strokes, 1, 2; rehabilitation, 1

  stromatolites, 1

  subsidy, 1

  sugars, 1, 2; see also glucose

  sulphuric acid, 1

  Sumerians, 1

  Sun: eclipse, 1, 2, 3 n. 7; envelope, 1 n. 23;

  flares, 1 n. 18, 2 n. 19;

  formation, 1 n. 5;

  future, 1 n. 23;

  heat output, 1, 2, 3 n. 21, 4 n. 15;

  luminosity, 1, 2 nn. 21, 22;

  magnetic field, 1 n. 18;

  mass, 1, 2, 3, 4;

  as nuclear reactor, 1, 2;

  neutrinos, 1;

  orbit, 1;

  rotation, 1 n. 18;

  solar cycle, 1 n. 19;

  sunspots, 1 n. 18;

  temperature, 1, 2, 3 n. 19;

  tidal bulge, 1 n. 23;

  ultraviolet radiation, 1

  Sunday Times, The, 1

  sunlight, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 n. 21, 8 n. 1, 9 n. 8, 10 n. 6

  supercomputers, 1

  SuperKamiokande detector, 1 n. 7

  supernovae, 1, 2, 3 nn. 12, 14

  supersymmetry, 1

  supply and demand, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  survival, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 n. 1

  Susskind, Leonard, 1

  sweating, 1, 2

  symbiosis, 1

  symmetry, 1, 2, 3 n. 6; rotational, 1, 2;

  time translation, 1, 2 n. 6;

  translational, 1

  synapses, see neurons

  synthesis, 1

  Syria, 1

  Sze, Arthur, 1

  taus, 1; see also neutrinos

  taxation, 1 n. 2

  taxi drivers, 1, 2

  Taylor, Joseph, 1

  tectonic plates, 1; see also plate tectonics

  teeth, 1, 2

  Tegmark, Max, 1 n. 5

  telecommunications, 1, 2

  telescopes, 1, 2, 3, 4

  television, 1, 2

  temperature, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 n. 3, 9 nn. 7, 8, 10; 10 n. 13, 11 n. 7; see also absolute zero, body temperature, Celsius scale, Earth: temperature, Kelvin scale, Sun: temperature

  Terry, John, 1

  Tesla, Nikola, 1

  testes, 1

  testosterone, 1

  thermodynamics, 1, 2; first law of, 1;

  second law of, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 8, 5 n. 9

  Thiomargarita namibiensis, 1

  Thomas, Lewis, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Thomson, George, 1, 2 n. 8

  Thomson, J. J., 1

  thorium, 1

  thunderstorm, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 9

  thymine, 1

  Tigris river, 1

  time, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 n. 4, 18 n. 3; ‘arrow’, 1;

  dilation, 1, 2;

  see also space–time

  tools, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  trade, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; international, 1;

  and space, 1;

  and time, 1;

  see also exchange rate, marketplace, supply and demand

  trade winds, 1

  trading circle, 1

  traits, 1, 2, 3

  transatlantic cables, 1, 2 n. 4

  transformers, 1

  transistors, 1, 2, 3 nn. 6, 9

  trees, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 n. 1

  troposphere, see Earth: troposphere

  Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin, 1

  tuberculosis, 1

  tubulin, 1

  Turing, Alan, 1, 2, 3 n. 4

  Turkey, 1

  Tutu, Desmond, 1, 2 n. 6

  Twain, Mark, 1, 2

  Twitter, 1 n. 7, 2 n. 17

  Tyndall, John, 1

  Tyson, Neil deGrasse, 1

  Uhuru satellite, 1

  ultraviolet light, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 19

  uncomputability, 1 n. 4

  undecidability, 1 n. 4

  United States, 1

  Universal Turing Machine, 1

  Universe: age, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 n. 18; and dark energy, 1, 2;

  and entropy, 1, 2, 3 n. 12;

  expansion, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 n. 16, 7 n. 9, 8 n. 18;

  formation, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 n. 13, 9 nn. 14, 16;

  future of, 1, 2, 3;

  and galaxies, 1, 2 n. 4;

  as image, 1, 2;

  inflation, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 5;

  and light, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 n. 14, 10 n. 2;

  and mass energy, 1, 2;

  observable, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 9, 5 n. 19;

  past of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 n. 10, 6 n. 5, 7 n. 8;

  perception of, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 n. 5, 16 n. 4, 17 n. 4;

  and quantum theory, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 n. 12;

  scale, 1, 2 n. 9;

  temperature, 1, 2, 3 n. 13;

  see also big bang, cosmic background radiation, event horizon, galaxies, Hawking radiation, ‘last scattering’, multiverse, red shift

  University College, London, 1

  uranium, 1, 2, 3

  Uranus, 1 n. 2, 2 n. 7

  US Navy, 1

  uterus, 1

  vacuum, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 n. 10; false, 1, 2 n. 11;

  inflationary, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 19

  Valéry, Paul, 1

  Van Valen, Lee, 1

  variation, 1, 2, 3, 4

  Velcro, 1

  velocity, 1, 2 n. 9

  Venus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 n. 7; day/year, 1 n. 5;

  orbit, 1 n. 5;

  water, 1

  Very Large Array, New Mexico, 1

  vesicles, 1

  Victoria, Queen, 1 n. 4

  Vienna, 1 n. 9

  viruses, 1, 2

  void, 1, 2

  volcanoes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7;

  eruptions, 1, 2, 3; see also lava, magma

  voltage, see electric current: voltage

  voltage-gated ion channels, see cells

  volume, 1, 2 n. 15

  vortices, 1

  wages, 1, 2

  Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1, 2 n. 2

  war, 1, 2

  water, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 n. 9; 15 n. 5, 16 n. 16, 17 n. 7; boiling, 1, 2;

  condensation, 1;

  erosion, 1;

  molecular structure, 1;

  power, 1, 2, 3;

  swirl direction, 1;

  ultrapure, 1 n. 7;

  vapour, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 n. 4;

  see also evaporation, ice: fresh-water, ice, sea ice, steam, wetness

  water wheel, 1

  Watson, James, 1, 2 n. 6

  Watson, Thomas J., 1

  wavelength, 1, 2, 3 n. 14

  waves, 1;

  gravitational, 1; interference, 1, 2 n. 8;

  superposition, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 8;

  see also light: as waves, quantum waves, radio waves, sound waves

  weapons, 1, 2, 3

  Weather Girls, 1

  weather forecasting, 1

  weather systems, 1; anticyclones, 1;

  cyclones, 1

  weathering, 1

  Wegener, Alfred, 1, 2, 3

  Weyl, Herman, 1

  Weinberg, Steven, 1, 2

  wetness, 1

  whales, 1; killer whales, 1;

  short-finned

  pilot whales, 1

  wheat, 1

  Wheeler, John, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 n. 3

  white dwarfs, 1

  Wigner, Eugene, 1

  Wilde, Oscar, 1, 2, 3

  Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, 1 n. 18

  William the Conqueror, 1

  Williams, Tennessee, 1

  Wilson, Edward O., 1, 2

  wind: erosion, 1; high-altitude, 1;

  power, 1, 2;

  see also jet stream, stellar winds, trade winds

  windmills, 1

  Winnipeg, Canada, 1

  wire coil, conducting, 1, 2, 3, 4 n. 15

  Woese, Carl, 1 n. 5

  wolf, 1

  Wolpert, Lewis, 1 n. 7

  womb, see uterus

  work, 1, 2 n. 1, 3 n. 7

  World War I, 1

  World War II, 1

  World Wide Web, 1, 2

  worms, intestinal, 1

  Wright, Stephen, 1

  writing, 1, 2

  WTO (World Trade Organisation), 1

  X-rays, 1, 2, 3

  xenophobia, 1

  yeast, 1

  Young, Patrick, 1

  Young, Thomas, 1

  Zurich, Switzerland, 1 n. 3

  zygotes, 1, 2 n. 15

  About the Author

  Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is currently cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist.

  He is the author of the bestselling We Need to Talk about Kelvin, Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, The Never Ending Days of Being Dead and The Magic Furnace. He also wrote The Solar System, the bestselling app for iPad, which won the Future Book Award 2011.

  By the Same Author

  Tweeting the Universe

  Solar System

  Afterglow of Creation

  We Need to Talk About Kelvin

  Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You

  The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead

  The Magic Furnace

  The Universe Next Door

  FOR CHILDREN

  Felicity Frobisher and the Three-Headed Aldebaran Dust Devil

  APPS

  Solar System for iPad

  Copyright

  First published in 2013

  by Faber and Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  This ebook edition first published in 2013

  All rights reserved

  © Marcus Chown, 2013

  Cover image design by Mecob

  Cover photographs © Viviamo/Vasilius/Shutterstock

  The right of Marcus Chown to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–27842–8

 

 

  Marcus Chown, What a Wonderful World

 

 

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