Reviews
- Life
‘Wild Souls’ explores what we owe animals in a human-dominated world
The new book Wild Souls explores the ethical dilemmas of saving Earth’s endangered animals.
- Humans
‘The Joy of Sweat’ will help you make peace with perspiration
Dripping with science and history, a new book by science journalist Sarah Everts seeks to take the stigma off sweat.
- Science & Society
An ecologist’s new book gets at the root of trees’ social lives
In ‘Finding the Mother Tree,’ Suzanne Simard recounts how she discovered hidden networks in forests.
- Animals
‘Fathom’ seeks to unravel humpback whales’ soulful songs
The film ‘Fathom’ on Apple TV+ follows the quest of researchers on the ocean’s surface to decipher the eerie symphony of humpback whale calls below.
- Earth
A new book uses stories from tsunami survivors to decode deadly waves
In ‘Tsunami: The World’s Greatest Waves,’ two scientists chronical hundreds of eyewitness accounts to show the human cost of life at the water’s edge.
- Science & Society
A new memoir tells the life story of NASA ‘hidden figure’ Katherine Johnson
"My Remarkable Journey" gives the backstory of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, the central character of the 2016 film "Hidden Figures."
- Science & Society
The book ‘Viral BS’ offers a cure for medical myths and fake health news
In ‘Viral BS,’ physician and author Seema Yasmin fights misinformation with a dose of storytelling.
- Science & Society
A new book explores how military funding shaped the science of oceanography
In ‘Science on a Mission,’ science historian Naomi Oreskes argues that funding from the U.S. Navy both facilitated and stymied marine research.
- Anthropology
‘First Steps’ shows how bipedalism led humans down a strange evolutionary path
In a new book, a paleoanthropologist argues that walking upright has had profound effects on human anatomy and behavior.
- Tech
‘Pipe Dreams’ flushes out hope in an unexpected place: the toilet
A new book shows how reimagined toilets will allow humans to use pee and poop as natural resources.
- Genetics
‘The Code Breaker’ tells the story of CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna
In his latest book, Walter Isaacson chronicles the discovery of CRISPR and delves into the ethics of gene editing.
- Life
Two new books investigate why it’s so hard to define life
For centuries, scientists have struggled to define what it means to be alive. ‘What Is Life?’ and ‘Life’s Edge’ explore the question.
