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\"Harry Potter has brought the idea of magic and sorcery into mainstream fruition more than any other book series in history. Often perceived as a supernatural force, magic captivates and delights its audience because of its seeming ability to defy physics and logic. But did you ever wonder if science has any explanation for these fantastic feats? The Science of Harry Potter examines the scientific principles behind some of your favorite characters, spells, items, and scenes from the Harry Potter universe, providing in-depth analysis and scientific facts to support its theories. The scientific questions examined within this book include: Will we ever see an invisibility cloak? How hazardous is a flying broomstick? How has medicine made powerful potions from peculiar plants? Can scientists ever demonstrate Wingardium Leviosa? Is it possible to stupefy someone? And many more! Witches and wizards alike will be fascinated by the merging of this improbable realm and real science.\"--Publisher description.

Imagine a stage full of black cats emitting electrical sparks, a man catching bullets with his teeth, or an evangelist jumping on a transformer to shoot bolts of lightning through his fingertips. These and other wild schemes were part of the repertoire of showmen who traveled from city to city, making presentations that blended science with myth and magic. InWonder Shows, Fred Nadis offers a colorful history of these traveling magicians, inventors, popular science lecturers, and other presenters of \"miracle science\" who revealed science and technology to the public in awe-inspiring fashion. The book provides an innovative synthesis of the history of performance with a wider study of culture, science, and religion from the antebellum period to the present. It features a lively cast of characters, including electrical \"wizards\" Nikola Tesla and Thomas Alva Edison, vaudeville performers such as Harry Houdini, mind readers, UFO cultists, and practitioners of New Age science. All of these performers developed strategies for invoking cultural authority to back their visions of science and progress. The pseudo-science in their wonder shows helped promote a romantic worldview that called into question the absolute authority of scientific materialism while reaffirming the importance of human spirituality. Nadis argues that the sensation that these entertainers provided became an antidote to the alienation and dehumanization that accompanied the rise of modern America. Although most recent defenders of science are prone to reject wonder, considering it an ally of ignorance and superstition,Wonder Showsdemonstrates that the public's passion for magic and meaning is still very much alive. Today, sales continue to be made and allegiances won based on illusions that products are unique, singular, and at best, miraculous. Nadis establishes that contemporary showmen, corporate publicists, advertisers, and popular science lecturers are not that unlike the magicians and mesmerists of years ago.

In his bestselling work of popular science, Sir Roger Penrose takes us on a fascinating tour through the basic principles of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and philosophy to show that human thinking can never be emulated by a machine.

Have you ever daydreamed about digging a hole to the other side of the world? Robert Banks not only entertains such ideas but, better yet, he supplies the mathematical know-how to turn fantasies into problem-solving adventures. In this sequel to the popularTowing Icebergs, Falling Dominoes(Princeton, 1998), Banks presents another collection of puzzles for readers interested in sharpening their thinking and mathematical skills. The problems range from the wondrous to the eminently practical. In one chapter, the author helps us determine the total number of people who have lived on earth; in another, he shows how an understanding of mathematical curves can help a thrifty lover, armed with construction paper and scissors, keep expenses down on Valentine's Day. In twenty-six chapters, Banks chooses topics that are fairly easy to analyze using relatively simple mathematics. The phenomena he describes are ones that we encounter in our daily lives or can visualize without much trouble. For example, how do you get the most pizza slices with the least number of cuts? To go from point A to point B in a downpour of rain, should you walk slowly, jog moderately, or run as fast as possible to get least wet? What is the length of the seam on a baseball? If all the ice in the world melted, what would happen to Florida, the Mississippi River, and Niagara Falls? Why do snowflakes have six sides? Covering a broad range of fields, from geography and environmental studies to map- and flag-making, Banks uses basic algebra and geometry to solve problems. If famous scientists have also pondered these questions, the author shares the historical details with the reader. Designed to entertain and to stimulate thinking, this book can be read for sheer personal enjoyment.

If we actually received messages from the stars, what would we do with them? Who were the five strangest mathematicians in history? What are the ten most interesting numbers? Who is the Number King? Jam-packed with thought-provoking mathematical mysteries, puzzles, and games--as well as the answers to all of the above questions--Wonders of Numbers will enchant even the most left-brained of readers. Hosted by the quirky Dr. Googol--who resides on an island in Sri Lanka and occasionally collaborates with Clifford Pickover--Wonders of Numbers focuses on creativity and the delight of discovery. Here is a potpourri of common and unusual number theory problems of varying difficulty--each presented in brief chapters that convey to readers the essence of the problem rather than the extraneous, convoluted history of it. Want to know about undulating numbers? Turn to Chapter 53 and in just a few pages you'll have a quick challenge. Interested in Fibonacci numbers? Turn to Chapter 74 for the same. Peppered throughout with illustrations that clarify many of the problems, Wonders of Numbers also includes fascinating \"math gossip.\" How would we use numbers to communicate with aliens? Check out Chapter 31. What are the five saddest mathematical scandals? You'll find them in Chapter 35. Did you know that there is a Numerical Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? There is, and it's in Chapter 46. Indeed, each chapter in Wonders of Numbers is a paradox and a mystery. From the beautiful formula of India's most famous mathematician to the Leviathan number so big it makes a trillion look small, Dr. Googol's witty, disarming, and straightforward approach to numbers will entice students, educators, and scientists alike to pick up a pencil and work a problem.

What do road and railway systems, electrical circuits, mingling at parties, mazes, family trees, and the internet all have in common? All are networks - either people or places or things that relate and connect to one another. Only relatively recently have mathematicians begun to explore such networks and connections, and their importance has taken everyone by surprise. The mathematics of networks form the basis of many fascinating puzzles and problems, from tic-tac-toe and circular sudoku to the ‘ Chinese Postman Problem’ (can he deliver all his letters without traversing the same street twice?). Peter Higgins shows how such puzzles as well as many real-world phenomena are underpinned by the same deep mathematical structure. Understanding mathematical networks can give us remarkable new insights into them all.

The eight articles in this issue testify to the vitality of popular religion in Vietnam in the Renovation Era (Doi Moi, post-1986). Six articles on sacred objects wed material culture studies to the anthropology of religion and magic and to the practical work of museums that house sacred objects in their collections. Underscoring the importance of material goods in popular religious practice, our work appears at the intersection of three trends: a revival of interest in and rethinking of the broad concept of \"magic,\" material culture studies' new emphasis on commodities and market relations that sometimes finds \"magic\" at work in these transactions, and the insistence by aboriginal communities that museums treat some material artifacts as sacred objects. This introduction situates the six object-oriented studies in relation to these developments as resonant with other work on religious revival in Vietnam today, represented in this issue by two additional contributions: an account of a village's quarrel with folkloric representations of its festival, and a study of sacred healing by spirit mediums in the Mother Goddess Religion.

Meanwhile, stocks closed mixed yesterday led by gains in tech and industrial companies. The Dow did decline twenty-six points. The NASDAQ closed up eighteen, hitting a new record. The S&P 500 gained three points.