With fertilizers that supply phosphorus–what Asimov called “life’s bottleneck”– people broke the circle of life. Dan Egan’s new book The Devil’s Element traces the history of this essential element from curiosity to crop miracle. Egan documents the mayhem unleashed by a flood of phosphorus, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and discusses how people can act to stop phosphorus-fueled blooms of algae that are closing beaches, killing animals and sickening people.
#642 The Last Episode
#641 The Last Nerd Gift Guide
#640 The Last Science Book Club
#639 The One About Periods
#638 Do you feel love? What about ecstasy?
#637 A special announcement
#636 Life on an unruly planet
#635 Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet
#634 Back to the future
#633 An Ice History
#632 We are what we eat
#631 Tenacious Beasts
#630 The Jewel Box
#629 How birds go the distance
#628 Brave the Wild River
#627 Ancient Migrations
#626 Our Friend, the Wasp
#625 This one really is about aliens
#623 Peopling the Americas
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