Deceptively simple but perfect for this time of year is Adin Steinsaltz's Simple Words , a series of short essays about what it means to be human in a material world.
For Crawford, the failure to appreciate skilled manual labor is a symptom of something even worse: a narcissistic refusal to grapple with the material world.
Some greens worry that the energy used to send a boatload of material for recycling across the world is not justified by savings at the other end.
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Meanwhile, in Spain, organizers constructed a pavilion from 45, 000 recycled milk cartons, winning the world record for a construction project using a recycled material.
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Their 70, 000-gene chromosomes have been manipulated to include a gene from the orb weaver, a palm-size spider that spins the world's toughest natural material.
But their practices continue to draw scrutiny as people adjust to a new world in which material they posted online for friends, loved ones, and strangers is now being looked at by potential employers.
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The announcement that Bowie was releasing new material came as a surprise to many in the music world, and has had Bowie aficionados picking over the fiercely private star's back catalogue, comparing his early work with his latest release.
My last conversation with Adrian Bejan ended on the notion that if design in nature is a universal principle of the material world, then freedom is the key variable that determines how efficiently designs can evolve over time.
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They run on Thorium, a mildly radioactive material more common than tin and found all over the world.
They proved unwilling to abandon either national interest or material aspirations for promises of a greener world.
It re-states that World Heritage Sites are a key material consideration which regional and local authorities must take into account when considering and deciding planning and related applications in or around World Heritage Sites.
However, he says, Europe is entering a phase where raw material costs could increase while the availability for cheap labor around the world will decline.
If graphene were in a Hollywood movie, scientists would complain that no such material could possibly exist in the real world.
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Or to put it another way, economic conditions in what remains the world's largest single economy have a material impact on our prosperity.
We actually got a Guinness Book of World Records for developing this lightest solid material in the world.
Andraka, born in 1997, is a science prodigy who has been engaged in inquiry with the material world since he was three.
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However demand for the material continues to strengthen around the world, making it a still very coveted commodity.
As Blue Note's business began to grow, he and Wolff realized that they had to have a regular turnover of new material if the label was going to keep its place in the newly expanding world of jazz microgroove records.
Mr Sanderson explained that with much of public life having migrated to the online world, material that is now published physically gives only a part of the story and debate within modern Britain.
China maintains a number of measures that restrain exports of raw material inputs for which it is the top, or near top, world producer.
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