that empowers you to protect yourself, while also improving your relationships. By working from the inside out, this book will help you set healthy boundaries that actually stick.

Juliane Taylor Shore Lmft, Juliane Taylor Shore, Lmft (Author), Daniela Acitelli (Narrator)

Audiobook

Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Brought to you by Penguin. Why do women live longer than men? Why do women have menopause? Why are women more likely to get Alzheimer's? Why do girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet? And does the female brain really exist? In Eve, Cat Bohannon answers questions scientists should have been addressing for decades. With boundless curiosity and sharp wit, she covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex. Eve is not only a sweeping revision of human history, it's an urgent and necessary corrective for a world that has focused primarily on the male body for far too long. Bohannon's findings, including everything from the way C-sections in the industrialized world are rearranging women's pelvic shape to the surprising similarities between pus and breast milk, will completely change what you think you know about evolution and why Homo sapiens have become such a successful and dominant species, from tool use to city building to the development of language. ©2023 Cat Bohannon (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Cat Bohannon (Author), Cat Bohannon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Lucid Dying: The New Science Revolutionizing How We Understand Life and Death

From internationally renowned expert in resuscitation and near-death experience Sam Parnia, MD, PhD, comes a groundbreaking look at what happens to us when we die, based on the largest-ever research study run on near-death experiences What happens to us when we die? For millennia, we've sought the answers, and we've hoped to find them in near-death experiences. But while those answers have come haphazardly and can't be trusted, groundbreaking research is now formalizing our understanding of death in new and thrilling ways. At the frontlines of that research is Dr. Sam Parnia. Lucid Dying is the first book to formally explore what happens to the human mind and consciousness not only in the period leading up to death, but also during and after death. Using data derived from multiple scientific studies, Dr. Parnia shows that the entity we refer to as consciousness-our Self-does not seem to become annihilated at the moment of death. In fact, during death, our consciousness follows a very specific narrative arc, in which we relive our lives not only from our own experiences, but from the perspective of everyone we've interacted with. What follows is a purposeful review of our own actions, thoughts, and intentions towards others. These studies also show that there is a universal experience of death that is meaningful, transcendent, positive, and transformative-not hallucinatory, delusional, or illusory as previously imagined. With empirical research and gripping anecdotes that explore the notion of a collective unconsciousness. Dr. Parnia shows how we can access this deeper wisdom to lead more intentional lives.

Sam Parnia (Author), Brian Nishii, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

College Level Anatomy and Physiology

AudioLearn's college level courses presents Anatomy and Physiology. Developed by experienced professors and professionally narrated for easy listening, this course is a great way to explore the subject of college-level anatomy and physiology. The audio is focused and high-yield, covering the most important topics you might expect to learn in a typical undergraduate anatomy and physiology course. The material is accurate, up-to-date, and broken down into bite-size chapters. There are key takeaways following each chapter to drive home key points and quizzes to review commonly tested questions. Here are the main topics we'll be covering: Cell Anatomy and Physiology Body Tissues Integumentary System Skeletal System Muscles and the Muscular System Central Nervous System Peripheral Nervous System Endocrine System Heart Anatomy and Physiology Blood and Blood Vessel Anatomy and Physiology Lymphatic and Immune System Respiratory System Digestive System Metabolism and Human Nutrition Urinary System Fluids, Electrolytes, and the Acid-Base System Male Reproductive System Female Reproductive System Developmental Anatomy and Physiology We will conclude the course with a 200-question practice test. Also included is a follow-along PDF manual containing the entire text of this audio course as well as over a hundred images, figures, and illustrations we'll be discussing. To get the most out of this course, we recommend that you listen to the entire audio once while following along in your PDF manual, then go back and listen to areas you found challenging.

Audiolearn Content Team (Author), Lisa Stroth (Narrator)

Audiobook

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the bestselling Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, envisions a not-too-distant world in which we face a new set of challenges. Now, in Homo Deus, he examines our future with his trademark blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century - from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. War is obsolete You are more likely to commit suicide than be killed in conflict Famine is disappearing You are at more risk of obesity than starvation Death is just a technical problem Equality is out - but immortality is in What does our future hold?

Yuval Noah Harari (Author), Derek Perkins (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sapiens. De animales a dioses

El libro de no ficción del AÑO Un best seller internacional con más de un millón de ejemplares vendidos Lúcido e iluminador: la historia de la humanidad en un solo volumen. Este es el fascinante relato de nuestra extraordinaria historia: de simios sin importancia a amos del mundo. ¿Cómo logró nuestra especie imponerse en la lucha por la existencia? ¿Por qué nuestros ancestros recolectores se unieron para crear ciudades y reinos? ¿Cómo llegamos a creer en dioses, en naciones o en los derechos humanos; a confiar en el dinero, en los libros o en las leyes? ¿Cómo acabamos sometidos a la burocracia, a los horarios y al consumismo? ¿Y cómo será el mundo en los milenios venideros? En De animales a dioses, Yuval Noah Harari traza una breve historia de la humanidad, desde los primeros humanos que caminaron sobre la Tierra hasta los radicales y a veces devastadores avances de las tres grandes revoluciones que nuestra especie ha protagonizado: la cognitiva, la agrícola y la científica. A partir de hallazgos de disciplinas tan diversas como la biología, la antropología, la paleontología o la economía, Harari explora cómo las grandes corrientes de la historia han modelado nuestra sociedad, los animales y las plantas que nos rodean e incluso nuestras personalidades. ¿Hemos ganado en felicidad a medida que ha avanzado la historia? ¿Seremos capaces de liberar alguna vez nuestra conducta de la herencia del pasado? ¿Podemos hacer algo para influir en los siglos futuros? Audaz, ambicioso y provocador, este libro cuestiona todo lo que creíamos saber sobre el ser humano: nuestros orígenes, nuestras ideas, nuestras acciones, nuestro poder... y nuestro futuro. - El fuego nos dio poder. - La conversación hizo posible que cooperáramos. - La agricultura alimentó nuestra ambición. - La mitología sostuvo la ley y el orden. - El dinero ofreció algo en lo que confiar. - Las contradicciones crearon la cultura. - La ciencia nos hizo imparables. Reseñas: «Aborda las cuestiones más importantes de la historia y del mundo modernos, y además está escrito con un estilo vívido e inolvidable.» Jared Diamond «Renueva la creencia en la capacidad de decidir de los propios lectores. El éxito más sorprendente y renovador de un libro de no ficción de la última década.» Shmuel Rosner, editor original (Israel)

Yuval Noah Harari (Author), Carlos Manuel Vesga (Narrator)

Audiobook

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such issues for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us. In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show how the algorithms developed for computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.

Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths (Author), Brian Christian (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Short History Of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's quest to find out everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. His challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. It's not so much about what we know, as about how we know what we know. How do we know what is in the centre of the Earth, or what a black hole is, or where the continents were 600 million years ago? How did anyone ever figure these things out? On his travels through time and space, Bill Bryson takes us with him on the ultimate eye-opening journey, and reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.

Bill Bryson (Author), Bill Bryson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation. Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation's largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. Habits aren't destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Charles Duhigg (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Biology & Chemistry Audiobooks in Science & Technology