The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe

In this deeply original book, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy sets out in search of the telescopes and detectors that promise to answer the biggest questions in modern cosmology. Why is the universe expanding at an ever faster rate? What is the nature of the "dark matter" that makes up almost a quarter of the universe? Why does the universe appear fine-tuned for life? Are there others besides our own? Ananthaswamy soon finds himself at the ends of the earth in remote and sometimes dangerous places. Take the Atacama Desert in the Chilean Andes, one of the coldest, driest places on the planet, where not even a blade of grass can survive. Its spectacularly clear skies and dry atmosphere allow astronomers to gather brilliant images of galaxies billions of light-years away. Ananthaswamy takes us inside the European Southern Observatory s Very Large Telescope on Mount Paranal, where four massive domes open to the sky each night "like dragons waking up." He also

• The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self
• Through Two Doors at Once: The Elegant Experiment That Captures the Enigma of Our Quantum Reality
• Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
• The Order of Time
• Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity
• Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity
• The Trouble with Gravity: Solving the Mystery Beneath Our Feet
• Cosmos
• Silent Spring
• Recursion: A Novel