Chill out

Humans have been trying to keep things cold for a very long time. As far back as the 18th century BC, the Sumerian ruler Zimri-Lim was ordering subordinates to build him an icehouse. The story of Zimri-Lim’s chilly construction (and the finicky tastes of one of his rivals, who demanded that ice be washed “free of twigs and dung and dirt” before being added to drinks) is just one of many engaging anecdotes in Tom Jackson’s book Chilled: How Refrigeration Changed the World and Might Do So Again. As Jackson explains, there is some fascinating science as well as history in the various mechanical, chemical and physical methods that people employed to make objects cooler before the advent of modern refrigeration. Jackson’s integrated approach to his subject is as refreshing as a cool beverage on a hot summer’s day; however, a few of his tales are rather tangential to the main story, and at times it also seems that he has bitten off more than he can chew. The chapter on the complex chain of technologies required to keep cold food flowing to Western supermarkets is fascinating, but it could have been a whole book in itself. Meanwhile, some more recent milestones in the history of cold are covered too briefly to do them justice (Bose–Einstein condensation, for example, is dealt with in a mere four pages). There are a couple of factual lapses too, as when Jackson repeats the myth that ordinary wine and beer are alcoholic enough to kill “most” of the germs in them. (Try leaving a pint of beer out for a few days, uncovered, and watch what happens to it.) These criticisms aside, though, his tale of how scientists both famous (Isaac Newton) and less well known (William Cullen) have grappled with the nature of cold and temperature makes enjoyable and not-too-heavy reading.

• 2015 Bloomsbury Sigma £16.99hb 272pp

Security breach

In the early hours of 28 July 2012, an unlikely trio of saboteurs – two men in their late 50s or early 60s and, most famously, an 82-year-old nun – broke into Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and walked unhindered up to the building that houses America’s stockpile of weapons-grade uranium. How did they get there? The question has both a philosophical answer and a practical one, and in Gods of Metal, the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser begins with the former. The three saboteurs were, he explains, heirs to a decades-long tradition of anti-nuclear activism among a small but dedicated group of radical US Catholics. They hoped that their protest would help hasten the end of the US nuclear-weapons programme. As for the practical answer, Schlosser details how the trio’s entry to the so-called “Fort Knox of Uranium” was made possible by months of careful planning, a pair of bolt cutters and a cavalcade of security lapses that would be laughable if the implications were not so serious. Schlosser’s analysis of these lapses makes up the heart of his story (which was originally published as an article in the New Yorker and has been extended only slightly in book form). Security at Y-12 has been tightened considerably since the incident, and the private companies responsible for some of the worst failings have not had their contracts renewed. That, however, is small comfort to those whose nuclear-security concerns centre on terrorism rather than war. As Schlosser warns, “If terrorists manage to steal weapons-grade uranium or plutonium from a Department of Energy facility because of a contractor’s mistakes, the firm responsible for the security breach stands to lose its contract. The United States could lose a city.”

• 2015 Penguin £1.99pb 128pp

Nerding out

For evidence that science is having a “moment” in pop culture, one need look no further than the Festival of the Spoken Nerd. This comedic trio – Helen Arney, Steve Mould and Matt Parker – have been touring the UK with their brand of science comedy for five years, and in the DVD version of their show (titled, drolly enough, Full Frontal Nerdity) they attempt to answer a time-honoured question: what is a nerd? Is it someone who does experiments? Someone who devotes a lot of time and effort to mastering an obscure skill? Or is it someone who is entirely too fond of Excel spreadsheets? In the DVD (recorded in early 2015 during two of their live shows in London), each member of the group takes one of these definitions and runs with it. Arney’s speciality, for example, is scientific song parodies, while Mould does mildly unsafe-looking experiments with household objects and Parker gets enthusiastic about graphs. It’s all good fun, and considerably less laboured than it sounds on paper, although (as with a lot of science outreach events) one does get the impression that their audience has self-selected from a fairly geeky segment of the population. Even if they are preaching to the choir, their message is fun to hear – and if you live in the UK, you can catch it in person this autumn as their new live show, Just For Graphs, begins touring.

• 2015 festivalofthespokennerd.com £15