快猫短视频

IRONICALLY, given its subject matter, there is no formula for great science writing 鈥� you just know it when you read it. These collections have it, chock full of great characters, ideas and passion. 鈥榮 is heavy on biology, yet diverse. In The First Ache, Annie Murphy Paul describes doctors鈥� fascinating quest to understand if and when a fetus feels pain. In The Anonymity Experiment, Catherine Price attempts the near-impossible: a week living 鈥渙ff the grid鈥�.

鈥榮 collection bespeaks her own interest in the environment, but my favourite piece is David Grimm鈥檚 The Mushroom Cloud鈥檚 Silver Lining. It follows researchers who measure levels of carbon-14 鈥� produced in nuclear weapons testing after the second world war 鈥� to identify the ages of tsunami victims and to test to see if the brain creates new cells throughout life. The piece exemplifies the puzzle-solving, head-scratching pursuit that is science in action.

On the topic of head scratching, Atul Gawande鈥檚 excellent The Itch, in which a woman suffering a mysterious itch scratches through her skull into her brain, appears in both Angier鈥檚 and Kolbert鈥檚 books.

鈥榮 selection covers life in our digital world. In Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr speculates on the internet鈥檚 potential to rewire our neural circuitry, and laments the replacement of reading by skimming 鈥� a problem hilariously mocked in Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book from The Onion. I doubt even the most web-addicted skimmer will be able to put down these collections.