Touch the Universe combines Braille and large-print captions that face 14 pages of brilliant Hubble Space Telescope photos with embossed shapes that represent various astronomical objects such as planets, stars and jets of gas streaming into space. "Universally designed" for both the sighted and visually impaired reader, Touch the Universe takes readers on a voyage of discovery, starting at Earth, proceeding through the solar system, and ending with the Hubble Northern Deep Field of Galaxies.

Joan Callahan, a San Diego biologist and epidemiologist, has written a reference that covers major infectious diseases, naturally occurring toxins, predators, and other categories of living threats to human life. Topics include human pathogens in water, food, and air, and how they are transmitted by contact.

Ellen Ruppel Shell, associate professor and co-director of the Knight Center for Science and Medical Journalism at Boston University, takes a look at the spreading obesity pandemic. She guides readers through the ongoing quest to unravel the genetic and behavioral bases of this vexing scientific mystery.

David Ropeik is director of risk communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. George Gray is a New Jersey freelancer. The authors say their aim is to empower readers to make educated decisions about 50 topics commonly regarded as potential perils, including biological weapons, radon, hazardous waste, breast implants, genetically modified foods, and solar radiation.