Articles

Doug Teschner, Beth Malow (NASW member), and Becky Robinson—Beyond the Politics of Contempt: Practical Steps to Build Positive Relationships in Divided Times

“Even people with high levels of science literacy are prone to cognitive bias,” NASW member Beth Malow and others note in Beyond the Politics of Contempt: Practical Steps to Build Positive Relationships in Divided Times. The authors discuss barriers to critical thinking and ways to surmount them, topics reporters may find useful when addressing polarized issues, e.g. vaccine safety and autism.

Dennis Meredith—The Czar Bomb

Dennis Meredith's latest scifi novel starts with a real event, the 1961 Soviet detonation in the Arctic of a bomb far bigger than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Soviets allegedly hid an even larger bomb in East Germany. In The Czar Bomb, rogue state terrorists locate it and plan to detonate it over Washington, DC. The race is on to neutralize it. Hi-tech warfare ensues.

David Baron—The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America

Our infatuation with Mars, David Baron writes, “began in a strange era, not that long ago, when it was the astronauts who were fiction and the Martians that were real.” In The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America, Baron explores the consequences of astronomer Percival Lowell’s 1894 assertion that “canals” he saw on Mars suggested life existed there.

Claire Wilcox MD—Rewire Your Food-Addicted Brain: Fight Cravings and Break Free from a High-Sugar, Ultra-Processed Diet Using Neuroscience

It's no surprise that food manufacturers design products to taste good. Ultra-processed foods promote overeating, often leading to obesity, Claire Wilcox writes in Rewire Your Food-Addicted Brain: Fight Cravings and Break Free from a High-Sugar, Ultra-Processed Diet Using Neuroscience. Healthier food choices, she asserts, can normalize brain chemistry, foster weight loss, & benefit overall health.

Starre Vartan—The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us About the Power of the Female Body

Women’s bodies have many often overlooked strengths, Starre Vartan reports in The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us About the Power of the Female Body. Women have greater endurance for long-distance events, tolerance for pain, and resistance to infections than men. “When we know more about female bodies,” Vartan says, “we find solutions to problems and illnesses that can apply to all humans.”

Sarah Boon—Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist

Many women in science face a glass obstacle course, if not a glass ceiling, Sarah Boon writes in Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist. “Students are taught to work harder, not smarter,” she notes. She details her struggles with depression as a PhD student and describes her work as a professor of glacier hydrology who also writes and gives talks on her field for the general public.

Lisa S. Gardiner—Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival

Rising global temperatures, pollution, overfishing, and other human-caused problems pose increasing threats to coral reef existence today, Lisa S. Gardiner asserts in Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival. Learning how coral reefs flourished or struggled in the past, she contends, can help us understand how they function now and find ways to help them continue to survive.

Chris Berdik—Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back

Restaurants where patrons have to shout to converse. Car alarms and traffic that disrupt sleep. In Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back, Chris Berdik tells not only how noise harms hearing and health, but also how better soundscapes in schools, offices, hospitals, streets, airports, and even parks can lower stress, improve well-being, and boost quality of life.

Rebecca Hirsch—Wonder Wings: Guess Who's Flying

Dragonflies are acrobats of the air, with four wings that can move in different directions simultaneously. Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Rebecca E. Hirsch explores the functions of wings in insects, birds, seeds, and even airplanes in Wonder Wings: Guess Who's Flying, her illustrated book of rhyming science riddles for 4-to-8-year-olds. Additional text helps adults expand the content.

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