Science & Technology

"The nineteenth century believed in science but the twentieth century does not." — Gertrude Stein

When Looks Can Kill: On Antoine Bousquet’s “The Eye of War: Military Perception from the Telescope to the Drone”
The gaze of warfare is the most penetrating known to humanity.
Anna FeuerJan 14, 2019
In Fine Feather
A gorgeous book documents the painting of a laboratory wall.
Bill MorganJan 13, 2019
- Art & Architecture
- Science & Technology
Becoming Alien: The Pioneering Vision of “Star Trek”
Erin Zimmerman thinks Star Trek can teach us a thing or two about life on Earth.
Erin ZimmermanJan 12, 2019
Frozen as the Oceans Rise: On “We’re Doomed. Now What?”
Sharon Kunde challenges Roy Scranton’s fatalist view of climate change.
Sharon KundeJan 6, 2019
I Hate to Wait: On Jason Farman’s “Delayed Response: The Art of Waiting from the Ancient to the Instant World”
Lydia Pyne impatiently explores “Delayed Response: The Art of Waiting from the Ancient to the Instant World” by Jason Farman.
Lydia PyneDec 12, 2018
Eclipse Expeditions
On "After Emily: Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America’s Greatest Poet" and the fraught history of Emily Dickinson's editors.
Lynne FeeleyDec 11, 2018
What Does Literary Studies Know?
Michael Clune reads Jonathan Kramnick’s “Paper Minds: Literature and the Ecology of Consciousness.”
Michael W. CluneDec 10, 2018
- Literary Criticism
- Science & Technology
De-Nazifying the “DSM”: On “Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna”
Edith Sheffer’s book on the history of autism is an impressive piece of historical detective work.
Andrew ScullDec 10, 2018
- Around the World
- Science & Technology
The Future, Revisited: “The Mother of All Demos” at 50
How the ’60s counterculture gave birth to personal computers and the vast tech industry that builds and sells them.
Andy HorwitzDec 8, 2018
- Science & Technology
Modest Witnesses
Two recent books make the case that the birth of the sciences relied on a series of personal transformations and imaginative leaps.
Sean SilverDec 7, 2018
- Literary Criticism
- Science & Technology
Cute as a Button? Think Twice
Buttons may be the ultimate tangible expression of modernity, but how much do we know about what’s underneath them?
Anna FeuerNov 30, 2018
Science’s Freedom Fighters
Any process of designing science, with its complex suite of methods, funding structures, laboratories, and so forth, is inherently political.
W. Patrick McCrayNov 18, 2018