On the dangers of promotion—oversimplification, misuse, and misunderstanding— that can plague exploratory science and the importance of radical new ideas that inspire us to support cutting-edge research into tomorrow’s technologies. In 1969, Princeton physicist Gerard O’Neill began looking outward to space colonies as the new frontier for humanity’s expansion. A decade later, Eric Drexler, a MIT-trained engineer, turned his attention to the molecular world as the place where society’s future needs could be met using self-replicating nanoscale machines. These modern utopians predicted that their technologies could transform society as humans mastered the ability to create new worlds, undertook atomic-scale engineering, and, if truly successful, overcame their own biological limits. McCray traces how these visioneers blended countercultural ideals with hard science, entrepreneurship, libertarianism, and unbridled optimism about the future; how they faced difficulty funding their work and overcoming skepticism of colleagues; and how they struggled to overcome stigma and.

(SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY * SPACE COLONIES * NANOTECHNOLOGY)

For fifty years, astronomers involved in SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have scanned the universe for intelligent signals, but with no success. Ashpole examines the problems inherent in scanning the universe for radio or optical signals from an alien intelligence (the difficulty of trying to communicate with another species possessing completely unknown forms of technology and the vast distances that alien communications would have to travel to reach us) and considers other ways of finding evidence for extraterrestrial life, given that advanced civilizations would probably use artificial intelligence for interstellar travel. Scientists now know how to detect the presence of life on a planet by observing its spectral lines, so more advanced alien researchers would have had ample time (about two billion years) to investigate these “signatures of life” coming from Earth. Hence alien space probes could exist within our own solar system; there might be evidence on the erosion-free Moon or on another moon or planet.

(SETI * OUTER SPACE * EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE SEARCHED)

An astronomer brings news from the front lines of the quest to find planets—and alien life—beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers discovered planets around other stars. Jayawardhana tells the stories of the scientists and the breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration.

(LIFE IN SPACE * ALIEN LIFE SEARCHED)

The brain sciences are influencing our understanding of human behavior as never before, from neuropsychiatry and neuroeconomics to neurotheology and neuroaesthetics. Many now believe that the brain is what makes us human, and it seems that neuroscientists are poised to become the new experts in the management of human conduct. Describes the key developments—theoretical, technological, economic, and biopolitical—that have enabled the neurosciences to gain such traction outside the laboratory, and explores the ways neurobiological conceptions of personhood are influencing everything from child rearing to criminal justice, and are transforming the ways we “know ourselves” as human beings. The openness provided by the new styles of thought taking shape in neuroscience, with its contemporary conceptions of the neuromolecular, plastic, and social brain, could make possible a new and productive engagement between the social and brain sciences.

(BRAIN SCIENCES * SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY)

We are inventing a new species that is part material and part digital. Future robots will have superhuman abilities in both the physical and digital realms. They will be embedded in our physical spaces, with the ability to go where we cannot, will have minds of their own (thanks to artificial intelligence), and will be fully connected to the digital world. Nourbakhsh considers how we will share our world with these creatures, and how our society could change as it incorporates a race of stronger, smarter beings. His imagined future includes adbots offering interactive custom messaging; robotic flying toys that operate by means of “gaze tracking”; robot-enabled multimodal, multi-continental telepresence; and even a way that nanorobots could allow us to assume different physical forms. Each chapter describes a form of technological empowerment—in some cases, “empowerment run amok, with corporations and institutions amassing even more power and influence, and individuals becoming unconstrained by social accountability. Also offers a counter-vision of robotics designed to create civic and community empowerment.

(ROBOT FUTURES * SOCIETY * SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY)

New findings in neuroscience have led to unprecedented knowledge about the workings of the brain, but political and social institutions have not kept pace. Innovative research—much of it based on neuroimaging results—suggests not only treatments for neural disorders, but also the possibility of increasingly precise and effective ways to predict, modify, and control behavior. Blank examines the complex ethical and policy issues raised by new capabilities of intervention in the brain. After describing a wide range of experimental and clinical interventions—from behavior-modifying drugs to neural implants to virtual reality—he discusses the political and philosophical implications of these scientific advances. If human individuality is simply a product of a network of manipulable nerve cell connections, and if aggressive behavior is a treatable biochemical condition, what happens to our conceptions of individual responsibility, autonomy, and free will? Also considers such topics as informed consent, addiction, criminal justice, racism, commercial and military applications of neuroscience research, new ways to define death, and political ideology and partisanship.

(NEUROSCIENCE * BRAIN INTERVENTIONS)

Small changes can vastly improve the success of a graphic image. Sets out clear strategies and offers abundant examples to assist researchers with effective visual graphics for use in multiple contexts, including journal submissions, grant proposals, conference posters, or presentations.

(SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY * VISUAL STRATEGIES * GRAPHICS FOR SCIENTISTS)

The problem of drugs in sports mirrors the problems of drugs in society – they are here to stay despite controversies. Gene manipulation may help future athletes outperform their peers. “Science has barely touched the surface of performance enhancement; here are many, many drugs et to be discovered.” Drug testing is of necessity imperfect and the rules arbitrary: “it cannot succeed, as it will always fight a losing battle between doper and tester.” The alternative—free access to all chemical tools—is not necessarily desirable. The war cannot be won, but surrender won’t led to better sport.

(PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT * TECHNOLOGY * SPORTS AND DRUGS * DRUGS IN SPORT * DRUG TESTING)

On the cost-benefit calculations made by individuals and institutions as they compete for resources and reputation, at a time when science is seen as the engine of growth. Looks at the pursuit of safe projects (as opposed to ones with uncertain but potentially path-breaking outcomes) and the dismal career prospects in science for the young. Highlights the growing gap between haves and have-nots – especially between the biomedical sciences and physics/engineering – and offers a persuasive vision of a more productive, more creative research system that would lead and benefit the world. (also as e-book).

(SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY * ECONOMICS AND SCIENCE * RESEARCH ECONOMICS)

As robotics technology advances, ethical concerns become more pressing. Explores three areas: 1) the possibility of programming robot ethics to the ethical use of military robots in war, as well as related policy questions such as liability and privacy concerns; 2) human-robot emotional relationships, examining the implications of robots as sexual partners, caregivers, and servants; and 3) the possibility that robots, whether biological-computational hybrids or pure machines, should be given rights or moral consideration.

(SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY * ROBOTICS * ETHICS AND ROBOTS)