Expanded and updated, the book describes the relative safety and side effects of more than 12,000 ingredients that end up in our food. This includes new dangers such as bioterrorism and old problems such as antibiotic and hormone residues used in raising farm animals and crops.

Bernstein, a Type 1 diabetic, says he would have been dead by now if he had continued the high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet prescribed for him in his youth. His book focuses on protein, fat, and slow-acting carbohydrate, such as leafy and whole-plant vegetables and some kinds of root vegetables, which tend to be broken down more slowly and continuously, creating a satisfied feeling for a longer time after eating.

Balter, Science's former Paris bureau chief and now one of the magazine's chief archaeology and human evolution writers, tells the story of 9,500 year-old Catalhoyuk in south-central Turkey, the largest Neolithic village ever discovered.

What would it be like to be the scientist rather than the science writer? Hoyt started out as a science journalist but in the last few years began to write scientific papers and make presentations at conferences. "I still do some popular writing but increasingly my clips are in conference proceedings or journals," he says.