Best Australian Science Writing – serie

From the elemental forces that drive our expanding universe to the delicate hairs on the back of your neck, science offers talented writers the kind of scope that other subjects simply can't match. This dynamic genre of Australian writing has never, until now, been showcased in an anthology. With a foreword by Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty, The Best Australian Science Writing 2011 is a landmark book. Showcasing selections from the work of renowned communicators such as Tim Flannery, Germaine Greer, Anna Funder and Paul Davies, this book is an inspiring exploration of the most exciting, elegant, powerful, and important writing about science and nature published in Australia and by Australians.

The annual collection celebrating the finest Australian science writing of the year.Why are Sydney’s golden orb weaver spiders getting fatter and fitter? Could sociology explain the recent upsurge in prostate cancer diagnoses? Why were Darwinites craving a good storm during ‘The Angry Summer’? Is it true that tuberculosis has become deadlier over time? And are jellyfish really taking over the world?Now in its fourth year, this popular and acclaimed anthology steps inside the nation’s laboratories and its finest scientific and literary minds. Featuring prominent authors such as Tim Flannery, Jo Chandler, Frank Bowden and Iain McCalman, as well as many new voices, it covers topics as diverse and wondrous as our ‘lumpy’ universe, the creation of dragons and the frontiers of climate science.

Good science writing makes you feel. It makes you delight in the discovery of a black hole munching on a star, laugh at the image of aliens puzzling over golf balls on the Moon, wonder at the mystery of the Spanish influenza’s deadly rampage, grieve for baby shearwater chicks dying with plastic-filled stomachs, rage at the loss of the Great Barrier Reef and cheer for the clitoris’ long-overdue scientific debut.This ninth edition of The Best Australian Science Writing showcases the most powerful, colourful, insightful and brilliant news, feature, essay and poetry writing from Australian writers and scientists. It roams the length and breadth of science, revealing how a ceramic artist is helping to save the handfish, what is so dangerous about the hype around artificial intelligence and whether too much exercise is bad for the heart. It makes us think, feel and hopefully act.

Can fish feel pain? Does it matter if a dingo is different from a dog? Is there life in a glob of subterranean snot? Science tackles some unexpected questions. At a time when the world is buffeted by the effects of a pandemic, climate change and accelerating technology, the fruits of scientific labour and enquiry have never been more in demand. Who better to navigate us through these unprecedented days than Australia’s best science writers. Now in its tenth year, this much-loved anthology selects the most riveting, entertaining, poignant and fascinating science stories and essays from Australian writers, poets and scientists. In their expert hands such ordinary objects as milk and sticky tape become imbued with new meaning, while the furthest reaches of our universe are made more familiar and comprehensible. With a foreword from Nobel laureate and immunologist Peter C Doherty, this collection brings fresh perspective to the world you thought you knew.