The Science of Discworld Revised Edition

311
    sex
    and bonobos 336, 340–1
    chromosomes, combinations of 60
    family life and intelligence 341
    and humans 340–1
    shark 286
    sheep, cloning of (Dolly) 215–6
    Sheffield, Charles 370
    shifts, light and sound 57, 94
    Shlyakhter, Alexander 26
    Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet 159, 257, 364
    shooting star 254
    shrews 302–3, 316, 318–9
    shrimp
see
mantis shrimp
    Shukolyukov, A. 306
    Siberia 308, 312
    Siberian Traps 308
    Sibley, Charles 335
    silicate rock 117, 122, 142
    silicon 79*, 82, 122, 221
    silver 75
    simplex minds 355
    simplicity 105
    phase in Langton’s Ant system 104
    simplification of DNA in organisms 325
    single-celled creatures 198, 231
    sleep paralysis 327–8
    sloths 312, 322
    slow neutrons 22, 24
    SMART-2 (project) 131
    Smith, Andrew 306
    Smitherman, David 371
    Smolin, Lee 25, 62–3
    snow 226–8, 230
    snowball Earth 230, 251
    social behaviour, mathematical rule for (Malthus) 100
    social sciences 347
    sodium 72, 164–5
    atomic weight of 74
    ions 164
    soil 284
    solar system(s) 12, 44, 76–7, 93, 116–25, 128–9, 132–3, 140–1, 156, 162, 171–5, 177, 212, 327
    exploration of 367
    formation of 116–123, 156, 162, 173
    future of 123–5
    as model for atom 76
    other 125–35
    solar wind 145
    soul 54, 187–8
    South Africa 253
    South America 146–7, 310, 312, 320–22
    South East Asia 321
    space 51
    as absence 185
    empty 49, 51, 108
    exploration of 37, 171, 365–73
    origins of 55
    and Special Relativity 91
    and time 51, 54
    spacecraft 131–2, 368–9
    space elevator 39, 201–2, 215, 325, 369–72
    as a reality 370–2
    DNA as 215
    life as 39, 201–2
    Space Interferometry Mission 131
    Space Technology 3 (project) 131
    spacetime 55–6, 91–2, 205
    space train 367
    Special Relativity theory (Einstein) 91–2
    speciation 240
    species
    death of 304, 311
    evolution of 210–14, 238, 301
    spectral lines 26
    speed of light 13, 23, 25–6, 91–2, 182, 259
    in relativity theory 91–2
    Speer, Kevin 197
    spells, magic 72
    gene as 222
    symbols (e.g. ‘Cold Start’ icon in cars) and 42, 222
    Spencer, Herbert 211
    sperm count, decline in, and selective reporting 274
    Spielberg, Steven 302
    splitting the atom 76
    spring tides 177
    squids 87, 310
    stability 12, 81, 145, 368
    stable elements 81
    stadium, as Greek measure of distance 89
    Stagg Field, University of Chicago 22
    stars 11, 12, 55*, 57–8, 79–80, 83, 102, 113, 116, 120–2, 125–9, 373
    double 128
    exploding 80
    neutron 82, 126–7, 373
    pollution in 80
    ‘Population I and II’ 80, 83
    ‘Population III’ 80*, 83
    and red shift 57, 94
    Star Light (project) 131
    statistics 272–3, 381
    stegosaurs 283, 289
    Stewart, Ian 41, 43, 79*, 274–5, 327
    stick insects 221–2
    stories 11, 17, 35,43, 73,107, 268, 309, 328
    storytelling 107
    Stott, Lowell 232
    Strassmann, Fritz 23–4
    Strata
(Pratchett) 290
    Stravinsky, Igor 289
    stromatolites 195
    subculture, influence of 355
    submarines 147
    sub-oceanic volcanoes on Europa 134
    succubi 328
    Sudbury impact structure 253–4
    sugars 158, 161, 165, 202, 216,
    sulphur 72, 75, 177, 197, 307
    sulphuric acid 118, 164
    Sun 76, 88–90, 92–3, 116–24, 127, 129, 131, 145, 156, 162, 171, 173, 175–8, 202, 228–30
    calculating Earth’s circumference by angle of shadows 88–9
    eclipse of 92, 168–9
    formation of 119–20, 156, 162
    gravity of 92, 176–7
    output of radiant heat 228–30
    sunlight 93, 158–60, 163–4, 178, 229, 306–7
    suns 11, 79*, 80
    as model for nucleus 76
    and planetary movement 90
    stars as early 80
    Sunshine Coast, Queensland 320
    Supernova Cosmology project 94
    supernovas 80, 83, 94, 258
    superplume 308
    supersymmetry 61
    surrogate mother 216
    survival of the fittest 211–12, 215
    Syene (now Aswan, Egypt) 88–9
    symbiosis 198
    symbols and magic 42
    synapsid reptiles 283
    synchrotron radiation 127
    T
    Tasmania 320
    Tasmanian tiger (aka Tasmanian wolf; thylacine) 320
    taxes, as written record of society 353
    teachers, as ‘liars-to-children’ 44*
    technology 5, 22, 25, 36, 39–42, 100, 126, 197*, 312, 326, 367, 370
    and magic 40
    teeth 318–9
    telescopes, astronomical 94, 126, 129–32
    television
    invention of 41–2
    and magic 41
    temperature
    of cosmic background radiation 58
    of centre of Earth 141, 143
    of mammals 325
    of primitive Earth 162
    and global warming 159–60
    variations in Earth’s 228, 322–3
    and vibration of molecules 163
    Terning, John 94
    Terrestrial Planet Finder (project) 131
    Tertiary period (Age of Mammals) 304, 322
    testing theories