Environmental books worth reading: eight classics and modern nature books
Eight environmental books and nature books worth reading, from Silent Spring and A Sand County Almanac to fungi, animal senses, extinction and a novel.
etc blog: Technology, food, climate and corporate power, et cetera
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What does CRISPR stand for? The acronym word by word, and how the tool works
The CRISPR acronym means Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. What each word describes, and how bacteria gave us gene editing.
Seven technology books on attention, chips and who gains from new tools
Seven technology books for general readers: what media do to attention, how chips became geopolitics, and who gains when new tools arrive.
Nitrogen, potash and phosphate: who controls fertilizer, and why the price swings
Fertilizer is three businesses: an energy business, a mining business and a near-cartel. Who supplies each nutrient, and what really moves the price.
What are heirloom seeds? The meaning, the myths and how to save your own
The meaning of heirloom seeds: open-pollinated varieties passed down for generations, how they differ from hybrids, and how to save your own.
Brackets, blocs and the gavel: a reader's guide to how a UN climate COP works
What really happens over a fortnight of UN climate talks: agendas, square brackets, finance fights, negotiating blocs and who holds the pen.
Nutrition books worth reading: seven on processed food, appetite and the science of eating
Seven nutrition books for curious eaters: ultra-processed food, appetite and the brain, Michael Pollan's rules, and where researchers still disagree.