Author: Jean-Paul BlaizotPublisher: Cern
ISBN:
Category : Heavy ion collisions
Languages : en
Pages : 24
Book Description
Study of Potentially Dangerous Events During Heavy-ion Collisions at the LHC
Author: Jean-Paul BlaizotPublisher: Cern
ISBN:
Category : Heavy ion collisions
Languages : en
Pages : 24
Book Description
Large Hadron Collider
Author: Massive
Author: Ian SamplePublisher: Basic Books (AZ)
ISBN: 0465019471
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
A prize-winning science writer provides a history of the 40-year search for the Higgs boson, also known as the "God" particle, and the intense rivalries, clashing egos and grand ambition that led to a world-changing discovery.
An Introduction to European Intergovernmental Organizations
Author: Marc CogenPublisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317181816
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 301
Book Description
An Introduction to European Intergovernmental Organizations provides an up-to-date and accessible reference to European intergovernmental organizations other than the European Union. The EU is so dominant that people often overlook the multitude of older and newer, smaller and larger intergovernmental organizations rooted in the history of contemporary Europe which continue to help shape its future. The specialized character of these organizations adds value to cooperation in Europe as a whole, creates permanent channels of communication regardless of EU membership and allows the possibility for non-European involvement through organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and NATO. It also allows sub regional groups of states, such as the Nordic countries or the Benelux countries to exist and express their own identity via their own organizations. This book looks at the history of Non-EU organizations, their decision-making characteristics, membership policies, legal powers actions and interactions with each other and the European Union. A uniform scheme of analysis is used to make European intergovernmental organizations comparable and by studying them we gain a deeper understanding and insight into European affairs.
The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis
Author: Sven Ove HanssonPublisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319305492
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
This book describes argumentative tools and strategies that can be used to guide policy decisions under conditions of great uncertainty. Contributing authors explore methods from philosophical analysis and in particular argumentation analysis, showing how it can be used to systematize discussions about policy issues involving great uncertainty. The first part of the work explores how to deal in a systematic way with decision-making when there may be plural perspectives on the decision problem, along with unknown consequences of what we do. Readers will see how argumentation tools can be used for prioritizing among uncertain dangers, for determining how decisions should be framed, for choosing a suitable time frame for a decision, and for systematically choosing among different decision options. Case studies are presented in the second part of the book, showing argumentation in practice in the areas of climate geoengineering, water governance, synthetic biology, nuclear waste, and financial markets. In one example, argumentation analysis is applied to proposals to solve the climate problem with various technological manipulations of the natural climate system, such as massive dispersion of reflective aerosols into the stratosphere. Even after a thorough investigation of such a proposal, doubt remains as to whether all the potential risks have been identified. In such discussions, conventional risk analysis does not have much to contribute since it presupposes that the risks have been identified, whereas the argumentative approach to uncertainty management can be used to systematize discussions.
The Illusion of Risk Control
Author: Gilles MotetPublisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319329391
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book explores the implications of acknowledging uncertainty and black swans for regulation of high-hazard technologies, for stakeholder acceptability of potentially hazardous activities and for risk governance. The conventional approach to risk assessment, which combines the likelihood of an event and the severity of its consequences, is poorly suited to situations where uncertainty and ambiguity are prominent features of the risk landscape. The new definition of risk used by ISO, “the effect of uncertainty on [achievement of] one’s objectives”, recognizes this paradigm change. What lessons can we draw from the management of fire hazards in Edo-era Japan? Are there situations in which increasing uncertainty allows more effective safety management? How should society address the risk of potentially planet-destroying scientific experiments? This book presents insights from leading scholars in different disciplines to challenge current risk governance and safety management practice.
Particle Panic!
Author: Kristine LarsenPublisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030122069
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205
Book Description
From novels and short stories to television and film, popular media has made a cottage industry of predicting the end of the world will be caused by particle accelerators. Rather than allay such fears, public pronouncements by particle scientists themselves often unwittingly fan the flames of hysteria. This book surveys media depictions of particle accelerator physics and the perceived dangers these experiments pose. In addition, it describes the role of scientists in propagating such fears and misconceptions, offering as a conclusion ways in which the scientific community could successfully allay such misplaced fears through more effective communication strategies. The book is aimed at the general reader interested in separating fact from fiction in the field of high-energy physics, at science educators and communicators, and, last but not least, at all scientists concerned about these issues. About the Author Kristine M Larsen holds a Ph.D. in Physics and is currently a professor at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, in the Geological Sciences Department. She has published a number of books, among them The Women Who Popularized Geology in the 19th Century (Springer, 2017), The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman (eds. Anthony Burdge, Jessica Burke, and Kristine Larsen. Kitsune Press, 2012. Recipient of the Gold Medal for Science Fiction/Fantasy in the 2012 Florida Publishing Association Awards), The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who (eds. Anthony Burdge, Jessica Burke, and Kristine Larsen. Kitsune Press, 2010), as well as Stephen Hawking: A Biography (Greenwood Press, 2005) and Cosmology 101 (Greenwood Press, (2007).
What’s the Worst That Could Happen?
Author: Andrew LeighPublisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262548518
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
Why catastrophic risks are more dangerous than you think, and how populism makes them worse. Did you know that you’re more likely to die from a catastrophe than in a car crash? The odds that a typical US resident will die from a catastrophic event—for example, nuclear war, bioterrorism, or out-of-control artificial intelligence—have been estimated at 1 in 6. That’s fifteen times more likely than a fatal car crash and thirty-one times more likely than being murdered. In What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, Andrew Leigh looks at catastrophic risks and how to mitigate them, arguing provocatively that the rise of populist politics makes catastrophe more likely. Leigh explains that pervasive short-term thinking leaves us unprepared for long-term risks. Politicians sweat the small stuff—granular policy details of legislation and regulation—but rarely devote much attention to reducing long-term risks. Populist movements thrive on short-termism because they focus on their followers’ immediate grievances. Leigh argues that we should be long-termers: broaden our thinking and give big threats the attention and resources they need. Leigh outlines the biggest existential risks facing humanity and suggests remedies for them. He discusses pandemics, considering the possibility that the next virus will be more deadly than COVID-19; warns that unchecked climate change could render large swaths of the earth uninhabitable; describes the metamorphosis of the arms race from a fight into a chaotic brawl; and examines the dangers of runaway superintelligence. Moreover, Leigh points out, populism (and its crony, totalitarianism) not only exacerbates other dangers but is also a risk factor in itself, undermining the institutions of democracy as we watch.
Transhumanist Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares
Author: Maxwell J. MehlmanPublisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421406691
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
Transhumanists advocate for the development and distribution of technologies that will enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities, even eliminate aging. What if the dystopian futures and transhumanist utopias found in the pages of science journals, Margaret Atwood novels, films like Gattaca, and television shows like Dark Angel are realized? What kind of world would humans have created? Maxwell J. Mehlman considers the promises and perils of using genetic engineering in an effort to direct the future course of human evolution. He addresses scientific and ethical issues without choosing sides in the dispute between transhumanists and their challengers. However, Transhumanist Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares reveals that radical forms of genetic engineering could become a reality much sooner than many people think, and that we need to encourage risk-management efforts. Whether scientists are dubious or optimistic about the prospects for directed evolution, they tend to agree on two things. First, however long it takes to perfect the necessary technology, it is inevitable that humans will attempt to control their evolutionary future, and second, in the process of learning how to direct evolution, we are bound to make mistakes. Our responsibility is to learn how to balance innovation with caution.
Never In A Million Years
Author: Ivor BaddielPublisher: Orion
ISBN: 1409140237
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Book Description
The authors of the bestselling NOT THE HIGHWAY CODE shine a light on the extensive back catalogue of dodgy predictions through the ages. The first end of the world prediction was recorded one second after the Big Bang and since then it has become the daddy of all predictions with, to date, no one getting it right. And human beings have been around for about 200,000 years, with very little evolutionary difference, and yet we still haven't developed X-Ray eyes or the ability to fly. In this book, Baddiel and Zucker examine the predictions that have been made since the dawn of time on a variety of subjects, from the end of the world and the human body, to global warming, robots in the workplace, teleportation and space exploration. With a witty and fresh tone, they examine how these predictions came about and why, and rate them for retrospective accuracy.