Spark from the Deep

How Shocking Experiments with Strongly Electric Fish Powered Scientific Discovery

Inbunden, Engelska, 2013

Av William J. Turkel, Western University) Turkel, William J. (Professor of History, William J Turkel

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Spark from the Deep tells the story of how human beings came to understand and use electricity by studying the evolved mechanisms of strongly electric fish. These animals have the ability to shock potential prey or would-be predators with high-powered electrical discharges. William J. Turkel asks completely fresh questions about the evolutionary, environmental, and historical aspects of people's interest in electric fish. Stimulated by painful encounters with electric catfish, torpedos, and electric eels, people learned to harness the power of electric shock for medical therapies and eventually developed technologies to store, transmit, and control electricity. Now we look to these fish as an inspiration for engineering new sensors, computer interfaces, autonomous undersea robots, and energy-efficient batteries.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2013-10-27
Mått152 x 229 x 25 mm
Vikt567 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieAnimals, History, Culture
Antal sidor304
FörlagJohns Hopkins University Press
ISBN9781421409818

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This beautifully written and exhaustively researched book traces the links between experiments on strongly electric fish and scientific understanding of electricity... Turkel's book is a joy to read; it will entertain and educate scientists, historians, and anyone with an interest in the natural world. Choice Turkel's book convincingly reminds us that all the laptops and gadgets we surround ourselves with are remixes; altered versions of strongly electric fish. For that strange and insightful observation, this book ought to be widely read and enjoyed. -- Chris Conway Endeavour [I]t is refreshing to explore a book which takes seriously ancient encounters with manifestations of natural electricity as precursors to more recent innovations. -- James F. Stark The British Journal for the History of Science