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The Disappearance of Butterflies
In the last fifty years our butterfly populations have declined by more than eighty per cent and butterflies are now facing the very real prospect of extinction. It is hard to remember the time when fields and meadows were full of these beautiful, delicate creatures – today we rarely catch a glimpse of the Wild Cherry Sphinx moths, Duke of Burgundy or the even once common Small Tortoiseshell butterflies. The High Brown Fritillary butterfly and the Stout Dart Moth have virtually disappeared. The eminent entomologist and award-winning author Josef H. Reichholf began studying butterflies in the late 1950s. He brings a lifetime of scientific experience and expertise to bear on one of the great...
The Demise of Diversity
Maintaining the natural diversity of the countless species on Earth is of fundamental importance for the continued existence of life on this planet. Nevertheless, ecosystems are being destroyed, as the cultivation of land for agriculture, industry and housing is intensified and oceans continue to be exploited. The Demise of Diversity: Loss and Extinction deals with biodiversity on this planet and the vital importance of sustaining it—nothing less than the future of life on Earth.
Evolution
None
The Long Evolution of Brains and Minds
The main topic of the book is a reconstruction of the evolution of nervous systems and brains as well as of mental-cognitive abilities, in short “intelligence” from simplest organisms to humans. It investigates to which extent the two are correlated. One central topic is the alleged uniqueness of the human brain and human intelligence and mind. It is discussed which neural features make certain animals and humans intelligent and creative: Is it absolute or relative brain size or the size of “intelligence centers” inside the brains, the number of nerve cells inside the brain in total or in such “intelligence centers” decisive for the degree of intelligence, of mind and eventually consciousness? And which are the driving forces behind these processes? Finally, it is asked what all this means for the classical problem of mind-brain relationship and for a naturalistic theory of mind.
Studies in Temporal Urbanism
This book is very much about what the name urbanTick literally says, about the ticking of the urban, the urban as we experience it everyday on the bus, in the park or between buildings. It is about the big orchestrated mass migration of commuters, the seasonal blossoms of the trees along the walkway and the frequency of the stamping rubbish-eater-trucks. It is also, not to forget, about climate, infrastructure, opening hours, term times, parking meters, time tables, growing shadows and moon light. But most of all it is about how all this is experienced by citizens on a daily basis and how they navigate within this complex structure of patterns. The content of this book is based on the content of the urbanTick blog between 2008-2010. One year blogging about this topic brought together a large collection of different aspects and thoughts. It is not at all a conclusive view, the opposite might be the case, it is an exploratory work in progress, while trying to capture as many facets of the topic as possible.
The Neanderthals
Comprehensive and in-depth, The Neanderthals sets out the history of their discovery and the changing ideas of their place in human ancestry.
Learning Classifier Systems
Learning Classifier Systems (LCS) are a machine learning paradigm introduced by John Holland in 1976. They are rule-based systems in which learning is viewed as a process of ongoing adaptation to a partially unknown environment through genetic algorithms and temporal difference learning. This book provides a unique survey of the current state of the art of LCS and highlights some of the most promising research directions. The first part presents various views of leading people on what learning classifier systems are. The second part is devoted to advanced topics of current interest, including alternative representations, methods for evaluating rule utility, and extensions to existing classifier system models. The final part is dedicated to promising applications in areas like data mining, medical data analysis, economic trading agents, aircraft maneuvering, and autonomous robotics. An appendix comprising 467 entries provides a comprehensive LCS bibliography.
Toucans, Barbets, and Honeyguides
This book covers in unmatched detail the life history, relationships, biology, and conservation of all the world's toucans, barbets, and honeyguides. These number 133 species, found in tropical regions around the world. The toucans are especially well-known because of their dramatic bills and their association with the Amazon rainforest. The colour plates, painted by well- known US artist Albert Earl Gilbert, are probably the best paintings of these birds ever produced.
The Culture of Stopping
Our culture has no concept of stopping. We continue to build motorways and airports for a future in which cars and planes may no longer exist. We’re converting our planet from a natural one to an artificial one in which the quantity of man-made objects – houses, asphalt, cars, plastic, computers and so on – now exceeds the totality of living matter. And while biomass continues to decline due to deforestation and species extinction, the mass of man-made objects is growing faster than ever. We’re on a treadmill to disaster. To get off this treadmill, argues Harald Welzer, we need to learn how to stop: as individuals and as societies, we need to stop doing what we’re doing and say ‘...
