{"product_id":"book-axbk","title":"Scatter, Adapt, and Remember","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn its 4.5 billion–year history, life on Earth has been almost erased  at least half a dozen times: shattered by asteroid impacts, entombed in  ice, smothered by methane, and torn apart by unfathomably powerful  megavolcanoes. And we know that another global disaster is eventually  headed our way. Can we survive it? How?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a species, \u003ci\u003eHomo sapiens\u003c\/i\u003e is at a crossroads. Study of our planet’s turbulent past suggests that  we are overdue for a catastrophic disaster, whether caused by nature or  by human interference.\u003cbr\u003eIt’s a frightening prospect, as each of the  Earth’s past major disasters—from meteor strikes to bombardment by  cosmic radiation—resulted in a mass extinction, where more than 75  percent of the planet’s species died out. But in \u003ci\u003eScatter, Adapt, and Remember\u003c\/i\u003e,  Annalee Newitz, science journalist and editor of the science Web site  io9.com explains that although global disaster is all but inevitable,  our chances of long-term species survival are better than ever. Life on  Earth has come close to annihilation—humans have, more than once,  narrowly avoided extinction just \u003cbr\u003eduring the last million years—but every single time a few creatures survived, evolving to adapt to the harshest of conditions. \u003cbr\u003e      This brilliantly speculative work of popular science focuses on  humanity’s long history of dodging the bullet, as well as on new threats  that we may face in years to come. Most important, it explores how  scientific breakthroughs today will help us avoid disasters tomorrow.  From simulating tsunamis to studying central Turkey’s ancient  underground cities; from cultivating cyanobacteria for “living cities”  to designing space elevators to make space colonies cost-effective; from  using math to stop pandemics to studying the remarkable survival  strategies of gray whales, scientists and researchers the world over are  discovering the keys to long-term resilience and learning how humans  can choose life over death.\u003cbr\u003e     Newitz’s remarkable and fascinating  journey through the science of mass extinctions is a powerful argument  about human ingenuity and our ability to change. In a world populated by  doomsday preppers and media commentators obsessively forecasting our  demise, \u003ci\u003eScatter, Adapt, and Remember\u003c\/i\u003e is a compelling voice of  hope. It leads us away from apocalyptic thinking into a future where we  live to build a better world—on this planet and perhaps on others.  Readers of this book will be equipped scientifically, intellectually,  and emotionally to face whatever the future holds.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49335827333424,"sku":"BDaxbk","price":22.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/118937-axbk-Square.jpg?v=1733937844","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-axbk","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}