Math & Science

The thrilling quest for subsurface life on Earth and other planets

Deep Life takes readers to uncharted regions deep beneath Earth's crust in search of life in extreme environments, and reveals how astonishing new discoveries by geomicrobiologists are aiding the quest to find life in the solar system. Tullis Onstott provides an insider's look at the pioneering fieldwork that is shining new light on Earth's hidden biology, a subterranean biosphere thriving with rare and exotic life forms. Join Onstott and his team on epic descents into South African gold mines, and travel deep beneath the frozen wastelands of the Arctic tundra to discover life as it could exist on Mars. An unforgettable scientific adventure, Deep Life takes you to the biotic fringe, where today's scientists hope to discover the very origins of life itself.

A savory account of how the pursuit of delicious foods shaped human evolution

Nature, it has been said, invites us to eat by appetite and rewards by flavor. But what exactly are flavors? Why are some so pleasing while others are not? Delicious is a supremely entertaining foray into the heart of such questions.

With generous helpings of warmth and wit, Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez offer bold new perspectives on why food is enjoyable and how the pursuit of delicious flavors has guided the course of human history. They consider the role that flavor may have played in the invention of the first tools, the extinction of giant mammals, the evolution of the world's most delicious and fatty fruits, the creation of beer, and our own sociality. Along the way, you will learn about the taste receptors you didn't even know you had, the best way to ferment a mastodon, the relationship between Paleolithic art and cheese, and much more.

Blending irresistible storytelling with the latest science, Delicious is a deep history of flavor that will transform the way you think about human evolution and the gustatory pleasures of the foods we eat.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie--man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates decades after its writing.

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) has been widely recognized since his own time as one of the most influential writers in the history of Western thought. His books were widely read by specialists and the general public, and his influence had been extended by almost continuous public debate over the past 150 years. New York University Press's new paperback edition makes it possible to review Darwin's public literary output as a whole, plus his scientific journal articles, his private notebooks, and his correspondence.
This is complete edition contains all of Darwin's published books, featuring definitive texts recording original pagination with Darwin's indexes retained. The set also features a general introduction and index, and introductions to each volume.

Like any desert aficionado, Bruce Grubbs is obsessed with water: how much to bring, how to carry it, how to conserve it, and how to find it in the backcountry. But desert exploration involves much more. Grubbs provides the knowledge and skills you need to move through this landscape with confidence.

In addition to hiking and mountain biking advice, Grubbs tells how to prepare your vehicle for remote desert roads and how to avoid getting stuck in sand or busting a tire. He discusses navigating in the desert, "dry camping" skills, and techniques for minimum impact on this starkly beautiful but fragile environment. There are tips for dealing with desert heat -- and cold -- and other challenges (sharp spiny plants and venomous snakes are easy to avoid with a little preparation and know-how). But just in case, Grubbs troubleshoots the worst-case scenarios. Throughout, he gives an understanding of desert climate and seasons, and the unique plants and creatures at home in it.

Phosphorus has played a critical role in some of the most lethal substances on earth: firebombs, rat poison, nerve gas. But it's also the key component of one of the most vital: fertilizer, which has sustained life for billions of people. In this major work of explanatory science and environmental journalism, Pulitzer Prize finalist Dan Egan investigates the past, present, and future of what has been called "the oil of our time."

The story of phosphorus spans the globe and vast tracts of human history. First discovered in a seventeenth-century alchemy lab in Hamburg, it soon became a highly sought-after resource. The race to mine phosphorus took people from the battlefields of Waterloo, which were looted for the bones of fallen soldiers, to the fabled guano islands off Peru, the Bone Valley of Florida, and the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. Over the past century, phosphorus has made farming vastly more productive, feeding the enormous increase in the human population. Yet, as Egan harrowingly reports, our overreliance on this vital crop nutrient is today causing toxic algae blooms and "dead zones" in waterways from the coasts of Florida to the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. Egan also explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide--which risks rising conflict and even war.

With The Devil's Element, Egan has written an essential and eye-opening account that urges us to pay attention to one of the most perilous but little-known environmental issues of our time.

The galaxy, the multiverse, and the history of astronomy are explored in this engaging compilation of cosmological tales by multiple-award-winning science writer Marcia Bartusiak. In thirty-two concise and engrossing essays, the author provides a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe and those who strive to uncover its mysteries.

Bartusiak shares the back stories for many momentous astronomical discoveries, including the contributions of such pioneers as Beatrice Tinsley, with her groundbreaking research in galactic evolution, and Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the scientist who first discovered radio pulsars. An endlessly fascinating collection that you can dip into in any order, these pieces will transport you to ancient Mars, when water flowed freely across its surface; to the collision of two black holes, a cosmological event that released fifty times more energy than was radiating from every star in the universe; and to the beginning of time itself.

Does altruism exist? Or is human nature entirely selfish? In this eloquent and accessible book, famed biologist David Sloan Wilson provides new answers to this age-old question based on the latest developments in evolutionary science.

From an evolutionary viewpoint, Wilson argues, altruism is inextricably linked to the functional organization of groups. "Groups that work" undeniably exist in nature and human society, although special conditions are required for their evolution. Humans are one of the most groupish species on earth, in some ways comparable to social insect colonies and multi-cellular organisms. The case that altruism evolves in all social species is surprisingly simple to make.

Yet the implications for human society are far from obvious. Some of the most venerable criteria for defining altruism aren't worth caring much about, any more than we care much whether we are paid by cash or check. Altruism defined in terms of thoughts and feelings is notably absent from religion, even though altruism defined in terms of action is notably present. The economic case for selfishness can be decisively rejected. The quality of everyday life depends critically on people who overtly care about the welfare of others. Yet, like any other adaptation, altruism can have pathological manifestations. Wilson concludes by showing how a social theory that goes beyond altruism by focusing on group function can help to improve the human condition.

Co-published with Templeton Press

An intelligent but troubled eighteen-year-old girl to whom Freud gives the pseudonym "Dora" is at the center of this captivating case study. Freud's analysis focuses on Dora, however she is surrounded by an emotionally disturbed cast of characters that thicken the psychological intrigue. As Dora falls into the paralysis of psychological hysteria, Freud uses all of his analytical genius and literary skill to explore Dora's inner life and explain the cause of her neuroses.

It was the strangest of experiments. What began as a utopian environment, where mice had sumptuous accommodations, had all the food and water they could want, and were free from disease and predators, turned into a mouse hell. Science writer and animal behaviorist Lee Alan Dugatkin introduces readers to the peculiar work of rodent researcher John Bumpass Calhoun. In this enthralling tale, Dugatkin shows how an ecologist-turned-psychologist-turned-futurist became a science rock star embedded in the culture of the 1960s and 1970s. As interest grew in his rodent cities, Calhoun was courted by city planners and his work was reflected in everything from Tom Wolfe's hard-hitting writing to the children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. He was invited to meetings with the Royal Society and the pope and taken seriously when he proposed a worldwide cybernetic brain--a decade before others made the internet a reality.

Readers see how Calhoun's experiments--rodent apartment complexes like "Mouse Universe 25"--led to his concept of "behavioral sinks" with real effects on public policy discussions. Overpopulation in Calhoun's mouse (and rat) complexes led to the loss of sex drive, the absence of maternal care, and a class of automatons that included "the beautiful ones," who spent their time grooming themselves while shunning socialization. Calhoun--and those who followed his work--saw the collapse of this mouse population as a harbinger of the ill effects of an overpopulated human world.

Drawing on previously unpublished archival research and interviews with Calhoun's family and former colleagues, Dugatkin offers a riveting account of an intriguing scientific figure. Considering Dr. Calhoun's experiments, he explores the changing nature of scientific research and delves into what the study of animal behavior can teach us about ourselves.