This volume contains a collection of pictorams, geometric patterns and complex mathematical constructions found in fields in Britain, Siberia, the Argentine and Saskatechwan. The author points to the well-documented accounts of UFOs being observed around the same time and in the same location as crop circle events. He reveals the results of laboratory experiments which have shown the presence of radioactivity in siol samples and definite chemical changes in the stalks of crops taken after the appearance of the strange markings. The book also includes many eye-witness accounts.

In this sweeping tour of the cosmos and our place within it, acclaimed science writer Jeff Kanipe shows the many ways we are connected to the vast universe we inhabit. Long before our apelike ancestors dropped from the trees and began playing with fire, even before the Sun emerged from its chrysalis of dust and irradiated its brood of planets, numberless and nameless astronomical events affected Earth and its emerging life-forms. Our chemical makeup--from the iron in our blood to the calcium in our bones--derives from stars that lived and died hundreds of millions of years ago. Comets have showered organic molecules into our oceans, and asteroid impacts have wiped out predominant species that lived before. Tracing the whole natural history of how events in the near and far universe have influenced life on Earth today, and how they might influence life in the future, Kanipe, with unparalleled eloquence, explores a host of intriguing questions: * How the Earth's orbit and inclination have triggered past ice ages * The role ancient supernovae may have played in mass extinctions and genetic changes * How a slight but persistent dip in solar output contributed to a multicentury cooling event called the "Little Ice Age" * How ancient asteroid impacts pressed Earth's evolutionary reset button and how astronomers are striving to make sure that it won't happen again * The widespread effects that our Sun's changing galactic environment has on life and climate Kanipe also reflects upon the possible societal effects of alien contact, a type of cosmic intervention that some astronomers believe could happen within the next few decades. His elegant, jargon-free descriptions of the truly "big-picture view" of life on Earth will fascinate and inform everyone who has an interest in astronomy, the evolution of our planet, and the future of humankind.

*Cosmic Connections* is about meeting new friends and sharing the love, laughter, and joy that connects us all to one another.

An examination of the uses, history, and nature of astrology.

'Superb ... Gribbin has done it again ... the story of how the matter that makes up our bodies travelled from the stars ... a wonderful account' Sunday Times, Books of the Year Every one of us is made of stardust, John Gribbin explains in this dazzling book. Everything we see, touch, breathe and smell, nearly every molecule in our bodies, is the by-product of stars as they live and die in spectacular explosions, scattering material across the universe which is recycled to become part of us. It is only by understanding how stars are made and how they die that we can every understand how we came into being. Taking us on an enthralling journey, John Gribbin shows us the scientific breakthroughs in the quest for our origins. With the raw materials for creating life all around us, he concludes, it is impossible to believe we are alone in the universe. 'An incredible story ... gives a sense of the almost unbelievable coincidence of physical laws and circumstances that resulted in your being able to read these words today' Literary Review 'Gribbin skilfully and engagingly traces the historical sequence ... rather like Sherlock Holmes reading clues' New Scientist

A classic book by the world's most famous scientist and science visionary, back in print with a new perspective.

Exploring new ideas behind the emergence of the bubonic plague

In this enthralling cosmic journey through space and time, astrophysicist Jillian Scudder locates our home planet within its own 'family tree'. Our parent the Earth and its sibling planets in our solar system formed within the same gas cloud. Without our grandparent the Sun, we would not exist, and the Sun in turn relies on the Milky Way as its home. The Milky Way rests in a larger web of galaxies that traces its origins right back to tiny fluctuations in the very early universe. Following these cosmic connections, we discover the many ties that bind us to our universe. Based around readers' questions from the author's popular blog 'Astroquizzical', the book provides a quirky guide to how things work in the universe and why things are the way they are, from shooting stars on Earth, to black holes, to entire galaxies. For anyone interested in the 'big picture' of how the cosmos functions and how it is all connected, Jillian Scudder is the perfect guide.