Fossilized technology: Books in brief

"This thought-provoking study by palaeobiologists Sarah Gabbott and Jan Zalasiewicz discusses 'technofossils': the vast remnants of modern civilization. The authors itemize plastic bottles, ballpoint pens, concrete dams, credit cards, aluminium cans, teabags, motorways, mobile phones, T-shirts and computers, among numerous items "produced by our species for our comfort and pleasure and then, sooner or later, discarded". How long these items will last is unknown - but for many, it could be millions of years."

"Humans' cooperative behaviour takes three forms, argues social scientist Jonathan Goodman. The first involves people following agreed social rules to benefit themselves or their groups. The second is selfish, benefiting individuals regardless of reputational damage. The third - typified by a group Goodman defines as "invisible rivals" - seems cooperative but pursues selfish goals. These rivals are "the social equivalent of cancer", exploiting and spreading through healthy nearby cells, but often killing the host and the cancerous cells."

"Astronaut Yuri Gagarin described his pioneering 1961 space mission as a "duel with nature". This concept is brilliantly captured by this large book of photographs from NASA's Mercury and Gemini projects (1958-66), digitally remastered by imaging specialist Andy Saunders. "We now clearly see what the first astronauts observed from their heavenly perspective," he writes, during "some of the most daring and important voyages in our history". Luckily, some astronauts ignored NASA's "initial apathy" towards photography and carried cameras."

Technofossils are the vast remnants of modern civilization, comprising items such as plastic bottles, ballpoint pens, concrete dams, credit cards, aluminium cans, teabags, motorways, mobile phones, T-shirts and computers. Many of these objects are produced for comfort and pleasure and then discarded, with uncertain but potentially million-year longevity in the geological record. Human cooperative behaviour can take three forms: rule-following group-beneficial cooperation, overt selfishness that ignores reputational costs, and seemingly cooperative but exploitative 'invisible rivals' that act like social cancers. Digitally remastered photographs from NASA's Mercury and Gemini programs reveal early astronauts' perspectives and show that some astronauts carried cameras despite institutional apathy.

Read at Nature