Reviews
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Overpotential: Fuel Cells, Futurism, and the Making of a Power Panacea (Studies in Modern Science, Technology, and the Environment) by Matthew N. Eisler
This history of fuel cell research considers why engineers keep trying, and failing, to produce a commercially viable technology. Rutgers Univ., 2012, 260 p., $49.95
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This is Improbable: Cheese String Theory, Magnetic Chickens and Other WTF Research by Marc Abrahams
The founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes rounds up strange studies, such as one on the best way to slice a ham sandwich. Oneworld Publications, 2012, 320 p., $15.95
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- Paleontology
The Last Lost World
Ice Ages, Human Origins, and the Invention of the Pleistocene, by Lydia V. Pyne and Stephen J. Pyne.
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BOOK REVIEW: DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America by Bryan Sykes
Review by Tina Hesman Saey.
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Mathletics: A Scientist Explains 100 Amazing Things About the World of Sports by John D. Barrow
See what math reveals about sports, from the possibility of speeding up Usain Bolt to the physics of high jumping’s backward flop. W.W. Norton & Co., 2012, 298 p., $26.95
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Finding the Arctic: History and Culture Along a 2,500-Mile Snowmobile Journey from Alaska to Hudson’s Bay by Matthew Sturm
A climate researcher intertwines the story of his own snow-mobile expedition with the history of life and exploration in the Arctic. Univ. of Alaska, 2012, 258 p., $24.95
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The Case of the Green Turtle: An Uncensored History of a Conservation Icon by Alison Rieser
The story of efforts to save green sea turtles, including by farming them, illustrates conflicts common to conservation work. Johns Hopkins, 2012, 338 p., $45
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From Here to Infinity: A Vision for the Future of Science by Martin Rees
An astrophysicist proposes ways for scientists and the public to tackle problems together, from climate change and energy to health care and population growth. W.W. Norton & Co., 2012, 144 p., $23.95
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A Field Guide to Radiation by Wayne Biddle
From “absorbed dose” to zirconium-95, this alphabetical collection of essays makes an interesting guide to the nuclear age. Penguin, 2012, 258 p., $16
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Mathematical Excursions to the World’s Great Buildings by Alexander J. Hahn
Explore math principles behind the designs of structures from the Parthenon to the Sydney Opera House. Princeton Univ., 2012, 317 p., $49.50
