
Ainissa Ramirez: The Alchemy of Us
A diagnosis of COVID-19 depends in part on an accurate thermometer, a device made possible by adding boron to glass in the late 1800s. In The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another, Ainissa Ramirez tells how advances in materials science shape our lives. Along with glass, her topics include clocks, steel, telegraph wires, photographic materials, silicon chips, and more.