New Books in Science

About New Books in Science

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science

Publisher

New Books Network

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Feb 2008

Latest episode

19 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

910 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Oct 2026

   The Ethics of Precision Medicine and Burned Agency with Paul Scherz and Travis Pickell

   In this special installment of the University of Notre Dame Press's Books for Better Understanding, Paul Scherz, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Professor of Theology with the University of Notre Dame, and Travis Pickell, Assistant Professor at George Fox University, get together to discuss their books, The Ethics of Precision Medicine: The Problems of Prevention in Healthcare, and Burdened Agency: Christian Theology and End-of-Life Ethics, both available from the University of Notre Dame Press. You can purchase The Ethics of Precision Medicine here You can purchase Burdened Agency here

2. 

   29 Sept 2026

   Life's Chemical Secret: The Origin of Purpose and Mind with Addy Pross (MIT Press, 2026)

   How the ground-breaking discovery of a new material form in chemistry—matter in a dynamic kinetic state—is helping to explain life’s unique characteristics. The materialist view of nature has guided scientific thinking since Galileo—reality can be measured, modeled, and explained. Nature is objective. But our everyday life experiences just don’t seem to fit in with that view. Purpose, desire, and consciousness are real, but not objective. How could natural processes have led to such unnatural consequences? The physical nature of living matter, a material form that has totally overwhelmed our planet, remains inexplicably unresolved. Biology, never mind psychology, simply does not make basic physical sense. Until now. In Life’s Chemical Secret: The Origin of Purpose and Mind (MIT Press, 2026), Addy Pross offers at last a scientific explanation for life’s greatest puzzle. Through the discovery of a new dimension in chemical possibility, Pross and his collaborators have opened a new door to understanding life’s fundamental nature. The emergence of cognition, mind, and purpose is now comprehensible through the existence of dynamic kinetic states of matter. Some four billion years after life on earth first appeared, living forms can now understand how the universe was able to discover itself.

3. 

   25 Sept 2026

   The Story of North Carolina's Research Triangle Park with Mack Paul

   Miracle Road demonstrates how the story of Research Triangle Park is a fascinating and important case study of urban development in the twenty-first century.

Who has been a guest on New Books in Science

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jonathan Fuller
• Giulio Boccaletti
• Adam Barsouk
• Siri Carpenter
• Steve Ramirez

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

243

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.4 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 81 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

95

Social presence

0

YouTube

72

Engagement

95

Contact New Books in Science

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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