New Books Network
Science
Science, Technology, and Society January 22, 2021

Catastrophic Thinking

Extinction and the Value of Diversity from Darwin to the Anthropocene

David Sepkoski

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
We live in an age in which we are repeatedly reminded—by scientists, by the media, by popular culture—of the looming threat of mass extinction. We’re told that human activity is …

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Medicine January 19, 2021

Science Under Fire

Challenges to Scientific Authority in Modern America

Andrew Jewett

Hosted by Claire Clark
Americans today are often skeptical of scientific authority. Many conservatives dismiss climate change and Darwinism as liberal fictions, arguing that "tenured radicals" have coopted the sciences and other disciplines. Some …
Neuroscience January 19, 2021

Electric Brain

How the New Science of Brainwaves Reads Minds, Tells Us How We Learn, and Helps Us Change for the Better

R. Douglas Fields,

Hosted by John Griffiths
In Electric Brain: How the New Science of Brainwaves Reads Minds, Tells Us How We Learn, and Helps Us Change for the Better (BenBella, 2020), eminent neuroscientist R. Douglas Fields …
Science January 13, 2021

A Natural History of Color

The Science Behind What We See and How We See it

Rob DeSalle

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Is color a phenomenon of science or a thing of art? Over the years, color has dazzled, enhanced, and clarified the world we see, embraced through the experimental palettes of …
Language January 6, 2021

Extraterrestrial Languages

Daniel Oberhaus

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
In Extraterrestrial Languages (MIT Press 2020), Daniel Oberhaus tells the history of human efforts to talk to aliens, but in doing so, the book reflects on the relationship between communication …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 4, 2021

Can we Bring Extinct Species Back?

A Conversation with Beth Shapiro

Beth Shapiro

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life? The science says yes. In How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction (Princeton UP, 2020), Beth Shapiro …
Science, Technology, and Society December 24, 2020

The Demon in the Machine

How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life

Paul Davies

Hosted by John Traphagan
What is life? For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense of this fundamental question, for life really does look like magic: even a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling …
Asian Review of Books December 24, 2020

Owls of the Eastern Ice

A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl

Jonathan C. Slaght

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
The Blakiston’s fish owl is the world’s largest living species of owl, with larger females of the species weighing as much as ten pounds. It lives in the Russian Far …
Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight December 24, 2020

In the Know

Debunking 35 Myths about Human Intelligence

Russell T. Warne

Hosted by Dan Hill
In this episode I talked to Russell T. Warne about his book In the Know: Debunking 35 Myths about Human Intelligence (Cambridge UP, 2020). Warne  takes on the “nature versus nurture” debate regarding …
Science, Technology, and Society December 23, 2020

The Mutant Project

Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans

Eben Kirksey

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
In The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans (St. Martin's Press, 2020), anthropologist Eben Kirksey visits the frontiers of genetics, medicine, and technology to ask: Whose values …
Environmental Studies December 16, 2020

The Last Butterflies

A Scientist's Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature

Nick Haddad

Hosted by Rachel Pagones
Butterflies have long captivated the imagination of humans, from naturalists to children to poets. Indeed it would be hard to imagine a world without butterflies. And yet their populations are …
Science December 16, 2020

Turtle

Louise M. Pryke

Hosted by Bede Haines
As ancient creatures that once shared the Earth with dinosaurs, turtles have played a crucial role in maintaining healthy terrestrial and marine ecosystems for more than one hundred million years …
Mathematics December 7, 2020

The Fate of Schrodinger's Cat

Using Math and Computers to Explore the Counterintuitive

James D. Stein

Hosted by Cory Brunson
Math has a complicated relationship with the counterintuitive: Rigorous logic, calculation, and simulation can both help us wrap our minds around phenomena that defy our intuition, and thrust upon us whole new worlds …
Scholarly Communications December 7, 2020

Scholarly Communications

A Discussion with Elisa De Ranieri, Editor-in-Chief of 'Nature Communications'

Elisa De Ranieri

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Elisa De Ranieri, Editor-in-Chief of Nature Communications. We talk about knowing the research you have done, but communicating the message you want said. Interviewer: "When …
Science December 4, 2020

Brain Fables

The Hidden History of Neurodegenerative Diseases and a Blueprint to Conquer Them

Alberto Espay and Benjamin Stecher

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
An estimated 80 million people live with a neurodegenerative disease, with this number expected to double by 2050. Despite decades of research and billions in funding, there are no medications …
Science, Technology, and Society December 2, 2020

Points of Contact

Science, Religion, and the Search for Truth

Glenn Sauer

Hosted by John Traphagan
As a scientist and practicing Catholic, Dr. Sauer brings a unique perspective to several of the important issues related to finding a space for dialogue between the at times opposing …
Mathematics December 1, 2020

Supermath

The Power of Numbers for Good and Evil

Anna Weltman

Hosted by Cory Brunson
Mathematics as a subject is distinctive in its symbolic abstraction and its potential for logical and computational rigor. But mathematicians tend to impute other qualities to our subject that set …
Science November 24, 2020

Heredity Under the Microscope

Chromosomes and the Study of the Human Genome

Soraya de Chadarevian

Hosted by Maia Woolner
“What are chromosomes? And what does it mean to treat them as visual objects?” asks Soraya de Chadarevian in her new book, Heredity Under the Microscope: Chromosomes and the Study …
Science, Technology, and Society November 23, 2020

Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology

Kelly C. Smith and Carlos Mariscal

Hosted by John Traphagan
Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology (Oxford University Press, 2020) focuses on the emerging scientific discipline of astrobiology, exploring many of the humanistic issues this multidisciplinary field is generating. Despite …
Medicine November 16, 2020

Bedeviled

A Shadow History of Demons in Science

Jimena Canales

Hosted by Claire Clark
Science may be known for banishing the demons of superstition from the modern world. Yet just as the demon-haunted world was being exorcized by the enlightening power of reason, a …