The best American science & nature writing 2023 / edited and with an introduction by Carl Zimmer ; Jaime Green, series editor.

At head of title: Mariner Books presents.

Foreword -- Introduction -- An invisible epidemic / Elizabeth Svoboda -- The myopia generation / Sarah Zhang -- A deepening crisis forces physicists to rethink structure of nature's laws / Natalie Wolchover -- The coming collapse / Douglas Fox -- My metamorphosis / Sabrina Imbler -- The bird and the flame / Sarah Gilman -- Dislodged / Josh McColough -- Bright flight / Vaessa Gregory -- Brain wave / Ferris Jabr -- The Provincetown breakthrough / Maryn McKenna -- True grit / J. B. MacKinnon -- Another green world / Jessica Camille Aguirre -- A French village's radical vision of a good life with Alzheimer's / Marion Reault -- In El Salvador and beyond, an unsolved kidney disease mystery / Fletcher Reveley -- The climate underground / Emily Benson -- The butterfly effect / Maggie Koerth -- Shadows, tokens, spring / Ben Mauk -- An ark for amphibians / Isobel Whitcomb -- Don't look down / Lois Parshley -- American motherhood / Annie Lowrey.

20 science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in 2022.

The essays in this year's Best American Science and Nature Writing probe at the ordinary and urge us to think more deeply about our place in the world around us. From a hopeful portrait of a future for people with Alzheimer's disease, to a fascinating exploration of the rise of nearsightedness in children, to the heroic story of a herd of cows that evaded a hurricane, these selections reveal how science and nature shape our everyday lives. With tremendous intelligence, clarity, and insight, this anthology offers an expansive look at where we are and where we are headed.