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Nature and Science April 2021 |
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Ancient Bones: Unearthing the Astonishing New Story of How We Became Human
by Madelaine Böhme
Somewhere west of Munich, Madelaine Böhme and her colleagues dig for clues to the origins of humankind. What they discover is beyond anything they imagined: the fossilized bones of Danuvius guggenmosi ignite a global media frenzy. Placing Böhme's discovery alongside former theories of human evolution, the authors show how this remarkable find (and others in Eurasia) are forcing us to rethink the story we've been told about how we came to be, a story that has been our guiding narrative-until now.
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| The Mission: or, How a Disciple of Carl Sagan, an Ex-Motocross Racer, a Texas Tea Party... by David W. BrownWhat it is: an "extensively researched, humorous, raucous, dramatic, and pop-culture- and science-fiction-laced" (Booklist) chronicle of NASA’s quest to launch a fly-by mission to Jupiter's moon Europa.
Think: Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff meets Alan Stern and David Grinspoon's Chasing New Horizons.
Did you know? Author David W. Brown spent seven years interviewing the scientists, engineers, lawmakers, and NASA administrators profiled in this character-driven account. |
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What is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology
by Paul Nurse
A Nobel Prize-winning scientist heralds the achievements of forefront innovators while drawing on personal lab expertise to illuminate five major ideas underpinning biology, including the cell, the gene, evolution by natural selection, life as chemistry and life as information.
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| The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens... by Arik KershenbaumWhat it's about: Cambridge zoologist Arik Kershenbaum draws on Earth's evolutionary history to speculate about what forms extraterrestrial life might take.
You might also like: Imagined Life by James Trefil and Michael Summers, in which a pair of astronomers discuss what chemistry and physics can tell us about the potential for life on other planets. |
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Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings
by Alan P. Lightman
The author of Einstein’s Dreams presents a collection of scientific, meditative essays on the possibilities and impossibilities of nothingness and infinity, exploring such questions as the link between neurons and consciousness and whether life can really be lab-created.
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| Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan KrossWhat it's about: an experimental psychologist examines the science behind "the most important conversations of our lives: the ones we have with ourselves."
Read it for: the practical tips on how to harness the positive aspects of "chatter" while minimizing the adverse effects of negative self-talk on mental health. |
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| An Anatomy of Pain: How the Body and the Mind Experience and Endure Physical Suffering by Dr. Abdul-Ghaaliq LalkhenWhat it is: an anesthesiologist's comprehensive multidisciplinary exploration of the science of pain, from the neurobiological mechanisms of pain, to the history of analgesics, to the pros and cons of current chronic pain treatments.
Food for thought: "With renewed knowledge and understanding, we can become active participants in caring, understanding, and coping with an experience that can become all-consuming." |
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| Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee NewitzWhat it does: explores four so-called "lost" (abandoned) cities and analyzes their "common point of failure" (political instability plus environmental disaster) while exploring the origins of this enduring trope.
Includes: the Neolithic Anatolian settlement of Çatalhöyük; the Roman town of Pompeii; Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire; and Cahokia, North America's largest city prior to European invasion.
About the author: Annalee Newitz is a journalist and science fiction writer who co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct with novelist Charlie Jane Anders. |
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| Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs by Ina ParkWhat it's about: Dr. Ina Park, a physician, public health researcher, and self-proclaimed "Lorax of pubic hair," educates readers about sexually transmitted infections.
For fans of: the humor and enthusiasm of Mary Roach.
Reviewers say: "Compassion, science and a loving playfulness are the ultimate recipe for defusing stigma" (The New York Times). |
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Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science
by Erika Engelhaupt
Blending humor and journalism, and featuring interviews with leading researchers, the author of National Geographic’s popular Gory Details blog investigates the gross, strange and morbid absurdities of our bodies and our universe.
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| This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole PerlrothWhat it is: an "intricately detailed, deeply sourced and reported" (New York Times) exposé of the underground cyberarms industry -- and the critical role the United States played in creating it.
About the author: Nicole Perlroth is a journalist who covers cybersecurity for The New York Times.
Try these next: Andy Greenberg's Sandworm; Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake's The Fifth Domain; Kim Zetter's Countdown to Zero Day. |
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First Light: Switching on Stars at the Dawn of Time
by Emma Chapman
Discusses the very earliest period in the history of the universe, known as the Epoch of Reionization, when the first stars came into being after hundreds of millions of years of dark, uneventful expansion following the big bang, and reveals the latest research into how these stars formed, why they were so unusual, and what they can teach us about the universe today.
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| The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-WeinsteinMeet: theoretical physicist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, who researches the origins of spacetime and is one of fewer than 100 Black women to earn a PhD in physics.
What sets it apart: Dr. Prescod-Weinstein presents an accessible introduction to cosmology alongside an examination of the social context of science, with particular emphasis on race and gender. |
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| The Bears Ears: A Human History of America's Most Endangered Wilderness by David RobertsWelcome to: the Bears Ears National Monument, 1.35 million acres in southeastern Utah sacred to the Hopi, Navajo, Ute, and Zuni peoples, and the focus of an ongoing battle between mining companies and environmental activists.
Further reading: archaeologist R.E. Burillo's Behind the Bears Ears: Exploring the Cultural and Natural Histories of a Sacred Landscape, and the anthology Edge Of Morning: Native Voices Speak For The Bears Ears. |
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Life's Edge: The Search for What it Means to Be Alive
by Carl Zimmer
The New York Times “Matter” columnist investigates the science community’s conflicting views on what it actually means to be alive as demonstrated by laboratory attempts to recreate life and the examples of particularly remarkable life forms.
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| The Loneliest Polar Bear: A True Story of Survival and Peril on the Edge of a Warming... by Kale WilliamsIntroducing: Nora, the first surviving polar bear cub at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; and the "Nora Moms," a team of zoo employees that hand-raised the cub against steep odds after her mother abandoned her.
Media buzz: The Loneliest Polar Bear originated as a five-part multimedia story in The Oregonian.
You might also like: James Raffan's Ice Walker, which vividly depicts a polar bear family's struggle to survive in a world imperiled by climate change. |
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Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction
by Michelle Nijhuis
A vibrant history of the modern conservation movement-told through the lives and ideas of the people who built it. As the destruction of other species continues and the effects of climate change escalate, Beloved Beasts charts the ways conservation is becoming a movement for the protection of all species-including our own.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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