Why are we conscious? Why do we experience the taste of almonds or the colour red? What is the experience of choosing between beer and wine, and how do we do it? Why do we think that only organisms with brains can do this, although our brains are based on the same sort of physics as everything else in the universe? The conventional consciousness studies of the last twenty years, wedded to a nineteenth century view of physics and biology, has failed to produce anything of explanatory value....

**The fully revised edition of Rupert Sheldrake's controversial science classic, from the author of the bestselling Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2021!**After chemists crystallised a new chemical for the first time, it became easier and easier to crystallise in laboratories all over the world. After rats at Harvard first escaped from a new kind of water maze, successive generations learned quicker and quicker. Then rats in Melbo...

There is a widespread assumption that the universe in general, and life in particular, is 'getting more complex with time'. This book brings together a wide range of experts in science, philosophy and theology and unveils their joint effort in exploring this idea. They confront essential problems behind the theory of complexity and the role of life within it: what is complexity? When does it increase, and why? Is the universe evolving towards states of ever greater complexity and diversity...

This book introduces stochastic dynamical systems theory in order to synthesize our current knowledge of climate variability. Nonlinear processes, such as advection, radiation and turbulent mixing, play a central role in climate variability. These processes can give rise to transition phenomena, associated with tipping or bifurcation points, once external conditions are changed. The theory of dynamical systems provides a systematic way to study these transition phenomena. Its stochastic ex...

The author is a space scientist of international reputation with a close and active relation with music (he studied organ with the late maestros Héctor Zeoli in Buenos Aires and Hans Jendis in Göttingen), who organized and directed the international workshops on the Neuropsychological Foundations of Music at the Carinthian Music Festivals in Ossiach, Austria. These workshops, held regularly between 1973 and 1985, have been credited as being the originators of the interdisciplinary approach...

What if it turned out that we weren't just bodies with brains, but embodied souls, and that this explained a whole lot about our psychology and the fundamental nature of reality? Cosmologists now agree that two thirds of the universe is invisible and non-material. They call this invisible substance dark energy. Dark energy offers new opportunities for the investigation of the age-old question of the nature of mind. The problem is, the mind sciences haven't yet caught up with the possibilit...

Presented as a series of lectures, this important volume achieves four major goals:It integrates the results of the author's research as applied to pattern perception -- reviewing current brain research and showing how several lines of inquiry have been converging to produce a paradigm shift in our understanding of the neural basis of figural perception.It updates the holographic hypothesis of brain function in perception.It emphasize...

The Science of Color focuses on the principles and observations that are foundations of modern color science. Written for a general scientific audience, the book broadly covers essential topics in the interdisciplinary field of color, drawing from physics, physiology and psychology. This book comprises eight chapters and begins by tracing scientific thinking about color since the seventeenth century. This historical perspective provides an introduction to the fundamental questions in color...

In this book, brain-grounded theory of temporal and spatial design in architecture and the environment is discussed. The author believes that it is a key to solving such global problems as environmental disorders and severe climate change as well as conflicts that are caused by the ill-conceived notion of “time is money”. There are three phases or aspects of a person’s life: the physical life, the spiritual or mental life, and the third stage of life, when a person moves from middle age in...

Protein NMR Spectroscopy, Second Edition combines a comprehensive theoretical treatment of NMR spectroscopy with an extensive exposition of the experimental techniques applicable to proteins and other biological macromolecules in solution. Beginning with simple theoretical models and experimental techniques, the book develops the complete repertoire of theoretical principles and experimental techniques necessary for understanding and implementing the most sophisticated NMR experiments. Imp...

This book presents a vivid argument for the almost lost idea of a unity of all natural sciences. It starts with the "strange" physics of matter, including particle physics, atomic physics and quantum mechanics, cosmology, relativity and their consequences (Chapter I), and it continues by describing the properties of material systems that are best understood by statistical and phase-space concepts (Chapter II). These lead to entropy and to the classical picture of quantitative inf...

Biophotonic diagnostics/biomedical spectroscopy can revolutionise the medical environment by providing a responsive and objective diagnostic environment. This book aims to explain the fundamentals of the physical techniques used combined with the particular requirements of analysing medical/clinical samples as a resource for any interested party. In addition, it will show the potential of this field for the future of medical science and act as a driver for translational across many differe...