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Brilliant green : the surprising history and science of plant intelligence / by Mancuso, Stefano,author.(CARDINAL)424534; Benham, Joan(Translator),translator.(CARDINAL)619542; Pollan, Michael,contributor.(CARDINAL)265841; Viola, Alessandra,author.(CARDINAL)620858;
Includes bibliographical references."Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? Or are they passive, incapable of independent action or social behavior? Philosophers and scientists have pondered these questions since ancient Greece, most often concluding that plants are unthinking and inert: they are too silent, too sedentary -- just too different from us. Yet discoveries over the past fifty years have challenged these ideas, shedding new light on the extraordinary capabilities and complex interior lives of plants. In Brilliant Green, Stefano Mancuso, a leading scientist and founder of the field of plant neurobiology, presents a new paradigm in our understanding of the vegetal world. Combining a historical perspective with the latest in plant science, Mancuso argues that, due to cultural prejudices and human arrogance, we continue to underestimate plants. In fact, they process information, sleep, remember, and signal to one another -- showing that, far from passive machines, plants are intelligent and aware. Through a survey of plant capabilities from sight and touch to communication, Mancuso challenges our notion of intelligence, presenting a vision of plant life that is more sophisticated than most imagine. Plants have much to teach us, from network building to innovations in robotics and man-made materials -- but only if we understand more about how they live. Part botany lesson, part manifesto, Brilliant Green is an engaging and passionate examination of the inner workings of the plant kingdom."--
Subjects: Plants; Plants;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 3
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How to walk on water and climb up walls : animal movement and the robots of the future / by Hu, David L.,author.(CARDINAL)795605;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-220) and index.Introduction: The world of animal motion -- Chapter 1: Walking on water -- Chapter 2: Swimming under sand -- Chapter 3: The shape of a flying snake -- Chapter 4: Of eyelashes and sharkskin -- Chapter 5: Dead fish swimming -- Chapter 6: Flying in the rain -- Chapter 7: The brain behind the brawn -- Chapter 8: Are ants a fluid or a solid? -- Conclusion: The future."Insects walk on water, snakes slither, and fish swim. Animals move with astounding grace, speed, and versatility: how do they do it, and what can we learn from them? In How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls, David Hu takes readers on an accessible, wondrous journey into the world of animal motion. From basement labs at MIT to the rain forests of Panama, Hu shows how animals have adapted and evolved to traverse their environments, taking advantage of physical laws with results that are startling and ingenious. In turn, the latest discoveries about animal mechanics are inspiring scientists to invent robots and devices that move with similar elegance and efficiency. Hu follows scientists as they investigate a multitude of animal movements, from the undulations of sandfish and the way that dogs shake off water in fractions of a second to the seemingly crash-resistant characteristics of insect flight. Not limiting his exploration to individual organisms, Hu describes the ways animals enact swarm intelligence, such as when army ants cooperate and link their bodies to create bridges that span ravines. He also looks at what scientists learn from nature's unexpected feats--such as snakes that fly, mosquitoes that survive rainstorms, and dead fish that swim upstream. As researchers better understand such issues as energy, flexibility, and water repellency in animal movement, they are applying this knowledge to the development of cutting-edge technology."--Amazon.com.
Subjects: Animal mechanics.; Robots; Robotics.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Drone wars : pioneers, killing machines, artificial intelligence, and the battle for the future / by Frantzman, Seth J.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.Machine generated contents note:
Subjects: Drone aircraft; Air warfare;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Devil in the device / by Johnson, Lora Beth,author.;
Battling the dangerous forces buried within their minds, Andra and Zhade will have to find a way to work together before two power-hungry leaders and a deadly swarm of rogue technology destroy humanity for good..Ages 12 and upHL690L
Subjects: Science fiction.; Young adult fiction.; Novels.; Artificial intelligence; Space colonies;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 4
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I, warbot : the dawn of artificially intelligent conflict / by Payne, Kenneth,1974-Author(DLC)n 2015006385;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-298) and index.Artificial Intelligence is going to war. Intelligent weapon systems are here today, and many more are on the way tomorrow. Already, they're reshaping conflict--from the chaos of battle, with pilotless drones, robot tanks and unmanned submersibles, to the headquarters far from the action, where generals and politicians use technology to weigh up what to do. AI changes how we fight, and even how likely it is that we will. In battle, warbots will be faster, more agile and more deadly than today's crewed weapons. New tactics and concepts will emerge, with spoofing and swarming to fool and overwhelm enemies. Strategies are changing too. When will an intelligent machine escalate, and how can it be deterred? Can robots predict the future? And what happens to the 'art of war' as machines themselves become creative? Autonomous warfare makes many people uneasy. An international campaign against 'killer robots' hopes to ban AI from conflict. But the genie is out--AI weapons are too useful for states to outlaw. Still, crafting sensible rules for warbots is possible. This fascinating book shows how it might be done.
Subjects: Military robots.; Artificial intelligence; Robotics;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Prey [large print] / by Crichton, Michael,1942-2008,author.(CARDINAL)125108;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 629-634)."Michael Crichton's Prey is a terrifying page-turner that masterfully combines a heart-pounding thriller with cutting-edge technology. Deep in the Nevada desert, the Xymos Corporation has built a state-of-the-art fabrication plant, surrounded by miles and miles of nothing but cactus and coyotes. Eight people are trapped. A self-replicating swarm of predatory molecules is rapidly evolving outside the plant. Massed together, the molecules form an intelligent organism that is anything but benign. More powerful by the hour, it has targeted the eight scientists as prey. They must stop the swarm before it is too late... In Prey, Michael Crichton combines scientific brilliance with relentless pacing to create an electrifying, chilling techno-thriller." --HL600LAccelerated Reader AR
Subjects: Large print books.; Thrillers (Fiction); Science fiction.; Molecular biologists; Artificial life;
Available copies: 10 / Total copies: 11
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No way home : the crisis of homelessness and how to fix it with intelligence and humanity / by Jackson, Kerry,1960-author.; Rufo, Christopher F.,1984-author.; Tartakovsky, Joseph,1981-author.(CARDINAL)416971; Winegarden, Wayne,1968-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In San Diego, not far from the gates of the fantasy world at Disneyland, tent cities line the freeways remind us of an ugly reality. Homeless individuals are slowing rail traVc between Sacramento and the Bay Area, and swarming subway trains in Los Angeles in search of a place to sleep when they're not languishing on Skid Row. Drug use among the homeless is plaguing communities, with discarded needles threatening children playing at public parks. And every day across California, thousands of homeless youth who lack safe and stable housing struggle to stay in school, to perform well academically, and to form meaningful connections with their teachers and peers. Since the 1980s, countless research studies have been published on the topic of homelessness in America. Too often, however, social science research on homelessness is narrow in scope, mired in politics, and reliant on questionable assumptions about the root causes of the problem. The severity of the homeless crises plaguing cities requires innovative solutions backed by credible data and objective research. This book examines the causes of homelessness with a focus on unaffordable housing, poverty, mental illness, substance addiction and legal reform. It examines the state and local policy environment to determine ways in which housing policy, social service programs, employment opportunities interact to exacerbate, perpetuate, or reduce homelessness. The book also evaluates different strategies being used at the state, county, and local levels to prevent or reduce homelessness. Finally, the book provides a mix of long-term policy solutions based on the authors' +ndings that have the greatest potential to reduce homelessness"--
Subjects: Homelessness; Housing; Poor;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 4
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Robot / by Bridgman, Roger,1940-(CARDINAL)375674;
What is a robot? -- Fictional robots -- Robot ancestors -- Beginnings of real robotics -- Robots on the move -- Robot senses -- Artificial intelligence -- Robots in industry -- Remote control -- Ready-made robots -- Battle of the bots -- Battle of the bots -- Sporting robots -- Robots in the lab -- Robots in medicine -- Helping around the home -- Going where it's hard to go -- Flying and driving -- Underwater robots -- Robots in space -- Robots and art -- Musical robots -- Animatronics -- Machines with feelings -- Teams and swarms -- Cyborgs -- Humanoids -- Into the future -- Index.Take a detailed look at the fascinating world of robots - from the earliest single-task machines to the advanced intelligence of robots with feelings. Young readers will be amazed to learn all that robots can do: perform delicate surgical operations, clean city sewers, work as museum tour guides, or even battle each other in combat. Find out how humans have created these mechanical minds and bodies. Annotation. Take a detailed look at the fascinating world of robots from their earliest days through to the advanced intelligence of future robots with feelings. Including machines that perform delicate surgical operations and those that clean our sewers, to those that work as museum tour guides and even battle each other in combat, this book has timeliness of robots and a list of websites make this a complete guide to the world of robotics.Accelerated Reader AR
Subjects: Robots; Robotics;
Available copies: 16 / Total copies: 22
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Other minds : the octopus, the sea, and the deep origins of consciousness / by Godfrey-Smith, Peter,author.(CARDINAL)390673;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off lightbulbs by spouting jets of water, plug drains, and make daring escapes. How is it that a creature with such gifts evolved through an evolutionary lineage so radically distant from our own? What does it mean that evolution built minds not once but at least twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?Meetings across the tree of life. Two meetings and a departure ; Outlines -- A history of animals. Beginnings ; Living together ; Neurons and nervous systems ; The garden ; Senses ; The fork -- Mischief and craft. In a sponge garden ; Evolution of the cephalopods ; Puzzles of octopus intelligence ; Visiting Octopolis ; Nervous evolution ; Body and control ; Convergence and divergence -- From white noise to consciousness. What it's like ; Evolution of experience ; Latecomer versus transformation ; The case of the octopus -- Making colors. The giant cuttlefish ; Making colors ; Seeing colors ; Being seen ; Baboon and squid ; Symphony -- Our minds and others ; From Hume to Vygotsky ; Word made flesh ; Conscious experience ; Full circle -- Experience compressed. Decline ; Life and death ; A swarm of motorcycles ; Long and short lives ; Ghosts -- Octopolis. An armful of octopuses ; Origins of Octopolis ; Parallel lines ; The oceans.
Subjects: Nervous system; Consciousness.; Cephalopoda; Cephalopoda;
Available copies: 14 / Total copies: 16
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Typhoon fury [sound recording] : a novel of the Oregon files / by Cussler, Clive,author.(CARDINAL)340262; Morrison, Boyd,1967-author.(CARDINAL)348205; Brick, Scott,narrator.(CARDINAL)344793;
Read by Scott Brick.Hired to search for a collection of paintings worth half a billion dollars, Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon soon find themselves in much deeper waters. The vicious leader of a Filipino insurgency is not only using them to finance his attacks, he has stumbled upon one of the most lethal secrets of World War II: a Japanese-developed drug, designed, but never used, to turn soldiers into super-warriors. To stop him, the Oregon must not only take on the rebel commander, but a South African mercenary intent on getting his own hands on the drug, a massive swarm of torpedo drones targeting the U.S. Navy, an approaching megastorm, and, just possibly, a war that could envelop the entire Asian continent.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Action and adventure fiction.; Thrillers (Fiction); Suspense fiction.; Cabrillo, Juan (Fictitious character); Intelligence service; Insurgency; Drug development;
Available copies: 26 / Total copies: 28
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