What did a new kind of MRI reveal about the hearts of older male fitness fanatics? How did an unsavory kitchen blender help save the lives of monkeys in the Bronx Zoo? Why might it be better to buy eggs from your local supermarket? What salt-favoring menace lurks in hospitals and beach sand? Which ancient crop might solve modern problems?
Recent scientific studies have addressed these questions and many more. Dr. Elsa Kirsten Peters regularly pores through journals and interviews researchers, then shares the utterly fascinating results in her nationally-syndicated Rock Doc column. Now the curious geologist has compiled her favorite articles, along with a few new contributions, into Planet Rock Doc: Nuggets from Explorations of the Natural World.
With her wry sense of humor, personal anecdotes, and knack for explaining the complex in simple terms, Peters stretches far beyond geology to explore a wide range of topics related to natural and applied sciences. In the process, she reflects on the remarkable observations and inventions cultivated by great minds of the past. She comments on current debates and lends promise to the future, illuminating cutting-edge research. For easy access, articles are arranged by subject matter—geology and paleontology, energy and engines, food and agriculture, climate change, human health, biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and education and history.
Dr. Peters, a native of rural Washington State, earned her doctorate from the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at Harvard University. She taught undergraduate-level courses for a decade and is the author or co-author of numerous journal articles, as well as several textbooks.
Available in paperback, Planet Rock Doc is 5 1/2″ x 8 1/4″, 198 pages, and has a list price of $22.95. It is available at bookstores or can be ordered from WSU Press by calling 800-354-7360 or online at wsupress.wsu.edu. WSU Press is associated with Washington State University located in Pullman, Washington, and publishes scholarly books with a cultural or historical relationship to the Pacific Northwest.