Emily Anthes

A fascinating, thought-provoking journey into our human-made built environment The benefits of nature are well documented. Regular forays into the natural world have been shown to have pronounced, positive effects on our physical and mental health. But how often do any of us get to take a week-long camping trip? The truth is, we spend most of our lives shuttling between homes and offices, schools and hospitals. While this may be an inescapable part of modern life, it also raises the question: What effect do the environments we've built for ourselves have on our mental and physical well-being? In this wide-ranging, character-driven book, Emily Anthes takes us on a trip that starts with the microscopic (the surprising array of microbes that share our homes) and ends with the big picture (the Martian architecture that could help humanity survive for many centuries to come). Along the way, she visits a wide range of scientists, architects, and other professionals working on the cutting edge of design people who are not only aware of how our surroundings shape us, but are working to create buildings that can radically improve our lives. Ranging from operating rooms that decrease human error to schools constructed to enhance learning, and from apartment buildings designed for neurodiverse residents to offices engineered for maximum comfort and efficiency, The Great Indoors is an argument for thoughtful interventions in the built environment and a celebration of the adaptive genius of human beings.

The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness

The Great Indoors

Drinnen – Wie uns Räume verändern

cuddling up to biotech's brave new beasts

Frankenstein's cat

Aunque los humanos pasamos la mayor parte de nuestro tiempo en espacios interiores, estos siguen siendo en gran medida desconocidos por nosotros. ¿Cómo es la arquitectura y diseño de este universo interior? ¿Qué ecosistemas contiene y cómo nos integramos en ellos? ¿De qué manera estos paisajes interiores influyen en nuestros pensamientos y comportamientos, en nuestras relaciones sociales, salud y bienestar? Estas son las preguntas que han guiado a Emily Anthes en este libro. Basándose en una amplísima variedad de investigaciones pioneras en distintos campos científicos, se adentra en todo tipo de espacios interiores: el ecosistema microscópico de bacterias y hongos que habitan nuestras casas; hospitales y quirófanos diseñados para minimizar los errores médicos; escuelas concebidas para promover la actividad entre los niños; prisiones construidas para atender las necesidades psicológicas de los reclusos; oficinas cuyo diseño mejora el rendimiento y relaciones de los empleados; edificios inteligentes que monitorizan nuestra salud; casas flotantes anfibias que podrían ayudarnos a sobrevivir al cambio climático. Incluso aborda los domos que podríamos construir en Marte y la Luna. Descubre así cómo mediante una arquitectura y diseños cuidadosos y atentos podemos mejorar muchos aspectos de nuestra vida, ya que aunque somos el resultado de nuestro entorno, no tenemos por qué ser víctimas de él. Emily Anthes es una periodista científica en The New York Times. Ha publicado, además, los libros Frankenstein’s Cat (2013) e Instant Egghead Guide: The Mind (2009).

Cómo su diseño influye en nuestro comportamiento, salud y bienestar

La arquitectura interior

A fascinating, thought-provoking journey into our built environment

Modern humans are an indoor species. We spend 90 percent of our time inside, shuttling between homes and offices, schools and stores, restaurants and gyms. And yet, in many ways, the indoor world remains unexplored territory. For all the time we spend inside buildings, we rarely stop to consider: How do these spaces affect our mental and physical well-being? Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? Our productivity, performance, and relationships?

In this wide-ranging, character-driven book, science journalist Emily Anthes takes us on an adventure into the buildings in which we spend our days, exploring the profound, and sometimes unexpected, ways that they shape our lives. Drawing on cutting-edge research, she probes the pain-killing power of a well-placed window and examines how the right office layout can expand our social networks. She investigates how room temperature regulates our cognitive performance, how the microbes hiding in our homes influence our immune systems, and how cafeteria design affects what—and how much—we eat.

Along the way, Anthes takes readers into an operating room designed to minimize medical errors, a school designed to boost students’ physical fitness, and a prison designed to support inmates’ psychological needs. And she previews the homes of the future, from the high-tech houses that could monitor our health to the 3D-printed structures that might allow us to live on the Moon.

The Great Indoors provides a fresh perspective on our most familiar surroundings and a new understanding of the power of architecture and design. It's an argument for thoughtful interventions into the built environment and a story about how to build a better world—one room at a time.

Scientific American

Everything from neurons to consciousness in the blink of an eye (which takes 300 milliseconds). Take a "fantastic voyage" through the whorls and curves of the human brain, no miniaturization required. Learn everything from how quickly you can possibly think (and that left-handed people think faster) to why being bad feels so good (yes, there's a biochemical explanation). Whether you're a fan of Scientific American's wildly popular "60-Second Science" podcast or just curious about science, you're going to love the tingly way your synapses feel after enjoying the same bite-sized knowledge in The Instant Egghead Guide to the Mind.

Instant Egghead Guide: The Mind

Winner of 2014 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Best Young Adult Science Book Longlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award One of Nature's Summer Book Picks One of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Spring 2013 Science Books For centuries, we've toyed with our creature companions, breeding dogs that herd and hunt, housecats that look like tigers, and teacup pigs that fit snugly in our handbags. But what happens when we take animal alteration a step further, engineering a cat that glows green under ultraviolet light or cloning the beloved family Labrador? Science has given us a whole new toolbox for tinkering with life. How are we using it? In Frankenstein's Cat, the journalist Emily Anthes takes us from petri dish to pet store as she explores how biotechnology is shaping the future of our furry and feathered friends. As she ventures from bucolic barnyards to a "frozen zoo" where scientists are storing DNA from the planet's most exotic creatures, she discovers how we can use cloning to protect endangered species, craft prosthetics to save injured animals, and employ genetic engineering to supply farms with disease-resistant livestock. Along the way, we meet some of the animals that are ushering in this astonishing age of enhancement, including sensor-wearing seals, cyborg beetles, a bionic bulldog, and the world's first cloned cat. Through her encounters with scientists, conservationists, ethicists, and entrepreneurs, Anthes reveals that while some of our interventions may be trivial (behold: the GloFish), others could improve the lives of many species-including our own. So what does biotechnology really mean for the world's wild things? And what do our brave new beasts tell us about ourselves? With keen insight and her trademark spunk, Anthes highlights both the peril and the promise of our scientific superpowers, taking us on an adventure into a world where our grandest science fiction fantasies are fast becoming reality.

Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts

Frankenstein's Cat

Winner of 2014 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Best Young Adult Science Book Long-listed for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award One of Nature's Summer Book Picks One of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Spring 2013 Science Books For centuries, we've toyed with our creature companions, breeding dogs that herd and hunt, housecats that look like tigers, and teacup pigs that fit snugly in our handbags. But what happens when we take animal alteration a step further, engineering a cat that glows green under ultraviolet light or cloning the beloved family Labrador? Science has given us a whole new toolbox for tinkering with life. How are we using it? In Frankenstein's Cat, the journalist Emily Anthes takes us from petri dish to pet store as she explores how biotechnology is shaping the future of our furry and feathered friends. As she ventures from bucolic barnyards to a "frozen zoo" where scientists are storing DNA from the planet's most exotic creatures, she discovers how we can use cloning to protect endangered species, craft prosthetics to save injured animals, and employ genetic engineering to supply farms with disease-resistant livestock. Along the way, we meet some of the animals that are ushering in this astonishing age of enhancement, including sensor-wearing seals, cyborg beetles, a bionic bulldog, and the world's first cloned cat. Through her encounters with scientists, conservationists, ethicists, and entrepreneurs, Anthes reveals that while some of our interventions may be trivial (behold: the GloFish), others could improve the lives of many species-including our own. So what does biotechnology really mean for the world's wild things? And what do our brave new beasts tell us about ourselves? With keen insight and her trademark spunk, Anthes highlights both the peril and the promise of our scientific superpowers, taking us on an adventure into a world where our grandest science fiction fantasies are fast becoming reality.

Dolly the Sheep was just the start. Meet the high-tech menagerie of the near future, as scientists reinvent the animal kingdom From the petri dish to the pet shop, meet the high-tech menagerie of the near future, as humans reinvent the animal kingdom Fluorescent fish that glow near pollution. Dolphins with prosthetic fins. Robot-armoured beetles that military handlers can send on spy missions. Beloved pet pigs resurrected from DNA. Scientists have already begun to create these high-tech hybrids to serve human whims and needs. What if a cow could be engineered to no longer feel pain – should we design a herd that would assuage our guilt over eating meat? Acclaimed science writer Emily Anthes travels round the globe to meet the fauna of the future, from the Scottish birthplace of Dolly the sheep and other clones to a ‘pharm’ for cancer-fighting chickens. Frankenstein’s Cat is an eye-opening exploration of weird science – and how we are playing god in the animal world.

Emily Anthes

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