Case of the Missing Neutrinos: And Other Curious Phenomena of the Universe

From the big bang and pulsars to black holes and the Ice Age--a guided tour of the cosmos. Is it true that the sun is shrinking at such a rate that our earth will disappear within a hundred thousand years? What happened to the sun's neutrinos to make them disappear on their way to the earth? Why does the fact that the sky is dark at night prove that our universe is changing and hasn't always been the way it is? What are the chances that, if ever we make contact with intelligent beings who evolved under conditions similar to those on earth, they too will be upright, bipedal, with two arms ending in five-fingered hands, with a head on top containing a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth? Questions like these are posed--and often answered--in this delightful excursion through the universe with John Gribbin, the noted award-winning astronomer and science writer.