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Natalie Angier

Natalie Angier Books

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“Nobody knows what the whales may have to click and clack about, but it could be a form of voting-time to stop here and synchronously dive down in search of deep water squid, now time to resurface, move on, dive again. Clans also seem to caucus on which males they like and will mate with more or less as a group and which ones to collectively spurn. By all appearances, female sperm whales are terrible size queens. Over the generations, they have consistently voted in favor of enhanced male mass. Their dream candidate nowadays is some fellow named Moby, and he's three times their size.”

Science
Author:Natalie Angier
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“When I sent out a casual and nonscientific poll of my own to a wide cast of acquaintances, friends and colleagues, I was surprised, but not really, to learn that maybe 60 percent claimed a belief in a God of some sort, including people I would have bet were unregenerate skeptics. Others just shrugged. They don't think about this stuff. It doesn't matter to them. They can't know, they won't beat themselves up trying to know and for that matter they don't care if their kids believe or not.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsTryingBelieveMatterCareKidsBeliefStuffMy OwnAtheismBeatsPercentIncludingCastsDon't CarePositive AtheismWideColleaguesPollsAcquaintanceCasualSkeptic
Author:Natalie Angier
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“Nature is a tenacious recycler, every dung heap and fallen redwood tree a bustling community of saprophytes wresting life from the dead and discarded, as though intuitively aware that there is nothing new under the sun. Throughout the physical world, from the cosmic to the subatomic, the same refrain resounds. Conservation: it's not just a good idea, it's the law.”

WorldIdeasLawNatureCommunitySunTreeFallenCosmicGood IdeasConservationRefrainDiscardedNothing NewTenaciousRedwoodsNothing New Under The Sun
Book:The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
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“Astronomers are pure of heart and appealingly puerile. They look into the midnight sky and ask big questions, just as we did when we were in college: Who are we? Where do we come from? And why are we standing around outside on the night before finals, do we want to end up making elevator parts for a living like our father or what?”

WantLooksHeartEndsBigsScienceNightAsksFatherSkyCollegePureStandingFinalsMidnightOur FatherNight SkyElevatorsAstronomersBig Questions
Book:The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science
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“Astronomy is so easy to love. ... Fairly or not, physics is associated with nuclear bombs and nuclear waste, chemistry with pesticides, biology with Frankenfood and designer-gene superbabies. But astronomers are like responsible ecotourists, squinting at the scenery through high-quality optical devices, taking nothing but images that may be computer-enhanced for public distribution, leaving nothing but a few Land Rover footprints on faraway Martian soil, and OK, OK, maybe the Land Rover, too.”

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Author:Natalie Angier
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“Science is not a body of facts. Science is a state of mind. It is a way of viewing the world, of facing reality square on but taking nothing on its face. It is about attacking a problem with the most manicured of claws and tearing it down into sensible, edible pieces.”

WorldWayMindStatesFactsProblemBodyRealityFacesSciencePiecesSquaresState Of MindSensibleAttackingClawsFacing Reality
Book:The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
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“What is wrong with looking muscular? Muscles are beautiful. Strength is beautiful. Muscle tissue is beautiful. It is metabolically, medically, and philosophically beautiful. Muscles retreat when they're not used, but they will always come back if you give them good reason. No matter how old you get, your muscles never lose hope. Few cells of the body are as capable as muscle cells are of change and reformation, of achievement and transcendence.”

IfsGivingMatterReasonBodyBeautifulUsedLosesAchievementCapableCellsMusclesRetreatTranscendenceReformationTissuesOld YouNever Lose Hope
Book:Woman: An Intimate Geography
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