Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
I want to read the book!
All characters reduced
The Elements We Live By - How Iron Helps Us Breathe Potassium Lets Us See and Other Surprising Superpowers of the Periodic Table - cover

The Elements We Live By - How Iron Helps Us Breathe Potassium Lets Us See and Other Surprising Superpowers of the Periodic Table

Anja Røyne

Publisher: The Experiment

  • 1
  • 1
  • 0

Summary

This “excellent” popular science book explores just what we—and the things around us—are made of (Aftenposten, Norway). 
 
Some elements get all the attention: glittering gold, radioactive uranium—materials we call “precious” because they are so rare. But what could be more precious than the building blocks of life—from the oxygen in our air to the carbon in all living things? 
 
In The Elements We Live By, physicist and award-winning author Anja Røyne reminds us that we’d be lost without the quiet heroes of the periodic table. Our bodies need phosphorous to hold our DNA together, potassium to power our optic nerves, and many more elements—in just the right amounts—to function. Other fundamental elements keep our technology (and society) running: Our phones contain arsenic, boron, and gallium to control signals and store information; indium and tin for the touch screen; and lithium for the battery. 
 
Everything is made of elements—every galaxy, star, and planet—from the iron in Earth’s core to the silicon in its sand. But that doesn’t mean the elements we rely on will never run out; for example, about half the lithium we need is extracted from rocks in Australia, and the other half is from saltwater in Argentina and Chile. As Røyne travels the world to find where these elements exist (some in ever-shrinking amounts), she shows how vitally urgent it is for us to protect them—the elements of our very existence. 
 
“Not just a discussion of basic chemistry, this is a volume that looks at the human impact on the planet and what we can learn from nature…Useful for science or sociology courses that address the various impacts of natural resource development or for popular science readers.” —School Library Journal
Available since: 06/09/2020.
Print length: 239 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • Henry Ford Consumerism Consciousness and a New America - cover

    Henry Ford Consumerism...

    Steven Watts

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    After five years culling through Henry Ford's lifetime collection of personal notes and documents, and records of interviews with his colleagues and employees, Mr. Watts brings us a picture of a man whose impact on our society extends far beyond the automobile and the assembly line.
    Show book
  • The Uprising of the Pandemials - Human Cycles and the Decade of Turbulence - cover

    The Uprising of the Pandemials -...

    Federico Dominguez

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    The Pandemials are the young people who will be between the ages of 10 and 26 after the pandemic is over. They will be faced with societies devastated by inequality, the end of meritocracy, loneliness, digital automation, the depletion of natural resources and a myriad of environmental crises that will deeply affect life on our planet.
In addition to lacking the economic prosperity enjoyed by their parents –which for example granted them access to university educations or to more comfortable lives– this generation will also face fewer job opportunities, discouraging prospects and a growing need to radicalize their complaints.
Covid-19 has not only aggravated this scenario, which was already a serious challenge even before the Crisis of 2020. The asymmetries exposed by the pandemic accelerated predicted timelines, and cycles such as Inequality, Mother Nature, Technology and the Human Spirit will collapse during the Decade of Turbulence (2020-2030).
As a result, Pandemials will expect much more from governments, and when their neglect is not addressed, they will rebel. They will go straight after the technocratic elites and the foundations of the capitalist system. The lack of solutions to these problems from liberal governments will push them to rekindle old models and left-wing utopias.
Liberalism –the ideology of freedom, human dignity, and science, which enabled the greatest reduction in poverty in human history– is now dominated by exclusive, self-serving technocratic elites. The complex system they created can only be enjoyed by a select few, while common citizens become ever more alienated from their governments.
The end of a society based around the middle class and meritocracy is happening amidst a crisis of human spirit, and worsened by the toxic relationship between technological development and the crumbling of certain social institutions. New rituals and forms of relating to each other have not yet taken their place.
In his book The Uprising of the Pandemials, financial specialist and economic analyst Federico Dominguez employs his clear prose and clever analysis of the available information to convey the elements needed for understanding this new generation, the challenging decade that lies ahead and the personal, collective, economic and business changes that will be crucial in overcoming the turbulent times on the horizon.
    Show book
  • Artificial Intelligence in Education - cover

    Artificial Intelligence in...

    Introbooks Team

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
     Sci-fi authors, Movie-makers and futurists have been dreaming Artificial Intelligence taking over for decades now. They have been defining the new horizon of robotic technology, artificial brain and artificial intelligence for a long time. However, what was their dreams, the researchers and scientists of the twenty-first century have turned it almost into a mere reality. Artificial Intelligence nowadays has surrounded us. Almost all the technical and some of the non-technical fields are improving pretty fast, holding the hands of Artificial Intelligence. From the auto parking facility in your car to the sometimes frustrating voice assistance application in your Smartphone. From defining diseases and their medication in the healthcare sector to our education system nowadays, you name it. Almost everything that contains the word *smart* before its name is been operated with Artificial Intelligence. 
 True is the fact that we are not going to make robots that are self-aware like they were in the Star Wars movies in the next decade (with these capable scientists of this century, it is safe to talk only about the next decade and not more than that). However, we are already using Artificial Intelligence not only in the technological sectors but also in different sectors of society like medicine and healthcare. Even in Education. This might isn’t as mind-blowing as it seems in your Smartphone and you don’t expect the humanoid robots teaching you in your class. At least not in the next decade like we said. However, there are some cases where AI has been involved with our education system.  
 There are a lot of Projects where the Artificial Brains have been helping both the teachers and the students to get the maximum out in return from our education system.
    Show book
  • Doting on Dodder - cover

    Doting on Dodder

    Melissa Petruzzello

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Melissa Petruzzello of Encyclopædia Britannica delves into parasitic plants and some of the unique adaptations found in dodder. This is the third installment of the Botanize! podcast series.
    Show book
  • 9 Steps to Reversing or Preventing Cancer and Other Diseases - Learn to Heal Within - cover

    9 Steps to Reversing or...

    Shivani Goodman

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    This book is a powerful synthesis of ancient self-healing knowledge that had been buried for centuries, combined with the latest Western body/mind medicine techniques. Dr. Goodman will show you how you can enjoy radiant health and feelings of love and well-being as you learn to reverse toxic thought patterns that block you and your life. Unlock the secrets of how to cure yourself of everything from cancer to heart disease, from emotional pain to mental stress.
    Show book
  • Visions of the Multiverse - cover

    Visions of the Multiverse

    Steven Manly

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    The idea of a multiple universe reality is no longer considered speculative or implausible by many physicists; rather, it is deemed inescapable. Distinct concepts of the multiverse spring from quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory-based cosmology, and ideas about a mathematics based reality that borders on the religious.In this accessible and entertaining book, Dr. Manly guides you on a tour of the many multiverse concepts and provides the non-technical background to understand them.Visions of the Multiverse explores questions such as:Just what is a multiverse?What are the different concepts of the multiverse and how are they related?Is it possible to determine if we live in a multiverse…or even in multiple types of multiverses?How do religious concepts of the afterlife and popular ideas based on the Law of Attraction relate to the scientific visions of the multiverse?Dr. Manly discusses a wide variety of fascinating concepts from relativity and the fundamental particles and forces of nature to dark matter, dark energy, and quantum mechanics in an unintimidating and conversational tone.Is humanity is in the midst of a new Copernican revolution? You decide.
    Show book