The Best Australian Science Writing 2023 edited by Donna Lu
Donna Lu, science writer and editor of The Best Australian Science Writing 2023, introduces the anthology with this quote from Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History:
“A hundred million years from now, all that we consider to be the great works of man – the sculptures and the libraries, the monuments and the museums, the cities and the factories – will be compressed into a layer of sediment not much thicker than a cigarette paper.”
Oof. This could be read as a mighty blow, the inevitable decline of human civilisation after the Anthropocene – but at the same time, the arresting beauty of the imagery suggests both the enormity and scale of geologic time. These thoughts have stayed with me since reading, and I agree with Lu when she notes that this can be the great power of science writing.
The anthology is now in its thirteenth year, and this edition features 31 pieces of writing by Australian writers, poets and scientists that were published in the past year. It includes a mix of reportage, creative nonfiction and poetry. Among them are the shortlisted entries for the 2023 UNSW Bragg Prize for Science Writing, and the 2022 student prize-winning essay.
I constantly marvelled at the way the collection dealt with scale: zooming out to the furthest reaches of the universe, and then back in to the microscopic, covering a wide variety of fields such as ecology, astronomy, virology, genetics, ornithology and much more. From the long-lasting effects of COVID to the impact of dingo fences, this is a diverse and fascinating anthology that encourages curiosity about the world we live in.
Many pieces focus on what is arguably the most pressing issue of our time: the climate crisis and global warming. Miki Perkin’s non-fiction piece introduces us to those on the very frontline of climate change: Pacific Islanders whose ancestral lands and traditions are at imminent risk of destruction due to rising sea levels. You may have seen Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai in the news lately: two Torres Strait elders taking the Australian government to court to protect their communities – specifically by setting emissions reduction targets grounded in scientific evidence.
“‘Becoming climate refugees means losing everything: our homes, our culture, our stories and our identity,’ says Kabai. ‘If you take away our homelands, we don’t know who we are.’”
Science in the court room comes up again in Nicky Phillips’ ‘Trials of the heart,’ which dives into the genetic research that resulted in the pardoning of Kathleen Folbigg (dubbed “Australia’s worst female serial killer”) after 20 years behind bars. A rare genetic mutation was found to have caused the deaths of at least two of her four children, and Phillips deftly explores the role and ethics of scientific evidence in legal proceedings.
It was a big year for astronomy with NASA’s successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which will allow scientists to see into the furthest reaches of space. Meredi Ortega captures the sublime spectacle of it in her poem ‘First Light’:
“The glam rock music vid of it. TV dish lashed
To silver-mauve Kapton kite a million miles away of it.
…
The thick eyeliner of its frill. Starlight reveller, time
Traveller, otherworld teller, eclipser of suns.”
In ‘Galaxy in the desert,’ Jacinta Bowler explores another remarkable astronomic innovation in our own backyard. SKA-Low will be built in the Western Australian outback, forming part of the world’s largest radio telescope. With 131,072 tree-like antennas arranged in a 65-kilometre-wide spiral pattern, it is reminiscent of one of the far-off galaxies it will be able to listen to. Yet, by the time it’s completed in 2030, it will have to contend with the interference of an estimated 60,000 satellites in Low Earth Orbit – an issue also covered by Alice Gorman in her essay ‘Space Cowboys’. The choice is stark: connect to each other or listen to the stars?
Not only does science writing make critical and cutting-edge research accessible to a broader audience, it also introduces us to the scientists who often remain behind the scenes. Dr Dana Bergstrom is one such scientist who for the past 30 years has been researching subantarctic islands – some of the most wild and remote regions on Earth. We meet her in Drew Rooke’s ‘A subantarctic sentinel,’ which focuses on the tragic and irreversible dieback of a species of cushion plant, Azorella macquariensis, on Macquarie Island due to climate change.
“It is a loss that she speaks about with tears in her eyes and a faint tremble in her soft voice – clear signs of ‘solostalgia’, the term coined by environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht to refer to the ‘form of psychic or existential distresses caused by environmental change’.”
I have to confess, the urgency of the climate crisis and the overwhelming sense of loss in many of the pieces left me with the same feeling. Yet the dedication of scientists like Dr Bergstrom, who continue to work and advocate in such conditions, was galvanising. Amongst the heavy stuff, I also appreciated the playful interlude of pieces like Anne Casey’s poem ‘Tawny Frogmouths,’ where she observes the native birds “in stunned gratitude.”
This playfulness can also be found at the end of each article, where a choose-your-own-adventure style list directs you to other stories on similar themes. In this way, you can read through the anthology in a nonlinear fashion, flicking back and forth to follow different rabbit holes of your own interest.
Overall, I was left with a sense of wonder and awe at the scientific discoveries shaping our world, and an appreciation for the passion and determination of scientists. As Tabitha Carvan notes when writing about Dr Penny Olson’s life-long research into Australia’s endangered Night Parrot:
“There’s no mystique to this work. It’s just difficult, and important, and true. In science, such things should demand our attention.”
This, most certainly, is a collection that does.
Emily Riches is a writer and editor from Mullumbimby, currently living on Cammeraygal land (Sydney). She founded Aniko Press to bring passionate writers and curious readers together, discover new voices and create a space for creative community. You can get in touch at emily@anikopress.com.