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“The Environment” Is Only 70 Years Old
A new book traces the surprisingly short history of the environment as a shared conceptual construct.
“The Environment” Is Only 70 Years Old
“The Environment” Is Only 70 Years Old

A new book traces the surprisingly short history of the environment as a shared conceptual construct.

A new book traces the surprisingly short history of the environment as a shared conceptual construct.

history, books, culture

Book Excerpt from The Environment
Paul Warde, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sörlin | Feb 1, 2019 | 4 min read
The authors of a new history of humanity's relationship with the environment detail how climate change fits into the equation.
Capsule Reviews
Bob Grant | Dec 1, 2015 | 3 min read
Welcome to the Microbiome, The Paradox of Evolution, Newton's Apple, and Dawn of the Neuron.
Capsule Reviews
Bob Grant | Jan 1, 2015 | 3 min read
Does Altruism Exist?, Ancestors in Our Genome, Fred Sanger—Double Nobel Laureate, and Stiffs, Skulls & Skeletons
Aristotelian Biology
Armand Marie Leroi | Sep 1, 2014 | 3 min read
The ancient Greek philosopher was the first scientist.
Reanimated Chickens and Zombie Dogs
David Casarett | Aug 1, 2014 | 3 min read
In praise of weird science at the edge of life
Fantastical Fish, circa 1719
Abby Olena, PhD | Jan 1, 2014 | 2 min read
A collection of colorful drawings compiled by publisher Louis Renard sheds light on eighteenth-century science.
Renard's Menagerie
Abby Olena, PhD | Dec 31, 2013 | 1 min read
Some of the fantastical marine life depicted in a rare, 18th-century book
Chance and Necessity
Sean B. Carroll | Nov 1, 2013 | 3 min read
War and justice brought together two of the greatest minds of the 20th century, a scientist and a writer.
Book Excerpt from Brave Genius
Sean B. Carroll | Oct 31, 2013 | 4 min read
In Chapter 20, “On the Same Path,” author Sean Carroll describes the initial meeting between Nobel Laureates Jacques Monod and Albert Camus.
Faculty Fallout
Benjamin Ginsberg | Aug 1, 2011 | 3 min read
Administrators have taken over US universities, and they’re steering institutions of higher learning away from the goal of serving as beacons of knowledge.
Book Excerpt from Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why it Matters
Benjamin Ginsberg | Jul 31, 2011 | 4 min read
In Chapter 6, "Research and Teaching at the All-Administrative University," author Benjamin Ginsberg describes the perils of pursuing scholarship and teaching in the industrial environment of today's American institutions of higher learning.
Capsule Reviews
Richard P. Grant | Jul 1, 2011 | 4 min read
Solar, The Dark X, The Sky's Dark Labyrinth, Spiral
A Scar Nobly Got
Michael Willrich | Jul 1, 2011 | 3 min read
The story of the US government’s efforts to stamp out smallpox in the early 20th century offers insights into the science and practice of mass vaccination.
Book excerpt from Pox: An American History
Michael Willrich | Jun 30, 2011 | 4 min read
In Chapter 5, "The Stable and the Laboratory," author Michael Willrich explores the burgeoning vaccine manufacture industry that ramped up to combat smallpox epidemics in turn-of-the-twentieth-century American cities.
Book excerpt from Everyday Practice of Science
Frederick Grinnell | Jan 31, 2011 | 3 min read
In Chapter 3, “Credibility: Validating Discovery Claims,” author Frederick Grinnell details the difficulty in making discoveries that buck current scientific paradigms.
Capsule Reviews
Bob Grant | Jan 31, 2011 | 3 min read
Quirk, Darwin's Armada, The Death & Life of Monterey Bay, Elegance in Science
The Evolution of Credibility
Frederick Grinnell | Jan 31, 2011 | 3 min read
The winding path that an interesting result takes to become a bona fide discovery is just one of the topics covered in this new book on the practice of science.
Book Excerpt from Looking for a Few Good Males
Erika Lorraine Milam | Dec 31, 2010 | 10+ min read
In Chapter 2, "Progressive Desire," author Erika Lorraine Milam explores sexual selection’s incursion into evolutionary theory.
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