Humans have been made alcohol for 10,000 years, but scientists are only now beginning to distill the chemical reactions behind the perfect buzz. In a spirited tour across continents and cultures, Proof takes us from bourbon country to the world s top gene-sequencing labs, introducing us to the bars, barflies, and evolving science at the heart of boozy technology. The book chases the physics, biology, chemistry, and metallurgy that produce alcohol, and the psychology and neurobiology that make us want it. If you ve ever wondered how your drink arrived in your glass, or what it will do to you, Proof makes an unparalleled drinking companion.
From the blue of a Morpho butterfly to the vivid glow of a telephone screen, our world is a colorful one. But human-made colors haven’t always matched nature’s kaleidoscopic array. To reach those brightest heights required millennia of remarkable innovation and a melding of science and craft. Full Spectrum traces an arc from the earliest humans mashing ochre onto cave walls to modern engineers building screens that display colors brighter than the human eye can perceive. We meet Silk Road merchants competing for the most vivid ceramics, textile artists who cracked the mystery of how colors mix, neuroscientists who look for color in the eye and brain, and corporate spies chasing the secret of the whitest white pigment. Our longtime pursuit of color has taught us what color is, how we see it, and how to make more.