Science Friday - Best Science Books Of 2021, Glitter Bad For Environment. December 31, 2021, Part 1

Episode Date: December 31, 2021

Glitter Gets An Eco-Friendly Glimmer Glitter—it’s everywhere this time of year. You open up a holiday card, and out comes a sprinkle of it. And that glitter will seemingly be with you forever, hugging your sweater, covering the floor. But glitter doesn’t stop there. It washes down the drain, and travels into the sewage system and waterways. Since it's made from microplastics, it’s never going away. As it turns out, all that glitters is not gold—or even biodegradable. But what if you could make glitter that was biodegradable? Silivia Vignolini, professor of chemistry at the University of Cambridge joins Ira to discuss her latest discovery—eco-glitter made from plant cellulose.   The Best Science Books Of 2021 Another year is in the books. And whether you got out more this year or continued precautionary staying at home, we hope you at least got some good reading done. If not, you still have a whole winter ahead, and SciFri has rounded up another batch of the year’s best books. On this year’s list, you’ll find enthralling tales of the deep ocean, a fun primer on how the immune system works, and a cosmologist’s view of how science can do better by those it’s excluded. Ira Flatow rounds up more than a dozen favorite titles, with help from editors Valerie Thompson, of Science, and Stephanie Sendaula, of Library Journal. Check out the list at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Coming up later in the hour, a look back at some of our favorite science books of 2021. But first, something that may seem familiar this time of the year. What is it? You open up a holiday card and outpours a little unexpected surprise, glitter. And that glitter will seemingly be with us forever, hugging your sweater, covering the floor. But glitter doesn't just stop there. It washes down the drain, travels into the sewage system in the waterways, and since it's made from microplastics, you know it's never going away.

So as it turns out, all that glitter is not gold or even biodegradable. But what if you could make glitter? That was biodegradable. Sylvia Vinylini, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, has done that. Developed eco-friendly glitter made out of plants. Professor Vinylini, thanks for being with us today. Welcome to Science Friday. Thank you for the invite.

Tell us why exactly glitter is so bad for. for the environment? The glitter itself is a composite material. So you have a layer of metal, and then on top of it, the very cheap one, you have a layer of plastic, that is where you embed some pigmentation. And they combine the effect of this metal layer with this top layer that has this pigmentation gives you this glittery effect, this metallic effect. This is a typical example of a macroplastic because the size are on, the size of the size

of few tens of microns, depending on what type of glitter you consider, but the most, the one that are most available and the one most widespread, often have this type of problem. You know, there is a lot of glitter that's marketed as biodegradable or eco-glitter. What's in that stuff? This is actually a little bit better because instead of having a plastic that is not degradable, you might find some bioplastics. But you still have the problem of this multiple layering. So you have still a material that is a composite, and therefore you have challenges in recycling,

especially if you don't recycle it properly. It'd be hard to recycle glitter, but even if you wanted to, you can't do it. Yes, because it ends up on everywhere. And what about Micah? It's also sparkly, and it's in a lot of makeup and other beauty products. is that better for the environment? Myca is not necessarily bad itself. You know, the only problem of mica is the way that is resourced.

So if you have ethically resourced the micha, because often they exploit child labor to produce mica. But obviously, like, company and they are becoming more and more aware, so they try to resource it in more, you know, in ethical ways. but they still have a little bit the problem that is a highly energy intensive process because you really need to

make really small flakes out of rocks at the end, like of inorganic materials. But it's based on mica, but it's not only mica, yes? So maja is one of the layer of the component. On top of the mica you might have other materials and then often also have plastics, polymers.

Who thought that glitter was so complex to make? In order to understand why it's complex to make them, it's important to understand the phenomenon that is behind what makes glitter glittery. So generally when you have a coloration, a color, like the color that you use to paint a wall or to color your clothes, these are traditional pigments. And this pigment, essentially the coloration, the appearance depends on the chemical characteristic of the material that you have, but the color doesn't change in function of the angle. So in order to have this metallic sparkling effect, you can do in two ways.

One is to use a metal because metals, they are shiny, and the way that they reflect light with respect to pigment, it's really different. That's why also you can have a mirror. They behave as a mirror metals. Another way is what you call structural colors. They don't come from the interaction of the light with the chemical characteristics. of the material, but with the physical characteristic of the material. That's like butterfly wings, things like that.

Exactly, exactly. So you need to have a structure on the order of a few hundreds of nanometer that interact with the light with a phenomenon that is called interference, and this gives rise to this vivid color that are really metallic and really shiny. So let's talk about your achievement now, given the background of all of this glitter, you've made a new type of glitter that avoids some of those environmental issues using cellulose from wood pulp. What made you think to try and make glitter from plants? Okay. So we saw in nature that cellulose can be used to make colors. That was really my inspiration when I started to work on this system, if you want, almost 10 years ago. In fact, we discovered

that there are several type of plants that can use the cellulose fiber that are the same fiber that we talk about, that you have a diet that is rich of fibers. So we have observed in nature this type of color in several type of plants, fruits, but also leaves. And it's a really common architecture, and it's a trick that plants use to make color

when they cannot make it with pigmentation. So we thought, okay, plants can do it. Maybe we can try our same as well. How did you extract the cellulose and make it into glitter? So what we use from the cellulose is from wood pulp or any type of plants biomass that can then be also like, we also extracted from grape skin that it's from the waste from wine industry. Or we can also extract it from cotton linters that are the piece of cotton that cannot be interwoven into yarn.

And all these small bits and pieces of cellulose, you can extract what you call the crystalline part. So we call them, it's a type of material that we call cellulose nanocrystal. And nicely enough, when you use this material and you put them in water in the right condition, they can behave as so-called liquid crystals. So the same type of chemical that you have in computer display to make the display. This particle, they have a similar behavior. So they can form layer structured that are also similar to what you see in the plants that can interact with light to create this coloration.

So at the end, we simply use this part of the cellulose and exploit this principle that is a spontaneous process that the material does. So it's called self-assembly. But is it as sparkly as the real stuff, as the synthetic? Yes, it is really sparkly because it's similar. The concept is the same of the one that you see in the butterfly wing or in the feathers of a pico. Now the color doesn't depend on the material,

but depends on the physical structure. As soon as you are able to physically structure the material in the right way, independently from the material that you use the chemical composition, you can get really bright color. So what needs to happen before this glitter goes from your lab onto my shelf? Well, that's lots of needs to happen. So we got

lots of interest also from the media and then obviously many company contacted us. Our technology, if you want, is based on this self-assembly. And this self-assembly mechanism, especially using biomaterial, is

not really well-developed in industry as a process. Because it has some disadvantages. It is slow with respect to conventional manufacturing method that are used now to make pigment and glitter. It's a bit slower. And therefore, as a technology, is a little bit disruptive with respect what is present today. So you first need to convince the company, the manufacturing company, that it's actually a process that it's economically viable.

because at the end of the day, it's sad to say, but I don't know how many people would be happy to pay lots of money for buying glitter that is more sustainable. Yeah, so you have to bring the price down when you make it. Exactly. You need to make the material that is compelling also from a point of view of economic point of view. And the raw material is not expensive because it's cellulose itself and actually the fact that you can get it from waste,

it makes it even more attractive. But the processing at the moment is expensive. And in order to really being able to sell it on a commercial level, there is a lot of more technical challenges that needs to be addressed in question of producing it on a really large scale. Well, tonight I'm going to see a lot of confetti and streamers on New Year's Eve coming down in Times Square and other places around the world. is it possible to make all this stuff that's going to be raining down biodegradable also just like your glitter material?

Yeah, it is possible. The question is like, again, it's question of will and question of how much people that want to also to invest and they are ready to change this technology for something that it's a little bit more sustainable. Obviously, you know, it's always, I think it's also always important to remember that you are always creating an impact with what you disparate around. Yes. So you produce more waste. It's true that it's even if it's a biodegradable, it's better. But it's still going to take some time to degrade. Yes.

And it's still going to probably affect the environment that you. have around. So even if you have a material that is essentially inert like cellulose, if you imagine to, and it's degraded by many different microorganism, if you accumulate large amount, a large mass of one specific material in a place, you might alterate the ecosystem of that specific area, and you will have an environmental impact. So my suggestion is that shouldn't be, we shouldn't live a life of where we, we restrain ourselves in everything, but we should also be a little bit more aware that everything that we do is impacting our environment and we should try to limit to what is really necessary and trying to, you know,

trying to be more, or, you know, to use it, but in special occasion and not be everything that is a consumer that then it goes in the bin and because it's written bio, we are We are happy with it and we don't think about it anymore. Well, Dr. Vignolini, we wish you great success and hopefully next New Year's Eve we'll be able to see biodegradable confetti, glitter, streamers, all that kind of stuff. Thank you for taking time to be with us today.

Thank you. Have a nice evening. We're going to take a break. And when we come back, did you get a bookstore gift certificate? Well, we'll be reviewing some of the best science books of the year. So get ready to write down some great titles. Stay with us. This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. As the gift-giving season teeters to a close, I'm very much hoping you ended up with some money to spend at your local bookstore. Sure, gift certificates sometimes get a

bad rap. Some people feel they're, what, less thoughtful, but it's really nice to have that kid in a candy store sense of possibility by choosing some books for yourself. And in case you're having trouble deciding which ones, we have some suggestions for you. My guests have also been doing a lot of reading this year, and today we'll share our favorite science books of 2021. So bookworms, grab your shopping list and your library card and huddle up. Here to talk books with me are my guest, Stephanie Sandala, Associate Editor with Library Journal. She joins us.

And Valerie Thompson, a senior editor covering books at Science Magazine. Hi, welcome both of you to Science Friday. Welcome back. Thanks so much, Ira. Thank you for having us again, Ira. Nice to have you. And just a reminder that everything we're talking about will also be on our website. You can check out the full list at ScienceFriday.com slash books.

Okay, let's go right to my pick. I'm going to go ahead and start with my favorite, okay? Or one of my favorites. We did this interview just a few weeks ago, and I'm talking about Michael Pollan's book. This is Your Mind on Plants. It's the last in his series of books, which I've always enjoyed. I love his work. And this book was such a great exploration of the ways various cultures around the world have depended on compounds found in plants, have mind-altering properties, including caffeine and peyote. I'm wondering if either one of you have read that book and have a comment about it. Yeah, I have read this book. It's great. You can't go wrong with a Michael Pollan book. I mean, it's, you know.

Right. I agree. What I like is that he started out his career in writing books. He started writing about plants that you eat and the nutrition of it, you know, and now he has switched to not only do the plants affect your body by health, but they affect your mind. Yeah, I feel like that's a very natural, you know, a very natural transition. Like he talks in the book a little bit about how it's, you know, his interest kind of came from gardening. And like you said, plants that we eat and then kind of moved into this different arena. One thing I was surprised about, though, I don't think that he talks much about marijuana or cannabinoids.

That's a big area of interest right now. Maybe he's got something else in the works for that. But this book itself is really good. Well, you know, I remember, and I mentioned this in the interview when we did it, the 20 years ago when he was first on our show, he talked about growing a marijuana plant secretly in his backyard. Oh, my goodness. is why I suspect that we'll probably hear more on that subject than from him in the future. Once again, that book is This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan.

Stephanie, you had a book about plants on your list too, but in this case, it was about trees. It was, yes, finding a mother tree by Suzanne Samard. And I really like this book because she talks about her family. She's from a family of loggers. So she has a lot of photographs of her family throughout the years. And in this aspect, she's trying to find kind of the mysteries of the forests and how we should be concerned for them, especially in the wake of climate change with also like beetle infestations. So for me, I really liked it because you get more an aspect into like the personality of trees, like Douglas fir, spruce and birch and how they kind of talk to each other and communicate with each other. And also the animals that make them, you know, have a home in these trees.

So woodpeckers, like birds especially. So this is also a perfect book for bird lovers. So I really like it from that aspect as well. And the name of the book was? Finding the Mother Tree. By Suzanne. Samard. Yes.

What is a mother tree? I mean, what does that mean, finding the mother tree? Yeah. So she talks about how the mother tree is one of the trees that when, you know, that's older and when it's dying, it's kind of passing on its nutrients to these younger trees to help them grow. It's kind of like a circle of life aspect, which I really liked in that aspect as well, because you don't really think about that. But it is like a really, you know, a tree family of sorts, which is really fascinating to learn about.

That is cool. Meanwhile, in even deeper histories, you have a book about human evolution, Valerie. That's your pick. This is a book that contends that we have what's been wrong about some fundamental assumptions about how human civilizations develop. Yeah, so this is so great. So the book is called The Dawn of Everything, A New History of Humanity, and it's co-written by two authors, so the late anthropologist and activist David Graber and archaeologist David Wendgrove. And like you said, yeah, it's kind of encouraging readers to take everything they think they know about ancient societies and kind of throw it out the window. So we have this idea that, you know,

we all kind of evolved from these primitive bands of egalitarian hunter-gatherers, and they just kind of reacted to things that happened to them, and that's how kind of human history unfolded. But this book looks, you know, back at the historical documents that we have, incorporates some new and emerging archaeological data, and kind of shows that ancient people actually had a great deal of intelligence and a great deal of agency in how things played out. So it's not just a case where things were kind of happening to them, and, you know, that's how things played out.

It's like they made decisions, and there was a lot more complexity, to it than we have initially thought. And I think this is really interesting because it's, it's provocative. It kind of goes against some of the ideas that we had about human origins. And I think it's, it's going to stimulate a lot of new research. You know, that's really interesting that you pick that book, The Dawn of Everything, because my pick, I was about to bring that up. One of my favorite books is called Four Lost Cities by Annalie Newitz. And it talks exactly about these kinds of mythologies that we have. it's a deep dive into why ancient cities may have been abandoned.

And you truly get to see places like Gahokia near St. Louis and Anger Watt. And it sort of talks about, hey, you know, these cities were not just abandoned. This was thoughtfully done the way these people left the cities. Yeah. And I think something that both of these books do that's really nice and that hasn't always traditionally been done is they kind of bring in voices and perspectives from indigenous groups that have a stake in the story. And that's something that I think is really valuable in both cases. Stephanie, have you read this book?

No, I want to read that because it kind of does tie into one of the books that I'm going to talk about later, Islands of Abandonment. And so I really want to read for Lost Cities because that really is something, a subject I'm thinking about a lot and looking forward to reading more about. Yeah, well, go ahead and talk about that book now. Oh, okay, yeah. We're going to talk about a little bit later. So Island of Abandonment by Cal Flynn.

And this one was really fascinating to me because she's talking about how nature has kind of taken its course in places where humans have either abandoned it because of economic disaster or because of natural disaster or because of war. So she talks about Chernobyl of all places where, you know, it has been abandoned. But also there's some really interesting diversity, biodiversity happening in the area. She also visits the Marshall Islands where there's an abandoned military base, where this underwater ecosystem is just blossoming. So for me, this is really interesting because these are places where you don't always think about them on a regular basis, but they are seeing this new or vitalized life. And to me, that's just really fascinating to read about. And I think this is a really great read also because it touches on so many different aspects. So it is history, it's a natural history, but also like sociology.

So this kind of spans a lot of different genres. and people can kind of take it and kind of get a lot out of it from that reason alone as well. Cool. That sounds very interesting. And just to repeat the book for people who just pulled out their pensions. Yes. Sorry about that. It's Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flynn. That's really cool. Valerie, we've been hearing all fall and winter about supply chain woes, thanks to the pandemic and the other disruptions. And this is affecting book availability too, isn't it? You know, it's funny. I think, yes, it definitely is affecting book availability, but I feel like from my perspective, like, I'm not the one that has to deal with it necessarily.

Like, the poor, you know, people at the presses are the ones that are really scrambling. And, you know, I just get these announcements every once in a while that's like, this date has been pushed back by a month or so, you know, like, so it's less of an issue for me. Are the books being pushed back because they won't be available? in bookstores, or are the publishers saying, wow, this is just not a good time to release the book? Gosh, I'm not sure what the ratio of that is. I'm sure that it's a little bit of both.

And I think that sometimes, you know, they'll explicitly say, like, this is, you know, we don't have the printing capacity right now. So, but, yeah, I'm sure it's a little bit of both things. But, of course, a lot of books are coming out on PDF, right? Or e-books. Could they not? People get download, those are some people,

just don't like to read them that way. Yeah, that's kind of how I prefer to read books, you know, when I'm reading for pleasure. I guess if I'm reading to review, I like to have a hard copy in hand just so I can make little notes and stuff. But I think that's just a personal preference. Stephanie, do you mind reading books on e-books? Yeah, I really love the print book, actually. I also really love audiobooks lately.

For me, it took a good way to listen and engage with something while I'm just, you know, kind of taking the material in a different aspect. So yeah, I really, I don't know, PDFs, like, I'm kind of getting tired of looking at my screen all day. So I do need the print book, like, you know, a lot of the times, but I do like audio as well as a nice change of pace. Yeah. That's what I'm hearing a lot from reviewers, too, when I send out books for review, they're like, please, whatever you do, like, if you can send a print copy, like, I can't look at my computer screen anymore. I can relate to that so much. Well, you know, I have the opposite problem because I review a lot of books, I'm very happy to get the eVER.

version of it because I can make notes on the page in my iPad as I put them on there. Okay, that is a good point. It's nice as an editor, too, like when you're working on a book review to be like, oh, this passage that the person is writing about, like, if I just had a print copy of the book, I'd have to flip through the whole book looking for it, and I can just kind of search it in a PDF. So that makes it a little easier from my perspective. Yeah.

Stephanie and Valerie, let's go back to one of your shared picks, and that is Fuzz by Mary Roach. I love Mary Roach and her one word book title. What's this one about? Valerie, you want to start off? Sure, yeah. So I'm a huge fan of Mary Roach, too. And her latest book, Fuzz, When Nature Breaks the Law, has kind of all the elements that you probably like and I like about her writing,

which is these immersive firsthand investigations and interviews with eccentric experts. But this one kind of centers on human wildlife conflict. So she's looking at the quote-unquote crime. committed against humans by animals and plants. So she starts by looking at felonies. So deaths caused by bears and elephants and poisonous plants and falling trees. And then she moves on to the lesser offenses. So things like birds interfering with airplanes and monkeys that harassed city dwellers and dears that are colliding with cars, things like that. She really has a way of finding offbeat stuff, doesn't she? Yeah. Yeah. That's such a fun thing about this book. Stephanie, you too?

Yeah, that's why I loved it too, because these are things I didn't think about, like, the birds interfering with airplanes. I was like, wait, that actually is something, a serious subject, but we don't think about it that often. So that was really fun to read about. Yeah, she finds fun things to read from poop to the military to other kinds of things. It's fun, yeah, it's a fun book. I mean, she talks about all these kind of interventions that we're kind of trying to do. So, like, making bear-proof dumpsters and these remote control robotic predator birds.

that are designed to scare away nuisance birds. And there's even this kind of really interesting chapter on like the people that are doing research on humane extermination methods for problem species. So it's it kind of, it's pretty wide ranging. Yeah. And just again, that's fuzz by the incomparable Mary Roach, who is fearless, right? She is. Yeah, she is.

I would have to describe that she's not afraid to say, to write what she says and how she feels. and we all find it very, very interesting when she does that. Yeah, I would say that my only, like, small criticism was that she kind of misses a chance to discuss the larger problem, which is that these kind of so-called offenses that wildlife are committing aren't exactly unprovoked. I mean, they're happening because we're doing things like encroaching on habitats and destroying traditional food sources and introducing invasive species. So we have to take a little bit of the blame there for that one. Stephanie, you agree? Yeah.

Yeah, I definitely agree with that. Yeah, a lot of, you know, the instances, like, we are encroaching. on their national habitat, especially for military bases or just places where, like, you know, we probably shouldn't belong. So, yeah, no, I agree with you in that aspect, Valerie. This is Science Friday from WNYC Studios. In case, you're just joining us, we're talking about the best science books of 2021 with Stephanie Zandala and Valerie Thompson. I'm going to toss my own favorite book in here, and that's The Joy of Sweat by Sarah Everts.

It was such a fun book about the science of perspiration. I mean, who knew? Well, you know, it covers everything why we do it, how sweating can go wrong. And Sarah looked at everything from whether sports drinks are actually useful, maybe not. And how museums that displayed historical clothing have to deal with the destructive nature of sweat to fabric. Who knew? Who thought about that kind of stuff? And that's why, I guess that's why Sarah wrote the book.

And then that, it even includes the original Apollo space suits. We talked to her in July, of course, at the height of summer sweating season, but it really was a very fun book. I was going to ask if this came out of some sort of personal, you know, lockdown, new commitment to working out or something. Yeah, but on the other hand, there are people who like to sweat. And we were talking about that, too, people who go to the saunas and they go to hot yoga. Oh, of course, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I want to read that one for that reason because, you know, I have like, Fud Hot Yoga and it's a little bit of too much sweating for me, to be honest. So I am really interested in reading about, like, the signs of why we sweat and why people like to sweat. Sarah also said that she's really an intense sweater and she wants to know why, and she got some answers about why she is such an intense sweater, and I don't mean the thing made out of wool. But I'm not going to spoil it for anybody who wants to read the book because it's a lot of fun. Yeah, now I'm curious. Yeah, I am too.

And it's called again the Joy of Sweat by Sarah Everts. Stephanie, you have another one on your list that we covered on the show this year. The Sounds of the Sea by Cynthia Barnett. All about seashells, our relationship with them through history and what the future holds for them in acidifying oceans. What struck you most about this book? Yeah, this is probably one of my favorite books of this year, I think, just because she talks about how we know so much about sea shells the outside of them,

but we don't really know that much about the animals that live inside of them. And also, I really like the part about how sea shells throughout history have been used like money and weapons and gifts and even art. The whole steve cell craze of the post-war period. So you're thinking about seashel all these different types of periods of history and how they've each changed, but also kind of people who collect them, which, you know, I love seychelles as a kid. and you're just thinking about, oh, right, like these have such a varied history

and how they're kind of adapting in a case of climate change as well. Yeah, it was very, it was fascinating. It really was. What do you like about it, Ira? I think one of my favorite things that I learned was that shell oil was started by a family that originally made their living selling seashells. Yeah, I had no idea. It's crazy. I would have never made that connection.

Yeah, a little bit too on the nose, given the connection between fossil fuels and climate change and now we're talking about something naturally occurring in nature. Right. And just to repeat for your pencil, the Sounds of the Sea by Cynthia Barnett was the name. We have to take a quick break when we come back. More science book recommendations for your next trip to the library or gift card spending spree.

So there's a ton of, you know, rah-rah isn't science amazing books out there and we've talked about some of them, but we also owe it to ourselves to confront the parts that aren't working. and this but does a little bit of both. Stay with us. Hey there, folks, Ira here. I'm counting down the minutes to 2022

and reminding you that it's your last chance to make a donation for 2021. We still have that dollar-for-dollar donation match in effect. So take advantage and make your gift before midnight tonight. Go to science friday.com slash support to make a difference now. Thanks and wishing you a happy and science-filled new year. This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. We're talking about the best science books of 2021 with guest book nerds, Valerie Thompson of Science Magazine, and Stephanie Sondala of Library Journal.

Stephanie, you had another book about the oceans on your list, and this time I'm talking about the very deep sea. The book is called The Brilliant Abyss. What's in this one? Yes, this is a Blinent Biss by Helen Scales. This is a great companion to the sound of the sea. This one is about the deep sea. kind of what we don't know about it because we don't know that much about it. But I really like how she brings us aspects of the deep sea that we should be thinking about like conservationists who are concerned for the future of it because of the impact of deep sea mining and fishing and also pollution affecting the deep sea. But it's really great how she talks about the people who make a living studying the deep sea,

like deep sea biologists who are learning more about it and bringing us interesting facts about it. And also these really unique ecosystems underwater that, you know, hosts like squid and jellyfish and like, even like all these different types of worms as well. So there's so much about the deep sea, like these underwater volcanoes and mountain ranges that we just, you know, don't have always have access to, but they are really fascinating and are blossoming because, you know, they're just these vibrant, vibrant aspects of ecosystems. So that's really great as well. So yeah, this is a, yeah, a great companion.

And because we learned so much about how life can live in such hostile environments. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And that maybe this kind of environments are on other planets. And we have to think about where we look for life on other places and how resilient life may be. Yeah, I think resilience is a great part of it because you're thinking about how do these animals live in these deep, dark environments that really are so hostile. So, again, this is the, yeah, the brilliant abyss by Helen Scales, another, like, really, great book that would be a really nice companion to the sound of the sea. Yeah, it is a great book. I love the oceans. I love the trivia that there is about the oceans. For example, all the sand

that's at the bottom of the oceans made from living things. Yeah, I had no idea about any of that either. Yeah, it's just fascinating. Probably most of the sand on the earth that we never get to seas at the bottom of the ocean from single-celled animals that died and left their little shells behind. Yeah. Stephanie, have you noticed any common themes in your favorite books this year? Yeah, I think one of the common themes, sadly, is a lot of pollution in the ocean and how we should be kind of really concerned for the future of and what we can do to help. So also just like, you know, climate change is having a big impact, which we already know. But yeah, but pollution is really, you know, it's something that we should be aware of and, you know, making an effort to try to combat if we can. Have we have we have we has COVID possibly been an influence for these books or or were these all started before there was COVID so there really is not a common theme about COVID or climate change perhaps.

I feel like for me like a lot of books recently it's yes like it's like you said many of the books that we're talking about now were kind of started maybe before COVID or kind of conceived of at least before COVID and so there's there's not a lot of ties although they're often. in the introduction, which is written, kind of the last part of the book that's written, there'll be a mention of it and kind of a tie to that. But I think one of the themes that I was thinking about that connects kind of all the books that I'm talking about today is this idea of questioning assumptions. So questioning assumptions about human nature or about the practice of science or, you know, about our effects on the earth and, you know, things like about what well-communicated science looks like and sounds like.

And you know, that's an interesting point that you make because that's basically the basis of science, of what science is, is questioning our assumptions about things that we take for granted. Yeah, I think good science, that's exactly what it does. Speaking of questioning assumptions then, Valerie, you had a very timely book for us, Immune by Philip Detmer. Yes, so this book is great. I don't know if you've been online recently, but there's been a real uptick in our armchair immunologists over the past 18 months or so. So this book is very timely. The immune system is very complicated, so I'm not trying to apply that we don't know what

we're talking about when we're talking about T cells and herd immunity and things. But I think we could all benefit from a little immunology primer. So this book, Philip Detmer's immune, is great for that. If you don't know, Detmer runs a super popular science YouTube channel called Kurtzkat, which is German for in a nutshell. And just like Kurtz-Kazat, immune is filled with these very colorful illustrations that explain what the different cells of the immune system do and how they work. It kind of covers T cells, B cells, macrophages, neutrophiles, you know, how vaccines work,

autoimmune disease. There's even a short chapter on COVID. Wow. So it's great for that. Do you need to know biology, you know, studying it? Or is it so basic that you learn everything? No, I think that's like some, that's a real attribute of this book. It's very playful.

It's very irreverent. There's kind of, you know, he talks about receptors being like the noses of your cells. And he compares different categories of T cells to character classes in Dungeons and Dragons. So, you know, I'm sure there's going to be some hardcore immunologists who are like, this isn't, you know, this isn't exactly how it works. But I think it's great because he gets the science right and he does so. while kind of keeping things light and conversational, which is really hard for a topic this complex. Yeah, we could all use a book like this. Yeah, I think so.

It makes, you know, it makes the immune system understandable. And then it's a big year for vaccination, plus all the talk about COVID-19 variants, whether the immune system will recognize them as well. So, yeah, I'm going to pick that book up because you can't read too much about it, can you? Right, right. And this is kind of like, you know, like I'm a biologist, training, but I'm like, the immune system is really hard to understand. So I think it's like we could, you know, a lot of us could benefit from something like this. And it's called Immune by Philip Detmer,

D-E-T-T-M-E-R, correct? That's right. You know, I love this. And another book that fits right into this now is a book about Dr. Fauci as a kid. It's a kid's book. It's called Dr. Fauci, how a boy from Brooklyn became America's doctor. And the book is by author Kate Messner. And it's a really delightful read about Anthony Fauci's childhood, how he got interested in science, started his career in medicine, eventually went on to NIH. And you know, his parents were pharmacists and he'd go around Brooklyn delivering prescriptions on his bicycle. Did you, did anybody know that? I had no idea. Is that what, was that his, impetus for getting interested in science? So that's what it was? Well, I guess he grew up with his

Fair and sort of being scientists as they were as they were pharmacists or their medical people. But it also talks about how he knew he was curious about everything. And his curiosity, I think, is what led him into his medical career. And he's very good at listening to other people. And he always questioned assumptions. And he had this very stick-toitiveness, you know. He was not going to give up when he didn't find the answer to what he wanted to know. And it's a really cute book.

That sounds great. It sounds like lessons, too, that are really great for children to hear, you know, about being tenacious and, like, being curious and things like that. So that sounds nice. Stephanie, have you read this? Yeah, I haven't read that one, but I'm looking forward to it. I had no idea about his family background neither, so it looks like a great pick. Yeah, it's a great kid's book. And let me repeat, it's called Dr. Fauci, how a boy from Brooklyn became America's Doctor by Kate Mesmer. Speaking, Stephanie, about the times we live in, you both, you and Valerie, both picked Elizabeth Colbert's under a white sky as one of yours. All about the ways we've tried to fix our own footprint on the environment. We spoke with Elizabeth when this book came out. Stephanie, why did you pick this one? Yeah, I think I picked it first because her writing is always so accessible.

I think that's why I loved, like, the sixth extinction as well. Just because it's a great book that you can just get into without any background in science. this one is the same as well. She just kind of draws you into the subject and you're just like, you're not overwhelmed with facts or anything. You just learn so much about it. And she just like talks about how it's not like shaming or guilt or anything, just explaining, you know, what our impact is on the environment and what we can do to make changes to fix it. So what do you think? Yeah, Valerie. Yeah. Yeah. Valerie, what's your opinion on it? Yeah. No, I totally agree. I mean, it was like kind of interesting. Like she dives deep into these like specific subjects. So

She'll talk about, you know, everything from, like, controlling invasive species that we've introduced to certain habitats without realizing, you know, the destruction they were going to cause to engineering coral that can survive in warmer water. So trying to save coastal lands have been deprived of sediments and kind of undermined by oil and gas drilling. And it's, it's really interesting because I feel like she has, you know, there's this tension throughout the book of, like, are we going to be able to engineer our way out of a problem that, like, we engineered our way into? Right. But, you know, it's like, it's like we kind of don't have a choice is the bottom line of the book. We kind of have to do something that doing nothing is no longer an option. Well, was it a hopeful book then that we could change what we're doing or possibly engineer some ways around it?

I don't know. What do you think, Stephanie? I didn't feel super helpful. Yeah, I kind of thought it was hopeful because it is like, like Valerie said, like we have to take action. Like we don't have a choice. So in that aspect for me, I did find it. hopeful because, you know, this is what we have to do in order to make it better. Yeah. I guess it did instill, like, I mean, I don't know if I left feeling hopeful, but I did feel like very proud of like what science has accomplished, you know, like it's the people that are that are coming up with these measures, these, you know, sometimes very extreme measures to try to undo some of the damage we've done to the earth. I think it is really, in that regard, it is a really, gives you a lot of hope and in what we can

doing, we'll be able to do in the future. And I'm glad we were ending with my last pick, which sort of fits into this last one that you mentioned. It's a disasterology by emergency management researcher Samantha Montana. It's not exactly uplifting. They can't all be uplifting, I right. No, we try. She talks a lot about the science of disasters, and it is a science, she mentions, and how

reassuring. and she details how her field can better respond to a future where we'll definitely see more extreme weather, absolutely, colliding with the human evitation. So I thought it was really interesting. I never knew there was a word called disasterology, and you could be a disasterologist. So is there like a pathway for like how are we going to deal with these things?

Or is she just kind of laying out the problem? She's laying it out. And one interesting point that she makes, And I thought about this is that she never uses, doesn't want us to use the phrase natural disaster ever again. Oh, interesting. Did she say why? Well, yeah, because if there are, let's say there are no people on Earth. And there is no disaster.

A disaster only happens when it's human made people have, you know, living where they shouldn't be living or climate change changes the environment. So a disaster has to be connected with extreme weather where people are living, a flood or, You know, if you weren't there, the river would just flood and nothing would happen. Yeah, that's a great point. That is a great point. Yeah, thanks. I need to read that one as well. This is Science Friday from WNYC Studios.

Okay, Sir, just joining us. We're talking about the best science books of 2021 with Stephanie Sandala and Valerie Thompson. Valerie, one last book from you, and it's not at all least. It's a book about the field of cosmology and one black woman's journey to join it. us about that? Sure. So this book is called The Disordered Cosmos. This is by physicist Chonda Prescott Weinstein. So there's, you know, a ton of, you know, Ra, Ra isn't science amazing books out there, and we've talked about some of them, but we also kind of owe it to ourselves to confront the parts that aren't working. And this, this book does a little bit of both. So it begins with this kind of

world-wind tour of the standard model of particle physics and general relativity and cosmology. but that's just kind of the first four chapters. So from here she kind of goes into this examination of the intersections with physics and race. So both in terms of the actual physics associated with melanin, which is the pigment and skin that determines how dark our skin is. And then in terms of the barriers that are faced by people of color who choose to pursue a career in physics, and then more generally kind of, you know, who gets to decide what we call science. Yeah, no, that's what I'd like to butt it too, just because, like, as a black woman,

And I didn't really know that much about like how black woman in physics, like the bears they face. So I know there is racism in STEM fields, but I just didn't know that, you know, pervasiveness of it. And like how she just explains that we need to do better. And she explains her personal story and the issue is that she's faced throughout her career. And this is a really great read also because she makes it really accessible. So I know I can just jump in. And, you know, it's a good read for people who don't know that much about science, but are looking for a good place to start.

Yeah, and I think it's nice, too, because, like I said, like her love for the field is there. I mean, she doesn't sugarcoat her critiques of the state of modern physics, but it's, you know, you can hear her passion for physics in there, and so it's kind of a nice blending of the two. Yeah, I agree. Cool, cool, cool book to leave a very, very timely read right now, leaving 2021, learning some cool new things,

but also thinking hard about how the scientific, enterprise itself has to do better. That book, The Disordered Cosmos by Dr. Shonda Prescott Weinstein. One last question for you both before we go. Can we get ahead of ourselves a little bit? Are there any new books you've got sitting on your desk waiting to read and looking forward to in 2022? So for me, on my list, there's a new book coming out in March by Maya Winstock. And this is a book called Carbon Queen, and it's a biography of Mildred Dresselhaus, who was kind of a pioneer in nanoscience, which is, you know, this is a person and a field that I don't know very much about. So I'm really looking forward to reading that one.

Great pick. We also interviewed Mildred years ago on Science Friday, so if you want to go look that up on our website, you can find that interview. Yeah, she was iconic in her field. Yeah, yeah, I can't wait to listen to that interview. And I can jump in, too. So I'm looking forward to the tree line by Ben Rollins, which is coming out in January, so very soon. And he talks about the shifting tree line that's happening in the northern regions of the world.

So Canada, Siberia, Greenland, and Alaska, and kind of like, you know, the issues that animals in the region like reindeer are facing as the trees kind of shift, you know, in the wake of climate change. So this isn't an optimistic book per se, but it is an important one. Well, I'm glad we have rounded up all these books and the important ones. And I want to thank you both for taking time to be with us today and wishing you a happy holiday. Yeah, thank you, Ira. It's been great to be here again. Yeah, it's great to be back. Thanks so much.

You're welcome. Stephanie Sandala, associate editor with Library Journal, Valerie Thompson, senior editor covering books at Science Magazine. And of course, if you weren't fast enough with your pencil, you can check out our full list of books on our website, science Friday.com slash books. And that's about all the time we have for now. Here's Nehima Ahmed with some of the great folks to help make this show possible. Thanks, Ira. Zana Montano is our outreach manager. Jennifer Fenwick is our director of institutional giving.

Ariel Zich is our education director. Beth Rami is our controller. And I'm Nehima, manager of Impact Strategy. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Nehima. BJ Leiderman composed our theme music. And of course, if you missed any part of the program or you'd like to hear it again,

subscribe to our podcast. And on the SciFri Vox Pop app, Tell us your favorite sighting this winter birding season. Yes, whether you did the Christmas bird count or you're just watching the feeder in your backyard, what birds are you excited about? That's on the SciFri Voxpop app wherever you get your apps. Have a happy new year. We'll see you next week.

I'm Ira Flato.