SEPTEMBER 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472962584 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472962591/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472962614 / £9.99
Grilled
18 Miles
Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry
The Epic Drama of the Atmosphere and Its Weather
Leah Garcés
Christopher Dewdney
About 275 chickens are slaughtered in the United States, every second of every day, seven days a week. Selectively bred to grow fast, they can barely walk, and their unnaturally short, miserable lives are spent lying on their own faeces, panting in the burning, ammonia-laden air.
We live at the bottom of an ocean of air – 5,200 million million tons of it. Shrink the earth to the size of a basketball and our atmosphere would be as thick as a layer of food wrap – 99% contained within 18 miles. Yet, within this fragile margin lies a magnificent realm – at once gorgeous, terrifying and elusive.
Leah Garcés is at the frontline of the fightback against this industry, and this book is her story. Instead of protesting and shaming – she has worked alongside the owners of megafarms and encouraged change through dialogue and discussion, and she is winning the fight. This is the story of what happens when we cross enemy lines to look for solutions. It’s a story of giving in to discomfort for the sake of progress. It’s a story of the power of human connection, and what happens when we practice empathy toward our enemies. After 8 years as the founder and Executive Director of Compassion in World Farming US, Leah Garcés is now the President of Mercy for Animals. She has degrees in zoology and sustainable development and has been fighting for better food and farming systems for her whole career. .
18 Miles is a kaleidoscopic journey through our atmosphere and weather. From the roaring winds of Katrina to the Snowball Earth, author Christopher Dewdney entertains as he gives readers a long overdue look at the very air we breathe. Christopher Dewdney is the author of five books of non-fiction and eleven books of poetry. Acquainted With The Night was nominated for both a Governor General’s Literary Award and the RBC Taylor Prize. Winner of the CBC Literary Competition for poetry and the 2007 Harbourfront Festival Prize, Dewdney lives in Toronto where he teaches writing at York University.
JULY 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472969897 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472969927/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472969903 / £9.99
@Leah_compassion
Genuine Fakes
Superheavy
How Phony Things Teach Us About Real Stuff
Making and Breaking the Periodic Table
Lydia Pyne
Kit Chapman
A genuine fake is something that is not simply a fake, because the audience isn’t being deceived, but isn’t the ‘real deal’ either, because it isn’t original. It falls somewhere in-between. For example, a forged painting that is worth as much as an original.
The science of element discovery is a truly fascinating field, and is constantly rewriting the laws of chemistry and physics as we know them. As recently as November 2016, four new ‘superheavy’ elements – the heaviest created by man – were named, stretching the periodic table to 118 elements.
From stories of audacious forgeries to feats of technological innovation, historian Lydia Pyne explores how the authenticity of eight genuine fakes depends on their unique combinations of history, science and culture. AUGUST 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472961822/ £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472961815/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472961808 / £9.99
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In this book, Pyne brings each genuine fake to life through unexpected and often outrageous stories. Genuine Fakes will make readers think about all the unreal things that they encounter in their daily lives and why they invoke the reactions that they do.
Superheavy will be the first book to take an in-depth look at how these synthetic elements are discovered, why they matter and where they will take us. It will explain the complex science of element discovery in clear and easy-to-follow terms and will walk through the theories of atomic structure, discuss the equipment used and explain the purpose of the research. By the end of the book readers will not only marvel at how far we’ve come, they will be in awe of where we are going.
Lydia Pyne is a writer and historian and is currently a visiting researcher at the Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Lydia’s writing has appeared in the Atlantic, History Today and Time, amongst others.
Kit Chapman is an award-winning science journalist and broadcaster. He is the comment editor for Chemistry World, and has written for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, and has appeared as an expert for the BBC and Sky News
@LydiaPyne
@chemistryKit
JUNE 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472953896 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472953919/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472953926 / £9.99
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MARCH 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472953315/ £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472953308/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472953339 / £9.99
“Read this book and join the effort to terminate air pollution.” ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
MARCH 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472956132/ £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472956118/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472956101 / £9.99
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Clearing the Air
Love Factually
The Beginning and End of Air Pollution
The Science of Who, How and Why We Love
Tim Smedley
Laura Mucha
Around the world, more than eight-out-of-ten people who live in cities breathe in concentrations of air pollutants that exceed international air quality guidelines. At the same time, scientists are revealing just how detrimental this polluted air really is to our health.
Romantic love is something that poets and artists have been trying to explain and define for centuries, but it’s still one of the most complicated and intimidating terrains to navigate. Psychologists see it as a basic human drive, yet most people are afraid to be open and honest about it, until now.
This book tells the full story of what’s happened to the air we breathe. It will explain exactly what air pollution is, which chemicals are the dangerous ones and where they come from, as well as the extreme instances of air pollution that have happened around the world.
For Love, Factually, almost 200 strangers in over 40 countries have come together to share their most personal stories, feelings and insights about love. These are incredibly frank, intimate and illuminating conversations, and author Laura Mucha has used these rare and varied insights as a springboard from which to dive into the subject of love, scrutinizing it from all angles – scientific, psychological, emotional and philosophical. It combines academic theory with everyday experience, and is for anyone who is curious about how we, as humans, work when it comes to romantic love.
With interviews from the scientists and politicians at the forefront of air pollution research, it soon becomes clear that these problems can be solved, and the message of the book is positive. The overwhelming majority of air pollutants are local, short-lived, and can be stopped at source; the benefits to health, instant and dramatic. Tim Smedley is an award-winning sustainability journalist who has written regularly for the Financial Times, Guardian, the BBC and The Sunday Times.
Laura Mucha has a BA and MA in psychology and philosophy, and attended law school in Oxford where she was heavily involved with radio and theatre. She has travelled all over the world (including Antarctica), and speaks four (and a half) languages.
@TimSmedley
@lauramucha
The Vinyl Frontier
Borrowed Time
The Story of the Voyager Golden Record
The Science of How and Why We Age
Jonathan Scott
Sue Armstrong
Have you ever made someone you love a mix-tape?
The ageing population is one of the biggest challenges that humanity faces in the twenty-first century. Sometime before 2020, the number of people over 65 worldwide will, for the first time, be greater than the number of 0–4 year olds, and it will keep increasing.
Forty years ago, a group of scientists, artists and writers gathered in a house in Ithaca, New York to work on the most important compilation ever conceived. NASA had commissioned a message that would be fixed to the side of Voyager 1 and 2 – a plaque, a calling card, a handshake to any passing alien that might one day chance upon them. The result was the Voyager Golden Record, a genre-hopping multi-media metal LP. A 90-minute playlist of music from across the globe, a sound essay of life on Earth, spoken greetings in multiple languages and more than 100 photographs and diagrams The Vinyl Frontier tells the story of NASA’s interstellar record, from first phone call to final launch, when Voyager 1 and 2 left our planet bearing their hopeful message from the Summer of ’77 to a distant future.
The question of why we age has teased scientists for centuries, yet there is still no agreement. There is a myriad of competing theories, from the idea that ageing is a simple wear and tear process, to the belief that ageing and death are genetically programmed and controlled. In Borrowed Time, Sue Armstrong tells the story of society’s quest to understand ageing. Through interviews with key scientists in the field and the people who represent interesting and important aspects of ageing, she will explore where science is taking us and what issues are being raised from a psychological, philosophical and ethical perspective.
Jonathan Scott is a writer, record collector and self-confessed astronomy geek.
Sue Armstrong is a science writer and broadcaster based in Edinburgh. She has worked for a variety of media organisations, including New Scientist..
@thejonoscott
@armstrong_sue
JANUARY 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472954350 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472954336/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472954367 / £9.99
“Laura Mucha has found the proof that love actually is all around.” RICHARD CURTIS
JANUARY 2019 HARDBACK / 9781472936066 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472936073/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472936080 / £9.99
“A rich, timely study for an era of ‘global ageing.’” NATURE
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OCTOBER 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472950895/ £16.99
Turned On
The Science of Sin
The Sex Robot Story
Why We Do The Things We Know We Shouldn’t
Kate Devlin
Jack Lewis
The idea of the seductive sex robot is the stuff of myth, legend and science fiction. But beyond the fantasies there are real and fundamental questions about our relationship with technology as it moves into the realm of robotics. With advances in technology come machines that may one day think independently. What will happen to us when we form close relationships with these intelligent systems?
It can often seem that we are utterly surrounded by temptation, from the stream of targeted advertising encouraging us to greedily acquire yet more stuff to the cake and fast-food shops that line our streets, beckoning us in to over-indulge. Where exactly do these urges come from? If we know we shouldn’t do something, for the sake of our health, our pockets or our reputation, why is it often so very hard to do the right thing?
Sex robots are here, and here to stay, and more are coming. This book explores how the emerging and future development of sexual companion robots might affect us, and the society in which we live. It explores the social changes arising from emerging technologies, and our relationships with the machines that may someday care for us and about us.
The Science of Sin brings together the latest findings from neuroscience research to shed light on the universally fascinating subject of temptation. With each chapter inspired by one of the seven deadly sins, neurobiologist Jack Lewis illuminates the neural battles between temptation and restraint that take place within our brains, suggesting strategies to help us better manage our most troublesome impulses – helping us to say ‘no!’ more often, especially when it really counts.
EBOOK / 9781472950871 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472950901 / £9.99
“Illuminating, witty and written with a wide open mind.” SUNDAY TIMES
Kate Devlin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has become a driving force in the field of artificial sexuality. She has written articles for New Scientist and the Guardian, and made a number of TV appearances. Devlin was named one of London’s most influential people in 2017 by London Evening Standard. @drkatedevlin
@DrJackLewis
The Edge of Memory
Nodding Off
Patrick Nunn
The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave
In today’s society it is generally the written word that holds the authority. We are more likely to trust the words found in a history textbook over the version of history retold by a friend – after all, human memory is unreliable. But before humans were writing down their knowledge, they were telling it to each other in the form of stories.
Alice Gregory
The Edge of Memory celebrates the predecessor of written information – the spoken word, tales from our ancestors that have been passed down, transmitting knowledge from one generation to the next. Author Patrick Nunn unravels the importance of these tales, exploring the science behind folk history from various places and what it can tell us about environmental phenomena, from coastal drowning to volcanic eruptions. AUGUST 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472943286 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472943279/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472943293 / £9.99
Patrick Nunn received his PhD from the University of London before spending 25 years teaching and researching at the University of the South Pacific, where he was appointed Professor of Oceanic Geoscience. Patrick has published several books, including Vanished Islands and Hidden Continents of the Pacific, named as one of the Best of the Best from the University Presses, 2009. @PatrickNunn3
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Jack Lewis is a neurobiologist and television presenter. He is a regular on ITV’s This Morning, and has presented shows on psychology for the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and The Discovery Channel, and a three-part ITV series called How to Get More Sex.
JULY 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472936141/ £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472936172 / £14.99 PAPERBACK /9781472936158/ £9.99
“Entertaining and enlightening” DR MICHAEL MOSELY
Sleep plays a crucial role in our waking lives, and we need to start paying it more attention. The latest research tells us that it’s essential for learning and memory, for mental health and physical well-being, and yet we tend to only think about it when it’s proving a struggle. Nodding Off leads you on a fascinating journey through the science of sleep as it evolves throughout our lives; from babies to teenagers, from middle age to the later years of our life, there are constantly new challenges to our sleep. Based on knowledge accumulated over almost two decades as a sleep researcher, Professor Alice Gregory shares important tips on improving your sleep. Nodding Off is an essential read for anyone who sleeps, and more important still for those who don’t get enough.
JUNE 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472946188 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472946157 / £14.99
Alice Gregory is a highly respected expert on sleep throughout development. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford, her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, and is currently a Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. @ProfAMGregory
PAPERBACK / 9781472946164 / £9.99
“While extolling the virtues of sleep and its fundamental importance to our health, Gregory reveals some interesting tidbits.” SCIENCE
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Eye of the Shoal
Seeds of Science
A Fishwatcher’s Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything
Why We Got It So Wrong On GMOs
Helen Scales It’s difficult to think of fish as wild, living things, partly because those chunks of white meat on our plates are almost impossible to connect to animate, living, breathing creatures, in the same way a steak doesn’t call to mind a mooing, cud-chewing cow.
MAY 2018
In this book, Scales shares the secrets of fish, unhitching them from their reputation as cold-hearted, unknowable beasts and reinventing them as clever, emotional, singing, thoughtful animals, and challenging readers to rethink these animals. She takes readers on an underwater journey to watch them going about the hidden but glorious business of being a fish.
HARDBACK / 9781472936844 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472936837 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472946973 / £9.99
“Scales’s genuine and awe for fish are contagious.” SCIENCE
Helen Scales is a marine biologist. She regularly appears on BBC Radio 4, Sky News and the BBC World Service. She is scientific advisor to the charity Sea Changers and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Her previous book Spirals in Time was BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week and number one on Amazon.
Mark Lynas Genetically modified organisms was a subject that dominated the media in the late 90s, dividing public opinion. Was our food already GM-rich, and was it damaging our health? This book lifts the lid on the controversial GM story, from the perspective of someone who has fought on both sides. It explains the research that has enabled this technology – something that was sorely missing from the media in the late 90s, which led to countless misconceptions about the field. As a consequence we forfeited two decades’ worth of scientific progress in the most vital area of human need: food. Mark Lynas is the author of three major popular science environmental books – his book Six Degrees (2008) won the Royal Society prize and was made into a National Geographic documentary. Lynas has contributed extensively to global media, writing for the Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post and numerous others.
APRIL 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472946980 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472946959 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472946973 / £9.99
“Fluent, pursuasive and surely right.” EVENING STANDARD
@mark_lynas
@helenscales
MAY 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472947413 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472947420 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472947444 / £9.99
Outnumbered
Catching Stardust
Exploring the Algorithms that Control Our Lives
Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System
David Sumpter
Natalie Starkey
Our increasing reliance on technology and the internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to gaze through into our lives. Using data they are constantly collecting about where we travel, what we buy, what interests us, they can begin to predict our daily habits.
Comets are the oldest objects in the Solar System, plucked 4.6 billion years ago from a massive, swirling cloud of gas and dust that went on to create the Sun and our entire Solar system. They are extensively studied to analyse their composition and behaviour, and through the results scientists can begin to answer fundamental questions about our existence: where did we come from? Where did our planet’s water originate? Was life delivered to Earth from outer space, and did it ride on the back of a comet?
Outnumbered is a journey to the dark side of mathematics, from how it dictates our social media activities to our travel routes. David Sumpter will investigate whether mathematics is sucking the mystery out of life, making everything too predictable, and crossing dangerous lines when it comes to what we can make decisions about. David Sumpter is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Originally from London, he completed his doctorate in Mathematics at Manchester, and held academic research positions at both Oxford and Cambridge before heading to Sweden. He has worked on a number of applied maths research projects, including a study of the traffic of Cuban leaf-cutter ants. @djtsumpter
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In Catching Stardust, Natalie Starkey takes us up close and personal with comets, and explains how we can use these ancient voyagers to help understand our place in the Solar System.
MARCH 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472944009 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472944030 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472944016 / £9.99
Natalie Starkey has been involved in space science research for more than 10 years. She regularly appears on television and radio internationally. In 2014 she received a SEPnet award for Public Engagement in the Media and Communications category. @starkeystardust BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
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FEBRUARY 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472941435 / £16.99
Best Before
I, Mammal
The Evolution and Future of Processed Food
The Story of What Makes Us Mammals
Nicola Temple
Liam Drew
Long before there was the ready meal, humans processed food to preserve it and make it safe. From fire to fermentation, our ancestors survived periods of famine by changing the very nature of their food. This ability to process food has undoubtedly made us one of the most successful species on the planet, but have we gone too far?
Humans are mammals. Most of us appreciate that at some level. But what does it mean for us to have more in common with a horse and an elephant than we do with a parrot, snake or frog?
Best Before puts processed food into perspective. It explores how processing methods have evolved in many of the foods that we love in response to big business, consumer demand, health concerns, innovation, political will, waste and even war. Best Before arms readers with the information they need to be rational consumers, capable of making informed decisions about their food.
EBOOK / 9781472941404 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472941428 / £9.99
Nicola Temple is a biologist, conservationist and science writer. After spending 10 years as conservation biologist, Nicola became a full-time writer, and is now based in Bristol. Her writing has taken her from the precipices of volcanoes in Ethiopia to the banks of salmon streams in Canada’s temperate rainforest.
I, Mammal is a history of mammals and their ancestors and of how science came to grasp mammalian evolution. And in celebrating our mammalian-ness, Liam Drew binds us a little more tightly to the five and a half thousand other species of mammal on this planet and reveals the deep roots of many traits humans hold dear. Liam Drew is a freelance science writer and former neurobiologist. He holds a PhD in sensory biology from University College, London, and spent a number of years working at Columbia University in New York. His work has appeared in Nature, New Scientist, Slate and the Guardian. He is also director of NeuWrite London.
NOVEMBER 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472922892 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472922922 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472922915 / £9.99
“A splendid evolutionary study.” NATURE
@liamjdrew
@nicolatemple
FEBRUARY 2018 HARDBACK / 9781472933737 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472933751 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472933768 / £9.99
Making the Monster
Reinventing the Wheel
The Science Behind Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Milk, Microbes and the Fight for Real Cheese
Kathryn Harkup
Bronwen and Francis Percival
The year 1818 saw the publication of one of the most influential sciencefiction stories of all time. Frankenstein: Or, Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley had a huge impact on gothic horror and science-fiction genres, and her creation has become part of our everyday culture, from cartoons to Hallowe’en costumes. How did a teenager with no formal education come up with the idea for an extraordinary novel such as Frankenstein?
In little more than a century, the drive towards industrial and intensive farming has altered every aspect of the cheesemaking process, from the bodies of the animals that provide the milk to the science behind the microbial strains that ferment it. Reinventing the Wheel explores what has been lost as expressive, artisanal cheeses that convey a sense of place have given way to the juggernaut of homogeneous factory production.
Making the Monster explores the scientific background behind Mary Shelley’s book. Is there any science fact behind the science fiction? From tales of volcanic eruptions, artificial life and chemical revolutions, to experimental surgery, ‘monsters’ and electrical experiments on human cadavers, Kathryn Harkup examines the science and scientists that influenced Shelley, and inspired her most famous creation.
This engaging book sheds light on the surprising truths and science behind the dairy industry. Discover how these dynamic communities of researchers and cheesemakers are reinventing the wheel.
Kathryn Harkup is a chemist and author. Kathryn completed a doctorate before realising that talking, writing and demonstrating science appealed a bit more than hours slaving over a hot fume-hood. @RotwangsRobot
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Bronwen Percival is the cheese buyer for Neal’s Yard Dairy in London. She served as an editor for the Oxford Companion to Cheese, winner of the 2017 James Beard Award for Reference & Scholarship. Francis Percival is a food writer and columnist for The World of Fine Wine. His writing won Louis Roederer Best International Wine Columnist in 2013 and Pio Cesare Food & Wine Writer of the Year in 2015.
NOVEMBER 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472955517 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472955500 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472955531 / £9.99
“A marvellous book” WALL STREET JOURNAL
@Bronwen Percival / FAPercival BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
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OCTOBER 2017
Wonders Beyond Numbers
The Planet Factory
A Brief History of All Things Mathematical
Exoplanets and the Search for a Second Earth
Johnny Ball
Elizabeth Tasker
In this book, Johnny Ball tells one of the most important stories in world history – the story of mathematics. By introducing us to the major characters and leading us through many historical twists and turns, Johnny slowly unravels the tale of how humanity built up a knowledge and understanding of shapes, numbers and patterns from ancient times, a story that leads directly to the technological wonderland we live in today.
Twenty years ago, the search for planets outside the Solar System was a job restricted to science-fiction writers. Now it’s one of the fastest-growing fields in astronomy with thousands of exoplanets discovered to date, and the number is rising fast.
Written in Johnny Ball’s characteristically light-hearted and engaging style, this book is packed with historical insight and mathematical marvels; join Johnny and uncover the wonders found beyond the numbers.
These new-found worlds are more alien than anything in fiction. Planets larger than Jupiter with years lasting a week; others with two suns lighting their skies, or with no sun at all. The Planet Factory tells the story of these exoplanets. What can we learn about these faraway surface environments and planetary atmospheres? And do the results hint at the tantalising possibility of alien life?
HARDBACK / 9781472939999 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472939968 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472939975 / £9.99
A lifelong maths obsessive, Johnny Ball started as a Butlin’s redcoat and stand-up comic before appearing on BBC’s Play School from 1967. His real breakthrough came in 1977, with the series Think of a Number, a tea-time popular maths show. A smash hit, this spawned other shows, as Johnny quickly became one of the most famous faces on British television @JohnnyBallco
AUGUST 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472915115 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472915146 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472915139 / £9.99
Elizabeth Tasker is an astrophysicist who spends her time building fake universes inside a computer. After a degree in theoretical physics, she went on to complete her doctorate at Oxford before moving across to the United States and Canada to build stars on any computer she was given access to. She later crossed the globe again to Japan, and is now an associate professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
PIG/PORK
How Your Body Defends and Protects You
Archaeology, Zoology and Edibility
Catherine Carver
Pía Spry-Marqués
The human body is like an exceedingly well-fortified castle, defended by billions of soldiers – some live for less than a day, others remember battles for decades, but all are essential in protecting us from disease. This hidden army is our immune system, and without it we could not survive the eternal war between us and our microscopic enemies.
What is it that people in all four corners of the world find so fascinating about the pig? When did the human obsession with pigs begin, how did it develop through time, and where is it heading? Why are pigs so special to some of us, but not to others? Pig/Pork sets out to answer these and other porcine-related questions, examining human-pig interactions across the globe from the Palaeolithic to the present day.
Catherine Carver completed her first degree in natural sciences before going on to study medicine at the University of Aberdeen. She now works for the Wellcome Trust, running a portfolio of multimillion-pound public health grants from all over the world. She is a seasoned science communicator, and has written blogs for The Lancet, Scientific American, and The Wellcome Trust.
EBOOK / 9781472917751 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472917744 / £9.99
“Packed with interesting insights” SKY AT NIGHT
@girlandkat
Immune
Immune provides an entertaining, intriguing and accessible account of the body’s defenses against disease. Drawing on everything from ancient Egyptian medical texts to cutting-edge medical science, the book takes readers on an adventure packed with weird and wonderful facts about their own defense mechanisms.
SEPTEMBER 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472917720 / £16.99
Packed with facts, wisdom and porker lore, Pig/Pork provides a thoughtprovoking account of where our food comes from and how this continues to influence many aspects of our behaviour and culture. Pía Spry-Marqués is a zooarchaeologist at the University of Cambridge, where she identifies and decodes the meaning of animal remains in archaeological deposits. Originally from Spain, Pía is predisposed to a keen understanding, awareness and love of the pig and the many tasty pork products that are so much a part of Spanish cuisine.
JULY 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472911391 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472911407 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472911414 / £9.99
“An intriguing trot through our long partnership with our intriguing pals” NEW SCIENTIST
@zooarcher
@ALittleGreyCell 5
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Catching Breath
4th Rock from the Sun
The Making and Unmaking of Tuberculosis
The Story of Mars
Kathryn Lougheed
Nicky Jenner
With more than a million victims every year and antibiotic resistance now found in every country worldwide, tuberculosis is once again proving to be one of the smartest killers humanity has ever faced.
Mars, the red planet, is ingrained in our culture, from David Bowie’s extra-terrestrial spiders to Captain Scarlet to War of the Worlds. It has inspired hundreds of authors, scientists and science-fiction writers – but why? What is it about this particular planet that makes it so intriguing?
Catching Breath follows the history of TB, from its time as an infection of hunter-gatherers to the first human villages, which set it up with everything it needed to become the monstrous disease it is today, through to the perils of industrialisation. It goes on to look at the latest research, interviews with doctors treating the disease, and the personal experiences of those affected. JUNE 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472930330 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472930361/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472930354 / £9.99
“Lougheed captures the ast 20 years or so of TB research with an insider’s eye” SCIENCE
Kathryn Lougheed worked in tuberculosis research for more than ten years, focusing on the biological mechanisms of latent tuberculosis and small molecule drug discovery. She completed her doctorate at Imperial College London in 2006, before moving to the National Institute for Medical Research.
Nicky Jenner’s 4th Rock from the Sun reviews Mars in its entirety – its nature, attributes, and impact on 3rd Rock culture, its environmental science and geology, and its potential for a human colony – everything you need to know about the red planet (and quite a few things you don’t). Nicky Jenner is a freelance writer and editor. Her news stories, features, interviews and reviews have appeared in a variety of international popular science magazines, including New Scientist, Nature, BBC Sky at Night, Astronomy Now, The Times, Eureka, and Physics World. @nickyjenner1
APRIL 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472922496 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472922519 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472922526 / £9.99 “Serves
to inspire the reader’ SCIENCE
@ilovebacteria
MAY 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472936103 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472936134/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472936127 / £9.99
“...reads like a thriller....an extraordinary book” THE TIMES “...raw, candid, tragic, inspiring...” TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLMENT
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Patient H69
My European Family
The Story of my Second Sight
The First 54,000 Years
Vanessa Potter
Karin Bojs
Imagine what it would be like to one day wake up and find that you were suddenly both blind and completely paralysed. This is what happened to Patient H69. Her condition is unique. It has no name.
Karin Bojs grew up in a small, broken family, and decided to use DNA research to learn more about herself, her family and the interconnectedness of society. After all, we’re all related. In a sense, we are all family.
Over the next six months, Vanessa Potter slowly recovered her movement and eyesight. Opening her eyes onto a watery, two-dimensional landscape, she saw an unrecognisably monochromatic world. As colour reappeared, she encountered a range of bizarre phenomena, from synaesthesia to discussions with inanimate objects. A multidisciplinary team of scientists scrambled to figure out what had happened and why, and what incredible things could be learnt from her miraculous recovery. This is the story of Patient H69 in her own words, based on detailed audio-diaries she kept during her time of blindness and over the two years of scientific research that was to follow. Before her illness, Vanessa Potter was an award-winning film producer. She is now an author, and remains a subject of scientific scrutiny. @PatientH69
This book tells the story of Europe and its people through its genetic legacy, weaving in the latest archaeological findings. By having her DNA sequenced and tested, and effectively becoming an experimental subject, Bojs was able to trace the path of her ancestors back some 50,000 years to a time when Neanderthals and other human relatives shared the planet with us. Karin Bojs is an author and science journalist. She was head of the science desk at Dagens Nyheter, the leading daily newspaper in Sweden, for nearly two decades. Karin has an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University, and has received several awards, including the 2015 Swedish August Prize for My European Family. @KarinBojs
MARCH 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472941473 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472941497 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472941459 / £9.99 “Meticulous,
up-to-date and never tedious” WALL STREET TIMES
“An extraordinary book” FINANCIAL TIMES
BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
8
FEBRUARY 2017 HARDBACK / 9781472922939 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472922953/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472922960 / £9.99
“...Is entertaining, colloquial and has a fine line in funny footnotes” THE TIMES ‘A fun addictive read.” READER’S DIGEST
OCTOBER 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472914095 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472914101 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472914118 / £9.99
“Packed with insight and information.” JIM AL-KHALIL “Intriguing, funny and clever.” FRAN SCOTT
9
BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
Built on Bones
Bring Back the King
15,000 Years of Urban Life and Death
The New Science of De-extinction
Brenna Hassett
Helen Pilcher
Imagine you are a hunter-gatherer some 12,000 years ago. You’ve got a choice – carry on foraging, or plant a few seeds and move to one of those new-fangled settlements down the valley. What you won’t know is that urban life is short and riddled with dozens of new diseases; your children will be shorter and sicklier than you are, they’ll be plagued with gum disease, and stand a decent chance of a violent death at the point of a spear. Why would anyone choose this?
If you could bring back just one animal from the past, what would you choose? In Bring Back the King, science writer and comedian Helen Pilcher explains the cutting-edge science that makes the resurrection of extinct animals a very real possibility, and highlights her choices from geological eras gone by.
But choose they did. Why? This is one of the many intriguing questions tackled by Brenna Hassett in Built on Bones. Based on research on skeletal remains from around the world, this book explores the history of humanity’s experiment with the metropolis, and looks at why our ancestors chose city life, and, by and large, have stuck to it.
Funny, intriguing and informative, Bring Back the King investigates current initiatives to resurrect entire species from their stony graves, and uses both science and willful irreverence to assess how these genetic Lazaruses might fare in their brave new world. Unique and brilliantly written, Bring Back the King is a book that you will simply have to read.
Brenna Hassett is an archaeologist who specializes in using clues from the human skeleton to understand how people lived and died. She completed her Ph.D at University College, London, and has been based at London’s Natural History Museum since 2012.
Helen Pilcher is a tea-drinking, biscuit-nibbling science and comedy writer. She has a PhD in Cell Biology from London’s Institute of Psychiatry. A former reporter for Nature, she now specializes in biology, medicine and quirky off-the-wall science. Helen also used to be a stand-up comedian before the arrival of children meant she couldn’t physically stay awake past 9pm.
@brennawalks
@HelenPilcher
Furry Logic
Science and the City
The Physics of Animal Life
The Mechanics Behind the Metropolis
Matin Durrani & Liz Kalaugher
Laurie Winkless
The animal world is full of mysteries. Why do dogs slurp from their drinking bowls while cats lap up water with a delicate flick of the tongue? How does a tiny turtle hatchling from Florida circle the entire northern Atlantic before returning to the very beach where it hatched? And how can a Komodo dragon kill a water buffalo with a bite only as strong as a domestic cat’s?
There is a surprising amount of hidden science behind urban life, which secretly keeps things moving. Science and the City describes how technological advances in fields as diverse as quantum mechanics, ergonomics and thermodynamics provide solutions to the urban problems of the future – 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities, and that proportion is growing fast. Can technology provide the answer to a viable megacity future?
These puzzles – and many more – are all explained by physics. From heat and light to electricity and magnetism, Furry Logic unveils the ways that more than 30 animals exploit physics to eat, drink, mate and dodge death in their daily battle for survival.
Written in an informal and enjoyable style by Laurie Winkless, Science and the City is built on solid foundations of science fact, with a decent sprinkling of speculation on top.
Matin Durrani is the editor of Physics World. After his PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, Matin did a postdoc before moving into publishing in the late 90s. Liz Kalaugher also has a PhD in physics, along with qualifications in biological sciences. She is the editor of environmentalresearchweb.org, a leading news resource on environmental issues.
Laurie Winkless is a physicist from London (via Dublin). Formerly a researcher at the National Physical Laboratory, Laurie went on to research the physics of thermoelectric energy harvesting before moving into science communication. An experienced commentator on physics and technology issues, she has given TEDx talks, worked as a reporter for the Naked Scientists, and appeared in The Times magazine.
@MatinDurrani / @LizKalaugher
@laurie_winkless
SEPTEMBER 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472912251 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472912282/ £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472912275 / £9.99
RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB “Science and its funniest!” SARA PASCOE
AUGUST 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472913210 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472913227 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472913234 / £9.99
“Offers a unique insight” SUNDAY TIMES “Winkless seamlessly covers everything” SCIENCE
BLOOMSBURY SIGMA 10
JUNE 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472920096 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472920089 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472920119 / £9.99
“Highly recommended” FINANCIAL TIMES
JUNE 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472920058 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472920065 / £14.99
Goldilocks and the Water Bears
Soccermatics
The Search for Life in the Universe
Mathematical Adventures in the Beautiful Game
Louisa Preston
David Sumpter
Across a Universe of at least 100 billion habitable, earth-like worlds, life cannot be restricted to Earth – or can it? We can learn much about the possibilities of extraterrestrial life by studying the conveyer belt of life forms over the planet’s history, and by exploring organisms present in harsh environments on Earth that mimic those on other worlds. These extreme-loving organisms are directing our search for alien life throughout the Solar System and beyond. Could we one day find Earth’s toughest animal, the microscopic water bear, living on the surface of another world?
Football – the most mathematical of sports – is riddled with numbers, patterns and shapes. How to make sense of them? The answer lies in mathematical modelling, an applied science with applications in a host of biological systems. More than a Game brings the two together in a thrilling, mind-bending synthesis.
Goldilocks and the Water Bears is an accessible introduction to the most fascinating of all the astro-sciences – the quest to learn whether we are alone in the Universe.
What’s the similarity between an ant colony and Total Football, Dutch style? How is the Barcelona midfield linked geometrically? And how can we relate the mechanics of a Mexican Wave to the singing of cicadas in a Greek valley? Welcome to the world of mathematical modelling, expressed brilliantly by David Sumpter through the prism of football. Football – more than a game, and packed with game theory.
11 BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
EBOOK / 9781472924155 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472924148 / £9.99
Louisa Preston is an astrobiologist and planetary geologist, whose research has included the search for signatures of life that could survive the harsh environments of Mars. She has a Ph.D. in Astrobiology and Planetary Geology from Imperial College London.
David Sumpter is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, where he runs the Collective Behaviour Research Group. An incomplete list of research subjects that he’s modelled include pigeons in pairs over Oxford, Cuban leaf-cutter ant traffic, the gaze of London commuters, and the tubular structures of Japanese slime moulds.
@LouisaJPreston
@djtsumpter
Big Data
The Tyrannosaur Chronicles
Does Size Matter?
The Biology of the Tyrant Dinosaurs
Timandra Harkness
David Hone
Data is big, and getting bigger. It can help us do things faster and more efficiently than ever before, and has made possible scientific and social achievements that would have been impossible just a few years ago. But are we being bamboozled by its size, its speed and its shiny technology? It’s big, but it’s not always clever.
Tyrannosaurus is by some margin the most famous dinosaur in the world. It topped 10 tons, was more than 15m long, and had the largest head and most powerful bite of any land animal, ever.
Timandra Harkness cuts through the hype to put data science into real-life context. Stories, jokes and personal asides bring to life what is essentially a human science, demystifying Big Data, telling us where it comes from and what it can do for us – and what it can’t. This book asks you to decide – are you a data point, or a human being?
The Tyrannosaur Chronicles tracks the rise of these dinosaurs, and presents the latest research into their biology, showing off more than just their impressive statistics – tyrannosaurs had feathers, may have hunted in groups, and fought and even ate each other. This entertaining book presents the science behind this research, and explores how they came to be the dominant terrestrial predators of the Mesozoic and, in more recent times, one of the great icons of biology.
Timandra Harkness is a writer and comedian who has been performing on mathematical topics since the latter days of the 20th century. In 2010 she co-wrote and performed The Maths of Death, a smash hit at the Edinburgh Fringe, and she is currently on tour with her latest solo show, Brainsex. Timandra is the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Human Zoo.
David Hone is Lecturer in Ecology at QMW in London. He has published more than 50 academic papers on dinosaur biology and behaviour, with a particular interest in the tyrannosaurs, while his fieldwork has included a spell working on the famous feathered dinosaur deposits of China. David’s writing credits include the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs.
@TimandraHarknes
@Dave_Hone
“Every football nerd’s dream.” FOUR FOUR TWO
APRIL 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472911254 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472911278 / £14.99
PAPERBACK / 9781472920072 / £9.99
“The book about stats, life and big data we’ve all been waiting for” MATT PARKER
MAY 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472924124 / £16.99
PAPERBACK / 9781472911285 / £9.99
“Gripping and wonderfully informative” NEW STATESMAN “Spectacular” NATURE
BLOOMSBURY SIGMA 12
MARCH 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472915078 / £16.99
Death on Earth
Electronic Dreams
Adventures in Evolution and Mortality
How 1980s Britain Learned to Love the Computer
Jules Howard
Tom Lean
Planet Earth teems with trillions of life-forms, eating, reproducing, thriving … Yet the life of every one draws nearer and nearer to certain death. Why? Why is death such a universal companion to life on Earth? Why haven’t animals evolved to break free of its shackles?
Remember the ZX Spectrum? How about the BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, or the Commodore 64? Did you marvel at the immense galaxies of Elite, master digital kung-fu in Way of the Exploding Fist or lose yourself in the surreal caverns of Manic Miner? For anyone who was a kid in the 1980s, these iconic computer brands are the stuff of legend. In Electronic Dreams, Tom Lean tells the story of how computers invaded British homes for the first time, as people set aside their worries of electronic brains and Big Brother and embraced the wonder-technology of the 1980s.
In this ground-breaking exploration of death, Jules Howard attempts to shed evolutionary light on one of our most unshakeable taboos. Encountering some of the world’s oldest animals and meeting the scientists attempting to unravel their mysteries, his journey ends with our own fate: can we ever become immortal? And even if we could, would we really want to?
EBOOK / 9781472915108 / £10.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472915092 / £9.99
“Funny, clever, but also chock full of science ... a book that’s a genuine pleasure to read” DISCOVER MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472911339 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472911346 / £10.99
Jules Howard is a zoologist, writer and broadcaster. He is a features writer for BBC Countryfile magazine, and a regular contributor to the Guardian, the Independent, and BBC Wildlife, for whom he is a judge for the Wildlife Writer of the Year award. His TV work incorporates regular appearances on Inside Out, BBC Breakfast and The One Show.
“Sorting the Beef from the Bull is a must-read” FINANCIAL TIMES
13 BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
HARDBACK / 9781472910042 / £16.99
Tom Lean is a historian of science based at the British Library. His fascination with computer technology is long-standing, culminating in his doctorate at the University of Manchester on computing in 1980s Britain.
“A joy to anyone who grew up in the period” THE SPECTATOR
@juleslhoward
@reggitsti
Sorting the Beef from the Bull
Herding Hemingway’s Cats
The Science of Food Forensics
Understanding How Genes Work
Richard Evershed and Nicola Temple
Kat Arney
Horsemeat in burgers, melamine in infant’s milk, artificial colours in our fish and fruit … as our urban lifestyle takes us further away from our food sources, there are increasing opportunities for dishonest, profitmaking short-cuts. Food adulteration costs the food industry billions of dollars each year; the price to consumers may be even higher, with some paying for these crimes with their health and, in some cases, their lives.
The language of genes has become common parlance. We know they make your eyes blue, your hair curly or your nose straight. Newspapers tell us that our genes control our risks of cancer, heart disease, alcoholism or Alzheimer’s. Six hundred pounds will buy you your very own genome readout, neatly stored on a USB stick. And advances in genetic medicine hold huge promise. So we’ve all heard of genes, but how do they actually work?
This book explains the scientific tools used in the fightback against the fraudsters. It explores the arms race between scientists and adulterers, and looks at the up-and-coming techniques that will help battle food fraud in the future. Sorting the Beef… brings the full story of a fascinating and under-reported applied science to light.
JANUARY 2016 EBOOK / 9781472910066 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472910073 / £9.99
“Packed with nuggety info” ESQUIRE
Drawing on stories ranging from six-toed cats to fish hips, werewolves and zombie genes, geneticist Kat Arney explores how DNA is packed, unpacked and read, creating a companion reader to the book of life itself.
JANUARY 2016 HARDBACK / 9781472910042 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472910066 / £14.99
Richard Evershed FRS is Professor of Biogeochemistry at the University of Bristol. Having been at the forefront of analytical chemistry for more than thirty years, his methodologies have been crucial in the fight against food fraudsters. Nicola Temple is a biologist, conservationist and science writer.
Following a doctorate and research career in genetics, Kat Arney is now Science Communications Manager for Cancer Research UK, helping people understand the disease. According to BBC America, Kat is one of the ‘Top 10 Brits Who Make Science Sexy’, and she regularly appears on national TV and radio shows to talk about the latest genetic research.
@nicolatemple
@harpistkat
PAPERBACK / 9781472911353 / £9.99
“Eye-opening” DAILY MAIL
It’s the story of the people who made the boom happen; inventors and entrepreneurs like Clive Sinclair and Alan Sugar, bedroom programmers and computer hackers, and the millions of everyday folk who bought in to the electronic dream and let the computer into their lives.
PAPERBACK / 9781472910073 / £9.99 “A
witty, clued-up report from the front lines of genetics” NATURE “Engrossing and fun” THE GUARDIAN
BLOOMSBURY SIGMA 14
NOVEMBER 2015 HARDBACK / 9781472915610 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472915641 / £14.99
Suspicious Minds
A is for Arsenic
Why we believe conspiracy theories
The Poisons of Agatha Christie
Rob Brotherton
Kathryn Harkup
Conspiracy theories have been widespread throughout history, from ancient Rome to 9/11 and JFK. Inside Job explores the psychology of this phenomenon, and sheds light on the important consequences conspiracy theories have on society. Conspiracy theorists are not limited to people wearing tin-foil hats or with bizarre ideas about shape-shifting reptilian aliens. Conspiracies are as likely to appeal to women as men, college students as underprivileged youths, middle-class parents as blue-collar workers. Psychological research shows that this is due to a complex mix of personality traits and psychological drives such as the desire for excitement, control, and possession of privileged knowledge.
Fifteen novels. Fifteen poisons. Just because its fiction doesn’t mean its all made-up ...
We’re all born conspiracy theorists. This brilliant book tells you why
PAPERBACK / 9781472915634 / £9.99
“Sophisticated and absorbing … this is a first-class book” THE SUNDAY TIMES “A thought-provoking read” WALL STREET JOURNAL
Rob Brotherton is a leading expert on the psychology of conspiracy theory. Following his doctorate, he went on to become a lecturer in psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has written about conspiracy theories for periodicals such as New Scientist. @rob_brotherton
EBOOK / 9781472911193 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472911247 / £9.99
“Teitel … illuminates the foundations of American spaceflight” PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY
15 BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
@RotwangsRobot
Chilled
The Story of Spaceflight before NASA
How the Refrigerator Changed the World ... and Might Do So Again Tom Jackson
NASA’s history is a familiar story, culminating with the agency successfully landing men on the Moon in 1969. But NASA’s prehistory is a rarely told tale, one that is largely absent from the popular space-age literature but that gives the context behind the lunar program. America’s space agency wasn’t created in a vacuum; it drew together some of the best minds the non-Soviet world had to offer.
HARDBACK / 9781472911179 / £16.99
Kathryn Harkup completed a degree, a PhD and a postdoc in chemistry before realising that talking and writing about science appealed more than hours slaving over a hot fume-hood. She is now a science communicator, specialising on the quirky side of science.
Breaking the Chains of Gravity Amy Shira Teitel
OCTOBER 2015
Agatha Christie used poison to kill her characters more often than any other crime-fiction writer. The poison is a central part of the novel, while Christie’s choice of deadly substances was far from random; the chemical and physiological characteristics of each poison provide vital clues to identity of the murderer. A is for Arsenic celebrates the use of science in Christie’s work. It looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, and the feasibility of obtaining, administering and detecting these poisons, both when the novel was written and today.
From Wernher von Braun fleeing the ruins of Berlin to the Mercury programme, tests of new technologies by pilots such as Neil Armstrong and, in the shadow of Sputnik, the final creation by Dwight D. Eisenhower of NASA, Breaking the Chains of Gravity tells the story of NASA’s roots in an engaging and accessible way, against a backdrop of nazism, communism and imminent nuclear annihilation.
The refrigerator in your kitchen is one of the true wonders of 20th century science – life-saver, food-preserver and social liberator, while the science of refrigeration is crucial, not just in transporting food around the globe but in a host of branches on the scientific tree. Refrigeration and its discovery provides the remarkable backdrop to Chilled, the story of how science managed to rewrite the rules of food. It tells us how the technology whirring behind every refrigerator is at play, unseen, in a surprisingly broad sweep of modern life, and has been crucial in some of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the last 100 years, from the discovery of superconductors to the search for the Higgs boson.
SEPTEMBER 2015 HARDBACK / 9781472911308 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472911292 / £14.99 PAPERBACK / 9781472911322 / £9.99
“Harkup superbly captures the texture of Christie’s books” THE TIMES “A is for Arsenic has lethal charm” WALL STREET JOURNAL
JULY 2015 HARDBACK / 9781472911438 / £16.99 EBOOK / 9781472911421 / £14.99
Amy Shira Teitel is an author and expert in the history of science, with a lifelong passion for spaceflight. An accomplished science communicator, Amy regularly appears on Discovery News and Al-Jazeera.
Tom Jackson is a science writer who specialises in recasting science and technology into lively historical narratives, told through the deeds of the people that discovered them. After almost 20 years of writing nonfiction, Tom has uncovered a wealth of stories that help to bring technical content alive and create new ways of enjoying learning about science.
@astVintageSpace
@jinjatom
PAPERBACK / 9781472911445 / £9.99
“Buoyant, idiosyncratic and very funny” FINANCIAL TIMES
BLOOMSBURY SIGMA 16
MAY 2015 PAPERBACK / 9781472911384 / £9.99
Spirals in Time
P53
The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells
The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code
Helen Scales
Sue Armstrong
The shell-making molluscs are among the most successful animals on the planet. They live extraordinary lives in many strange places; they provide food and homes for other animals, and across the ages, their shells, sculpted by evolution and mathematics, have become powerful symbols of sex and death, prestige and war.
All of us have lurking in our DNA a most remarkable gene. Its job is straightforward – to protect us from cancer. This gene – known simply as p53 – scans our cells to ensure that they grow and divide without mishap. Cancer cannot develop unless p53 itself is damaged and malfunctioning. Not surprisingly, p53 is the most studied gene in history.
Shells offer an accessible way to reconnect people with nature, helping heal the rift between ourselves and the living world. Snails’ Tears and Thunderstones is a biography of the seashell. It shows why nature matters, and reveals the secrets of these wonders of calcium carbonate that you can hold in the palm of your hand.
This book is the story of medical science’s mission to unravel the mysteries of p53. A timely tale of scientific discovery, p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code charts our understanding of a disease that affects one in three of us at some point in our lives.
EBOOK / 9781472911377 / £9.99
BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK A GUARDIAN, TIMES AND INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR “This is nature writing at its most engaging” SUNDAY EXPRESS
MARCH 2015 PAPERBACK / 9781472912237 / £9.99 EBOOK / 9781472912244 / £9.99
WINNER OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS BOOK AWARD 2016 “Provides elegant answers to questions so obvious you’ve never thought of them” WALL STREET JOURNAL 17 BLOOMSBURY SIGMA
Following her doctorate on the biology of the humphead wrasse, Helen Scales tagged sharks in California, catalogued marine life in the Andaman Sea, and studied the coral reefs of the South Pacific, before becoming an author and presenter of science programmes on BBC Radio 4. Her credits include regular appearances on Inside Science and Home Planet, and a coveted spot on The Museum of Curiosity. @helenscales
Sue Armstrong is an author and broadcaster. A former New Scientist journalist, Sue has undertaken regular assignments for the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, writing about women’s health issues and the AIDS pandemic, among many other topics. She has also worked on major Radio 4 documentaries, focusing on topics such as ageing, alcoholism, obesity and cancer. @armstrong_sue
Atoms Under the Floorboards
Sex on Earth
The Hidden Science in Your Home
A Journey Through Nature’s Most Intimate Moments
Chris Woodford
Jules Howard
Is it better to build skyscrapers like wobbly jellies or stacks of biscuits? Can you burn your house down with an electric drill? How many atoms would you have to split to power a lightbulb?
Since sex first took place – one billion years ago – the world has become ever more colourful, ringing with elaborate songs, epic battles, and rallying cries as male and female desires collided. Right now, warring hordes are locking horns, preening feathers, questioning their mate’s fidelity. Birds are singing, flow ers bloom. A million females choose; a billion penises ejaculate (or snap off); a trillion sperm battle, block and tackle. Sex made planet Earth sexy.
Atoms under the Floorboards answers all these questions and hundreds more. Using the modern home as a springboard, the book introduces the reader to the fascinating and surprising scientific explanations behind a variety of common (and often entertainingly mundane) household phenomena, from gurgling drains and squeaky floorboards to rubbery custard and shiny shoes. Readers will discover an entirely new appreciation of the science that underpins their lives, while gaining a broad introduction to fundamental scientific concepts like forces, motion, energy, and materials. Chris Woodford has been a professional science and technology writer for 25 years. His best-sellers include Cool Stuff and Cool Stuff Exploded.
Written in a brilliantly engaging style by biologist Jules Howard, Sex on Earth takes us on a thrilling journey through the ins and outs of animal reproduction.
NOVEMBER 2014 PAPERBACK / 9781472910523 / £9.99 EBOOK / 9781472910530 / £9.99
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BMA BOOK AWARD 2015 “One of the best accounts I’ve read of how science is actually performed” THE GUARDIAN
OCTOBER 2014 PAPERBACK / 9781408193433 / £9.99 EBOOK / 9781408193426 / £9.99
Jules Howard is a zoologist, writer and broadcaster. He is a features writer for BBC Countryfile magazine, and a regular contributor to the Guardian, the Independent, and BBC Wildlife, for whom he is a judge for the Wildlife Writer of the Year award. His TV work incorporates regular appearances on Inside Out, BBC Breakfast and The One Show.
“A brilliantly informative yet entertainingly accessible guide to reproduction across the planet” DAILY MAIL
@juleshoward BLOOMSBURY SIGMA 18
Bloomsbury’s popular science imprint, Sigma A celebration of great writing, with a roster of brilliant new authors Sigma – making serious science seriously accessible
Bloomsbury’s popular science imprint, Sigma A celebration of great writing, with a roster of brilliant new authors Sigma – making serious science seriously accessible
Jules Howard
Sue Armstrong
Tim Smedley
Laurie Winkless
Helen Pilcher
Alice Grefory
Helen Scales
Mark Lynas
Kathryn Harkup
Elizabeth Tasker
Brenna Hassett
Vanessa Potter
Amy Shira Teitel
Jonathan Scott
Lydia Pyne
Catherine Carver
Laura Mucha
Kate Devlin
Jack Lewis
Nicola Temple
David Hone
Natalie Starkey
Johnny Ball
Kathryn Lougheed
Leah Garcés
Timandra Harkness
Louisa Preston
Bronwen and Francis Percival
Liam Drew
Karin Bojs
www.bloomsbury.com
www.bloomsbury.com