During World War II in Poland, one courageous scientist used his ability to make typhus vaccine to save hundreds of fellow scientists. More
Book Reviews
The Age of Radiance
The brilliance and the pathos of the nuclear age can be traced to the eccentric geniuses who discovered radiation. More
Cancer Chronicles
Using his wife’s brush with stage IV cancer as an armature, science writer George Johnson explores the cause and fate of cancer today. More
Brilliant Blunders
From Darwin to Einstein: Colossal mistakes by great scientists that changed our understanding of life and the universe. More
Toms River
An outbreak of leukemia in New Jersey led to a long investigation and cleanup, but nobody could conclusively pin the blame. More
The Half Life of Facts
Beneath our attention, facts often change. What causes this change, and why are we attached to the “facts” of our childhood? More
On the Map
Celebrating the urge to map, from the ancients to GPS, with detours into the male-female map-reading divergence, “X marks the spot.” More
Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide
This new edition covers the beauty and the mystery of the sky: From our moon to the most distant galactic explosion. More
Prize Fight
Think scientists don’t squabble for glory? Think again. The behind-the-scenes scramble for fame is almost tawdry enough for Hollywood! More
A Field Guide to Radiation
Need an A-to-Z encyclopedia of ionizing radiation? This one answers many of your questions. More
The Viral Storm
If you appreciate efficiency, you have to love viruses. A few genes, and they can conquer large, important organisms like us. More
The power of Habit
Duhigg’s new look at human behavior analyzes such diverse issues as Civil Rights, data-mining for profit and building a mega-church. More
Hot: Living through the next fifty years on Earth
Global warming is not an abstraction to people in flood-ravaged Bangladesh or corruption-addled New Orleans. More
The Book of Deadly Animals
Dangers lurk on a walk in the woods or a swim in the ocean, writes Gordon Grice: “… wild animals are not our friends.” More
The 4% Universe
If many scientific quests should be marked: “Progress = 2 steps forward + step back,” cosmologists have been in steady retreat. More