If the twentieth century saw the rise of “Big Science,” then the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were surely an age of thrift. As Simon Werrett’s new history shows, frugal early modern experimenters transformed their homes into laboratories as they recycled, repurposed, repaired, and reused their material possessions to learn about the natural world.
Thrifty Science explores this distinctive culture of experiment and demonstrates how the values of the household helped to shape an array of experimental inquiries, ranging from esoteric investigations of glowworms and sour beer to famous experiments such as Benjamin Franklin’s use of a kite to show lightning was electrical and Isaac Newton’s investigations of color using prisms. Tracing the diverse ways that men and women put their material possessions into the service of experiment, Werrett offers a history of practices of recycling and repurposing that are often assumed to be more recent in origin. This thriving domestic culture of inquiry was eclipsed by new forms of experimental culture in the nineteenth century, however, culminating in the resource-hungry science of the twentieth. Could thrifty science be making a comeback today, as scientists grapple with the need to make their research more environmentally sustainable?

北魏云冈石窟规模宏大，气势雄浑，这样的大型工程在当时如何规划设计，又如何施工开凿，是一个值得探讨的问题。本书通过考察石窟外部的山体崖面、斩山遗迹，石窟内部的空间层次、壁面龛像，分析各类工程遗迹的空间关系，探讨云冈石窟的营造工程。
研究表明，云冈石窟所在的武州山南麓，原为两级阶地地貌，阶地后缘分布有自然断崖，石窟工程利用了山体上部的自然断崖，并向下斩山局部改造了山形。进入到洞窟开凿阶段，第一期工程主要为大像窟，依就大像头、身、腿的设计高度，从上往下分层施工，对大像以外的壁面控制力度较弱，允许民间势力进入开龛造像。而第二期工程逐渐采用了室窟设计，强调洞窟室内空间，壁面平直，多无凸出石壁的大像，逐渐流行统一施工，加强了壁面控制力度，分栏开龛造像，营造出规整完善的洞窟空间。可以说，云冈石窟的营造工程，从一期到二期有一个大的转变，规划设计、施工模式、工程组织都在逐渐进步。
彭明浩著的《云冈石窟的营造工程》从营造工程的视角，考察云冈石窟各类工事活动的关系，注重空间层次及打破、避让等遗迹现象，可视为考古层位学在石窟研究中的具体应用，与考古类型学结合，或有助于更为全面完整地考察石窟。

陕西科技出版社最新引进美国图书《人工智能的未来》（On Intelligence）一书，是由杰夫•霍金斯，一位在硅谷极其成功、受人尊敬的计算机工程师、企业家与桑德拉•布拉克斯莉，《纽约日报》的栏目作家共同撰写。本书对人类大脑皮层所具有的知觉、认识、行为和智能功能新理论提出了新的理论构想。这一理论的独到之处在于对大脑皮层的现行认识提出了新的观点，对大脑的工作原理，即霍金斯称之为“真正智能”而非计算机式的人工智能立论扎实，观点独特、新颖，阐述精密。对大脑及其工作原理感兴趣的朋友不妨读读，必有收获。

本书共八章，人工智能、神经网络、人脑、记忆、智能理论新架构、大脑皮层工作原理、意识和创造力、智能之未来。