Оглавление
Lucien F. Trueb. Astonishing the Wild Pigs
Introduction
I. Biology and Medicine. 1 DNA – the self-copying and coding molecule
2 Genetically modified organisms
3 Gene sequencing
4 Ultrasonic imaging and ultrasound therapy
5 Computer tomography for bloodless cuts
6 MRI – “seeing” with magnets
7 The heart pacemaker – new life for very sick patients
8 Antibiotics – life-threatening life savers
9 Virostatics – biochemical inhibitors of viruses
10 Prostaglandins – not a total disappointment
11 Tranquilizers – the stress-relief pills
12 The Pill – a sexual and social revolution
13 Smoking – involuntary suicide
II. Chemistry. 14 Sulfuric acid – unpleasant but indispensable
15 Soda ash – from glassworts to trona
16 Detergents, the super-soaps
17 Potash – a vital mineral for plants
18 Nitrogen fertilizer to fight hunger
19 Phosphate – life-giving but in short supply
20 Rare Earths – rather abundant non-earths
21 Fluorine – the most aggressive element
22 Lithium – the lightest metal
23 The noble gases – not really inert
24 Explosives for construction and demolition
25 Dyes for a colorful world
26 Adhesives – from birch tar to epoxy resins
III. Electronics. 27 Paradigm shift with the transistor
28 Integrated circuits – revolutionizing everyday life
29 The thyristor – a triggered semiconductor switch
30 Organic semiconductors for light and displays
31 Light emitting diodes – bright semiconductors
32 Liquid crystals – interfacing the world
33 The CD – for audio and computer data
34 The USB-Stick – men’s jewelry
35 Digital photography – images are numbers
36 Radar – detecting and ranging with radio waves
37 GPS – satellite navigation for everybody
38 Glass fibers instead of copper wire
IV. Energy. 39 Coal and biomass-based liquid fuels
40 Bacterial biodiesel
41 Biodiesel from algae
42 Ethanol from sugar
43 Ethanol from starch
44 Ethanol from Cellulose
45 Shale gas – an American revolution
46 Hydrogen – expensive and dangerous
47 Fuel cells – hydrogen-based electricity
48 Folding the fluorescent tube to save energy
49 Lithium-ion batteries
50 The heat-pump – using energy from the environment
51 Solar cells – clean but expensive
52 The wind – good but unreliable
53 Sea waves – transformed wind energy
54 Uranium – energy from the atomic nucleus
55 Nuclear fusion – energy source of the future
56 Steam power – still going strong
57 The Wankel engine – a sophisticated failure?
58 Perpetual motion – an impossible concept
V. Informatics. 59 Antikythera – astronomical watch without a movement
60 Alan Turing – Computer pioneer and war hero
61 John V. Atanasoff and the electronic computer
62 ERMETH – homemade computer at the ETHZ
63 Fortran – programming for science and technology
64 The PC – from desk to pocket
65 Supercomputers for bombs and weather forecasts
66 Cloud Computing – sky-high data
67 Artificial intelligence – expanding the natural kind
68 Computer chess – machine versus man
69 Robots – computer-controlled workers
70 The Internet – www and much more
VI. Aeronautics and Space. 71 The airship – romantic but uneconomical
72 Helicopters for vertical takeoff and landing
73 The jet – much faster flying
74 Detecting the stealth plane
75 Drones for unmanned observation and killing
76 Sputnik I – starting space travel
77 Apollo’s ride to the Moon
78 Weather satellites for accurate forecasts
79 Communications satellites – enormous data flows
80 Earth observation from space
VII. Technology. 81 Infrared – more than cozy warmth
82 X-rays – for medicine and physics
83 The maser – predecessor of the laser
84 The Laser – Einstein predicted it
85 The electron microscope – seeing atoms
86 Scanning atoms with a needle
87 The telescope – 400 years of development
88 Color TV – the preferred electronic medium
89 Piezocrystals – electricity by pressure
90 Luminescent materials – emitting and storing light
91 Superconductivity and zero resistance
92 Radiometric dating – from wood to basalt
93 Two revolutions in steelmaking
94 Zinc plating – fighting corrosion the classical way
95 The Smartphone – computer-cellphone with camera
96 Do it yourself with 3D-printing?
97 Repairing by replacing parts
98 Numerical control of machine-tools
VIII. Materials. 99 Ceramics – long before the “Neolithic Revolution”
100 Porcelain – old-fashioned high tech composite
101 Concrete – engineering and art
102 Borazon – diamond’s “little sister”
103 Bio-ceramics – spare parts for the body
104 Float glass – perfectly flat thanks to the tin bath
105 Glass-ceramics for cooktops and supertelescopes
106 Carbon – the superlative material
107 Graphene – on the way to carbon electronics?
108 Rubber – essential for mobility
109 Nylon – the first fully synthetic fiber
110 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – a sink for chlorine
111 Polyethylene – from toys to hip replacements
112 Polypropylene – a truly new polymer
113 PET – for fibers, bottles and foils
114 Polyurethanes – extremely versatile plastics
115 Teflon – the slippery plastic
116 Plexiglas – tough and elastic
117 Powder coating – painting without solvents
118 Foam for padding and dreaming
119 Aerogels – solid state smoke
120 Gold – man’s very first metal
121 Copper – the metal from Cyprus
122 Modern man, a denizen of the Iron Age
123 Damascus steel – hard and flexible
124 Stainless steel – the poor man’s precious metal
125 Superalloys – indispensable for flying
126 Titanium – Formula 1 cars and eyeglass frames
127 Tantalum – for capacitors and superalloys
128 Aluminum – the metal extracted from clay
129 Platinum – useful, beautiful and expensive
130 Hard metal – hard but not a metal
131 Metallic glass – for transformers and implants
132 Silicon – a wonderful gift of nature
IX. Measuring Time. 133 Measuring time mechanically
134 Su Sung’s celestial machine
135 The astronomical clock in the Strasbourg cathedral
136 Speedmaster – the Moonwatch
137 The Crystal clock of Horton and Marrison
138 The quartz wristwatch – a technological revolution
139 The Swatch after 400 million pieces
140 The G-Shock – almost unbreakable
141 Quartz movements for clocks
142 Radio controlled watches – guaranteed exact time
143 The atomic clock – replacing the solar day
144 The optical clock – time as a cosmic dimension
145 A chip-size atomic clock
146 Developing the ultimate wristwatch
147 The Smartwatch – freedom for the left hand
