To scientists, the tsunami of relativism, scepticism, and postmodernism that washed through the humanities in the twentieth century was all water off a duck’s back. Science remained committed to objectivity and continued to deliver remarkable discoveries and improvements in technology. In What Science Knows, the Australian philosopher and mathematician James Franklin explains in captivating and straightforward prose how science works its magic. He begins with an account of the nature of evidence, where science imitates but extends commonsense and legal reasoning in basing conclusions solidly on inductive reasoning from facts. After a brief survey of the furniture of the world as science sees it—including causes, laws, dispositions and force fields as well as material things—Franklin describes colorful examples of discoveries in the natural, mathematical, and social sciences and the reasons for believing them. He examines the limits of science, giving special attention both to mysteries that may be solved by science, such as the origin of life, and those that may in principle be beyond the reach of science, such as the meaning of ethics. What Science Knows will appeal to anyone who wants a sound, readable, and well-paced introduction to the intellectual edifice that is science. On the other hand it will not please the enemies of science, whose willful misunderstandings of scientific method and the relation of evidence to conclusions Franklin mercilessly exposes.

How do scientific conjectures become laws? Why does proof mean different things in different sciences? Do numbers exist, or were they invented? Why do some laws turn out to be wrong? In this wide-ranging book, Brian Davies discusses the basis for scientists' claims to knowledge about the world. He looks at science historically, emphasizing not only the achievements of scientists from Galileo onwards, but also their mistakes. He rejects the claim that all scientific knowledge is provisional, by citing examples from chemistry, biology and geology. A major feature of the book is its defence of the view that mathematics was invented rather than discovered. While experience has shown that disentangling knowledge from opinion and aspiration is a hard task, this book provides a clear guide to the difficulties. Full of illuminating examples and quotations, and with a scope ranging from psychology and evolution to quantum theory and mathematics, this book brings alive issues at the heart of all science.

This broad collection of accessible essays helps readers develop a fuller appreciation of the nature of science and scientific knowledge in general. The focus throughout is on the relationships in science between fact and theory, about the nature of scientific theory, and about the kinds of claims on truth that science makes. Arranges essays according to three essential aspects of scientific practice: Method, theory, and discovery. For scientists looking to broaden their general knowledge of basic scientific theory.

Satisfy your curious budding scientist with a book that explains the way we explain everything else. It all comes down to Science! Learn about a range of subjects that tell us about everything. From earth science and biology, to energy, physics, and astronomy. We give the answers to the questions kids aged 7-10 really want to know about in easy-to-follow question and answer format. This book focuses on the subjects that kids really want to know about and the questions they ask. Every question is answered with a detailed explanation, rich illustrations, and easy to understand text that will ease the curiosity of young minds. From earth science and biology to energy, physics, and astronomy. Did You Know? Science makes learning the science behind everyday matters easy to understand, fun, and engaging. Answers to over 200 questions about the living world, the human body, the material world, energy, forces, movement, and our planet. Described in colorful pages and in a fun question-and-answer format. Designed for ages 5-9 and organized into easy to understand bite-size nuggets of information. Fantastic Facts For Curious Minds! Did You Know? Science answers all the amazing questions children have about science, from how lights turn on and what makes cars go, to what makes the Earth look blue and how people move! This colorful and exciting book is full of awesome pictures and incredible facts about magnets, fossils, the human body, our planet, and much more! This is the ideal science encyclopedia to help your budding Einstein, as well as for parents who need to answer those tricky science questions sparked by curiosity. “Where does light come from? Can I feel forces? What is my body made of?” This amazing science book will answer interesting questions about: - The Living World - The Human Body - The Material World - Energy - Our Planet - Forces And Movement Did You Know? Science: Amazing Answers To More Than 200 Awesome Questions is part of the educational series Did You Know? Encyclopedias. Complete the collection and learn more about the world around you and the questions you ask, science, and space.

Basic information about science for young children, arranged in five chapters.

Published in hardcover as What the dog knows: the science and wonder of working dogs by Simon & Schuster, New York, c2013.

A vivid portrait of how Naval oversight shaped American oceanography, revealing what difference it makes who pays for science. What difference does it make who pays for science? Some might say none. If scientists seek to discover fundamental truths about the world, and they do so in an objective manner using well-established methods, then how could it matter who’s footing the bill? History, however, suggests otherwise. In science, as elsewhere, money is power. Tracing the recent history of oceanography, Naomi Oreskes discloses dramatic changes in American ocean science since the Cold War, uncovering how and why it changed. Much of it has to do with who pays. After World War II, the US military turned to a new, uncharted theater of warfare: the deep sea. The earth sciences—particularly physical oceanography and marine geophysics—became essential to the US Navy, which poured unprecedented money and logistical support into their study. Science on a Mission brings to light how this influx of military funding was both enabling and constricting: it resulted in the creation of important domains of knowledge but also significant, lasting, and consequential domains of ignorance. As Oreskes delves into the role of patronage in the history of science, what emerges is a vivid portrait of how naval oversight transformed what we know about the sea. It is a detailed, sweeping history that illuminates the ways funding shapes the subject, scope, and tenor of scientific work, and it raises profound questions about the purpose and character of American science. What difference does it make who pays? The short answer is: a lot.