NB Science

06/07/2022

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 understanding why particles have mass, had finally been discovered. On the rostrum, surrounded by jostling physicists and media, was the particle's retiring namesake--the only person in history to have an existing single particle named for them. Why Peter Higgs? Drawing on years of conversations with Higgs and others, Close illuminates how an unprolific man became one of the world's most famous scientists. Close finds that scientific competition between people, institutions, and states played as much of a role in making Higgs famous as Higgs's work did.

A revelatory study of both a scientist and his era, ELUSIVE: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass (Basic Books) will remake our understanding of modern physics. Close joins the NBN 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/elusive

20/05/2022

Today’s world is unpredictable and full of contradictions, and navigating its complexities while trying to make the best decisions is far from easy. THE JOY OF SCIENCE (Princeton University Press) presents 8 short lessons on how to unlock the clarity, empowerment, and joy of thinking and living a little more scientifically. In this brief guide to leading a more rational life, physicist Jim Al-Khalili invites readers to engage with the world as scientists have been trained to do. Discussing the nature of truth and uncertainty, the role of doubt, the pros and cons of simplification, the value of guarding against bias, the importance of evidence-based thinking, and more, Al-Khalili shows how the powerful ideas at the heart of the scientific method are deeply relevant to the complicated times we live in and the difficult choices we make. Delve deeper on the podcast ↙️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-joy-of-science

29/04/2022

CARBON QUEEN: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus (MIT Press) follows Mildred Dresselhaus (or Millie, as everyone calls her) from her childhood in New York City to her final years in Cambridge. It focuses on her scientific achievements, but also rightfully presents her as a multi-hyphenate: being a resilient student, an adaptive researcher, a professor, an administrator, an advocate, a fundraiser, a patent owner, a book author. The accolades are plentiful and her involvement in science seemingly boundless.

Maia Weinstock masterfully blends anecdotes and scientific explanations into the life story of a truly phenomenal scientist.

In this episode of the podcast, we discuss Millie’s multifaceted career, as well as the process of putting the book together, and Maia’s history course on women in science. Tune in 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/carbon-queen

08/04/2022

The human brain undergoes massive changes during its development. Across a wide range of species, from C. elegans and fruit flies to mice, monkeys, and humans, information about brain connectivity (connectomes) at different stages is now becoming available. New approaches in network neuroscience can be used to analyze the topological, spatial, and dynamical organization of such connectomes. In CHANGING CONNECTOMES: Evolution, Development, and Dynamics in Network Neuroscience (MIT Press), Marcus Kaiser provides an up-to-date overview of the field of connectomics and introduces concepts and mechanisms underlying brain network changes during evolution and development. PODCAST LINK: 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/changing-connectomes

06/04/2022

BITCH: On the Female of the Species (Basic Books) is a fierce, funny, and revolutionary look at the queens of the animal kingdom. Studying zoology made Lucy Cooke feel like a sad freak. Not because she loved spiders or would root around in animal f***s: all her friends shared the same curious kinks. The problem was her s*x. Being female meant she was, by nature, a loser. Since Charles Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been convinced that the males of the animal kingdom are the interesting ones—dominating and promiscuous, while females are dull, passive, and devoted. In BITCH, Cooke tells a new story. Learn more on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/bitch

31/12/2021

"The professional advancement of scientists is so heavily dependent on being published in these peer-reviewed journals, and according to where a scientist works, things like tenure, promotion, and even just getting hired can depend heavily on getting into a particular type of journal, a prestigious journal that rejects many submissions. And so it can seem like the power to shape scholarly communication is only in the hands of the editors and in the hands of the anonymous referees who review papers. But looking at the history of scientific publication, you really see a story where a lot more figures are influential in shaping the way that the scientific journal has developed. And you see that, of course, with Nature, where it was definitely contributors' needs and interests that drove some significant changes in the format and the audience of the journal."

Listen in as Melinda Baldwin discusses her book MAKING 'Nature': The History of a Scientific Journal (University of Chicago Press) on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/making-nature

31/12/2021

The astronomer's chair is a leitmotif in the history of astronomy, appearing in hundreds of drawings, prints, and photographs from a variety of sources. 19th-century stargazers in particular seemed eager to display their observing chairs--task-specific, often mechanically adjustable observatory furniture designed for use in conjunction with telescopes. But what message did they mean to send with these images?

Omar W. Nasim's THE ASTRONOMER'S CHAIR: A Visual and Cultural History (MIT Press) considers these specialized chairs as both image and object, offering an original framework for linking visual and material cultures. Observing chairs, Nasim ingeniously argues, showcased and embodied forms of scientific labor, personae, and bodily practice that appealed to bourgeois sensibilities. Delve deeper on the podcast ↙

https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-astronomers-chair

31/12/2021

In STICKY: The Secret Science of Surfaces (Bloomsbury Academic), physicist Laurie Winkless brings the amazing world of surface science to the popular science market for the first time. Atoms and molecules like to stick together--take friction, for example. This force keeps our cars on the road, trains on the tracks and our feet on the ground; similarly, anything moving through water or air encounters drag, a force caused by the viscous nature of fluids. In other words, there's a lot of stickiness going on, all the time. But what do we actually know about the physics of stickiness? What's really going on? How has nature evolved to make use of it, and what technological advances has it enabled the human race to create? Find out on the podcast ↙

https://newbooksnetwork.com/sticky

15/12/2021

From adrenaline to dopamine, most of us are familiar with the chemicals that control us. They are the hormones and neurotransmitters that our brains run on, and OVERLOADED: How Every Aspect of Your Life is Influenced by Your Brain Chemicals (Bloomsbury Academic) looks at the role they play in every aspect of our lives, from what we remember, how we make decisions and who we love to basic survival drives such as hunger, fear and sleep. Author Ginny Smith gets to the bottom of exactly what these tiny molecules do on the podcast ↙️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/overloaded

02/12/2020

As a scientist and practicing Catholic, Glenn Sauer brings a unique perspective to several of the important issues related to finding a space for dialogue between the at times opposing fields of science and religion. Drawing on insights from Darwin, Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Kuhn, and many others, POINTS of CONTACT: Science, Religion, and the Search for Truth (Orbis Books) presents a powerful and important framework for reconciling the historically changing divide between science and religion. Sauer is our guest on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/points-of-contact

16/11/2020

Spanning 4 centuries of discovery—from René Descartes, whose demon could hijack sensorial reality, to James Clerk Maxwell, whose molecular-sized demon deftly broke the 2nd law of thermodynamics, to Darwin, Einstein, Feynman, and beyond—Jimena Canales's BEDEVILED: A Shadow History of Demons in Science (Princeton University Press) reveals how the greatest scientific thinkers used demons to explore problems, test the limits of what is possible, and better understand nature.
Hear Jimena Canales' interview with the NBN's Claire Clark on the podcast ↙️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/bedeviled

08/11/2020

Fragmentation of local and global societies is escalating, and this is aggravating vicious cycles. To heal the rifts, Anthony Hodgson believes we need to reintroduce the human element into our understandings – whether the context is civic or scientific – and strengthen truth-seeking in decision-making; and that the application of appropriate concepts and methods, will enable a switch from reaction to anticipation, even in the face of discontinuous change and high uncertainty. In SYSTEMS THINKING for a TURBULENT WORLD: A Search for New Perspectives (Routledge), Hodgson introduces us to concepts new to systems thinking that integrate systems thinking and futures thinking. He fills us in on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/anthony-hodgson-systems-thinking-for-a-turbulent-world-part-2-routledge-2020

05/11/2020

04/11/2020

Focusing on the processes of globalization, colonization, urbanization, and climate change, Thom van Dooren's THE WAKE of CROWS: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds (Columbia University Press) explores the interactions of humans and crows in diverse contexts to envision a multispecies ethics in which people learn to make room for other species. Give van Dooren's conversation with Mark Molloy a listen 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/thom-van-dooren-the-wake-of-crows-living-and-dying-in-shared-worlds-columbia-up-2019

04/11/2020

On this episode of the NBN's special series on Animal Studies, animal-behavior expert Marc Bekoff and bioethicist Jessica Pierce explore the real-world experiences of 5 categories of animals. In each case, scientific studies combine with stories of individual animals to bring us face-to-face with the wonder of our fellow beings, as well as the suffering they endure and the major paradigm shift that is needed to truly ensure their well-being. Learn more about THE ANIMALS' AGENDA: Freedom, Compassion, and Coexistence in the Human Age (Beacon Press) on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/m-bekoff-and-j-pierce-the-animals-agenda-freedom-compassion-and-coexistence-in-the-human-age-beacon-press-2017

30/10/2020

In the last few decades, a wealth of new information has emerged about who animals are—intelligent, aware, and empathetic. In ANIMALKIND: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion (Simon & Schuster), the founder and president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and bestselling author Gene Stone explore the wonders of animal life and offer tools for living more kindly toward them. Check out their conversation with the NBN's Mark Molloy ↙️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/i-newkirk-and-g-stone-animalkind-remarkable-discoveries-about-animals-and-revolutionary-new-ways-to-show-them-compassion-simon-and-schuster-2020

27/10/2020

For decades if not centuries, science has backed up the simple dictum that men and women's brains are hardwired differently. However, new research in neuroimaging suggests that this is little more than “neurotrash.” In GENDER and OUR BRAINS: How New Neuroscience Explodes the Myths of the Male and Female Minds (Pantheon Books) neuroimaging specialist Gina Rippon challenges this myth by showing how the science community has engendered bias and stereotype by rewarding studies that show difference rather than sameness. Give Rippon's NBN interview a listen 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/gina-rippon-gender-and-our-brains-how-new-neuroscience-explodes-the-myths-of-the-male-and-female-minds-vintage-2020

22/10/2020

Have you ever felt, “Oh my God, I’m turning into my mother (or father)!” ? Robert Plomin explains why that happens in BLUEPRINT: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (MIT Press).

Plomin’s decades of work demonstrate that genetics explains more about the psychological differences among people than all other factors combined. Nature, not nurture, is what makes us who we are. Delve deeper as he joins Renee Garfinkel on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/robert-plomin-blueprint-how-dna-makes-us-who-we-are-mit-press-2019/

21/10/2020

Taking the reader on a journey into hospital wards and lunatic asylums, physiological laboratories, and 19th century wars, STRANGE BLOOD: The Rise and Fall of Lamb Blood Transfusion in 19th Century Medicine and Beyond (Transcript Verlag) details the experimental therapy of lamb blood transfusion that spread like an epidemic across Europe and the U.S. in the 1870s. Delve deeper as Boel Berner discusses the book on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/boel-berner-strange-blood-the-rise-and-fall-of-lamb-blood-transfusion-in-19th-century-medicine-and-beyond-transcript-verlag-2020/

20/10/2020

What if outer space is not outside the human environment but, rather, defines it? This is the unusual starting point of INTO the EXTREME: U.S. Environmental Systems and Politics Beyond Earth (University of Minnesota Press), revealing how outer space contributes to making what counts as the scope and scale of today’s natural and social environments. With unprecedented access to spaceflight worksites ranging from astronaut training programs to life science labs and architecture studios, author Valerie Olson examines how U.S. experts work within the solar system as the container of life and as a vast site for new forms of technical and political environmental control. Olson joins us 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/valerie-olson-into-the-extreme-u-s-environmental-systems-and-politics-beyond-earth-u-minnesota-press-2018/

06/10/2020

In Every Life Is on Fire (Basic Books, 2020), Jeremy England walks readers through a range of different concepts in physics and biology to sketch out his novel description of how life might emerge.…

02/10/2020

Scholarly Communications is the podcast series about how knowledge gets known. Scholarly Communications adheres to the principle that research improves when scholars better understand their role as communicators.

Our first guest is Helen Pearson, Chief Magazine Editor of Nature. She joins Daniel Shea on the podcast 👇

https://newbooksnetwork.com/scholarly-communications-an-interview-with-helen-pearson-of-nature/

10/09/2020

In his book, FROM DARWIN to DERRIDA: Selfish Genes, Social Selves, and the Meanings of Life (MIT Press), evolutionary biologist David Haig explains how a physical world of matter in motion gave rise to a living world of purpose and meaning.

Natural selection is a process without purpose, yet gives rise to purposeful beings who find meaning in the world. Haig proposes that the key to this is the origin of mutable “texts” that preserve a record of what has worked in the world, in other words: genes. He joins your host Carrie Lynn Evans on the podcast ⤵️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/david-haig-from-darwin-to-derrida-selfish-genes-social-selves-and-the-meanings-of-life-mit-press-2020/

04/09/2020

In SMELLOSOPHY: What the Nose Tells the Mind (Harvard University Press), cognitive scientist, empirical philosopher, and historian of science, technology, and the senses A. S. Barwich asks a deceptively simple question: What does the nose tell the brain, and how does the brain understand it? Find out as Barwich joins us on the podcast ⤵️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/ann-sophie-barwich-smellosophy-what-the-nose-tells-the-mind-harvard-up-2020/

04/09/2020

There's no shortage of books on the growing impact of data collection and analysis on our societies, our cultures, and our everyday lives. David J. Hand’s new book, DARK DATA: Why What You Don’t Know Matters (Princeton University Press) is unique in this genre for its focus on those data that aren’t collected or don’t get analyzed. More than an introduction to missingness and how to account for it, this book proposes that the whole of data analysis can benefit from a “dark data” perspective—that is, careful consideration of not only what is seen but what is unseen. Give the author's NBN interview a listen ⤵️

https://newbooksnetwork.com/david-j-hand-dark-data-why-what-you-dont-know-matters-princeton-up-2020/

29/08/2020

Racist pseudoscience has become so commonplace that it can be hard to spot. But its toxic effects on society are plain to see—feeding nationalism, fueling hatred, endangering lives, and corroding o…