E equals m times (c times c):
ink q&a: ken ross (a mathematician at the ballpark)
technica q&a: christopher vine (how (not) to paint a locomotive)
technica q&a: robert hoekman (designing the obvious)
web design sale
sell us your books online
everything einstein
isepp lecture series
history of science
new arrivals
dvds
doug brown's factoid
bestsellers

The evidence for spring fever remains largely anecdotal, but is edging closer to scientific fact. According to a recent ScientificAmerican.com article, the phenomenon we call spring fever is caused by decreased production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, due to shorter nights. Another factor? An increase in days registering our optimal "good mood" temperature, 72 degrees Fahrenheit. And when you add the increased production of our reproductive luteinizing hormones, you come up with a heady mix that insures a fever, albeit a mental one. The result? An irresistible urge to play hooky.

INK Q&A: KEN ROSS
Math and baseball go together like hot dogs and mustard. Unless you don't like mustard and then they go together like hot dogs and ketchup. Ken Ross explains all the stats behind the game in his book A Mathematician at the Ballpark: Odds and Probabilities for Baseball Fans. Far from being daunted by his intellect, we had the nerve to ask him some personal questions. Read Ross's Q&A here then purchase his book in paperback at 30% off the cover price.

TECHNICA Q&A: CHRISTOPHER VINE
We love a man with attention to detail. Read How (Not) to Paint a Locomotive and feel the pain as you journey through Vine's trials and tribulations in building, painting, and detailing a gauge model of a LNER B1 locomotive. We don't want to spoil it for you, but the book ends on a happy note. Read our entertaining Q&A with the author and engine lover.

Can our senses be modified? Expanded? Yes, says the inventor of the "feelSpace belt," Osnabruck cognitive scientist Peter Konig. A wide beige belt lined with thirteen vibrating and buzzing pads; it detects Earth's magnetic field. The buzzer pointing north consistently buzzes, and after a time direction becomes something you can detect innately. This is just one of the ways that your senses adapt and can be utilized in a whole host of ways. The trick to enhancing your senses is to figure out how to change the sensory data you want into something that the brain is familiar with, like touch, sound, or sight.

TECHNICA Q&A: ROBERT HOEKMAN
Being the "interaction designer and usability specialist" that he is, Robert Hoekman sounds like someone from whom we could learn a thing or two. Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design is his book full of tools for how to make your web applications work at their best. Read his answers to our Q&A and then buy his extremely useful book at 30% off.

WEB DESIGN SALE
Wanna spiff up your web design skills? Any one of these titles can take your web designs from blah to brilliant. Whether the issue is compatibility or usability, these featured titles, all at 30% off, are sure to please.

NASA is in the open-source business. They have released over 20 open-source software titles including World Wind, a 3-D virtual globe similar to Google Earth, and Vision Workbench, a framework for computer vision applications. NASA plans to announce their newest project, called CosmosCode, later this month. CosmosCode is aimed at recruiting volunteers interested in contributing to NASA's projects to write code for live space missions.

SELL US YOUR BOOKS ONLINE
We know you love selling your used books at our Technical Bookstore in downtown Portland, but if you don't live here, we offer the convenient option of selling us your books online. It couldn't be any easier. Just enter the ISBNs of the books you want to sell, we'll tell you if we want them, and we'll give you credit to buy more books! See all the details here.

EVERYTHING EINSTEIN
Did you ever have the hankering to bone up on Einstein? Well, this is your year! MIT is staging a play based on the popular book by Alan Lightman, Einstein's Dreams. It runs in Cambridge April 19-29. If Massachusetts is not in your travel plans this month, we offer up the newly released Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. Using Einstein's own papers, Isaacson gives us the only full portrait of the most famous scientific mind of the 20th century. Save 30% on your purchase when you buy from Powells.com. Or come to our Cedar Hills Crossing store Monday, April 30, at 7 p.m. and hear the author speak about his research for the book.

Feelin' sluggish? Caffeine and old-school energy drinks are about to be marginalized by a new breed of stimulants called eugeroics. These "wakefulness" pills promise to keep the workers of tomorrow not just awake, but alert, on-task, and feeling fine through the night and well into the next day. Most are already approved by the FDA under names like Provigil and are expected to hit the marketplace early next year.

ISEPP LECTURE SERIES
Coming up in ISEPP's Linus Pauling Memorial Lecture Series: On Thursday, April 19, Dr. Mario Livio, senior astrophysicist and former Head of Science Division at the Space Telescope Science Institute, will speak on the Golden Ratio. And look forward to May 17, when Dr. Rebecca Goldstein, Harvard fellow and writer of Betraying Spinoza, Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel, and several award-winning novels, will speak on Godel. Save 50% off your ticket price for the Livio lecture by using the promotional code here.

Apple has sold its 100 millionth iPod in just over five years, making it "the fastest selling music player in history." Take that McHamburger.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE
In 1931, Henry C. Lavery, a self-described "profound thinker" of Superior, Wisconsin, and his business partner, Frank P. White, announced their invention of a phrenology machine — the "Psychograph." Meant to measure certain mental faculties and character traits by the configurations of the skull, the "score" was determined by the way 32 low-voltage probes in a headpiece made contact with your head. They became popular attractions in theater lobbies and department stores, until the short-lived success of the Psychograph swiftly declined due to increasing skepticism and loss of income during the depression. Find out more fascinating facts from our vast selection of books in the History of Science aisle.

NEW ARRIVALS
Author of the staff favorite What We Believe But Cannot Prove, John Brockman is back with another cool book, What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable. Brockman asked the question on Edge.org and then put the answers, mined from the world's leading scientists, in a portable book you can read on the bus. Now, if your dangerous ideas whisper secretly into your ear, you are suffering from auditory hallucination. Read all about the fascinating history of the condition through the ages in Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science, and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination by Daniel B. Smith. Would you hush? We are trying to read! Wait, you didn't hear that?

Flashback: Not since the '70s have nuclear reactors enjoyed such prominence. Led by the powerful French energy company Areva and their CEO Anne Lauvergeon, the nuclear "no emissions power" option is on the rise. Many countries, including the United States, again see nuclear plants as a viable option, especially now that engineers are coming up with ways to recycle radioactive waste. While France uses nuclear power for 80% of their energy needs, the U.S. is far behind that with only 20%. Look for that number to rise exponentially. No nukes, anyone?

DVDs
"Sweet, crazy, and tinged with sadness" is how the Village Voice describes the film The Science of Sleep. Without revealing too much, let us say that riding around on a felt horse is one of our very favorite things to do. This is a wildly inventive film that defies summation — order it from Powells.com today and enjoy! Check out our entire selection of DVDs, each and every one with free shipping.

DOUG BROWN'S FACTOID
Back in the '60s, entomologists wanted to shift the time spiders spun their webs, so they wouldn't have to get up early in the morning to watch. On a wacky notion, they fed the spiders amphetamines. Interestingly, the critters still made their webs at the same time, but the webs looked different. Thus began a bizarre field of study: drug webs. Over the years, researchers have fed poor spiders caffeine, amphetamines, mescaline, THC, and even LSD, to see how it would affect their web-making abilities. In all cases, the different drugs had consistent effects on how the webs changed. Caffeine webs, for instance, are overall smaller than normal, but wider.

TECH BESTSELLERS
1. Graphic Designers Digital Toolkit by Alan Wood (Graphic Design)
2. Photoshop CS2 for Windows and Macintosh by Weinmann, et al. (Photoshop)
3. Maya 8 for Windows and Macintosh by Morgan Robinson (Graphic Design)
4. Mastering Digital Photography by David Busch (Photography)
5. Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 by Daniel Short (Web Design)
6. CSS: The Definitive Guide by Eric A. Meyer (HTML)
7. Illustrator CS2 for Windows and Macintosh by Weinmann, et al. (Graphic Design)
8. HTML, XHTML, and CSS by Elizabeth Castro (HTML)
9. I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas R. Hofstadter (Philosophy)
10. Machine Shop Trade Secrets by James A. Harvey (Machining)

Technica
By Carole R. and Danielle

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