Present at the future : from evolution to nanotechnology, candid and controversial conversations on science and nature / Ira Flatow.

Includes index.

Pt. 1. Three pounds of grey matter: The mind's window ; Memory: Senior Jeopardy!, anyone? ; Oliver Sacks: music makes the memory ; Pathways of addiction ; Sleep and learning: caffeine in your beer -- Pt. 2. Cosmology: Where the very big meets the very little ; It's a dark world after all ; String theory: we have a problem -- Pt. 3. Getting ready for global warming: Is every coastal town a New Orleans waiting to happen? ; The moral imperative -- Pt. 4. Energy: which way to go? It makes your hair hurt ; Forests and fields of alcohol ; The nuclear option ; Is coal still king? ; The wind rush is on! -- Pt. 5. Nanotechnology: The new small is big -- Pt. 6. Leaving the earth: There's no business like space business -- Pt. 7. The oceans are in trouble: Sylvia Earle: sounding the alarm ; Craig Venter goes fishing for genes -- Pt. 8. Science and religion: Fitting God into the equation ; Evolution: still under attack ; The Dover School Board case -- Pt. 9. Pioneers present at the future: Jane Goodall ; Ian Wilmut: Dolly plus ten ; The Wizard of Woz -- Pt. 10. The ultimate computer: Whither cyberspace? ; The universe as computer -- Pt. 11. Beauty in the details: The joy of knowing ; The case of the mice cured of diabetes ; The misbehaving shower curtain ; Why an airplace flies: debunking the myth ; The great champagne bubble mystery ; Open-source biology -- Pt. 12. The quest for immortality: Stem cells, cloning, and the quest for immortality.