Science

A San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller

Read the rocks as only a geologist can, with this deep drill-down into Oakland’s geological history and its impacts on the city’s urban present.

"This book has turned me into a newcomer to my own city, but has also changed the way I will view any landscape. I can think of few greater gifts than that."—Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing

"Spending time with Andrew Alden is like giving yourself x-ray eyes." —Roman Mars, host and creator of 99% Invisible

Beneath Oakland’s streets and underfoot of every scurrying creature atop them, rocks roil, shift, crash, and collide in an ever-churning seismological saga. Playing out since time immemorial, the deep geology of this city has chiseled and carved its landforms and the lives of everyone—from the Ohlone to the settlers to the transients and transplants—who has called this singular place home.

In Deep Oakland, geologist Andrew Alden excavates the ancient story of Oakland’s geologic underbelly and reveals how its silt, soil, and subterranean sinews are intimately entwined with its human history—and future. Poised atop a world-famous fault line now slumbering, Alden charts how these quaking rocks gave rise to the hills and the flats; how ice-age sand dunes gave root to the city’s eponymous oak forests; how the Jurassic volcanoes of Leona Heights gave way to mining boom times; how Lake Merritt has swelled and disappeared a dozen times over the course of its million-year lifespan; and how each epochal shift has created the terrain cradling Oaklanders today. With Alden as our guide—and with illustrations by Laura Cunningham, author of A State of Change—we see that just as Oakland is a human crossroads, a convergence of cultures from the world over, so too is the bedrock below, carried here from parts still incompletely known.

PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Winner * Golden Poppy Award Winner for Nonfiction * California Book Awards Gold Medal Winner * A Great Read from Great Places selected by the Library of Congress * A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year * American Book Award Winner * 2024 American Energy Society's Energy Writer of the Year * An Architect's Newspaper Best Book of 2023 * 2024 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Medal Winner

Now in paperback: a "deeply researched and reported" (San Francisco Chronicle) exploration of sea level rise in California that "breathes exquisite detail and dialogue" (Science Magazine) into the subject.

"Viscerally urgent, thoroughly reported, and compellingly written—a must-read for our uncertain times." —Ed Yong, author of An Immense World

"When do seawalls make sense? And when is it better to give in to the tides? [...] In California Against the Sea, Xia [...] writes about the difficult realities of trying to incorporate fairness into our tally of costs and benefits." —The New Yorker

Along California's 1,200-mile coastline, the overheated Pacific Ocean is rising and pressing in, imperiling both wildlife and the maritime towns and cities that 27 million people call home. In California Against the Sea, Los Angeles Times coastal reporter Rosanna Xia asks: As climate chaos threatens the places we love so fiercely, will we finally grasp our collective capacity for change?

Xia, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, investigates the impacts of engineered landscapes, the market pressures of development, and the ecological activism and political scrimmages that have carved our contemporary coastline—and foretell even greater changes to our shores. From the beaches of the Mexican border up to the sheer-cliffed North Coast, the voices of Indigenous leaders, community activists, small-town mayors, urban engineers, and tenacious environmental scientists commingle. Together, they chronicle the challenges and urgency of forging a climate-wise future. Xia's investigation takes us to Imperial Beach, Los Angeles, Pacifica, Marin City, San Francisco, and beyond, weighing the rivaling arguments, agreements, compromises, and visions governing the State of California’s commitment to a coast for all. Through graceful reportage, she charts how the decisions we make today will determine where we go tomorrow: headlong into natural disaster, or toward an equitable refashioning of coastal stewardship.

Discover the Mysteries of Our Universe

Weird Universe is your gateway to the wonders of space. Have you ever looked up at the night sky and marveled at the mysteries hidden beyond the stars? This book takes that curiosity and turns it into an accessible, fun introduction to space, packed with all the weirdness we've discovered out there.

Unlock the wonders of space with a fresh and exciting perspective.

See how space exploration shapes our everyday world. Space isn’t just an abstract concept—it plays a crucial role in shaping the technology we use every day. From NASA’s breakthroughs to innovations inspired by our exploration of the cosmos, Hamden shows how space discoveries influence our world. You’ll also gain insight into the process behind these findings, from the questions scientists ask to the groundbreaking answers they uncover. By the end of the book, you’ll understand not just what we know about the universe, but how we’ve come to know it.

Inside, you’ll find:

• A clear, engaging look at black holes, galaxies, and the history of NASA, explained in simple terms.
• Fascinating insights into how scientists make new discoveries about space, with a focus on how it all connects to us here on Earth.
• Fun and accessible content perfect for all ages, including those learning space for kids and adults who want to dive deeper into the world of astronomy.

If you liked Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, The Illustrated Brief History of Time, or Not Necessarily Rocket Science, you’ll love Weird Universe.

Take a road trip through deep time and California history, with a friendly expert geologist at the wheel.

From its epic earthquakes to its famed epithet "the Golden State," California as we know it would not exist without geology. Gary L. Prost, an expert geologist born and raised in California, embarked on a quest to better understand the state's rocky history. His road trips have culminated in Rocks and Riches, an accessible and entertaining look at the land that has shaped the lives of all Californians. With humor and abiding curiosity, Prost examines the workings of deep time, the fascinating and troubled legacies of the Gold Rush, and the ways geology continues to influence life in California today. Visiting 56 stops of geologic interest, he traverses the Marin and Sonoma coasts, the Central Valley, the Sierra Foothills, Yosemite, and the Basin and Range country, ending with an extended journey through Death Valley to meditate on the awe-inspiring intensity of California's deserts. Including dozens of illustrations and road maps, as well as guidance for fellow travelers, Rocks and Riches is both a practical handbook and an invitation to see California's landscapes with wonder.

How worldwide plant circulation and new botanical ideas enabled Americans to radically re-envision politics and society

The Garden Politic argues that botanical practices and discourses helped nineteenth-century Americans engage pressing questions of race, gender, settler colonialism, and liberal subjectivity. In the early republic, ideas of biotic distinctiveness helped fuel narratives of American exceptionalism. By the nineteenth century, however, these ideas and narratives were unsettled by the unprecedented scale at which the United States and European empires prospected for valuable plants and exchanged them across the globe. Drawing on ecocriticism, New Materialism, environmental history, and the history of science—and crossing disciplinary and national boundaries—The Garden Politic shows how new ideas about cultivation and plant life could be mobilized to divergent political and social ends.

Reading the work of influential nineteenth-century authors from a botanical perspective, Mary Kuhn recovers how domestic political issues were entangled with the global circulation and science of plants. The diversity of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s own gardens contributed to the evolution of her racial politics and abolitionist strategies. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s struggles in his garden inspired him to write stories in which plants defy human efforts to impose order. Radical scientific ideas about plant intelligence and sociality prompted Emily Dickinson to imagine a human polity that embraces kinship with the natural world. Yet other writers, including Frederick Douglass, cautioned that the most prominent political context for plants remained plantation slavery.

The Garden Politic reveals how the nineteenth century’s extractive political economy of plants contains both the roots of our contemporary environmental crisis and the seeds of alternative political visions.

How gallows humor can bolster us to confront global warming

We’ve all seen the headlines: oceans rising, historic heat waves, mass extinctions, climate refugees. It feels overwhelming, like nothing can make a difference in combating this ongoing global catastrophe. How can we mobilize to save the world when we feel this depressed?

Stay Cool enjoins us to laugh our way forward. Human beings have used comedy to cope with difficult realities since the beginning of recorded time—the more dismal the news, the darker the humor. Using this rich tradition of dark comedy to investigate climate change, Aaron Sachs makes the case that gallows humor, a mainstay of African Americans and Jews facing extraordinary oppression, can cultivate endurance, persistence, and solidarity in the face of calamity.

Sachs surveys the macabre tradition of laughing during great suffering, from the Black Plague to the San Francisco earthquake of 1906—and offers some of the earliest examples of superlative dark comedy. He also explores how a new generation of activists and comedians are deploying dark humor to great effect, by poking fun at older people’s apathy about climate catastrophes, lambasting oil corporations’ “eco” rebranding, and even producing an off-Broadway dystopian comedy called “Sea Level Rise.” Sachs offers suggestions for how environmentalists can use dark comedy first to boost their own morale, and then to reframe their activism in more energizing and relatable ways.
Environmentalism is probably the least funny social movement that’s ever existed. Stay Cool seeks to change that. Will comedy save the world? Not by itself, no. But it can put people in a decent enough mood to get them started on a rescue mission.

Embark on an extraordinary journey into the depths of the ocean.

Oceanographer Dawn Wright made history in 2022 when she became the first Black person to visit Challenger Deep, the deepest and most unexplored place on Earth—a trip that took her over 10,000 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean’s surface. We know less about the ocean floor than we do about the surface of the moon. To date, barely one-fifth of the seabed has been mapped in high resolution. As an ocean scientist and explorer, Dawn has made it her mission to change that.

Mapping the Deep takes you on an extraordinary adventure with an extraordinary woman into the depths of Challenger Deep, showcasing the perseverance and innovation needed for ocean exploration. With a focus on Dawn’s historic dive, her personal journey, and the cutting-edge technology that made the expedition possible, this book highlights the crucial importance of mapping the ocean and its profound impact on our planet’s future. Prepare to be inspired—from the fascinating history of the area and the incredible stories of its explorers to the diverse marine life that lives within.

Through a blend of history, fascinating facts, and beautiful images, Mapping the Deep offers a unique perspective on the challenges and triumphs of deep-sea exploration.

PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Winner * Golden Poppy Award Winner for Nonfiction * California Book Awards Gold Medal Winner * A Great Read from Great Places selected by the Library of Congress * A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year * American Book Award Winner * 2024 American Energy Society's Energy Writer of the Year * An Architect's Newspaper Best Book of 2023 * 2024 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Medal Winner

Now in paperback: a "deeply researched and reported" (San Francisco Chronicle) exploration of sea level rise in California that "breathes exquisite detail and dialogue" (Science Magazine) into the subject.

"Viscerally urgent, thoroughly reported, and compellingly written—a must-read for our uncertain times." —Ed Yong, author of An Immense World

"When do seawalls make sense? And when is it better to give in to the tides? [...] In California Against the Sea, Xia [...] writes about the difficult realities of trying to incorporate fairness into our tally of costs and benefits." —The New Yorker

Along California's 1,200-mile coastline, the overheated Pacific Ocean is rising and pressing in, imperiling both wildlife and the maritime towns and cities that 27 million people call home. In California Against the Sea, Los Angeles Times coastal reporter Rosanna Xia asks: As climate chaos threatens the places we love so fiercely, will we finally grasp our collective capacity for change?

Xia, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, investigates the impacts of engineered landscapes, the market pressures of development, and the ecological activism and political scrimmages that have carved our contemporary coastline—and foretell even greater changes to our shores. From the beaches of the Mexican border up to the sheer-cliffed North Coast, the voices of Indigenous leaders, community activists, small-town mayors, urban engineers, and tenacious environmental scientists commingle. Together, they chronicle the challenges and urgency of forging a climate-wise future. Xia's investigation takes us to Imperial Beach, Los Angeles, Pacifica, Marin City, San Francisco, and beyond, weighing the rivaling arguments, agreements, compromises, and visions governing the State of California’s commitment to a coast for all. Through graceful reportage, she charts how the decisions we make today will determine where we go tomorrow: headlong into natural disaster, or toward an equitable refashioning of coastal stewardship.

Honorable Mention, Rachel Carson Prize, given by the Society for the Social Studies of Science

Finalist, 2023 ASAP Book Award, given by the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present

Studies the intersections of incarceration, medical science, and race in postwar America

In February 1966, a local newspaper described the medical science program at Holmesburg Prison, Philadelphia, a “golden opportunity to conduct widespread medical tests under perfect control conditions.” Helmed by Albert M. Kligman, a University of Pennsylvania professor, these tests enrolled hundreds of the prison’s predominantly Black population in studies determining the efficacy and safety of a wide variety of substances, from common household products to chemical warfare agents. These experiments at Holmesburg were hardly unique; in the postwar United States, the use of incarcerated test subjects was standard practice among many research institutions and pharmaceutical companies. Skin Theory examines the prison as this space for scientific knowledge production, showing how the “perfect control conditions” of the prison dovetailed into the visual regimes of laboratory work. To that end, Skin Theory offers an important reframing of visual approaches to race in histories of science, medicine, and technology, shifting from issues of scientific racism to the scientific rationality of racism itself.

In this highly original work, Cristina Mejia Visperas approaches science as a fundamentally racial project by analyzing the privileged object and instrument of Kligman’s experiments: the skin. She theorizes the skin as visual technology, as built environment, and as official discourse, developing a compelling framework for understanding the intersections of race, incarceration, and medical science in postwar America.

Instant New York Times Bestseller * Financial Times Best Books of 2024

Climate investor and activist Tom Steyer shows us how we can win the war on climate—and why fighting for a sustainable future can help bring meaning and prosperity to our lives.

The consequences of climate change—rising waters, extreme weather, record temperatures—are transforming our lives, as global warming accelerates more rapidly than scientists predicted even a few years ago. At the same time, the clean energy revolution is forging ahead faster than nearly anyone anticipated. As Tom Steyer sees it, these two trends together create a moment like the one America faced during World War II: on the one hand, an existential threat that demands our collective action; on the other, an opportunity to lead the world, protect the planet, and set the stage for a new generation of shared economic prosperity.

In 2012, Steyer walked away from the highly successful investment fund he founded to devote himself full time to climate issues, and he’s been on the front lines ever since. In this accessible book, aimed at everyone from college students to Wall Street investors, Steyer presents his blueprint for winning the climate fight—sharing his own story of becoming a “climate person,” debunking the arguments made by fossil fuel companies, and showcasing the inspiring, innovative work of other climate leaders in the clean-energy transition. Capitalism, Steyer argues, can be the key to scaling climate progress, and all of us can play a part in stabilizing our planet. As green technology is fast becoming cleaner and cheaper, reshaping our planet’s future—and our own—has never been more crucial or within our reach.

Now in paperback: This San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and California Book Award finalist drills down into Oakland's geological history and its impacts on the city's urban present.

"This book has turned me into a newcomer to my own city, but has also changed the way I will view any landscape. I can think of few greater gifts than that."—Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing and Saving Time

"Spending time with Andrew Alden is like giving yourself x-ray eyes." —Roman Mars, host and creator of 99% Invisible

Beneath Oakland's streets and underfoot of every scurrying creature atop them, rocks roil, shift, crash, and collide in an ever-churning seismological saga. In Deep Oakland, geologist Andrew Alden excavates the ancient story of Oakland's geologic underbelly and reveals how its silt, soil, and subterranean sinews are intimately entwined with its human history—and future. Poised atop a world-famous fault line now slumbering, Alden charts how these quaking rocks gave rise to the hills and the flats; how ice-age sand dunes gave root to the city's eponymous oak forests; how the Jurassic volcanoes of Leona Heights gave way to mining boom times; how Lake Merritt has swelled and disappeared a dozen times over the course of its million-year lifespan; and how each epochal shift has created the terrain cradling Oaklanders today. With Alden as our guide—and with illustrations by Laura Cunningham, author of A State of Change—we see that just as Oakland is a human crossroads, a convergence of cultures from the world over, so too is the bedrock below, carried here from parts still incompletely known.

Pennsylvania, a state of diverse geography and geology, is rich in flora. The second edition of The Plants of Pennsylvania identifies the nearly 3,400 species of trees, wildflowers, ferns, grasses, sedges, aquatic plants, and weeds native to or naturalized in the Commonwealth.

Retaining the clearly written identification keys and descriptions that made the first edition such an essential reference, this new edition has been reorganized to reflect recent advances in our understanding of plant relationships. Families and genera are listed in a sequence determined by current studies of plant molecular genetics, thus providing new insights for the study of botany. In addition, species have been added to the book as a result of new discoveries. The botanical illustrations of Anna Anisko continue to complement the descriptions and add an element of beauty to the volume.

Developed in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Flora Project, and compiled by botanists at the Morris Arboretum, the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the second edition of The Plants of Pennsylvania is the authoritative guide to Pennsylvania's plant life. It will be indispensable to taxonomists, conservationists, ecologists, foresters, land planners, teachers, agricultural county agents, students, and amateur naturalists.

2024 Nautilus Book Award Winner * The Marginalian Favorite Books of 2023

An electrifying introduction to complexity theory, the science of how complex systems behave, that explains the interconnectedness of all things and that Deepak Chopra says, “will change the way you understand yourself and the universe.”

Nothing in the universe is more complex than life. Throughout the skies, in oceans, and across lands, life is endlessly on the move. In its myriad forms—from cells to human beings, social structures, and ecosystems—life is open-ended, evolving, unpredictable, yet adaptive and self-sustaining. Complexity theory addresses the mysteries that animate science, philosophy, and metaphysics: how this teeming array of existence, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is in fact a seamless living whole and what our place, as conscious beings, is within it.

The implications of complexity theory are profound, providing insight into everything from the permeable boundaries of our bodies to the nature of consciousness. Notes on Complexity is an invitation to trade our limited, individualistic view for the expansive perspective of a universe that is dynamic, cohesive, and alive—a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Physician, scientist, and philosopher Neil Theise takes us to the exhilarating frontiers of human knowledge and in the process restores wonder and meaning to our experience of the everyday.

A FOREIGN AFFAIRS BEST BOOK OF 2024

The gripping history of the devastation and resurrection of the Marshes of Iraq, an environmental treasure of the Middle East, now a protected site

The Mesopotamian Marshes in southern Iraq, once the largest wetland system on the planet, have been inhabited for thousands of years by the Ma‘dan, or Marsh Arabs, but they remain remote, isolated, and virtually unknown. In the early 1990s, the Saddam Hussein regime drained the Marshes and set out to destroy not only a critical ecosystem but a unique way of life as well. It stands as one of the greatest environmental and humanitarian disasters of the twentieth century. In the wake of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, local residents destroyed the earthen dams built to divert water from the wetlands and the Marshes were reflooded. Their future, however, is in peril.

The Ghosts of Iraq’s Marshes tells the history of the creation, destruction, and revitalization of the Marshes and their inhabitants against the backdrop of the dramatic events that have convulsed Iraq in the past fifty years. It follows the life of Jassim al-Asadi, an irrigation engineer who was jailed and tortured under Saddam Hussein and who subsequently dedicated his life to the reflooding and restoration of the Marshes. He eventually contributed to the Marshes being declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Jassim is eminently relatable, and the stories of his life and other marsh dwellers are infused with pathos, tragedy, humor, and passion.

In fewer than two-hundred pages, David Stove leaves the well-established and widely regarded edifice of the academic philosophy of science in smoldering ruins.

This book provides a modern history of scientific reasoning, from David Hume’s inductive skepticism to Karl Popper’s outright denial of induction, to the increasingly irrational and absurd scientific views that followed. When Popper untethered science from induction, Stove argues, he triggered a postmodernist nightmare of utter nonsense culminating in Paul Feyerabend’s summation that “anything goes” when it comes to defining or describing science. 

With undeniable logic, a deft analysis of the linguistic slight-of-hand that make absurd arguments seem reasonable, and regular displays of wit, Stove gives the reader a front row seat to one of the greatest unforced errors in the history of modern thought. 

Stove’s views are entirely consistent with the origins of scientific inference and logic, as well as modern advances in probability theory, and yet he remains largely unnoticed by most of the academic world. From Stove’s insider-outsider perspective, the train wreck that is academically accepted philosophy of science and “science studies” is a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining subject of study.

Scientific Irrationalism is the perfect place to begin any examination of what science is—and what it is not. 

How extreme-right antidemocratic governments around the world are prioritizing profits over citizens, stoking catastrophic wildfires, and accelerating global climate change.

Recent years have seen out-of-control wildfires rage across remote Brazilian rainforests, densely populated California coastlines, and major cities in Australia. What connects these separate events is more than immediate devastation and human loss of life. In Global Burning, Eve Darian-Smith contends that using fire as a symbolic and literal thread connecting different places around the world allows us to better understand the parallel, and related, trends of the growth of authoritarian politics and climate crises and their interconnected global consequences.

Darian-Smith looks deeply into each of these three cases of catastrophic wildfires and finds key similarities in all of them. As political leaders and big business work together in the pursuit of profits and power, anti-environmentalism has become an essential political tool enabling the rise of extreme right governments and energizing their populist supporters. These are the governments that deny climate science, reject environmental protection laws, and foster exclusionary worldviews that exacerbate climate injustice.

The fires in Australia, Brazil and the United States demand acknowledgment of the global systems of inequality that undergird them, connecting the political erosion of liberal democracy with the corrosion of the environment. Darian-Smith argues that these wildfires are closely linked through capitalism, colonialism, industrialization, and resource extraction. In thinking through wildfires as environmental and political phenomenon, Global Burning challenges readers to confront the interlocking powers that are ensuring our future ecological collapse.

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

Muddy Thinking in the Mississippi River Delta uses the story of mud to answer a deceptively simple question: How can a place uniquely vulnerable to sea level rise be one of the nation's most promiscuous producers and consumers of fossil fuels? Organized around New Orleans and South Louisiana as a case study, this book examines how the unruly Mississippi River and its muddy delta shaped the people, culture, and governance of the region. It proposes a framework of "muddy thinking" to gum the wheels of extractive capitalism and pollution that have brought us to the precipice of planetary collapse. Muddy Thinking calls upon our dirty, shared histories to address urgent questions of mutual survival and care in a rapidly changing world.

One of the classic works of marine biology, a favorite for generations, has now been completely revised and expanded. Between Pacific Tides is a book for all who find the shore a place of excitement, wonder, and beauty, and an unsurpassed introductory text for both students and professionals.

This book describes the habits and habitats of the animals that live in one of the most prolific life zones of the world—the rocky shores and tide pools of the Pacific Coast of the United States. The intricate and fascinating life processes of these creatures are described with affectionate care. The animals are grouped according to their most characteristic habitat, whether rocky shore, sandy beach, mud flat, or wharf piling, and the authors discuss their life history, physiology, and community relations, and the influence of wave shock and shifting tide level.

Though the basic purpose and structure—and much of the text—of the book remain the same, content has been increased by about 20 percent; a multitude of changes and additios has been made in the text; the Annotated Systematic Index and General Bibliography have been updated and greatly expanded (now almost 2,300 entries); more than 200 new photographs and drawings have been incorporated; and an entirely new chapter has been added—a topical presentation of the several factors influencing distribution of organisms along the shore. This edition also includes John Steinbeck's Foreword to the 1948 edition.

There's a silent epidemic in western civilization, and it is right under our noses. Our jaws are getting smaller and our teeth crooked and crowded, creating not only aesthetic challenges but also difficulties with breathing. Modern orthodontics has persuaded us that braces and oral devices can correct these problems. While teeth can certainly be straightened, what about the underlying causes of this rapid shift in oral evolution and the health risks posed by obstructed airways?

Sandra Kahn and Paul R. Ehrlich, a pioneering orthodontist and a world-renowned evolutionist, respectively, present the biological, dietary, and cultural changes that have driven us toward this major health challenge. They propose simple adjustments that can alleviate this developing crisis, as well as a major alternative to orthodontics that promises more significant long-term relief. Jaws will change your life. Every parent should read this book.

Discover The Geographic Approach to enabling science for a more exceptional planet.

Place matters to governments and citizens, and location intelligence and data science have never been more critical for smarter national decision-making. Addressing Earth’s Challenges: GIS for Earth Sciences explores a collection of real-life stories about how earth science organizations successfully use geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize and analyze data to streamline workflows, gain competitive insight, drive decision-making, design efficient operations, and foster civic inclusion.

Find out how multiple organizations implement GIS in six scientific fields:

• geoscience,
• sustainable energy,
• environmental monitoring,
• climate science,
• weather, and
• marine science.

The book also includes a section on next steps that provides helpful ideas, strategies, tools, and actions to help jump-start your use of GIS for earth sciences. A collection of online resources, including additional stories, videos, new ideas and concepts, and downloadable tools and content, complements this book.

There's a silent epidemic in western civilization, and it is right under our noses. Our jaws are getting smaller and our teeth crooked and crowded, creating not only aesthetic challenges but also difficulties with breathing. Modern orthodontics has persuaded us that braces and oral devices can correct these problems. While teeth can certainly be straightened, what about the underlying causes of this rapid shift in oral evolution and the health risks posed by obstructed airways?

Sandra Kahn and Paul R. Ehrlich, a pioneering orthodontist and a world-renowned evolutionist, respectively, present the biological, dietary, and cultural changes that have driven us toward this major health challenge. They propose simple adjustments that can alleviate this developing crisis, as well as a major alternative to orthodontics that promises more significant long-term relief. Jaws will change your life. Every parent should read this book.

Targeted for chemists, the current textbook outlines the principles, experimental methods and data analysis in X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS). The authors introduce EXAFS, Near-Edge XAS, X-Ray Imaging and many other advanced experimental techniques. A special section of the book is devoted to applications of XAS in chemistry, materials and environmental sciences.

2024 Outstanding Academic Title, given by Choice Reviews

How the scientific community overlooked, ignored, and denied the catastrophic fallout of decades of nuclear testing in the American West

In December of 1950, President Harry Truman gave authorization for the Atomic Energy Commission to conduct weapons tests and experiments on a section of a Nevada gunnery range. Over the next eleven years, more than a hundred detonations were conducted at the Nevada Test Site, and radioactive debris dispersed across the communities just downwind and through much of the country. In this important work, James C. Rice tells the hidden story of nuclear weapons testing and the negligence of the US government in protecting public health.

Downwind of the Atomic State focuses on the key decisions and events shaping the Commission’s mismanagement of radiological contamination in the region, specifically on how the risks of fallout were defined and redefined, or, importantly, not defined at all, owing to organizational mistakes and the impetus to keep atomic testing going at all costs. Rice shows that although Atomic Energy Commission officials understood open-air detonations injected radioactive debris into the atmosphere, they did not understand, or seem to care, that the radioactivity would irrevocably contaminate these communities.

The history of the atomic Southwest should be a wake-up call to everyone living in a world replete with large, complex organizations managing risky technological systems. The legacy of open-air detonations in Nevada pushes us to ask about the kinds of risks we are unwittingly living under today. What risks are we being exposed to by large organizations under the guise of security and science?

The second edition of the Macromolecular Chemistry broadens into two areas: biomacromolecules, Volume 1 and polymers, Volume 2. Biomacromolecules covers carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, their classifications and properties. The first chapter looks at the structural formulas and cyclic forms of monosaccharides, as well as their synthesis and breakdown. Cyclization, enolization, isomerization, tautomerization, mutarotation, and epimerization are all briefly described. Examples of disaccharides and polysaccharides are also presented. The second chapter covers triglycerides, steroids, vitamins, and their constituents. The third chapter examines the primary structure of proteins, including amino acid properties, peptide bond formation, and peptide synthesis. It also addresses secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures. The book concludes with a chapter on nucleic acids, which covers the chemistry of nucleosides and oligonucleotides as well as topics such as genetic code, DNA secret code, Polymerase Chain Reaction and DNA fingerprinting.

Presents the 250 texts Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), known as the “father of environmentalism,” wrote in English, unabridged in their original form

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), German geographer and naturalist, is well-known for his explorations of the Americas and of Russia, for his ascension of Mount Chimborazo, and for his contributions to the understanding of man-made climate change. Though he is cited today as the “father of ecology or environmentalism,” many of his works have not been accessible since his death, especially his numerous papers, articles, and essays published in journals, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. Humboldt’s international reception was unparalleled during his time, with publications spanning across five continents in fifteen languages, and his work influenced generations of writers—from Darwin, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman to Carpentier, Reyes, Aira, Galeano, and García Márquez.

Humboldt’s complete corpus consists of 750 individual texts, published in 3,600 versions and translations across more than 1,200 periodicals during his lifetime, with 250 of theses texts appearing in English, mostly published in the United States and the United Kingdom. This two-volume collection presents these English works in their original form. Containing groundbreaking scientific insights into tropical ecosystems, postcolonial societies, and the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, Humboldt’s work not only inspired research within the halls of academia but also informed the discourse of thinkers, writers, and natural scientists worldwide. These volumes make a significant portion of the work of one of the most important figures in the history of science accessible and invites readers to engage with these important contributions to science and society.

Catalysis is at the heart of the chemical industry, which uses solid catalysts for the large-scale production of commodity chemicals. Catalysis at surfaces is also the basis for the ongoing transition to a sustainable energy supply, which requires molecules such as hydrogen, ammonia or methanol to store energy in chemical bonds, and environmental protection equally relies on heterogeneous catalysis.

Catalysis at surfaces is a truly interdisciplinary field, which requires profound knowledge from chemistry, physics and engineering as provided by this textbook. All essential tools are described ranging from the synthesis and modification of porous solids over bulk- and surface-sensitive characterization techniques to currently applied theoretical methods. A close-up to the important aspects of surface catalysis is provided, which comprises the established knowledge about mechanisms and active sites, promotors and poisons in redox and acid-base catalysis.

This advanced textbook is recommended for Master and PhD students, for whom it provides the fundamentals and all relevant aspects of catalyst synthesis, characterization and application in suitable reactors. It is not only thermal catalysis that is covered in depth, but also photo- and electrocatalysis as emerging fields in the Energiewende.

Energy Islands provides an urgent and nuanced portrait of collective action that resists racial capitalism, colonialism, and climate disruption. Weaving together historical and ethnographic research, this story challenges the master narratives of Puerto Rico as a tourist destination and site of "natural" disasters to demonstrate how fossil fuel economies are inextricably entwined with colonial practices and how local community groups in Puerto Rico have struggled against energy coloniality to mobilize and transform power from the ground up.

Catalina M. de Onís documents how these groups work to decenter continental contexts and deconstruct damaging hierarchies that devalue and exploit rural coastal communities. She highlights and collaborates with individuals who refuse the cruel logics of empire by imagining and implementing energy justice and other interconnected radical power transformations. Diving deeply into energy, islands, and power, this book engages various metaphors for alternative world-making.

NMR Multiplet Interpretation: An Infographic Walk-Through focuses on complex first-order ¹H multiplet interpretation that the synthetic organic chemist should expect to tackle. The 2^nd edition also expands upon the interpretation of (¹H and ¹⁹F) multiplets and ties the shape of multiplets to the structural features of hypothetical chemical compounds. The book provides thoroughly-visualized illustrations, embracing an elegant and intuitive methodology from the scientific literature. Moreover, it identifies core mnemonic rules and diagrams that help the reader quickly internalize key concepts. It includes progressively-challenging problems—from simple, intermediate, advanced, to expert—and corresponding colorful answer keys that are presented wholly-visually. While this is not a textbook nor a scientific publication, it does strive to be a unique learning tool that fills an apparent need for highly-visual pedagogical materials for chemists who want to develop practical confidence with first-order multiplet interpretation and prediction. It can be either a great companion to more traditional coursework in NMR spectroscopy for students or a continuing educational tool for researchers.

Presents the 250 texts Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), known as the “father of environmentalism,” wrote in English, unabridged in their original form

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), German geographer and naturalist, is well-known for his explorations of the Americas and of Russia, for his ascension of Mount Chimborazo, and for his contributions to the understanding of man-made climate change. Though he is cited today as the “father of ecology or environmentalism,” many of his works have not been accessible since his death, especially his numerous papers, articles, and essays published in journals, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. Humboldt’s international reception was unparalleled during his time, with publications spanning across five continents in fifteen languages, and his work influenced generations of writers—from Darwin, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman to Carpentier, Reyes, Aira, Galeano, and García Márquez.

Humboldt’s complete corpus consists of 750 individual texts, published in 3,600 versions and translations across more than 1,200 periodicals during his lifetime, with 250 of theses texts appearing in English, mostly published in the United States and the United Kingdom. This two-volume collection presents these English works in their original form. Containing groundbreaking scientific insights into tropical ecosystems, postcolonial societies, and the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, Humboldt’s work not only inspired research within the halls of academia but also informed the discourse of thinkers, writers, and natural scientists worldwide. These volumes make a significant portion of the work of one of the most important figures in the history of science accessible and invites readers to engage with these important contributions to science and society.

Presents the 250 texts Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), known as the “father of environmentalism,” wrote in English, unabridged in their original form

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), German geographer and naturalist, is well-known for his explorations of the Americas and of Russia, for his ascension of Mount Chimborazo, and for his contributions to the understanding of man-made climate change. Though he is cited today as the “father of ecology or environmentalism,” many of his works have not been accessible since his death, especially his numerous papers, articles, and essays published in journals, newspapers, and magazines all over the world. Humboldt’s international reception was unparalleled during his time, with publications spanning across five continents in fifteen languages, and his work influenced generations of writers—from Darwin, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman to Carpentier, Reyes, Aira, Galeano, and García Márquez.

Humboldt’s complete corpus consists of 750 individual texts, published in 3,600 versions and translations across more than 1,200 periodicals during his lifetime, with 250 of theses texts appearing in English, mostly published in the United States and the United Kingdom. This two-volume collection presents these English works in their original form. Containing groundbreaking scientific insights into tropical ecosystems, postcolonial societies, and the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples, Humboldt’s work not only inspired research within the halls of academia but also informed the discourse of thinkers, writers, and natural scientists worldwide. These volumes make a significant portion of the work of one of the most important figures in the history of science accessible and invites readers to engage with these important contributions to science and society.

This class-tested textbook gives an overview of the structure and functions of proteins and explains how amino acids form a defined structural entity with specific properties. The authors also introduce modern methods for purification and separation of proteins as well as different techniques for analyzing their structural and functional properties. A separate part of the book is devoted to enzymes and kinetics of enzymatic reactions.

New in the second edition: Since the development of computing techniques has evolved considerably during the last few years, the text benefits from the addition of a chapter on the use of computing, particularly on the use of Alpha Fold in protein research. This AI-based software can determine the protein structures from the amino acid sequence with excellent reliability. Also included a discussion on the use of molecular dynamicsand a real life example of protein purification.

Life in all its forms is based on nucleic acids which store and transfer genetic information. The book addresses main aspects of synthesis, hydrolytic stability and solution equilibria of nucleosides, nucleotides and oligonucleotides, as well as synthesis of their structural analogs that are of interest in chemotherapy. In addition, recent achievements in chemistry of catalytic nucleic acids, development of oligonucleotide based drugs and novel strategies for their targeting and delivery are discussed. The central theme always is the correlation of structure and function.

Organic Chemistry: 25 Must-Know Classes of Organic Compounds covers the main organic compounds. It includes aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, halide, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur-containing compounds. It presents heterocyclic compounds and common organic mechanisms and describes carbonyl compounds, organic polymers and organic molecules with applications in medicinal chemistry.

The term nutraceuticals is applied to the products isolated from the herbal sources, nutrients or dietary supplements, processed foods, (cereals, soup and beverages) and specific diets, that may also used as medicine other than nutrition. It usually refers to the foods derived products which may sell in medicinal form, possessing physiological benefits to the host while promoting health and wellness and provide protection against chronic disorders. They may also increase the life expectancy, delay the aging and/or support the structure and function of the body organs. Demand for nutraceuticals with potential to prevent and treat chronic disorders has been interestingly increasing over the past few years. Based on food sources, nutraceuticals are classified into dietary fibers, probiotics, prebiotics, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), vitamins, polyphenols and spices.

A dietary supplement is generally considered as product containing vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and medicinal plants that are indented to be used to supplement the diet or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combinations of these ingredients. Broadly, nutraceuticals are any of these ingredients or supplements using for health purposes other than nutrition.

This book on the fundamentals of Nutraceuticals is organized in two parts i.e., the introductory aspects of macro- and micro-nutrients, gut microbiota regulation, nutraceuticals and drug interactions, while the second part is focusing on the biological benefits of nutraceuticals in different disease states. Besides, this book is also addressing the safety aspects of nutraceuticals and phytotherapeutic support in pregnancy. Including contributions from the experts in the field, target audience (pharmacists, nutritionists, other healthcare providers, and researchers in food and nutrition sector) will be benefited with the updated literature on nutraceuticals and dietary supplements.

This book is intended for beginning students, both chemistry majors and other students who require it for their program. The material is presented in a concise and student-friendly way, without the inclusion of topics unnecessary at that level. A complete section is designed to lead students through the naming of organic compounds in a self-taught manner. Reactions are grouped by mechanistic type and stereochemistry is emphasized throughout. An introduction to the spectroscopic methods used for structure determination is included. Problems are included at each stage and new in this edition are complete answers to the problems as well as an introduction to the molecules of nature.

Quantum crystallography (QCr) is a novel scientific discipline combining quantum chemistry methods and crystal structure determination. Written by leading experts in the field, this book describes original quantum-mechanical approaches to obtain crystallographic data of enhanced value and explains how they correlate with real diffraction and scattering experiments. In particular, the book covers quantum N-representability, Clinton equations, kernel energy method (KEM), and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) methods and their applications in crystallographic studies. Readers will be interested in the Foreword written by Nobel Laureate Ada Yonath and the Epilogue by noted science philosopher Olimpia Lombardi.

Forests of Refuge questions the effectiveness of market-based policies that govern forests in the interest of mitigating climate change. Yolanda Ariadne Collins interrogates the most ambitious global plan to incentivize people away from deforesting activities: the United Nations–endorsed Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) initiative. Forests of Refuge explores REDD+ in Guyana and neighboring Suriname, two highly forested countries in the Amazonian Guiana Shield with low deforestation rates. Yet REDD+ implementation there has been fraught with challenges. Adopting a multisited ethnographic approach, Forests of Refuge takes readers into the halls of policymaking, into conservation development organizations, and into forest-dependent communities most affected by environmental policies and exploitative colonial histories. This book situates these challenges in the inattentiveness of global environmental policies to roughly five hundred years of colonial histories that positioned the forests as places of refuge and resistance. It advocates that the fruits of these oppressive histories be reckoned with through processes of decolonization.

With private space companies launching rockets, satellites, and people at a record pace, and with the U.S. and other governments committing to a future in space, Glenn Harlan Reynolds looks at how we got here, where we’re going, and why it matters for all of humanity.

This book offers an innovative examination of the interactions of science and technology, art, and literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Scholars in the history of art, literature, architecture, computer science, and media studies focus on five historical themes in the transition from energy to information: thermodynamics, electromagnetism, inscription, information theory, and virtuality.

Different disciplines are grouped around specific moments in the history of science and technology in order to sample the modes of representation invented or adapted by each field in response to newly developed scientific concepts and models. By placing literary fictions and the plastic arts in relation to the transition from the era of energy to the information age, this collection of essays discovers unexpected resonances among concepts and materials not previously brought into juxtaposition. In particular, it demonstrates the crucial centrality of the theme of energy in modernist discourse. Overall, the volume develops the scientific and technological side of the shift from modernism to postmodernism in terms of the conceptual crossover from energy to information.

The contributors are Christoph Asendorf, Ian F. A. Bell, Robert Brain, Bruce Clarke, Charlotte Douglas, N. Katherine Hayes, Linda Dalrymple Henderson, Bruce J. Hunt, Douglas Kahn, Timothy Lenoir, W. J. T. Mitchell, Marcos Novak, Edward Shanken, Richard Shiff, David Tomas, Sha Xin Wei, and Norton Wise.

A history of COVID-19 and the sociopolitical crises that led to the 2020 global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the world. It shouldn’t have. Since this century’s turn, epidemiologists have warned of new infectious diseases. Indeed, H1N1, H7N9, SARS, MERS, Ebola Makona, Zika, and a variety of lesser viruses have emerged almost annually. But what of the epidemiologists themselves? Some bravely descended into the caves where bat species hosted coronaviruses, including the strains that evolved into the COVID-19 virus. Yet, despite their own warnings, many of the researchers appear unable to understand the true nature of the disease—as if they are dead to what they’ve seen.

Dead Epidemiologists is an eclectic collection of commentaries, articles, and interviews revealing the hidden-in-plain-sight truth behind the pandemic: Global capital drove the deforestation and development that exposed us to new pathogens. Rob Wallace and his colleagues—ecologists, geographers, activists, and, yes, epidemiologists—unpack the material and conceptual origins of COVID-19. From deepest Yunnan to the boardrooms of New York City, this book offers a compelling diagnosis of the roots of COVID-19, and a stark prognosis of what—without further intervention—may come.

Association for Humanist Sociology 2007 Book Award co-winner

Julian Steward Award 2006 Runner-Up

One community's fight against industrial contamination and environmental racism

Over the past two decades, environmental racism has become the rallying cry for many communities as they discover the contaminations of toxic chemicals and industrial waste in their own backyards.

Living next door to factories and industrial sites for years, the people in these communities often have record health problems and debilitating medical conditions. Melissa Checker tells the story of one such neighborhood, Hyde Park, in Augusta, Georgia, and the tenacious activism of its two hundred African American families. This community, at one time surrounded by nine polluting industries, is struggling to make their voices heard and their community safe again.

Polluted Promises shows that even in the post-civil rights era, race and class are still key factors in determining the politics of pollution.