New Issue: Orbital Catastrophe Ahead? Read Now

Inventing Us: How Inventions Shaped Humanity

Materials scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez talks about her latest book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another.

Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train car.

This is Scientific American’s Science Talk. I’m Steve Mirsky. On this episode:

[RAMIREZ CLIP]

That’s Ainissa Ramirez. She’s a materials scientist with a doctorate from Stanford and a science writer. And she’s the author of the 2020 book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another. The book has recently been named one of Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best Science Books of 2020. It’s also been named an Amazon Best Science Books of 2020. And even though it’s written for adults, it’s a finalist for the AAAS/Subaru 2021 Young Adult Science Book Award. I called her at her home in New Haven, Conn.   


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


[RAMIREZ SEGMENT]

Full transcript to come.

That’s it for this episode. Get your science news at our Web site (www.ScientificAmerican.com), where all of our coronavirus coverage is out from behind the paywall, available free.

And follow us on Twitter, where you’ll get a tweet whenever a new item hits the Web site. Our twitter name is @sciam. For Scientific American’s Science Talk, I’m Steve Mirsky. Thanks for clicking on us.

Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism

Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.

When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.

Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber

Thank you,

Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe