Making Black Scientists: A Call to Action

  • Marybeth Gasman &
  • Thai-Huy Nguyen
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 256PP. £28.95

Racism permeates every aspect of our lives and it is no wonder that its effects are seen in academia. Marybeth Gasman and Thai-Huy Nguyen investigate the ways that African American students can be supported in pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Practices implemented in historically black colleges and universities can provide the answer in attracting, retaining and supporting a diverse student population. These practices include an emphasis on teaching over research, a student-first rather than faculty-first attitude, the promotion of role models and collaboration over competition.

The Crowd & the Cosmos: Adventures in the Zooniverse

  • Chris Lintott
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 288PP. £20.00

From solar flares, supernovae and galaxies, to penguins and gorillas, Chris Lintott gives us a tour of a relatively new way of doing science by crowdsourcing it. The sheer volume of data already generated by some of the world’s cutting-edge science experiments (like CERN) and future facilities like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope necessitate a rethink of how discoveries are made and how to account for serendipity. This book recounts the history of citizen science along with interesting tidbits and anecdotes from the author’s academic life.

The Contact Paradox: Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

  • Keith Cooper
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING: 2019. 336PP. £16.99

Is there life out there? A lot of money, effort and imagination have gone into providing an answer. In terms of numbers, life is bound to have existed, exist now or in the future somewhere else in the Universe. Intelligent life that is also concurrent with our existence is a whole different matter. Keith Cooper takes a critical look at the science behind the search for extraterrestrial life, including the astronomical, biological and sociological conditions required for such life to exist. The author also tackles the question of whether we would be able or even want to communicate with it.

Why Trust Science?

  • Naomi Oreskes
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS: 2019. 376PP. £22.00

The question asked in the title of this book is fundamental yet few, including scientists themselves, stop to think of an appropriate response. In a climate of distrust toward (scientific) authority, it is more important than ever for scientists to equip themselves with the tools to regain this lost trust. Naomi Oreskes uses the history and philosophy of science to explain how plurality and public vetting are cornerstones of the scientific method. It is not the existence of an absolute truth but rather the ever-changing constellation of competing theories — continuously proven, disproven, edited and adjusted through scientific discourse — that makes science trustworthy.