The Science of Discworld Revised Edition

370
    four-dimensional spacetime 91
    Frail, Dale 128
    free will 338, 347
    Frentzen, Heinz-Harold 268
    friction 103, 172, 182, 265
    frogs 325, 369
    From the Earth to the Moon
(Verne) 367
    fundamental constants 25
    fundamental particles 76, 78, 106–7
    fundamentalism, scientific 100–1
    G
    Gaia 252
    Galápagos Isalands 288
    galaxies 101–2, 208, 258 rotation of 94
    Galileo space probe 133
    gamma-ray burster 258–9
    garnet 142
    gases 26, 48, 72–3, 75, 84–6, 93 , 98, 108–9, 112–4, 118–22, 138,141, 144, 156–7, 159,162–3, 184, 229, 232, 247
    ionized 144
    Gee, Henry 286, 290
    Geminid 257
    General Relativity theory (Einstein) 91–6
    Generation Ship 372
    genes 33, 215, 218, 222, 239, 324
    genetic algorithms 219
    genetic code 215, 217
    genomes 215, 324, 334
    Genyornis
321
    geology 36, 133, 146, –7, 158, 163, 165,172, 227, 242, 302, 306, 308
    geography 59, 106, 135,
    geomagnetic dynamo 143–4
    geometry 43, 88, 90, 100
    geostationary orbit 39
    germanium 82
    Ghostbusters
329
    ghosts 329
    giant impact 175
    giant molecular cloud 256
    ginkgoes 311
    glacial (ice age) 226, 228–9
    glaciers 226–8, 381
    remains in Sahara Desert 146
    global commerce 352
    global warming 159, 227, 229, 365
    God, and beetles 300–1
    Goddard, Robert 367–8
    Gödel, Escher, Bach
(Hofstadter) 339
    gods 34–6, 69, 84, 98, 188, 193, 203, 233–4, 266, 271, 381
    gold 75, 112,114
    in alchemy 72, 76
    Gondwanaland 316
    gorillas 335–6
    Gould, Stephen Jay 240–2
    ‘Grandfather’ (unit of time) 335–6, 381
    granite 142
    gravitational constant 25
    gravitational lensing 92
    gravitational theory 25, 57, 94–6
    Einstein’s vs Newton’s 40, 92–3
    Newton’s 90–3
    gravity 10*, 37, 40, 42, 79, 82, 88, 90–96, 101, 121, 131, 142, 157, 164, 170–2, 174–7, 179, 185, 262, 287–8, 366–8
    and General Relativity 90–93
    quantum effects of 94–5, 101
    Greaves, James 129
    Greeks, ancient 71–4, 88–9, 179
    greenhouse effect 229, 232, 307
    greenhouse gases 159, 229, 232
    H
    habitat, destruction of 365
    hadrosaurs 283
    Hahn, Otto 23–4
    hair 317, 318*, 337
    Haldane, J.B.S. 300–1
    Halley’s comet 257
    Halstead, Beverley 282
    Hardy, Alister 336
    Haroche, Serge 110
    Harris, S. 41
    Haste, Helen 282
    Hawking, Stephen 23†, 53
    hearing 317, 328, 376
    heat 72–3, 93, 114, 121, 126, 143–4, 156, 163,178, 182–3, 228–30
    Hedges, S. Blair 324
    Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle 108
    helium 79, 80, 117, 122, 157, 259–60
    atomic weight of 74
    flash 260
    Heraclitus 71
    Hewish, Anthony 125–6
    Higgs boson 60–1
    Higgs, Peter 60–1
    High Energy Laser System Test Facility, White Sands 368
    High-Z Supernova Search Team 94
    Himalayas 148
    Hobster, William 232
    Hoffman, Paul 230
    Hofstadter, Douglas 339
    homeotic (regulatory) genes 218
    horses 303*, 323
    hot air balloon 143–4
    HSP90 servant molecule 217–8
    Hubble, Edwin 57–8
    Hubble Space Telescope 130
    humans
    brains of 336–40
    and ape family 347–50
    hurricanes 132, 198
    Huxley, Thomas 211, 213
    hyaenas 283
    hydrated salts 134
    hydrochloric acid 164
    hydrogen 72, 74, 79, 80, 117–8, 122, 157,162–4
    atomic weight of 74
    bomb 159, 306
    hypercanes 198
    hypernovas 83
    Hyracotherium
(orig.
Eohippus)
303*
    I
    ice 85, 118, 122, 133–4, 171, 235, 277, 301, 307, 314, 323, 330, 342, 359–60, 362, 366, 374
    ages 146, 226–231, 357, 365, 384
    cores 159, 232
    Ichthyornis
291
    ichthyosaurs 285–7, 305, 309
    imagination 12, 215
    immunity 286
    impact 253
    India 148, 366
    information 79*, 215–6, 348 processing 348–50, 352
    infra-red 57, 126
    telescopy 131
    initial conditions and rules 62
    In Search of Deep Time
(Gee) 286, 290
    insects 159–60, 221–2, 241, 243, 301–2, 306, 311,318
    trapped in amber 310
    instinct 33
    intelligence 12, 32, 70, 225–6, 235–7, 262–3, 296, 330, 338–41, 347–9, 354, 357–9
    artificial 348–9
    and extelligence 70, 262, 348–9, 352–5, 357, 363, 372, 381
    human 338–41, 347–55
    on other planets 380–1
    and sex 340
    interferometry 130–2
    interglacial (ice age) 226, 228–9
    international culture 352–3
    Internet 51, 339, 348, 355
    and brain modules 339
    interpreting observational data 90
    interstellar plasma 79*
    interval between events 92
    Investigations
(Kauffman) 62
    Io 177
    iodine 80
    ionosphere 144–5
    iridium 305–6
    iron 67–9, 71, 75, 79, 113,117, 133, 141, 143–4, 152, 197, 307
    Isaacs, John 370
    Isley, Ann 308
    isotopes 232
    Israeli fighter pilots, children of, and coincidence 268, 271–3
    J
    Japan 148, 366
    Jeffery, Charlotte