The Best American Science Writing (2007)

. . . advances in medical knowledge and therapies, then this is the book for you. Not surprisingly, the Internet is increasing knowledge of the conditions that beset us. One of these, once thought to be only another unfortunate result of strokes, is now known to be more widespread. Joshua David's article on prosopagnosia - "face blindness" - reveals how people who cannot recognise faces, any faces, need not be victims of strokes. Face blindness can be congenital, and one estimate puts its prevalence up to six million people in the US alone. Another condition, Alzheimer's, is also undergoing expanded study, as Stacey Burling's essay follows. Post-mortem brain examination has been the only way to develop diagnostic tools. Recent work is providing new ways of learning if the disease has become established, allowing earlier treatment. Depression victims are also being relieved of symptoms through a method related to heart pacemakers as described by David Dobbs in "Depression Switch". . . . progress in basic physics or mathematics, there are articles on the latest thinking and experiments. Tyler Cabot's "Theory of Everything" relates the "fool's errand" by those on that seemingly hopeless quest. Another apparently fruitless task was the solution of the famous Poncaire's conjecture - a century-old proposition with implications for both mathematics and cosmology. In an article about a bizarre mathematician, David Gruber and Sylvia Nasar relate the story of Field Medal [mathematics' Nobel Prize] winner Grigory Perelman. Jonathon Keats finds another application for numeric calculations in his essay on a computer-based "invention machine". Yet another article on numbers, more practical and, to some, useful is presented by Patricia Gadsby in "Cooking for Eggheads". . . . the latest discoveries on prehistoric life, then Barry Yeoman's article, "Schweitzer's Dangerous Discovery" will capture your attention. In the fossil bones of a long extinct Tyrannosaurus rex, Mary Schweitzer teased out remnants of soft tissue. The discovery raised questions about a real-life "Jurassic Park", but it also stirred the "Christian Creationist" community to declare the fossils weren't as ancient as palaeontologists had long declared. Attempts to discredit the "dangerous idea of" Charles Darwin are endemic in the US and in Dover, Pennsylvania those efforts came to a new head. In "God of Gorilla", Matthew Chapman relates the events surrounding an attempt to inject "creationism" into a local school system. . . . just what science is all about, then Oliver Sacks, always a compelling read, explains some interesting studies on vision in "Stereo Sue". An unexpected relationship between economics and how we make decisions is explored in "Mind Games" by John Cassidy. An attention-grabbing mix of cognitive science and values, the article is worth anybody's review. A topic of increasing interest, climate change, is dealt with in two captivating articles. "But

The selection of articles is outstanding. They range from serious medicine articles to quirky articles about gastronomy and philosophy. It should appeal to anyone very interested in popular science, anyone who reads Jay Gould, Dawkins or Hawkins. I will point out a few that I found especially interesting: 1. An article about the social consequences of having good lie detectors -- the author is very convincing that we should not want a good lie detector, as many of the skills involved in lying are the same skills we need to maintain a harmonious society. 2. An article about people who have trouble with face recognition and how the internet has made it possible for them to meet and share thoughts. The author then describes the main scientist's findings within this community, as he gains their trust and has some surprising findings about how our brains process information and faces in particular. 3. There is an interesting article about whistle blowers for scientific lying in articles. The consequences were devastating, to both sides (blowers and blown). Questions whether the scientific community is ready to deal with wrongdoing. Each article has a specific issue tackled and the authors do a good job of mixing them up to make the reader feel smarter in many different subjects by the end. Also the articles are short enough to be read in 15 to 20 minute intervals.

As a big fan of the "Best American" series I found all of the "Best America Science Writing" collections to be superb and the 2007 collection is no exception. The articles cover all science topics on an "educated layman's" level and are well written. This book (and the entire series) is highly recommended for those that love to read about the many facets of science. It's like a candy store for the mind. Enjoy!

From the editor: "Science is the greatest journalistic subject of our time...articles so well written it is a pleasure, not a chore, to read them." This year there are 20 articles from 11 different publications. It is heavy on medical science (8-9 essays) and human interest science rather than hard science - an advantage or disadvantage depending on how you look at it, but makes for easy reading. My favorite article, by Jonathan Keats - John Koza has built an invention machine - Artificial Intelligence that solves complex engineering problems with minimal to no human guidance. The machine's method? - Darwinian evolution by natural selection: survival of the fittest computer code. Tyler Cabot - Why the "theory of everything," that will unite quantum physic with Einstein's theories of relativity is a fool's errand. Sylvia Nasar and David Gruber - Mathematician Gregory Perelman refused the honors and financial awards for solving the Poincare conjecture. A scramble ensued among others who wished to gain undue credit for that vacant seat of honor. Robin Henig - A foolproof lie detector might be bad for human society. "After all, the skills of lying are the same skills involved in the best human social interactions." Joshua Davis - The brain's system for recognizing faces is separate from its system for discerning other objects. Says one patient with a deficient facial recognition module, "Everyone looks the same so it's hard to commit emotionally with anyone." Oliver Sacks - The only way to perceive depth rather than judge it is with binocular vision. Stereo Sue's newfound visual abilities were "absolutely delightful...ordinary things looked extraordinary." Stacey Burling - Alzheimer's disease steadily robs you of your humanity...first your memory, then your dignity, then your life. "When I start blithering, I want you to shoot me," Bob told his wife. David Dobbs - Deep Brain Stimulation, a surgery used for Parkinson's, now used successfully (if experimentally) for intractable depression. Is "Area 25" an on/off switch for depression? Denise Gray - A new laser twist on a well-established surgery for aneurysms in the brain. Jerome Groopman - Family presence during resuscitation exposes a conflict between chaplains and nurses (who worry about families' emotional needs) and physicians, who are primarily concerned with quality of care. Matthew Chapman - Coverage of the Dover, Pennsylvania Intelligent Design trial by none other than the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. Atul Gawande - To discourage the inexpert from using forceps, obstetrics had to discourage everyone from using them. This is about forceps, C-Sections, and the revolutionary Apgar score. Jennifer Couzin - Whistle blowers in cases of misconduct involving basic science research often suffer a loss of time, prestige, and credibility - then frequently change careers. Lawrence Altman - Ninety-eight year old Michael DeBakey is the oldest survivor of an operation h

In her informative introduction to this work Gina Kolata explains her criteria for the selections she made. She believes that scientific journalism is the most exciting form of journalism now being done, as it gives us insight into the revolutionary transformations being made in our understanding of ourselves and our world. When she searched for articles for the anthology she searched for those which would pleasant to read, and which would provide insight into an important scientific development. She tells the story of the article of her own she most treasures that on Andrew Wiles ten- year successful effort to prove 'Fermat's Theorem'. I am not sure that all of the articles meet her criterion of providing insight into important discoveries. I for instance found David Dobbs article on ' A Depression Switch' one which discusses a new surgical technique for treating depression which focuses on brain circuitry to be 'thin' in providing only one case- history in which the procedure was tried and seemed to work. Tyler Cabot's piece on 'The Theory of Everything' provides a good survey of the work being done now on the realization of Einstein's great dream. String theory, M theory , Loop quantum gravity, the holographic universe- which will provide the theory which will unify all the forces of nature? He shows why there is so much anticipation of the experimental results which will be given by the C.E.R.N. Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland which is scheduled to go operational later this year. The most powerful, dramatic, interesting, enjoyable piece in this collection I found to be Sylvia Nasr, and David Gruber's 'Manifold Destiny'. They describe the story of the solving of the 'Poincare Conjecture' in the Third Dimension. The story is both of a scientific- mathematical process one and a moral and human competition and struggle. The hero of the story is Grigory Pereleman whose solution to the problem published in three stages on the 'Internet' has been generally accepted by the major mathematical teams that examined it as the correct solution. However as Nasr and Gruber make clear the solution was an effort of many years involving the work of a number of mathematicians, among them Willam Thurston, and Richard Hamilton. The human drama involved a Chinese team of mathematicians including the only Chinese winner of mathematics, most important prize the Fields Medal Shing- Tung Yau. . Considered one of the finest living mathematicians he makes a power play, what the authors clearly see as an illegitimate effort, to steal the honors from Perelman. He does this by having his team provide a much fuller proof than the one Pearlman had provided. Perlman himself refuses the Field award retires from mathematics , and seems to present himself as that kind of pure figure who lives only for the doing of mathematics, and the advancing of human understanding and knowledge. There are a number of other articles in which the 'human interest' element is at least a