In the eight years since publication of the first edition of A Field Guide for Sci-
ence Writing, much about the world has changed. Science writing has changed,
too. Once the province of nerds and the nerds they wrote about, the field has
evolved, becoming at once more esoteric—because science itself has become
more esoteric—and more a part of daily life. Some of the leading issues in
today’s political marketplace—embryonic stem cell research, global warming,
health care reform, space exploration, genetic privacy, germ warfare—are
informed by scientific ideas.