Book Review: Your Atomic Self

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Your Atomic Self: The Invisible Elements That Connect You to Everything in the Universe
by Curt Stager
Thomas Dunne Books: 2014

We often hear that we are literally “stardust,” the atoms in our bodies having come from stars that exploded billions of years ago. A less commonly known fact is that some of the atoms inside us are much younger, such as the radioactive carbon 14 atoms created by atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons during the cold war. Ecologist and writer Stager details this and other atomic curiosities in a tour of our bodies' elements. These include nitrogen from thunder, carbon from exhaust pipes and iron from stellar cores. “Every scent you've ever savored,” Stager writes, “every sight you've ever seen, every song you've ever enjoyed, every cry or sigh that ever passed your lips sprang from atoms at work within the atmosphere and the darkest recesses of your body.”

Clara Moskowitz is a senior editor at Scientific American, where she covers astronomy, space, physics and mathematics. She has been at Scientific American for a decade; previously she worked at Space.com. Moskowitz has reported live from rocket launches, space shuttle liftoffs and landings, suborbital spaceflight training, mountaintop observatories, and more. She has a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University and a graduate degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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Scientific American Magazine Vol 311 Issue 4This article was originally published with the title “Your Atomic Self: The Invisible Elements That Connect You to Everything in the Universe” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 311 No. 4 (), p. 96
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1014-96b