Rachel Field

Tonight! Star tribologist and author of Friction, Jennifer Vail, will appear on the r/AskScience subreddit for a special AMA.

What are your burning questions about friction? Join us:

www.reddit.com/r/askscience...

A photo of Jennifer R. Vail's Friction: A Biography, which features a dynamic match about to strike on its cover. In the background, a unqiue, corrugated material.

From snow tires to sneaker soles—from the first spark of fire to the frontiers of energy—friction is the invisible force that connects everyday life to man’s greatest achievements.

Star tribologist Jennifer Vail delivers a spellbinding handbook to friction’s history and future: tinyurl.com/3md2x4v2

Book cover titled "A World of Resistance: India and the Global Antibiotic Crisis" by Assa Doron & Alex Broom. The design features a black and white image of a landscape with an overlay of orange abstract patterns.

Antibiotic resistance is exploding in India.

It's one of the most daunting public health challenges facing humanity.

This sweeping analysis uncovers the causes of—and offers solutions to—the crisis.

Coming March 10. Keep reading: bit.ly/4k5uE8O

I want to read all of these!

Really enjoyed chatting with Greg McNiff about "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean." In a wide-ranging conversation, we touch on everything from dreams of terraforming Mars and colonizing Venus to the role of solar storms and asteroid impacts in shaping history. #EnvHist newbooksnetwork.com/ripples-on-t...

From Da Vinci to Dark Matter: The Surprising History of Friction Author Jennifer Vail shares 5 key insights from her new book, Friction: A Biography.

nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/da-...

How “tribology” became a new industrial science The deep study of friction and surfaces — so crucial to industrial manufacture — emerged from a mid-century engineering conference.

bigthink.com/business/how...

Delighted that Jennifer Vail's book FRICTION was recommended by @newscientist.com.
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"[Friction] is an unsung hero to most (though not, of course, to Newton, da Vinci and their ilk) – though hopefully not for much longer."

One more week until publication!

www.newscientist.com/article/2509...

Civilisation started with a good hard rub In the 1960s, Prof Peter Jost ran a study for the British govt that showed better engine lubricants could save over £500mn each year by cutting friction losses. That’s £8.5bn in today’s money. By the....

Great description of Jennifer Vail's @harvardpress.bsky.social book on friction, the force that opposes motion, in the @thetimesofindia.bsky.social! Publishing next week.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-ed...

"Doron and Broom’s complex but remarkably accessible and nicely illustrated work makes clear for readers at all levels that the planet’s health and their own require transforming conditions that give rise to AMR to restore human microbial balance."--Thomas Davis

tinyurl.com/48napdc2

The Scientific American Staff’s Favorite Books of 2025 Here are the 67 books Scientific American staffers couldn’t put down this year, from fantasy epics to gripping nonfiction

Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean, "a fascinating tour of the environmental history of the inner solar system," is a @sciam.bsky.social favorite book of the year. Check out the other books (both nonfiction and fiction) on the list! #Space #EnvHist #History www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

The Nautilus Winter Reading List 2025 The Nautilus Winter Reading List 2025: Ten books we loved to start your new year off right.

Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean is "one of the most fascinating histories of space exploration we know," according to Nautilus, because it shows how "space exploration doesn’t distract us from urgent Earthy issues; it helps us solve threats to Earth." #EnvHist nautil.us/the-nautilus...

Great to join @miquai.bsky.social and the folks at @carnegiescience.bsky.social this morning to talk about Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean and, among other things, the existential risk of #SolarStorms. Check out Mike’s forthcoming book - an argument for a new force of nature! #Space

In the late 1800s alien ‘engineers’ altered our world forever | Aeon Essays Images of vast ‘canals’ rippling across the red planet inspired fears of alien ‘engineers’ and changed science forever

I love publishing with @aeon.co. In this article, come for the UAPs (!), stay for the Martian canal-builders - and the history of how they changed our ideas about the environment, our future, and our place in the universe. #EnvHist #Aliens #Mars #History aeon.co/essays/in-th...

Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean Historian Dagomar Degroot joins Planetary Radio to discuss his new book, “Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: An Environmental History of Our Place in the Solar…

Three new interviews about the #EnvHist of outer space and climate change!

It was an absolute delight to chat about "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean" with Sarah Al-Ahmed at Planetary Radio, one of my favorite podcasts. Check it out here: www.planetary.org/planetary-ra... (1/3)

On the 19th-Century Scientist Who Realized Solar Storms Influence Life on Earth When thirty-three-year-old Richard Carrington settled down to sketch sunspots on the morning of September 1, 1859, he could not have known that he was about to witness the most important change eve…

In 1859, a solar storm of staggering power revealed that while technological progress had provided new powers over environments on Earth, it had also created vulnerabilities to environments in space. Read more in this excerpt from Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean! #EnvHist lithub.com/on-the-19th-...

Solar storms have influenced our history – an environmental historian explains how they could also threaten our future From communications outages to a brush with nuclear war, solar events like flares and coronal mass ejections have shaped human history.

My new book, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean," was published today! And here's a new article in @theconversation.com that explains how #solarstorms have influenced #history, and may threaten our future. Spoiler: it's really not a good idea to cut science at NASA. theconversation.com/solar-storms...

Tomorrow morning EST: I'm doing a Reddit AMA with r/AskHistorians and r/AskScience. I'll answer any and all questions about #ClimateChange, space history, environmental history, and anything else people want to talk about - including "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean," my next book. #EnvHist

Tell Us! Do you have an all-time favorite map? We want to see it!

📣 Calling all map nerds! In today’s podcast, we’re exploring how math helps us map the world. Now, we want to hear from you. Follow this link to share your favorite map—whether beautiful or bizarre—with SciFri, and stay tuned on social to see a roundup of submissions: buff.ly/QInsQ69

How Math Helps Us Map The World In "Mapmatics," a mathematician tells the stories of how math helps us track epidemics, map the seafloor, and plot a complex delivery route.

What can be used to track epidemics, catch criminals, and calculate the deepest depths of the ocean floor? A map, of course! Journey with us through the mathematics at the heart of all sorts of maps. 🗺️

Something New Around the Sun: The Case for an Environmental History that Spans the Cosmos Environmental history studies past interactions between humans and nature—expanding from Earth’s ecosystems to the dynamic, interconnected environments of the entire universe.

Today @dagomardegroot.bsky.social makes a case for an Environmental History that spans the cosmos.

niche-canada.org/2025/10/15/s...

#envhist #space #cosmos #histsci

YouTube video by Dagomar Degroot Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: Origins

"Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean," my new book, is out in two weeks! To introduce the book - why I wrote it, the evidence I used, the methods I developed, and why it all matters - I filmed six short videos. Here's the first! (1/3) #EnvHist #Space #Astronomy #History www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8o1...

Friction: A Biography by Jennifer R Vail Mechanical engineer Vail, who specializes in the study of friction, argues in this convincing debut survey that the force is imp...

@publisherswkly.bsky.social reviews Jennifer Vail's Friction: A Biography. @harvardpress.bsky.social

"[E]ye-opening ... Readers will be inspired to start noticing how this hidden force shapes the world around them."

www.publishersweekly.com/9780674290662

How Math Helps Us Map The World In "Mapmatics," a mathematician tells the stories of how math helps us track epidemics, map the seafloor, and plot a complex delivery route.

Listen to Paulina Rowińska discuss her book Mapmatics: A Mathematician's Guide to Navigating the World with Ira Platow on @scifri.bsky.social!

www.sciencefriday.com/segments/map...

Jane Goodall: April 3, 1934 – October 1, 2025

Jane Goodall was a global legend at the forefront of discovery — breaking through barriers for women in primatology, science, and beyond.

Her curiosity, strength, and kindness changed the world, bridging countries and cultures in pursuit of a better future.

It's finally in my hands! @harvardpress.bsky.social did such a wonderful job with the jacket. It's available for preorder, and will ship (to anyone in the US or Canada) on October 28th. #EnvHist #Astronomy #Space

Beautiful spread of an excerpt from THE COLOR OF NORTH in the next issue of Discovery Magazine. @harvardpress.bsky.social

📅 Mon. 9/15 @ 6PM: We join the CPL and Harvard Library in welcoming Shahir S. Rizk and Maggie M. Fink for a discussion of their new book "The Color of North: The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life". Learn more and RSVP for free here: buff.ly/oLitRG0

Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: An Environmental History of Our Place in the Solar System by Dagomar deGroot Georgetown University environmental history professor Degroot (The Frigid Golden Age), offers a captivating examination of how h...

Another positive pre-publication review for my next book, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean," this time from Publisher's Weekly. The book debuts on October 28th! #EnvHist #Astronomy #Environment www.publishersweekly.com/9780674986503

RIPPLES ON THE COSMIC OCEAN | Kirkus Reviews Taking the wide view.

A Kirkus starred review for my next book, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean." Look for it in October! #Astronomy #Space #Environment #History www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...