New books & media

Bill Nye Saves the World, Netflix, Bunim/Murray Productions, 2018 (3rd season)

Comedian and mechanical engineer William Nye rose to fame as the host of the PBS children’s show Bill Nye the Science Guy. Now Nye brings his energetic style of science communication to teenagers and adults in his Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World, which combines segments on recent scientific discoveries with demonstrations filmed in front of a live studio audience. The tone can occasionally feel manic, and viewers trained in science are unlikely to be challenged by Nye’s studio presentations. The interviews with scientists are fascinating, though, and some segments and episodes could be useful in the classroom. —mb

Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World, Les Johnson and Joseph E. Meany, Prometheus Books, 2018, $19.00 (paper) Buy at Amazon

Graphene, a semimetallic material made from a single layer of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms, has many exciting properties, including low electrical resistance, flexibility, and exceptional strength. Les Johnson, a NASA physicist, and Joseph Meany, a materials scientist and science communicator, share their excitement about graphene in this new book. Graphene covers the history of graphene research from the first theoretical predictions that it could be created to the discovery of the material in the early 2000s and discusses how the material might be used in the future. Although Johnson and Meany admit that previous attempts to turn graphene into an economic powerhouse were overpromised and underdelivered, they are optimistic that it will soon transform everything from space suits to bike helmets. —mb

Rainbows: Nature and Culture, Daniel MacCannell, Reaktion Books, 2018, $24.95 (paper) Buy at Amazon

Rainbows, often depicted as a simple arc of six or seven colors, are complex visual phenomena that have fascinated humans since ancient times. In this nicely illustrated guide, historian Daniel MacCannell starts off with a brief chapter describing the science behind rainbows and their many different manifestations. He moves on to deeper discussions of the history of their scientific study and of their mythic, artistic, cultural, and political significance. Rainbows: Nature and Culture is part of Reaktion Books’ Earth series. —cc

My First Book of Quantum Physics, Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón and Eduard Altarriba, Button Books, 2018, $17.99 Buy at Amazon

“The world of quantum physics is an amazing place,” writes physics teacher Sheddad Kaid-Sala Ferrón in the introduction to My First Book of Quantum Physics. Filled with colorful and playful illustrations by graphic designer Eduard Altarriba, the book provides a basic introduction for children as young as eight to the development and key concepts of that highly complex subject. My First Book of Quantum Physics was shortlisted for a 2018 Junior Design Award and is the first in a proposed series. —cc

Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth, Adam Frank, W. W. Norton, 2018, $26.95 Buy at Amazon

Does extraterrestrial life exist, and what could it tell us about our own civilization? To answer those and other questions, astrophysicist Adam Frank calls upon the research of pioneering scientists past and present who have gathered data from studies of Earth and other planets. The result is a thought-provoking discussion about the science of astrobiology, the possibility of exo-civilizations, the potential effects of human-induced phenomena such as climate change on Earth’s future, and humans’ ultimate place in the universe. —cc