New books & media

Cosmos: Possible Worlds, Neil deGrasse Tyson (host) and Ann Druyan (executive producer), Cosmos Studios, 2020 (3rd season)

In its third season, the successor to Carl Sagan’s celebrated 1980s Cosmos series tackles nothing less than humanity’s future, discussing themes and concepts related to space exploration, human evolution, and climate change. As in previous seasons, the show’s visual style blends colorful animations, live-action reenactments, beautiful nature cinematography, and 3D renderings of spaceships and cities in imagined futures. Some episodes have a sci-fi feeling to them as they paint hopeful pictures of humans in space. Others, such as a spotlight on persecuted geneticist Nikolai Vavilov, focus more on science’s past. Host Neil deGrasse Tyson narrates. The first episode of the new season will air Wednesday, 9 March, on the National Geographic Channel; episodes will also air on the FOX network later this year. —mb

Marie Curie and Radioactivity, Jordi Bayarri, Graphic Universe/Lerner Publishing, 2020, $8.99 (ebook)

One of a series of graphic science biographies offered by children’s book publisher Lerner, Marie Curie and Radioactivity is a 30-page visual narrative relating the life of the celebrated physicist, chemist, and multiple Nobel laureate. Written and illustrated by cartoonist Jordi Bayarri, the book includes a timeline, glossary, list of resources, and index. The image-heavy format, which is aimed at readers ages 10–14, is intended to be both entertaining and educational. To ensure historical and scientific accuracy, Bayarri consulted science historian Tayra Lanuza. Other physicists covered in the series include Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. —cc

The Expanse, Amazon Prime Video, Alcon Entertainment/Sean Daniel Company, 2019 (4th season)

This sci-fi television series based on James S. A. Corey’s popular novels imagines a future in which humans live not only on Earth, but in domes on Mars and on space stations in the Kuiper Belt. Those in the Belt have adapted to low gravity but still face limited air and water, communication lags, and the menace of a mysterious life form known as the protomolecule. As season 4 opens, an extraordinary new discovery has enabled humans to travel to potentially habitable exoplanets, but tensions between Earthers, Martians, and Belters are still running high as factions compete for land and resources on a newly discovered world. The Expanse offers a grittier and more grounded vision of humans in space than utopian takes like Star Trek, and the show’s writers make smart use of planetary science to build their stories. Torchwood alum Burn Gorman joins the cast as ruthless security officer Adolphus Murtry. —mb

The Joy of x, Steven Strogatz, host, Quanta Magazine, 2020

In this informative podcast from Quanta magazine, applied mathematician Steven Strogatz interviews scientists about their work. Each episode is a freewheeling, hour-long conversation about career path, current projects, and interests outside science. Strogatz’s enthusiasm and curiosity make him an ideal host; he will frequently ask a guest to explain an interesting turn of phrase or to dig deeper into an intriguing concept. Early episodes feature cosmologists Priya Natarajan and Brian Keating, neurobiologist Cori Bargmann, and psychologist Brian Nosek. New installments are released weekly on Wednesdays. —mb

How Cosmologists Explain the Universe to Friends and Family, Karim A. Malik and David R. Matravers, Springer, 2019, $29.99 (paper)

How did the universe begin, and how did it evolve to look as it does today? Those are just some of the questions addressed by theoretical cosmologists Karim Malik and David Matravers in this overview of modern cosmology. Their aim, they say, is to explain their highly complex area of research as thoroughly as possible to readers who may not have a math or physics background. They begin with a discussion of the scientific method before moving on to recent observations, the astronomical tools used to make them, what constitutes normal and exotic matter, and the forces that shape the universe. Then they take the reader on a journey back in time to the very beginning. Images, drawings, tables, and diagrams supplement the text. —cc