"There’s no such thing as neutrality in the world our children are growing up in."

New this week. Congratulations authors! 📚👇

For a little while there we were out of Miya Ando's beautiful book "Water of the Sky: A Dictionary of 2,000 Rain Words." But it's back in stock now, just in time for spring! mitpress.mit.edu/978026204986...

“Privacy’s Defender” (@mitpress.bsky.social) is on sale, and Cindy’s national book tour brings her to @harvardbookstore.bsky.social #Cambridge #Boston on Tuesday and @umich.edu #AnnArbor on Thursday.

Join Tom Mullaney, author of "The Chinese Typewriter" & "The Chinese Computer," for a mind-bending 1000-year journey through the evolution of Chinese characters. Thursday, April 9 | 5:30 p.m. | Wolfensohn Hall. Register: www.ias.edu/events/roger...

Science fraud isn’t always dramatic. Thomas Plümper and Eric Neumayer warn that “tweaking” — making small adjustments to produce cleaner results — may do even more long-term damage because it’s so common.

At a seminar hosted by APARC's Taiwan Program, University of Minnesota scholar Honghong Tinn, a historian of information technology, discussed her recent book, which explores how Taiwanese technologists turned tinkering into world-class computer manufacturing:

"... prose that turns like the daily news if it were happily full of bondage, art history, and female sexual nature getting off in the most lurid and dirty of all places: midlife." —Eileen Myles New from Semiotexte, Ann Rower's "Lee & Elaine": mitpress.mit.edu/978163590274...

Published by our friends @semiotexte.bsky.social!

A debate about Silicon Valley’s suburban architecture is a reminder that the world’s economic engine has been shaped by zoning, regulation, and traditions of American innovation. With a nod to Louise Mozingo's study of the corporate landscape, "Pastoral Capitalism":

"A brilliant and original book—wholly inhabited, world-enlarging, full of surprises." —D. Graham Burnett "Bounce is a sustained volley, a kinetic masterpiece that absolutely flies." —Finn Brunton Bounce is out now and available #openaccess! mitpress.mit.edu/978026255321...

"That does not mean I am all in on AI – nor am I anti-AI. I am pro-learning. As my co-authors and I argue in a forthcoming book on realizing the promise of higher education, even the most powerful tools are only as good as the learning environments we build around them."

I spoke with @iflscience.com about why I don't think we are ready to live in space. www.iflscience.com/i-dont-think... @mitpress.bsky.social

"[Koki] operates his robot with his mouth through a small straw, which remotely controls all its movements. The evening was particularly poignant because I was there with my daughter, who had just graduated from high school and was in the same stage of life as Koki when he had his accident."

New Cryptid Creator Corner podcast💧 @jimmygaspero.bsky.social is chatting with @mustachebabs.com and Sonia Liao about their graphic novel The Curie Society: Game of Code from @mitpress.bsky.social. cryptidcreatorcorner.com/episode/barb...

"Hospitals struggle with rising occupancy rates and fewer available beds, and ERs are swamped with increasingly ill patients who have complex medical, mental health, and social issues. There is no safety net for the safety net itself." The latest from Jay Baruch, author of "Tornado of Life":

"Research on intelligence has a chequered history, tainted by eugenics, statistical manipulation and a banal obsession with metrics. @blaiseaguera.bsky.social counters this by opening up the topic as wide as it can go." A review of "What Is Intelligence?" via @us.theconversation.com:

@harvardbookstore.bsky.social hosts Cindy Cohn and Jonathan @zittrain.bsky.social for a conversation on digital privacy rights and Cohn's new book, "Privacy's Defender." This event is free and open to all! 📆 Tuesday, March 24th 🕖️ 7:00 PM Link for details: www.harvard.com/event/cindy-... @eff.org

"Internally displaced people [are] more receptive to the appeals of armed groups claiming to protect them. By providing safety and services, and by stoking communitarian fears that arise from experiencing displacement, armed actors cultivate support and secure recruits from displaced people."

Excellent analysis from @clairek.bsky.social about the power of the big fertilizer firms in crisis moments like this- always happy to talk with her about these kinds of issues! foodandpower.substack.com/p/fertilizer...

"In the United States, robots are viewed as soulless, unlike in Asia, where they are viewed as soul-possible or soul-different." A tender, surprising essay about robots, belonging, and care — and why the robot-filled future feels less dystopian in Korea and Japan than it does in the U.S.:

From a leading expert on race, class, maternal health, and reproductive rights, "Expecting Inequity" is an unsettling exploration of racism in reproductive healthcare in the US—and why even affluent Black women are imperiled by substandard care. Out March 31st: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205155...

Wonderful writeup by Brianna Caleri for @culturemapatx.bsky.social of our @sxsw.com session! Both Socrates and James Talarico get shout outs! austin.culturemap.com/news/city-li... @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social

"Diverse and interesting ... I recommend this book for young teens who are interested in science — particularly girls, who are woefully absent from almost any published science storytelling." @grrlscientist.bsky.social recommends "The Curie Society":

Before Ron Hellings passed away, he handed his calculus-based physics textbook off to me to finish up. It's been a long road, but I went into the exhibit hall here at the @apsphysics.bsky.social Global Summit and the book is out! @mitpress.bsky.social surprised me!

"If the air and naval campaigns appear to be dragging on, the United States might be forced to consider holding hostage other targets in Iran or using ground forces. Either way, a significant and sustained increase in the price of oil would seem likely."

New and #OpenAccess in the International Security Winter 2026 Issue: Deception and Detection: Why Artificial Intelligence Empowers Cyber Defense over Offense direct.mit.edu/isec/article... @intsecurity.bsky.social

How might Iran retaliate in the aftermath of a limited Israeli or U.S. strike? "Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz tops the list of global energy security nightmares," wrote Caitlin Talmadge in 2008 in @intsecurity.bsky.social. Talmadge's article is freely available to read for 90 days:

Like water off a duck’s back. A common phrase, but what makes their feathers so water-repellent? In "Birds Up Close," engineer Lorna Gibson offers a close look at the structures that propel birds from the beloved hummingbird to the majestic eagle. Out April 28th: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204989...

🎉 direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

"We’ve been developing forgeries and fakes for years – in hieroglyphs and runes, letters and telegrams, faxes, emails, drawings, paintings, pictures, and tweets and posts. We’re attached to all of that, charlatans that we are." — @pbkauf.bsky.social Read on: mailchi.mp/mit/mitp-rea...

New this week from the MIT Press. Congratulations authors! 📚 👇

I cover David Noble's superb 1997 📔 The Religion of Technology and other related works from back then, in the intro to Tech Agnostic. 🗝️ difference between my book & Noble's: in the 90s Silicon Valley tech was...*A* religion—but a relatively smaller one. Now it's THE most powerful faith on Earth.

Creativity isn’t just for the young. Keith Sawyer argues that creative productivity often peaks in mid-career rather than early life. As he puts it, “The key to successful creativity is productivity. Quantity leads to quality.”

Just dropped: I chatted with @comatbu.bsky.social The COMversation about my book #ContentConfusion from @mitpress.bsky.social — media deception, native ads, and why media literacy matters. Quick listen: open.spotify.com/episode/5RnV... #commsky #booksky

How can prioritizing low-carbon methods in science increase our contributions to knowledge in a time when so many methods seem to contribute more to making our planet less habitable? Excited for this upcoming book on low-carbon research methods out in May mitpress.mit.edu/978191598348...

Discover what's rotten and what's real in the science of dying. Saul Newman debunks baseless findings in longevity science, contributing evidence & insights into the mystery & mechanics of why we age and why we die. "Morbid" arrives June 9th: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205271... @maryroach.bsky.social

Global Environmental Politics celebrates 25 years of impactful scholarship with a special anniversary issue, "Continuity and Change in Global Environmental Politics." We're pleased to make this landmark issue available to read for free through May: direct.mit.edu/glep/issue @gepjournal.bsky.social

"A stirring set of beautifully interwoven true stories revealing deep human drama, dreams, and the science behind the hope of millions of suffering patients desperately awaiting transplants." — George Church Look for "Every Living Creature" this April: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205116...

Congratulations to our authors whose books have been named 2025 Foreword INDIES award finalists: Miya Ando for "Water of the Sky," @mhallsworth.bsky.social for "The Hypocrisy Trap," and @drtomfrieden.bsky.social for "The Formula for Better Health": www.forewordreviews.com/awards/final...

The MIT Press Bookstore is offering some sweet deals to celebrate Pi Day! Through March 15th, get 30% off mathematical puzzle books and our best physics books (in-store and online) with code PIDAY: mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/piday

"CBD was approved for the treatment of childhood epilepsy by the FDA in the United States in 2020, yet it was shown in early clinical trials to be effective in treating epilepsy as early as 1978. Why has it taken so long to determine how this drug produces its effects?"

A year ago, America had a functioning vaccine system. And then, in the span of just 12 months, nearly all of this system has been disrupted or dismantled. The scale of these changes will reverberate for years to come. Here's a rundown:

Kicking the Darkness Till it Bleeds Daylight: @chandraclarke.bsky.social reviews Joe P.L. Davidson's SAVING UTOPIA (@mitpress.bsky.social)

The essay is also going to be reprinted in an edited collection with @mitpress.bsky.social, Reactionary Worldbuilding - out in May 2026! Edited by Anindita Banerjee, Sherryl Vint, David M. Higgins, and @jordanscarroll.bsky.social. mitpress.mit.edu/978026205367...

"This is a work that we need professional politicians, regardless of their country, to think about and internalise." — @financialtimes.com In "Separation of Powers," Cass Sunstein explains a balancing act that has puzzled the greatest adepts in political science: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205177...

"What we worried about in the 1990s, and fought to prevent in the 2000s and 2010s, seems closer than ever: that surveillance becomes the handmaiden of authoritarianism."

Independent bookstores are vital to our communities, providing great local events and a space to exchange ideas and knowledge. For today's MIT 24-Hour Challenge, we invite you to help the MIT Press Bookstore thrive for many years to come:

We love π! Starting today, folks can join us in celebrating with a special sale through the MIT Press Bookstore. Get 30% off mathematical puzzle books and our best physics books (in-store and online) with code PIDAY: mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/piday

Weed is older than you think. Cannabis was used medicinally 10,000 years ago in Asia. But due to a legal crackdown, research slowed. We’ve “merely scratched the surface of this drug’s potential for harm and good,” says Linda Parker: