Kaboom!: The Science of Extremes

David Darling travels through space and time to find the largest, smallest, stickiest, loudest, quietest, fastest, slowest, heaviest and brightestWhats the brightest light on Earth? The coldest corner of the universe? The blackest material ever made? The most poisonous substance in nature?You will learn something new in every chapter, on every page and probably in every paragraph. Hugely entertaining. Kit Yates, author of The Maths of Life and DeathKaboom! probes extremes of size and speed, depth and density, and reveals the stickiest, sweetest, smelliest and nastiest substances known to science.In an unabashed celebration of the exceptional, David Darling takes an enlightening journey through the universes weirdest and most wonderful extremes.Travel to farflung galaxies in pursuit of habitable planets and extraterrestrial life. Journey to the rainforests of South America and discover the topspeed of the notoriously sluggish sloth. Find out how Earths hardiest creatures tardigrades or water bears ended up living on the moon. And meet the scientists and engineers using these quirks of nature to design faster computers, produce greener energy and revolutionise space travel.A kind of cross between the Guinness Book of Records and the most engaging of popular science bestsellers, Kaboom! is an absorbing journey into the realms of the largest and smallest, the fastest and the slowest, and the blackest and the brightest. Daily Mail