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UnDisciplined: Surprising and often accidental discoveries that changed the world

James Hopkirk

In the late 19th century, many scientists believed that we knew just about everything we could ever possibly know about physics. That wasn't the case, of course. A century later, we're still learning so much about the properties of matter and energy. To many of us, though, it all seems very complicated. But it doesn't need to be.

Suzie Sheehy is a particle accelerator researcher at the Universities of Oxford in Melbourne, and the author of The Matter of Everything: Twelve Experiments that Changed Our World.

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Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something donned on him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be brutally depressing all the time. Today, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects by writing books about the intersection of science, human health and society, including the New York Times best-selling <i>Lifespan</i> with geneticist David Sinclair and the Nautilus Award-winning <i>Longevity Plan</i> with cardiologist John Day. His first solo book, <i>Superlative</i>, looks at what scientists are learning by studying organisms that have evolved in record-setting ways, and his is currently at work on another book about embracing the inevitability of human-caused climate change with an optimistic outlook on the future.<br/>