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Back to topScience and the City: The Mechanics Behind the Metropolis (Paperback)
Description
Science is secretly at work behind the scenes of major cities of the world and will continue to be so. Technological advances in fields as diverse as quantum mechanics, electronics, and nanotechnology are proving increasingly important to city life, and the urban world will turn to science to deliver solutions to the problems of the future; more than 50 percent of the world's population now lives in cities, and that proportion is growing fast. Can engineering provide the answer to a viable megacity future?
Science and the City starts at your front door and guides you through the technology of everyday city life: how new approaches to building materials help to construct the tallest skyscrapers in Dubai, how New Yorkers use light to treat their drinking water, how Tokyo commuters' footsteps power gates in train stations. Uncovering the science and engineering that shapes our cities, Laurie Winkless reveals how technology will help us meet the challenges of a soaring world population--from an ever-increasing demand for power, water, and internet access, to simply how to get about in a megacity of tens of millions of people.
About the Author
Laurie Winkless is an Irish physicist-turned-science-writer, currently based in New Zealand. After her post-grad, she joined the UK's National Physical Laboratory as a research scientist, where she specialised in functional materials.
She is an experienced science communicator, who loves talking about science in all forms of media. Since leaving the lab, Laurie has worked with scientific organisations, engineering companies, universities, and astronauts, amongst others. Her writing has featured in outlets including Forbes, Wired, Esquire, and The Economist, and her first book, Science and the City, was published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2016. This was followed by Sticky, her exploration of friction and surface science, in 2021.
Praise For…
"Winkless’ behind-the-bustle tour [of the science of cities] also offers abundant facts of General interest . . . [A] packed-with-detail, textual work that will be a hit with both young adult and adult patrons curious about what makes cities tick." - Booklist
"Physicist and materials and energy harvesting specialist Winkless explores the engineering feats that make urban lifestyles possible . . . [She] explains the complexities of the topic in broad terms, making them accessible to general readers." - Library Journal
"In this cheerful addition to the how-things-work genre, physicist and science writer Winkless reminds readers that urban areas are now home to more than half the human race and use an increasing proportion of the Earth’s natural resources, so it behooves people to know how they operate." - Publishers Weekly
"Laurie Winkless aptly describes how cities function on a daily basis in a manner that would be equally accessible to high-school students and practicing engineers." - Science