New Books in Physics and Chemistry
Episodes
Scott Solomon, "Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds" (MIT Press, 2026)
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How living in space will affect future generations—and what the potential unintended consequences of space settlements are.We are on the cusp of a g...
Keith Cooper, "Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact" (Reaktion, 2025)
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a double sunset on Tatooine, stand among the sand dunes of Arrakis or gaze at the gas-giant plan...
Keith Cooper, "Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact" (Reaktion, 2025)
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a double sunset on Tatooine, stand among the sand dunes of Arrakis or gaze at the gas-giant plan...
Matthew Bothwell, "The Invisible Universe: Why There's More to Reality than Meets the Eye" (Simon and Schuster, 2021)
12 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since the dawn of our species, people all over the world have gazed in awe at the night sky. But for all the beauty and wonder of the stars, when we l...
Douglas H. Erwin, "The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology" (Princeton UP, 2026)
06 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Origins of the New (Princeton University Press, 2026) presents a revolutionary approach to evolutionary success in all realms of life. In this g...
Vojta Hybl, "Rocks: A Guide to the Stones Around Us and the Stories They Tell" (Frances Lincoln, 2026)
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What is that rock you’ve just picked up? Which minerals is it made of, what’s unique about it and what can it reveal about Earth’s deeper story?...
Patricia B. O'Hara, "Food Chemistry in Small Bites: The Alchemist in the Kitchen" (U California Press, 2025)
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Food Chemistry in Small Bites takes readers on an up-close scientific journey through the transformation of food when meals are prepared. Organized i...
Emma Chapman, "Radio Universe: How to Explore Space Without Leaving Earth" (Hachette UK, 2026)
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Radio Universe: How to Explore Space Without Leaving Earth (Hachette UK, 2026) award-winning astrophysicist Emma Chapman takes us on an electrif...
Subodhana Wijeyeratne, "The Islands and the Stars: A History of Japan's Space Programs" (Stanford UP, 2026)
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is among the six largest national space agencies in the world, along with China's CNSA, US's NASA, and R...
Antonio Padilla, "Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity" (FSG,2022)
15 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A fun, dazzling exploration of the strange numbers that illuminate the ultimate nature of reality. For particularly brilliant theoretical physicis...
Jennifer Vail, "Friction: A Biography" (Harvard UP, 2026)
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Friction, the force that resists motion, is synonymous with difficulty and complication. If you’ve ever replaced tires worn smooth by the road or re...
Dagomar Degroot, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: An Environmental History of Our Place in the Solar System" (Harvard UP, 2025)
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Our solar system is a dynamic arena where asteroids careen off course and solar winds hurl charged particles across billions of miles of space. Yet...
Heino Falcke and Jörg Römer, "Light in the Darkness: Black Holes, the Universe, and Us" (HarperCollins, 2021)
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
An astrophysicist chronicles his quest to photograph a black hole and reflects on its spiritual ramifications in this international-bestselling memoir...
Jeremy Bernstein 11–2007
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode from the Institute’s vault, we revisit an October 2007 presentation by theoretical physicist and Institute Fellow Jeremy Bernstein o...
Jon Willis, "The Pale Blue Data Point: An Earth-Based Perspective on the Search for Alien Life" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A thrilling tour of Earth that shows the search for extraterrestrial life starts in our own backyard.Is there life off Earth? Bound by the limitations...
Andrew H. Jaffe, "The Random Universe: How Models and Probability Help Us Make Sense of the Cosmos" (Yale UP, 2025)
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An award-winning astrophysicist looks at how the understanding of uncertainty and randomness has led to breakthroughs in our knowledge of the cosmos ...
Craig Hogan, "The Unlikely Primeval Sky" (American Scientist, November-December)
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Of all the patterns that could possibly be preserved in the post–Big Bang radiation, the one we see is surprisingly smooth on large angular scales....
Facing Infinity: Black Holes and Our Place on Earth
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Humanity’s relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if t...
Marcus Chown, "A Crack in Everything: How Black Holes Came in from the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage" (Apollo, 2025)
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is space? What is time? Where did the universe come from? The answers to mankind's most enduring questions may lie in science's greatest enigma: ...
James Trefil and Shobita Satyapal, "Supermassive: Black Holes at the Beginning and End of the Universe" (Smithsonian Books, 2025)
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Black holes, demystified: follow along the quest to understand the history and influence of one of space science's most fascinating and confounding ph...
Liam Graham, "Physics Fixes All the Facts" (Springer Nature, 2025)
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Complex systems seem to magically emerge from the interactions of their parts. A whirlpool emerges from water molecules. A living cell from organic mo...
Vlatko Vedral, "Portals to a New Reality: Five Pathways to the Future of Physics" (Basic Books, 2025)
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the last century, physics has been treading along the paths set by the same two theories--quantum theory and general relativity--and, let's face i...
Alice Lovejoy, "Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War" (U California Press, 2025)
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The history of film calls to mind unforgettable photographs, famous directors, and the glitz and hustle of the media business. But there is another ta...
Jonas Enander, "Facing Infinity: Black Holes and Our Place on Earth" (The Experiment Press, 2025)
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Humanity's relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if the...
Mario Livio and Jack Szostak, "Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life" (Basic Books, 2024)
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For a long time, scientists have wondered how life has emerged from inanimate chemistry, and whether Earth is the only place where it exists. Charles ...
Richard Mainwaring, "What the Ear Hears (And Doesn't): Inside the Extraordinary Everyday World of Frequency" (Sourcebooks, 2022)
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do the world's loneliest whale, a black hole, and twenty-three people doing Tae Bo all have in common? In 2011, a skyscraper in South Korea bega...
Emilio Elizalde, "The True Story of Modern Cosmology: Origins, Main Actors and Breakthroughs" (Springer, 2021)
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This book tells the story of how, over the past century, dedicated observers and pioneering scientists achieved our current understanding of the unive...
David J. Helfand, "The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom" (Columbia UP, 2023)
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Atoms are unfathomably tiny. It takes fifteen million trillion of them to make up a single poppy seed—give or take a few billion. And there’s hard...
Robyn Arianrhod, "Vector: A Surprising Story of Space, Time, and Mathematical Transformation" (U of Chicago Press, 2024)
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A celebration of the seemingly simple idea that allowed us to imagine the world in new dimensions--sparking both controversy and discovery. The stars...
Paul Sen, "Einstein's Fridge: How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe" (Scribner, 2021)
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Einstein's Fridge: How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe (Scribner, 2021) tells the incredible epic story of the scientists ...
Liam Graham, "Molecular Storms: The Physics of Stars, Cells and the Origin of Life" (Springer Nature, 2023)
22 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why is the universe the way it is? Wherever we look, we find ordered structures: from stars to planets to living cells. Molecular Storms: The Physics...
Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin, "Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America" (Island Press, 2025)
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is the shocking true-life story of how PFAS—a set of toxic chemicals most people have never heard of—poisoned the entire country. Based on or...
Scientists Cooperate while Humanists Ruminate (EF, JP)
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2021, John and Elizabeth sat down with Brandeis string theorist Albion Lawrence to discuss cooperation versus solitary study across discipli...
Grace Lindsay, "Models of the Mind: How Physics, Engineering and Mathematics Have Shaped Our Understanding of the Brain" (Bloomsbury, 2021)
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Models of the Mind: How Physics, Engineering and Mathematics Have Shaped Our Understanding of the Brain (Bloomsbury, 2021) provides a multifaceted a...
Patchen Barss, "The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius" (Basic Books, 2024)
18 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When he was six years old, Roger Penrose discovered a sundial in a clearing near his house. Through that machine made of light, shadow, and time, Roge...
Brian Clegg, "Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe" (MIT Press, 2021)
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and conseque...
Alan Lightman, "Einstein's Dreams" (Vintage, 1992)
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Einstein’s Dreams (Vintage, 1992) by Alan Lightman, set in Albert Einstein’s “miracle year” of 1905, is a novel about the cultural interconne...
Pierre Sokolsky, "Clock in the Sun: How We Came to Understand Our Nearest Star" (Columbia UP, 2024)
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the surface of the Sun, spots appear and fade in a predictable cycle, like a great clock in the sky. In medieval Russia, China, and Korea, monks an...
Siobhan Angus, "Camera Geologica: An Elemental History of Photography" (Duke UP, 2024)
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Camera Geologica: An Elemental History of Photography (Duke UP, 2024) Siobhan Angus tells the history of photography through the minerals upon wh...
Bernardo Kastrup, "Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell: A Straightforward Summary of the 21st Century's Only Plausible Metaphysics" (Iff Books, 2024)
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is reality more than the material? Raj Balkaran holds a fascinating interview with philosopher Bernardo Kastrup on this topic. At the vanguard of th...
Kevin Lambert, "Symbols and Things: Material Mathematics in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2021)
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The stereotype of the solitary mathematician is widespread, but practicing users and producers of mathematics know well that our work depends heavily ...
Claudia de Rham, "The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity" (Princeton UP, 2024)
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Claudia de Rham has been playing with gravity her entire life. As a diver, experimenting with her body's buoyancy in the Indian Ocean. As a pilot, soa...
Philip Goff, "Why? The Purpose of the Universe" (Oxford UP, 2023)
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Does the universe have a purpose? If it does, how is this connected to the meaningfulness that we seek in our lives? In Why? The Purpose of the Unive...
Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" (Vintage, 2006)
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s major motion picture, Oppenheimer, this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography explores the life and times of J. ...
A Better Way to Buy Books
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bookshop.org is an online book retailer that donates more than 80% of its profits to independent bookstores. Launched in 2020, Bookshop.org has alre...
Herlinde Koelbl, "Fascination of Science: 60 Encounters with Pioneering Researchers of Our Time" (MIT Press, 2023)
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
An intimate collection of portraits of internationally renowned scientists and Nobel Prize winners, paired with interviews and personal stories. What ...
Barbara Sattler, "The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought: Foundations in Logic, Method, and Mathematics" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
27 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Barbara M. Sattler's book The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought: Foundations in Logic, Method, and Mathematics (Cambridge UP, 2020) examin...
Working on Mars: Voyages of Scientific Discovery with the Mars Exploration Rovers
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Geologists in the field climb hills and hang onto craggy outcrops; they put their fingers in sand and scratch, smell, and even taste rocks. Beginning ...
Vincanne Adams, "Glyphosate and the Swirl: An Agroindustrial Chemical on the Move" (Duke UP, 2023)
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Vincanne Adams's book Glyphosate and the Swirl: An Agroindustrial Chemical on the Move (Duke UP, 2023) is part of a broader trend in anthropology th...
Janna Levin, "How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space" (Princeton UP, 2023)
15 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is the universe infinite or just really big? With this question, cosmologist Janna Levin announces the central theme of this book, which established h...
Chris Impey, "Worlds Without End: Exoplanets, Habitability, and the Future of Humanity" (MIT Press, 2023)
16 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The science of finding habitable planets beyond our solar system and the prospects for establishing human civilization away from our ever-less-habitab...
Athene Donald, "Not Just for the Boys: Why We Need More Women in Science" (Oxford UP, 2023)
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why are girls discouraged from doing science? Why do so many promising women leave science in early and mid-career? Why do women not prosper in the sc...
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, "Split and Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation" (U Chicago Press, 2023)
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Split & Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation (University of Chicago Press, 2023), Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, director emeritus at the Max Plan...
Felix Flicker, "The Magick of Physics: Uncovering the Fantastical Phenomena in Everyday Life" (Simon and Schuster, 2023)
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you were to present the feats of modern science to someone from the past, those feats would surely be considered magic. In The Magick of Physics: ...
Seeing Truth in Physics
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stephon Alexander talks about a better way of thinking about the interconnections between music, physics, and creativity and how as someone often seen...
Brian Villmoare, "The Evolution of Everything: The Patterns and Causes of Big History" (Cambridge UP, 2023)
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Big History seeks to retell the human story in light of scientific advances by such methods as radiocarbon dating and genetic analysis. Brian Villmoar...
Water Is in the Air: Physics, Politics, and Poetics of Water in the Arts
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our contributors discuss their work in the arts and sciences, which is showcased in the new article collection, Water Is in the Air: Physics, Politic...
Measure for Measure Episode 8: Star Ladder
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists discovered that some stars have heartbeats and that some of them can be used to measure the longest distances that exist. This episode was ...
Measure for Measure Episode 3: Mohs
04 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re hitting up against the very nature of measurement: How can we best describe the world around us, in its infinite complexity, with finite measu...
Gravity's Kiss: The Detection of Gravitational Waves
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The detection of gravitational waves in 2015 rocked the science community. In this episode, Chris Gondek spoke with author Harry Collins, whose book ...
The Future of Nuclear Fusion: A Discussion with Sharon Ann Holgate
04 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How useful will nuclear fusion be? In a major breakthrough last year at the National Ignition Facility in California, 192 lasers achieved fusion – a...
Tom McLeish, "The Poetry and Music of Science: Comparing Creativity in Science and Art" (Oxford UP, 2021)
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What human qualities are needed to make scientific discoveries, and which to make great art? Many would point to 'imagination' and 'creativity' in the...
David Lindsay, "Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words" (CSIRO Publishing, 2020)
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to this interview of David Lindsay, emeritus professor of the University of Western Australia. We talk about his book Scientific Writing = Thi...
Joseph Silk, "Back to the Moon: The Next Giant Leap for Humankind" (Princeton UP, 2022)
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Just over half a century since Neil Armstrong first stepped foot on the lunar surface, a new space race to the Moon is well underway and rapidly gaini...
David Kaiser, "Well, Doc, You're In: Freeman Dyson’s Journey through the Universe" (MIT Press, 2022)
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Freeman Dyson (1923–2020)—renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast—helped invent modern physics. Not bound by disciplinary divisions, he we...
Halloween Special: Schrodinger’s Cat
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kim talks with George Gibson about Schrödinger’s cat. This cat is a thought experiment proposed by Erwin Schrödinger, and taken up in corresponden...
On Einstein's Discoveries
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Before Albert Einstein, our understanding of space, time, and gravity hadn’t really shifted from the theories that Sir Isaac Newton developed in the...
Brian Clegg, "Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe" (MIT Press, 2021)
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our universe might appear chaotic, but deep down it's simply a myriad of rules working independently to create patterns of action, force, and conseque...
Elise Vernon Pearlstine, "Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance" (Yale UP, 2022)
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Plants have long harnessed the chemical characteristics of aromatic compounds to shape the world around them. Frankincense resin from the genus Boswel...
On Edwin Hubble’s "The Realm of the Nebulae"
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Until the publication of Edwin Hubble’s 1936 book, The Realm of the Nebulae, astronomers believed that the Milky Way was the only galaxy in the univ...
The Science Wars: Post-Truth and the Nature of Science
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the final day of our weeklong deep dive into the politics of education. Today, we’ve got another episode of Cited for you. If you haven’...
Elena Conis, "How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT" (Bold Type Books, 2022)
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The story of DDT as you’ve never heard it before: a fresh look at the much-maligned chemical compound as a cautionary tale of how powerful corporati...
Frank Close, "Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass" (Basic Book, 2022)
06 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On July 4, 2012, the announcement came that one of the longest-running mysteries in physics had been solved: the Higgs boson, the missing piece in und...
Slobodan Perovic, "From Data to Quanta: Niels Bohr’s Vision of Physics" (U Chicago Press, 2021)
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Niels Bohr was a central figure in quantum physics, well known for his work on atomic structure and his contributions to the Copenhagen interpretation...
Robert-Jan Smits and Rachael Pells, "Plan S for Shock: Science. Shock. Solution. Speed." (Ubiquity Press, 2022)
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Plan S: the open access initiative that changed the face of global research. Robert-Jan Smits and Rachael Pells's book Plan S for Shock: Science. S...
Albert Folch, "Hidden in Plain Sight: The History, Science, and Engineering of Microfluidic Technology" (MIT Press, 2022)
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hidden from view, microfluidics underlies a variety of devices that are essential to our lives, from inkjet printers to glucometers for the monitoring...
All About Dwarf Galaxies: A Conversation with Astronomer Charlotte Christensen
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talked to astronomer Charlotte Christensen of Grinnell College. She studies (among other things) dwarf galaxies. Dwarf galaxies, galaxies ...
Timothy J. Jorgensen, "Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life" (Princeton UP, 2021)
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When we think of electricity, we likely imagine the energy humming inside our home appliances or lighting up our electronic devices--or perhaps we env...
Gernot Wagner, "Geoengineering: The Gamble" (Polity, 2021)
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Stabilizing the world's climates means cutting carbon dioxide pollution. There's no way around it. But what if that's not enough? What if it's too dif...
Elisabeth Ervin-Blankenheim, "Song of the Earth: Understanding Geology and Why It Matters" (Oxford UP, 2021)
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s podcast, Elisabeth Ervin-Blankenheim explains how understanding harmonics of the earth provides a forward-thinking methodology to confro...
Adam M. Romero, "Economic Poisoning: Industrial Waste and the Chemicalization of American Agriculture" (U California Press, 2021)
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The toxicity of pesticides to the environment and humans is often framed as an unfortunate effect of their benefits to agricultural production. In Ec...
Greg Brennecka, "Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong" (William Morrow, 2022)
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Solar System. Dinosaurs. Donkey Kong. What is the missing link? Surprisingly enough, it's meteorites. They explain our past, constructed our prese...
Jim Al-Khalili, "The Joy of Science" (Princeton UP, 2022)
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s world is unpredictable and full of contradictions, and navigating its complexities while trying to make the best decisions is far from easy....
Will Kinney, "An Infinity of Worlds: Cosmic Inflation and the Beginning of the Universe" (MIT Press, 2022)
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the beginning was the Big Bang: an unimaginably hot fire almost fourteen billion years ago in which the first elements were forged. The physical th...
Maia Weinstock, "Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus" (MIT Press, 2022)
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus (MIT Press, 2022) follows Mildred Dresselhaus (or Millie, as everyone c...
Pandemic Perspectives 8: Covid and the Embrace of the Biological World
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this Pandemic Perspectives Podcast, Ideas Roadshow founder and host Howard Burton talks to renowned UC San Diego neurophilosopher Patricia Churchl...
Deborah Gordon, "No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World" (Oxford UP, 2021)
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World (Oxford University Press, 2021), Deborah Gordon shows that no two oils or gases a...
Dashun Wang and Albert-László Barabási, "The Science of Science" (Cambridge UP, 2021)
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to this interview of Dashun Wang, Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University,...
Hilary Glasman-Deal, "Science Research Writing For Native and Non-Native Speakers of English" (World Scientific Publishing Europe, 2020)
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to this interview of Hilary Glasman-Deal, teacher of STEMM communication at the Centre for Academic English, Imperial College London, and autho...
N. J. Enfield, "Language Vs. Reality: Why Language Is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists" (MIT Press, 2022)
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Enfield’s book, Language vs. Reality: Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Bad for Scientists (MIT Press, 2022), argues that language is prim...
Stephen B. Heard, "The Scientist’s Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively Throughout Your Scientific Career, 2nd ed." (Princeton UP, 2022)
21 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to this interview of Stephen Heard, Professor of Biology at the University of New Brunswick. We talk about his book The Scientist’s Guide to...
Intellectual Humility in Science: A Discussion with Glenn Sauer
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode of How To Be Wrong welcomes Glenn Sauer, who is Donald J. Ross Sr. Chair in Biology and Biochemistry and Professor of Biology at Fai...
Raghuveer Parthasarathy, "So Simple a Beginning: How Four Physical Principles Shape Our Living World" (Princeton UP, 2022)
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The form and function of a sprinting cheetah are quite unlike those of a rooted tree. A human being is very different from a bacterium or a zebra. The...
Retraction Watch: A Discussion with Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky
11 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Listen to this interview of Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky, cofounders of Retraction Watch. We talk about lots of things, retracting very few. Ivan Ora...
Kenneth L. Caneva, "Helmholtz and the Conservation of Energy: Contexts of Creation and Reception" (MIT Press, 2021)
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1847, Herman Helmholtz, arguably the most important German physicist of the nineteenth century, published his formulation of what became known as t...
Aubrey Clayton, "Bernoulli's Fallacy: Statistical Illogic and the Crisis of Modern Science" (Columbia UP, 2021)
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There is a logical flaw in the statistical methods used across experimental science. This fault is not a minor academic quibble: it underlies a reprod...
Fritjof Capra, "Patterns of Connection: Essential Essays from Five Decades" (High Road Books, 2021)
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the first Systems and Cybernetics episode of 2022! After a short break over the holidays to rest and spend time with family (and, of course...
Ben Westhoff, "Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic" (Grove Press, 2019)
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben Westhoff is an award-winning investigative journalist whose best-selling 2019 book Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest...
Emily Levesque, "The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers" (Sourcebooks, 2021)
04 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Humans from the earliest civilizations through today have craned their necks each night, using the stars to orient themselves in the large, strange wo...
Paul Halpern, "Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate" (Basic Books, 2021)
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, the Big Bang is so entrenched in our understanding of the cosmos that to doubt it would seem crazy. But as Paul Halpern shows in Flashes of Cr...