Science writing news

Rectangular photo of office bookshelf of Wendy Lyons Sunshine, author of Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs, showing books on dog training, behavior, and care, as well as child development, treatment of childhood trauma, attachment theory, and neuroscience. Photo credit: Wendy Lyons Sunshine.

Wendy Lyons Sunshine—Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs

Introducing a puppy or traumatized rescue dog to your home often presents unexpected challenges: some are nippy, fearful, or constant barkers. Tactics that help at-risk kids also may improve dog behavior, Wendy Lyons Sunshine asserts in Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs. To change behavior, she says, one first needs to assess a dog’s unmet needs.

Rectangular photo of Sheeva Azma’s office bookshelf showing books on science communication as well as literature and other topics in which she finds inspiration.  Photo credit Sheeva Azma.

Sheeva Azma—Science X Marketing

While science and marketing are separate disciplines, effective science communication draws on knowledge and skills from both, Sheeva Azma asserts in Science X Marketing, a book summarizing her experiences studying neuroscience and working as a science writer, educator, marketer, and policy advisor. Azma also explores ethical challenges that people who work in science marketing may face.

Rectangular photo of Erin Zimmerman’s office bookshelf showing works on botany, trees, naturalists, evolution, ontogeny and phylogeny, Darwin, and evolution, along with two antique student microscopes. Photo credit: Erin Zimmerman.

Erin Zimmerman—Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save an Old Science

Despite extinction of nearly 600 seed plant species since the 18th century, the number of top US universities offering botany degrees continues to fall, Erin Zimmerman reports in Unrooted: Botany, Motherhood, and the Fight to Save an Old Science. Protected maternity leave, pumping space, remote work options, and childcare at conferences, she asserts, could keep more highly trained women in science.

Rectangular photo of Devin Reese’s office bookshelf showing works on turtles, reptiles, amphibians, Darwin, the Galapagos, and the environment. Photo credit: Devin Reese.

George R. Zug and Devin A. Reese (NASW member)—Tortoises of the World: Giants to Dwarfs

All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises, herpetologist George R. Zug and NASW member Devin A. Reese report in Tortoises of the World: Giants to Dwarfs. Tortoises may converse via low-frequency vocalizations, this illustrated guide to 47 tortoise species relates. They can feel tactile stimulation of their shells. Habitat change and direct exploitation threaten their survival.

Rectangular image of Heather Hansen’s readings for Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone, including books on awe, contemplation, refuge, and memoirs. Image credit: Heather Hansen.

Netta Weinstein, Heather Hansen (NASW member), and Thuy-vy Nguyen—Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone

Solitude, often disparaged, linked to loneliness, or thought an unattainable luxury, offers many benefits for everyday life, Netta Weinstein, NASW member Heather Hansen, and Thuy-vy Nguyen write in Solitude: The Science and Power of Being Alone. Solitude can boost creativity, reflection, and resilience, the authors say. Surprise: it also often fosters improvements in social relationships.

Rectangular photo of Steve Nadis’ office bookshelf showing several works on Einstein, general relativity, and space-time, along with Nadis’ and his coauthor’s previous books on these topics. Photo credit: Steve Nadis.

Steve Nadis (NASW member) and Shing-Tung Yau—The Gravity of Math: How Geometry Rules the Universe

More than a century after Einstein published his theory of general relativity, physicists and mathematicians still strive to unravel its implications and expand upon it, NASW member Steve Nadis and Shing-Tung Yau write in The Gravity of Math: How Geometry Rules the Universe. Continual exchange and spillover of ideas across disciplinary boundaries, they note, advance our understanding of the universe.

Rectangular photo of Mark Wolverton’s office bookshelf showing works by and about physicists Arthur Holly Compton and Robert Millikan, the subjects of his book Splinters of Infinity, along with books on cosmic rays, stars, astronomy, and physics. Photo credit: Mark Wolverton.

Mark Wolverton—Splinters of Infinity: Cosmic Rays and the Clash of Two Nobel Prize-Winning Scientists over the Secrets of Creation

“Cosmic rays remain one of the most intractable scientific puzzles of all time,” Mark Wolverton asserts. Debate between two physicist superstars over what cosmic rays are and how they came to be roiled scientific, religious, and philosophical groups in the 1930s, Wolverton writes in Splinters of Infinity: Cosmic Rays and the Clash of Two Nobel Prize-Winning Scientists over the Secrets of Creation.

Rectangular photo of sea otter in the ocean. Photo credit: Jeff Stevens

Alison Pearce Stevens—Animal Climate Heroes!

Whales fertilize the ocean with their poop. Forest elephants eat small fast-growing trees, helping larger slow-growing trees flourish. In Animal Climate Heroes!, Alison Pearce Stevens urges readers aged 8 and up to become climate heroes, too, by cutting back on single-use plastics, encouraging their families to buy local, planting a vegetable garden, and choosing to bike rather than riding in a car.

Rectangular photo of David Baron’s office bookshelf showing works on eclipses, starts, astronomy, Thomas Edison and the U.S. Naval Observatory’s record of the July 29, 1878 eclipse. Photo credit: David Baron.

David Baron—American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World (Revised Edition)

On April 8, the moon’s shadow will sweep over North America from Mexico across Texas to New England into Canada. Some 32 million people will see a total eclipse. This “precious shared experience,” David Baron suggests in a new edition of American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World, may boost recognition of commonalities in our divided nation.

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