Kean, Sam

"[The author] tells the true story of what happens when unfettered ambition pushes otherwise rational men and women to cross the line in the name of science, trampling ethical boundaries and often committing crimes in the process. [This book] . . . guides the reader across two thousand years of history, beginning with Cleopatra's dark deeds in ancient Egypt. The book reveals the origins of much of modern science in the transatlantic slave trade of the 1700s, as well as Thomas Edison's mercenary support of the electric chair and the warped logic of the spies who infiltrated the Manhattan Project. But the sins of science aren't all safely buried in the past. Many of them, [the author] reminds us, still affect us. We can draw direct lines from the medical abuses of Tuskegee and Nazi Germany to . . . vaccine hesitancy, and connect icepick lobotomies from the 1950s to the contemporary failings of mental-health care"--Provided by publisher.

"Traces the story of a renegade group of soldiers, scientists, and spies who were sent into Axis territory to spy on and sabotage Germany's nuclear weapons research and prevent Hitler from obtaining a nuclear bomb"--OCLC.

Examines the stories behind the creation of the periodic table, focusing on the history of gold, carbon, silicon, and neon.

Contains twenty-six works of American science and nature writing as the best of the genre from the year 2017.

Why did Gandhi hate iodine? How did radium nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? A chronicle of the extraordinary stories behind one of the greatest scientific tools in existence: the periodic table.

Explores human history through the air we breath, discussing the molecular makeup of air to reveal how air helped shape our world and continues to shape everything we do.

Early studies of the human brain used a simple method: wait for misfortune to strike--strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, horrendous accidents--and see how victims coped. In many cases their survival was miraculous, if puzzling. Observers were amazed by the transformations that took place when different parts of the brain were destroyed, altering victims' personalities.

An exploration of human DNA and the stories it can tell describes how genes can explain why JFK's skin was bronze, Einstein was a genius, and why people with exceptional thumb flexibility can become world-class violinists.

Examines the stories behind the creation of the periodic table, focusing on the history of gold, carbon, silicon, and neon.

Explores the wonders of the building block of life, DNA, and explains crazy cat ladies, why some people have no fingerprints, why some people survive nuclear bombs, and more.