Reading Frames

In a chapter entitled “Predators, Silence, Wings,” author David George Haskell explores the soundscapes of bygone eras of animal communication.

In Chapter 7, “More Remarkable Encounters,” author Gregory Forth relays a story told to him by Tegu, a Lio man who says he found and disposed of a dead organism that might fit the description of an "ape-man."

Do members of Homo floresiensis still inhabit the Indonesian island where their fossils helped identify a new human species fewer than 20 years ago?

Researchers who study the phenomenon in humans should incorporate subjective experiences into data on love.

In Chapter 1, “Survival,” author Anna Machin describes the health benefits of strong human bonds.

How horned rabbits led the way to the HPV vaccine

In chapter 8, “Dr. Shope’s Warty Rabbits,” author Michael P. Branch describes the scientist who unearthed the viral cause of strange growths on wild rabbits.

In Chapter 7, “Grow,” author Helen Anne Curry relays the story of Indigenous revolutionaries in Mexico who tapped into community-based methods to conserve traditional corn varieties.

Rethinking why and how we conserve crop genetic diversity

In the introduction, editor Marcelo Gleiser establishes the need for dialogue across the science-humanities divide in academia.

To solve modern problems, we must integrate the sciences and the humanities and think across these traditionally disparate disciplines.

In Chapter 1, “On Being,” author Antonio Damasio outlines the dawn of consciousness.

The idea that minds and consciousness might be generated by the nervous system alone is false.

In Chapter 5, "Pick Up the Pieces," author Erica Cirino investigates the potential health risks of the small plastic particles that permeate the planet.

Plastic waste pervades every ecosystem on Earth and is likely affecting neurobiology as well.

In his book’s Introduction, physician-scientist Paul A. Offit reviews the unusual constellation of circumstances around the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

Every medical intervention—even one with a centuries-long history—brings dangers, some of which become clear only later.

In Chapter 6, author Henry T. Greely describes how news of the birth of gene-edited babies rocked a 2018 summit on human genome editing.

CRISPR and other innovations are likely to open up a wealth of new options for how people have children.