Why Settling Mars Is a Terrible Idea
The downsides of spacefaring, infiltrating Florida’s gator poachers, and more books out this month
Stories by Amy Brady
Amy Brady is executive director of Orion magazine and a contributing editor at Scientific American. She is author of Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks--a Cool History of a Hot Commodity (G. P. Putnam's Sons, June 2023).
Wildlife Poop Is the Climate Solution You've Never Heard Of
A new book reveals the surprising roles of wildlife scat
A Fictional Psychological Thriller about the Rise of AI
Why we’re seduced by nature’s toxins, horror stories for winter solstice, and more books out this month
Lessons from Antarctica about Raising Kids in the Climate Crisis
Horror stories from Indigenous writers, a plea for better road ecology, and more books out now
Today's Deep-Sea Explorers Are Mineral Miners and Ultrawealthy Hobbyists
A new history of the deep ocean, seeking truth through math, a space opera about self-identity, and more books out now
Climate-Friendly Cocktail Recipes Go Light on Ice
It takes a lot of water and energy to make negronis, manhattans and margaritas. Could we do with less ice?
When a Wildfire Burns a City Built for Extracting Oil
A wildfire rages against the Alberta tar sands, aliens induce existential crises for people (and cats), the hype and potential of MDMA, and more books out now
The Connection between Allergies and Climate Change
Allergies on the rise, the political power of dried plants, your brain on music, and more books out this month
A Sightseeing Tour of the Universe, Mutated Underground Creatures, Boy Raised by Forest Androids, Gigantic Fish, Perfume's Vitality
Reviews from the editors of Scientific American
What Is It Like to Be a Plant?
Plants acting with agency, wolf symbolism, therapeutic art, and more books out now
Death, Sex and Aliens: A Surprising History of Slime
Sublime slime, sprawling light pollution, harnessing the bioelectricity in our body, and more books out this month
If Future Humans Terraformed a New Earth, Could They Get It Right?
A novel that redefines personhood, greed and despair in biotech, arguing for a singular reality, and more books
How Beavers Shaped America, from Capitalism to Climate Change
The sweeping influence of one weird rodent, an ecological thriller, tender essays on deep-sea creatures, and more books out this month
Parasites Revealed to Be 'Unseen Influencers' of All Ecosystems
A social history of measurements, an anthology of new speculative fiction, and more books
Uncertainty Can Speed Up Climate Action, New Book Explains
New books reviewed on the power of doubt, 1970s science-fiction icons, consciousness, interstellar travel, and more
Octavia E. Butler's Legacy of Time Travel
Why evolutionary biology and social justice belong together, the Silicon Valley fatalism that’s ruining our planet, and more
If Humans Are the Smartest Animals, Why Are We So Unhappy?
New books on intelligence, medicinal cocktails, galactic history, and more
Climate Destroyers Go to Jail, Martian Travel Guide, Bee Interiority, and More
Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American
A Playbook for Science Denial, 'Scientific Phallocracy' in the Animal Kingdom, and More
Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American
Inside an Arctic Expedition, Natural History of Fragrance, Essays on Places in Peril, and More
Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American
Grayscale Lives in a Future Pandemic, Surveilling Memory, Saving Coral Reefs, and More
Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American
Earth's Sonic Diversity, Secret Bird Scents, Pandemic-Inspired Sci-Fi, and More
Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American
A Reverse Journey through Geologic Time, a Tale of Wild Horses and Interspecies Kinship, and More
Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American
A Near-Future Plague, the Neuroscience of Navigation, and More
Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American