The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015 Read online

  Contents

  * * *

  Title Page

  Contents

  Copyright

  Foreword

  Introduction

  Jake Abrahamson, Waiting for Light

  Burkhard Bilger, In Deep

  Sheila Webster Boneham, A Question of Corvids

  Rebecca Boyle, The Health Effects of a World Without Darkness

  Alison Hawthorne Deming, Spotted Hyena

  Sheri Fink, Life, Death, and Grim Routine Fill the Day at a Liberian Ebola Clinic

  Atul Gawande, No Risky Chances

  Lisa M. Hamilton, Linux for Lettuce

  Rowan Jacobsen, Down by the River

  Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams

  Brooke Jarvis, The Deepest Dig

  Sam Kean, Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient

  Jourdan Imani Keith, At Risk

  Jourdan Imani Keith, Desegregating Wilderness

  Eli Kintisch, Into the Maelstrom

  Elizabeth Kolbert, The Big Kill

  Amy Maxmen, Digging Through the World’s Oldest Graveyard

  Seth Mnookin, One of a Kind

  Dennis Overbye, A Pioneer as Elusive as His Particle

  Matthew Power, Blood in the Sand

  Sarah Schweitzer, Chasing Bayla

  Michael Specter, Partial Recall

  Meera Subramanian, The City and the Sea

  Kim Todd, Curious

  David Wolman, The Aftershocks

  Barry Yeoman, From Billions to None

  Contributors’ Notes

  Other Notable Science and Nature Writing of 2014

  Read More from The Best American Series®

  About the Editors

  Footnotes

  Copyright © 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

  Introduction copyright © 2015 by Rebecca Skloot

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  The Best American Science and Nature Writing™ is a trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. The Best American Series® is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

  No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the proper written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this book without the permission of their owners. Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein. Address requests for permission to make copies of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt material to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

  www.hmhco.com

  ISSN 1530-1508

  ISBN 978-0-544-28674-0

  Cover design by Christopher Moisan © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  Cover photograph © Getty Images

  eISBN 978-0-544-28675-7

  v1.1015

  “Waiting for Light” by Jake Abrahamson. First published in Sierra, Sept/Oct 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Jake Abrahamson. Reprinted by permission of Jake Abrahamson.

  “In Deep” by Burkhard Bilger. First published in The New Yorker, April 21, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Burkhard Bilger. Reprinted by permission of The New Yorker.

  “A Question of Corvids” by Sheila Webster Boneham. First published in Prime Number Magazine, Issue 62, October 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Sheila Webster Boneham. Reprinted by permission of Sheila Webster Boneham.

  “The Health Effects of a World Without Darkness” by Rebecca Boyle. First published in Aeon, April 1, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Rebecca Boyle. Reprinted by permission of Rebecca Boyle.

  “Spotted Hyena” by Alison Hawthorne Deming. First published in Orion, Sept/Oct 2014. From Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit by Alison Hawthorne Deming, Milkweed Editions, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Alison Hawthorne Deming. Reprinted with permission from Milkweed Editions, www.milkweed.org.

  “Life, Death, and Grim Routine Fill the Day at a Liberian Ebola Clinic” by Sheri Fink. First published in the New York Times, October 8, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by the New York Times (nytimes.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this content without express written permission is prohibited.

  “No Risky Chances” by Atul Gawande. First published in Slate, October 6, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Atul Gawande. Reprinted by permission of Atul Gawande.

  “Linux for Lettuce” by Lisa M. Hamilton. First published in VQR, Summer 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Lisa M. Hamilton. Reprinted by permission of Lisa M. Hamilton.

  “Down by the River” by Rowan Jacobsen. First published in Orion, Nov/Dec 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Rowan Jacobsen. Reprinted by permission of Rowan Jacobsen.

  “The Empathy Exams” by Leslie Jamison. First published in the Believer, February 2014. From The Empathy Exams: Essays. Copyright © 2014 by Leslie Jamison. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Graywolf Press, www.graywolfpress.org.

  “The Deepest Dig” by Brooke Jarvis. First published in California Sunday Magazine, November 2, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Brooke Jarvis. Reprinted by permission of Brooke Jarvis.

  “Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient” by Sam Kean. First published in Slate, May 6, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Sam Kean. Reprinted by permission of Sam Kean.

  “At Risk” by Jourdan Imani Keith. First published in Orion, Jan/Feb 2014; and “Desegregating Wilderness” by Jourdan Imani Keith. First published in Orion, September 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Jourdan Imani Keith. Reprinted by permission of Jourdan Keith.

  “Into the Maelstrom” by Eli Kintisch. First published in Science, April 18, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Eli Kintisch. Reprinted by permission of Eli Kintisch.

  “The Big Kill” by Elizabeth Kolbert. First published in The New Yorker, December 22, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Elizabeth Kolbert. Reprinted by permission of Elizabeth Kolbert.

  “Digging Through the World’s Oldest Graveyard” by Amy Maxmen. First published in Nautilus, Issue 17. Copyright © 2014 by Nautilus Magazine. Reprinted by permission of Amy Maxmen and Nautilus magazine.

  “One of a Kind” by Seth Mnookin. First published in The New Yorker, July 21, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Seth Mnookin. Reprinted by permission of Seth Mnookin.

  “A Pioneer as Elusive as His Particle” by Dennis Overbye. First published in the New York Times, September 16, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by the New York Times (nytimes.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this content without express written permission is prohibited.

  “Blood in the Sand” by Matthew Power. First published in Outside Magazine, January 2, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Matthew Power. Reprinted by permission of Jessica Benko, Literary Executor of the Estate of Matthew Power.

  “Chasing Bayla” by Sarah Schweitzer. First published in the Boston Globe, October 25, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC.

  “Partial Recall” by Michael Specter. First published in The New Yorker, May 19, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Michael Specter. Reprinted by permission of Michael Specter.

  “The City and the Sea” by Meera Subramanian. First publishe
d in Orion, March 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Meera Subramanian. Reprinted by permission of Meera Subramanian.

  “Curious” by Kim Todd. First published in River Teeth, Spring 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Kim Todd. Reprinted by permission of Kim Todd.

  “The Aftershocks” by David Wolman. First published in Matter, August 24, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by David Wolman. Reprinted by permission of David Wolman.

  “From Billions to None” by Barry Yeoman. First published in Audubon, May/June 2014. Copyright © 2014 by Barry Yeoman. Reprinted by permission of Barry Yeoman.

  Foreword

  WHEN ALBERT EINSTEIN was 16 years old and in his final year of high school, he performed an unusual experiment. He didn’t use a laboratory, or any apparatus at all. Instead he conducted what may have been the first of his many Gedankenexperimente—thought experiments. He would continue to practice this imaginative yet rigorous sort of musing throughout his life, but in this particular case, the not-yet-iconic thinker wondered what a beam of light would look like if he was running alongside it at the same speed. Many years later, in his Autobiographical Notes, Einstein pointed to that first Gedanken moment as the origin of the ideas that have since transformed our understanding of the nature of space and time.

  This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Einstein’s general theory of relativity (and the 15th anniversary of this anthology), so perhaps it’s not a bad time to engage in some Gedankenexperimente of our own. Here’s one: What if the world’s political leaders met and engaged in the same caliber of discourse that scientists do, with the same spirit of collaborative problem solving? Granted, it’s a proposition far less grounded in reality than Einstein’s footrace with light, but let’s set aside our incredulity for the moment.

  First, our imaginary leaders might prioritize the real challenges facing the planet today, discuss possible solutions, and then—cue the derisive snorts—decide on a course of action and carry it out. Even climate change, the gravest threat facing us, would yield to this approach. We know the source of the problem—we’re emitting too many planet-warming gases—and we’re certainly smart enough to solve it, and at bargain-basement costs compared with the catastrophic price of inaction. Meera Subramanian’s “The City and the Sea” is a remarkable testament to how much just one person can contribute to solving this problem; imagine what a whole roomful could do.

  There is evidence that politicians have entertained—at least briefly—this same outlandish Gedankenexperiment. Some years ago Shimon Peres, the former president of Israel, toured the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland, where scientists from 113 countries conduct experiments. Inspired by his meeting with that international community, Peres told the assembled group of researchers (which included a Palestinian physicist) that perhaps the nation-state was obsolete and that the intellectual cooperation exemplified by the scientists at CERN could serve as a model for us all.

  Conversely, what if the world’s scientific community were to model itself after our political elite? Say scientists formed ideological camps that stymied the efforts of rivals, or denied, despite all the overwhelming supporting evidence, the truth of a theory. Or even worse, what if they waged war, perhaps beneath banners emblazoned with contested equations? Long live E = mc2! Death to the E = mc infidels! This much is certain: there would be no international collaborations and no inventions as remarkable as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, housed in a 17-mile-long circular tunnel, which allowed physicists to discover the Higgs boson, a particle so crucial to the architecture of the universe that without it none of us would exist. Nor would we have Dennis Overbye’s delightful account of Peter Higgs, “A Pioneer as Elusive as His Particle,” who predicted the existence of this all-important particle 51 years ago.

  Sadly, it’s not at all clear which Gedanken experiment is the more preposterous: that scientists would abandon reason or that politicians (and we who elect them) would embrace it. Perhaps even stranger than my thought experiment is David Wolman’s “The Aftershocks,” which tells the story of a benighted political vendetta against seven Italian scientists in the wake of an earthquake. Given the state of the world, then, it’s no small miracle that something like CERN and its giant particle collider even exist. Costing more than $3 billion, the LHC was conceived and built not to generate profit but only to further our understanding of the laws that govern reality. It represents the pursuit of pure knowledge on the largest scale in the history of humanity.

  That our civilization, for all its fractiousness, can still manage to build something like the LHC is a sign of enormous hope. Science is an inherently optimistic enterprise, the working assumption being that nature is comprehensible; mysteries can be solved; we can make things better. If we can design a machine like the LHC, which essentially recreates the conditions that existed in the first few instants of the universe, surely we can find a way past problems that we ourselves have brought about.

  Late last year, while busy gathering stories to send to Rebecca Skloot, our brilliant guest editor, I received an e-mail from a reader who expressed some of these same feelings about the nature of science:

  I have been a fan of this series for years and used it quite a bit when I taught freshmen expository writing to science majors. It seems to me that content has become darker and less hopeful over this time. Of course, I understand that dark days may yet lie ahead and that science is not just a barometer for potential doom but also an agent for change. But for me science is something I have turned to when I have lost all faith in humanity. When I marvel at what telescopes have seen, the mysteries of quantum mechanics, and the philosophical quandaries raised by neuroscience, I get giddy. How bad can the human condition be if we can make these investigations? I suppose I would just like to see a bit more wonder—a bit more magic—in the content and less doom and gloom.

  I think readers of this current volume will find in its pages stories of wonder as well as eloquent and necessary accounts of the world we are altering so profoundly. Within these pages you’ll have close encounters not only with scientists but with crows, whales, and hyenas. One guarantee: there will be no shortage of food for Gedanken.

  I try to read widely while searching for articles for this anthology, but without the help of readers, writers, and editors I would miss many good stories. So lend a hand and nominate your favorites for next year’s anthology at http://timfolger.net/forums. I encourage writers to submit their own stories. The criteria for submissions and deadlines and the address to which entries should be sent can be found in the “news and announcements” forum on my website. Once again this year I’m offering an incentive to enlist readers to scour the nation in search of good science and nature writing. Send me an article that I haven’t found, and if the article makes it into the anthology, I’ll mail you a free copy of next year’s edition. What do you think, Rebecca? Can I get you to sign those copies? I also encourage readers to use the forums to leave feedback about the collection and to discuss all things scientific. The best way for publications to guarantee that their articles are considered for inclusion in the anthology is to place me on their subscription list, using the address posted in the “news and announcements” forum.

  I’d like to thank Rebecca Skloot for selecting such a wonderful collection of stories for this year’s anthology. You won’t find a better nonfiction book than her best-selling The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Once again this year I’m indebted to Naomi Gibbs and her colleagues at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who make this collection possible. And as always I’m most grateful of all to Anne Nolan, my beauteous wife. I hate to Gedanke where I would be without her.

  TIM FOLGER

  Introduction

  A DECADE AGO, at the University of Pennsylvania vet school, I sat on a linoleum floor stroking my dog’s head. She was in the 16th of what would become a 20-year life, and she’d just had a small tumor removed from her leg. As she fought to keep her eyes open through her post-anesthetic fog, a veterinarian
walked into the room, surgical mask dangling from his chin. He pulled a pair of latex gloves from his hands with two loud snaps, and a woman’s voice called out to him from behind a computer screen.

  “How’d it go?” she asked.

  “Great,” he said. “Patient’s up, swimming around.”

  Without breaking stride, the vet tossed his gloves in a trash can and walked toward an exit.

  “Wait, what?” I said from the floor. “Your patient’s swimming?”

  He nodded.

  “What’s your patient?” I asked.

  “Goldfish,” he said, as if operating on a fish was something as ordinary as spaying a dog or cat. Then he reached for the door.

  “Your patient is a goldfish?” I said. “What did you do to it?”

  “Removed a tumor from its nose,” he said as he opened the door and started to walk through.

  “Wait!” I said, jumping from my dog’s side and running toward him with a barrage of questions: How do you anesthetize a fish? Who pays for this? What else do you do to fish? How common is this?

  As the vet answered my questions, I scribbled notes on the back of my dog’s surgery receipt. (You anesthetize a fish using a tub of water mixed with liquid anesthetic, a submersible pump, and a plastic tube that pumps the water into the fish’s mouth, over its gills, then back into the tub. Like a recirculating fountain. Fish vets do MRIs, CT scans, bone stabilization, bloodwork, you name it. If you can do it to a dog or cat, you can do it to a fish. People sometimes spend thousands of dollars treating fish they won at the fair or bought for less than $5. Because they love them.)

  After getting the vet’s contact information and a promise that I could observe his next fish surgery, I finally let him leave. He’d hardly passed through the door when I picked up my BlackBerry (it was a decade ago) and started typing an e-mail to my editor at the New York Times Magazine. Subject heading: “Whoa.” A few hours later I had an assignment.