Foreword --

Introduction --

Part I: Transformative science: "We are not just resistors, we are transformers." Pleistocene park / Ross Anderson ; It'll take an army to kill the Emperor / Jacqueline Detwiler --

Part II: Rethinking established science: "What do we want? Evidence-based science. When do we want it? After peer review." The squeeze : Silicon Valley reinvents the breast pump / Sophie Brickman ; The case against civilization / John Lanchester ; Cancer's invasion equation / Siddhartha Mukherjee ; The island wolves / Kim Todd --

Part III: Environmental science: "At the start of every disaster movie is a scientist being ignored." Firestorm / Douglas Fox ; Tragedy of the common / J. B. MacKinnon ; The irreversible momentum of clean energy / Barack Obama ; Wealthier people produce more carbon pollution - even the "green" ones / David Roberts --

Part IV: Profiles: "So bad, even the introverts are here." Dr. Space Junk unearths the cultural landscape of the cosmos / Ceridwen Dovey ; Of mothers and monkeys / Caitlin Kuehn ; David Haskell speaks for the trees / Paul Kvinta ; A science of the soul / Joshua Rothman ; The detective of Northern oddities / Christopher Solomon --

Part V. Political science: "I'm not a mad scientist - I'm absolutely furious." Female scientists report a horrifying culture of sexual assault / Kayla Webley Adler ; A behind-the-scenes look at Scott Pruitt's dysfunctional EPA / Rachel Leven --

Part VI: Space science: "It's not rocket science...(actually, some of it is)." Two stars slammed into each other and solved half of astronomy's problems. What comes next? / Rebecca Boyle ; The starship or the canoe / Kenneth Brower ; Astonish me : anticipating an eclipse in the age of information / Susannah Felts ; Greetings, E.T. (Please don't murder us.) / Steven Johnson ; Arabella (Araneus diadematus / Elena Passarello ; Tiny jumping spiders can see the moon / Ed Yong --

Part VII: Neuroscience and psychology: "Stop inhibiting my action potential" When your child is a psychopath / Barbara Bradley Hagerty ; Exposure therapy and the fine art of scaring the shit our of yourself on purpose / Eva Holland ; Fantastic beasts and how to rank them / Kathryn Schulz --

Contributors' notes --

Other notable science and nature writing of 2017