In This Struggle For the Long Haul: A Q&A with Sami Grover

It is easy to feel overwhelmed or powerless in the face of climate change. By the same token, it’s also easy to feel like you’re not doing enough, or that you should be overcome with guilt because of what you had for dinner or how you got to work. If you feel that way, you’re not alone.

A new book tackles these issues head on, and focuses on practical ways that people can figure out how they can make a difference. The book is We’re All Climate Hypocrites Now: How Embracing Our Limitations Can Unlock the Power of a Movement, by Sami Grover.

The Key Characteristics of Assholery: a Q&A with Melinda Wenner Moyer

Photo credit: Keren Fedida.

In many ways, being a parent is a truly wonderful experience. But it’s also scary. And one of the things that keeps many parents up at night is the fear that their kids might grow up to be jerks.

Well, parents, there is good news.

The Future of the Toilet: a Q&A with Chelsea Wald

Some of you might think that toilets, or the biological necessities that inspired them, are disgusting. Others might think they’re boring. But, oh, my friends – you are wrong.

The Importance of Seeds: a Q&A with Rob Dunn

Photo credit: Paul Godard. Shared under a Creative Commons license. Click for more information.

In North Carolina, where I live, blueberries ripen between June and August. But I can buy blueberries throughout the year. That’s because most people only eat a few kinds of food, so farmers around the world grow the same crops, meeting the demand of consumers that live in another hemisphere. As Rob Dunn points out in his new book, that practice poses some significant risks.

A Voice with an Audience: an Interview with Hope Jahren

 

Photo credit: Kevin Doncaster. Shared under a Creative Commons license. Click for more information.

Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren, is one of the best books I’ve read in recent years. It’s a book about science. And about plants. And about people. As I wrote in a review earlier this year, Jahren manages to find a balance between entertaining popular science and compelling memoir. That’s a tough combination to pull off, and a hell of a read.

And I was far from the only one who enjoyed Lab Girl – it’s garnered positive attention in outlets from the New York Times to PBS to The Guardian.

Recently Jahren – who has relocated her geobiology lab from Hawaii to the University of Oslo – let me pick her brain about writing, blogging and how she balances her writing with her work as a scientist.

Find the Stories: an Interview with Ed Yong

Detail of book covers. Image courtesy of Ed Yong.

Ecosystems are complicated. They involve myriad organisms existing and interacting within a particular place at a particular time. These are dynamic habitats, with populations that are constantly shifting.

Taking Science Experiments (and Kids) Outdoors: an Interview with Liz Heinecke

Summer is here, and for parents (like me) who have school-age children, that means finding ways to keep the kids occupied. And if those activities help to instill a love of science, all the better. So, what better time for finding a book of outdoor science experiments for children?

Well, folks, you’re in luck.

The Peabody, Yale, and Natural History: an Interview with Richard Conniff

Richard Conniff. Photo credit: Sally Pallotto.

I first visited the Peabody Museum of Natural History in the company of hundreds of science writers. The museum was hosting a social event for the annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers, which gave me the opportunity to explore its exhibits in the company of people who were exceptionally well-informed and gifted storytellers. It was the best possible introduction.

I visited again a few years later, this time in the company of family and friends. The enthusiasm our kids showed for the exhibits was contagious, as was my friend Jeff’s passion for discussing anything related to geology. I could have spent all day there. The Peabody, in my limited experience, is just that kind of place.

So, when I saw that Richard Conniff had written a book about the Peabody, House of Lost Worlds, I wanted to read it. And I had questions.

Science for Parents: an Interview with Tara Haelle and Emily Willingham

Photo credit: EL Gringo. Image retrieved via Flickr and shared under a Creative Commons license. Click for more information.

Parents, particularly first-time parents, get a lot of advice – whether they want it or not. Some of that advice comes from professionals, such as obstetricians, pediatricians and nurses. But a lot of advice comes from less reliable sources.