Annalee has a new book coming out! Apparently it features an alien slime mold graduate student who changes shape to study Earth-like creatures and hangs out in ancient Pompeii. 🤯🤯🤯

Annalee Newitz@annaleen.bsky.social · yesterday

A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD comes out next week, 10/6! Join me on book tour, starting in San Francisco with a banger of an event at @greenapplebooks.bsky.social with @olivasthewriter.bsky.social. Next: Chicago, NYC, Boston, Burlington VT, and Ottawa! See you soon! #booksky #scifi #books

I don’t know if anyone needs this right now but here are some baby goat zoomies!

One of our picks, Valley of Forgetting by @jennieerinsmith.bsky.social (January 2026) just won the National Association of Science Writers award for book of the year. Congratulations! newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/distinctio...

Distinction, drones and drugs

News from around the Curious universe.

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Less traffic. Lower emissions. Cleaner air. Better public transit. ✅ In honor of NYC Climate Week, we’re interviewing Louise Yeung, NYC’s Chief Climate Officer Listen (and review 🌟and follow!) wherever you get your podcasts. 🎧 getitright.earth/podcast

It's your last chance to sign up to our club and get September's book, SOLDIERS AND KINGS,—an astonishing, intimate look at human trafficking from Mexico to the US. LAT: "a glimpse into a world rarely seen or understood” NYT: "A rare inside look at human smuggling on the border" readcurious.xyz

This is solarpunk art

Bart⚓️@bartgonnissen.bsky.social · last wk.

The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.

AI companies are delaying their IPO's for a very specific reason. Author Cal Newport and @adambecker.bsky.social discuss why they are delaying. #ai #datmpodcast #future #science #ipo #doomer #deepwork #calnewport #goodnews @multitudeshows.com

"I don't think I really knew that it was going to work until it was done" We spoke to @robertakwok.bsky.social about her excellent book "Lost in Curiosity," the messy middle of science, and her A+ recommended reading! newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/roberta-kw...

"Seeing how difficult science is was illuminating"

Talking to Roberta Kwok about the research behind the headlines.

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Curious synchronicity! Rebecca wrote BY THE FIRE WE CARRY (CUR007) and the work of Navajo scientist Jani Ingram is the focus of chapter 8 of @robertakwok.bsky.social’s LOST IN CURIOSITY (CUR028) We love to see it!

Rebecca Nagle@rebeccanagle.bsky.social · 2w ago

A Navajo professor and her students have spent years driving across the reservation testing wells & made a free map so families can find clean water. www.knau.org/knau-and-ari...

The clean energy industry is getting aggressive, super PAC style. This episode, Bill and I spoke with Tom Matzzie, founding chairman of the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC, to break down their winning strategy. Listen-follow-review 🌟wherever you get your podcasts: getitright.earth/podcast

Future generations will call our era of AI-driven content "the Void Ages." I explain it all in @newscientist.com (register for free to read it for free)! www.newscientist.com/article/2584...

Feeding our books into generative AI risks creating a cultural void | New Scientist

When we put our literature, games and films into AI models, we risk replacing our cultural history with a mishmash of auto-generated works. We desperately need to preserve human writing, says columnis...

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In today’s article, spend A Day in the Life of freelance science writer @robertakwok.bsky.social! Between promoting her new book, Lost in Curiosity, communications work, and prepping to teach a workshop, there’s a lot to glean from her current day-to-day. www.theopennotebook.com/2026/09/15/a...

A Day in the Life of Roberta Kwok - The Open Notebook

Roberta Kwok is the author of Lost in Curiosity: Field Notes From Scientists' Adventures into the Unknown, published July 2026. She’s a freelance science writer and former MIT Knight Science…

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This week's guest, linguist @emilymbender.bsky.social, talks with @adambecker.bsky.social about the origin of her famous paper on LLM’s, “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots” #ai #datmpodcast #future #science #llm #linguist #stochastic #parrots

What makes Jason de León's "Soldiers and Kings" work so well? One reason is how comfortable it is with ambiguity, and how it sets the reader up for life in the gray zone. Our close read is here: newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/close-read...

The messy business of making science happen: I review Roberta Kwok's (@robertakwok.bsky.social) “Lost in Curiosity” for @undark.org: #science #books undark.org/2026/09/04/b...

Book Review: The Messy Business of Making Science Happen

Roberta Kwok’s “Lost in Curiosity” makes the case for luck and hard work over eureka moments in advancing science.

undark.org

ICYMI: Season 5 of the What If We Get It Right? podcast has an incredible new co-host! I’m teaming up with OG climate legend @billmckibben.bsky.social to cover everything you need to know about environmental issues leading up to Election Day. Subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts. 🎧

September's book of the month is "Soldiers and Kings" by Jason De León, a fascinating, harrowing look at human smugglers who ferry undocumented migrants across the US border. The anthropologist embedded himself with coyotes across seven years to write it. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/soldiers-a...

Hit the road with our book of the month

"Soldiers and Kings" by Jason De León is our pick for September 2026.

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If you liked our book of the month, "Lost in Curiosity," here are three books that take you behind the scenes of the scientific life in different but interesting ways. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/three-scie...

Behind the scenes of science

Three recommendations if you liked "Lost in Curiosity"

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One thing we really appreciated about our book of the month "Lost in Curiosity" is how patient it is. Author Roberta Kwok followed scientists throughout their research, not just calling them up afterwards. You'd be surprised how rarely that happens. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/close-read...

Nevertheless, she persisted

Appreciating "Lost in Curiosity" for its unusual perspective.

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Our country's R&D infrastructure has been disrupted and getting it back won't be easy. Our guest this week is @alondra.bsky.social , former head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under Joe Biden. #datmpodcast #aiethics #science @adambecker.bsky.social @multitudeshows.com

"You don't have to be an oracle. Just go to the library." We had a delightful conversation with @susanamorris.bsky.social about her book "Positive Obsession," the reality of Octavia Butler's prophetic prose... and alien sex vampires. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/interview-...

"You don't have to be an oracle. Just go to the library."

Talking to Susana M. Morris about Octavia Butler, and more.

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Our book of the month for August is @robertakwok.bsky.social’s brand new “Lost in Curiosity”—a collection of surprising, sharp portraits of researchers at work. It’s pop science that avoids the typical pop science narrative. Sign up to get your copy now! newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/cur028-ann...

Surprise yourself with August's book of the month

We're reading "Lost in Curiosity" by Roberta Kwok.

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We don't generally pick biographies or books about artists and writers -- so this month's choice of POSITIVE OBSESSION was a little unusual. Here are three other works about creative minds that cover everything from art scenes and innovation to grief. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/three-art-...

Submit to these sentences

Three biographies of art and artists to pair with "Positive Obsession"

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Why did we love POSITIVE OBSESSION by @susanamorris.bsky.social so much? Many reasons, but a few of the most important ones are here. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/positive-o...

July's book of the month is Susana M. Morris's fascinating Octavia E. Butler biography POSITIVE OBSESSION. Grappling with Butler's life and work, it has a different texture than I expected—Kirkus called it “a sensitive examination.” Available now! newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/cur027-pos...

Get obsessed with July's book of the month

"Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler" by Susana M. Morris

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In the week when Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire, interrogating the beliefs of the technology world's most powerful people seems more important than ever. Our June pick, MORE EVERYTHING FOREVER does just that. But how? newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/close-read...

Why techno-utopians want to create modern dystopias

A look at what makes "More Everything Forever" tick.

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Excited to say that our pick of the month for June is @adambecker.bsky.social's storming MORE, EVERYTHING, FOREVER. From AI apocalypse to immortality, if you've ever wondered what strange beliefs the Silicon Valley really hold... this is the book for you. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/cu026-anno...

Get your mind blown with June's pick of the month

Adam Becker's "More, Everything, Forever" will leave you shocked and awed.

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Our book of the month for May is “Feed the People!” by Gabriel N Rosenberg and @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social — a provocative argument in favor of mass food production and the pleasures of “democratic hedonism” Read more: newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/cur025-ann...

Get your teeth into May’s book of the month

“Feed the People!” by Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel N. Rosenberg.

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What made “Waste Wars” our book of the month for April? It’s a skillful expose of the myths at the center of the rubbish and recycling industry… revealing how this is a big money operation that perverts our relationship with trash. newsletter.readcurious.xyz/p/waste-wars...