This Idea Is Brilliant

From the bestselling editor of This Explains Everything, 206 of the world's most brilliant minds tackle Edge.org's 2017 question: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? As science informs public policy, decision making, and so many aspects of our everyday lives, a scientifically literate society is crucial. In that spirit, Edge.org publisher John Brockman asked 206 the world’s best minds the 2017 Edge Question: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? Contributors include: author of The God Delusion RICHARD DAWKINS on using animals’ “Genetic Book of the Dead” to reconstruct ecological history; theoretical physicist and author of A Universe from Nothing Lawrence Krauss on "uncertainty" and resisting our temptation to assign meaning to random events; MacArthur Fellow REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN on “scientific realism,” the idea that scientific theories explain phenomena beyond what we can see and touch; behavioral