Reviews
- Health & Medicine
‘Vagina Obscura’ shows how little is known about female biology
The new book ‘Vagina Obscura’ chronicles how scientists are finally giving female health and anatomy proper attention.
- Neuroscience
How a scientist-artist transformed our view of the brain
The book ‘The Brain in Search of Itself’ chronicles the life of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who discovered that the brain is made up of discrete cells.
- Science & Society
‘Fresh Banana Leaves’ shows how Western conservation has harmed Indigenous people
Author and environmental scientist Jessica Hernandez discusses Indigenous displacement, conservation’s failures and how to improve the field.
- Quantum Physics
‘From Data to Quanta’ defends Niels Bohr’s view of quantum mechanics
In his new book, philosopher Slobodan Perović corrects misconceptions about physicist Niels Bohr’s work.
- Archaeology
‘Origin’ explores the controversial science of the first Americans
A new book looks at how genetics has affected the study of humans’ arrival in the Americas and sparked conflicts with Indigenous groups today.
By Bruce Bower - Science & Society
Stuck inside this winter? Try an at-home citizen science project
Researchers are in search of volunteers to look for solar jets, transcribe old weather logbooks, listen for threatened frogs and more.
By Erin Wayman - Math
Take an online journey through the history of math
‘History of Mathematics’ explores the origins of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and more.
By Erin Wayman - Neuroscience
‘Feeling & Knowing’ explores the origin and evolution of consciousness
In the book Feeling & Knowing, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio suggests that consciousness evolved as a way to keep essential bodily systems steady.
By JP O'Malley - Science & Society
These are Science News’ favorite books of 2021
Our favorite books covered the Big Bang theory, human evolution, gene editing, how to define life, pseudoscience and more.
- Animals
A new book shows how animals are already coping with climate change
‘Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid’ takes a clear-eyed look at future of animal life.
- Life
‘Life as We Made It’ charts the past and future of genetic tinkering
A new book shatters illusions that human meddling with nature has only just begun.
- Anthropology
‘The Dawn of Everything’ rewrites 40,000 years of human history
A new book recasts human social evolution as multiple experiments with freedom and domination that started in the Stone Age.
By Bruce Bower