The Case Of The Missing Neutrinos: And Other Curious Phenomena Of The Universe

Is it true that the Sun is shrinking at such a rate that our Earth will disappear within a hundred thousand years? What happened to the Sun's neutrinos to make them disappear on their way to the Earth? Why does the fact that the sky is dark at night prove that our universe is changing and hasn't always been the way it is? What are the chances that, if ever we make contact with intelligent beings who evolved under conditions similar to those on Earth, they too will be upright, bipedal with two arms ending in five-fingered hands, with a head on top containing a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth? Questions like these are posed - and often answered - in this delightful excursion through the Universe with John Gribbin, the noted award-winning astronomer and science writer. Here he explores the topics of his passionate expertise - often some of the more outlandish aspects of astronomy frequently shunned in the sober pages of scientific journals - including supernova explosions, neutron stars, white holes, black holes, wormholes, and inflation. "The Case of the Missing Neutrinos" is very much a personal account of twenty years of watching the Universe by a man with a rare knack for turning complex science into plain, everyday language.