DUST Center presence at the Tucson Festival of Books

DUST Center Associate Director Raina Maier moderated a session at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 14, 2026 entitled: Invisible Forces: From Airborne Agents to Global Poisons. The session included two books: Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer and They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah Blake.

 

In Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, Carl Zimmer tells the story of the long journey to our present scientific understanding that the air around us is full of living microorganisms that we can’t see and how that discovery has transformed our understanding of disease and major disease outbreaks. In They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, Mariah Blake uncovers the history of PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances) which are known as forever chemicals” because of their persistence in the environment. Mariah’s book traces how PFAS have spread across the globe and tells the story of how scientific discoveries, corporate decisions, and personal stories coalesced into one of the most significant environmental contamination crises of our time.

 

Both of these books deal with the invisible. Microbes drifting through the air and synthetic chemicals circulating through the environment. Carl’s book details just how long it took to recognize that unseen life can be airborne and how personalities and scientific debates have shaped both the understanding and regulation of disease. Mariah’s book similarly shows that our understanding of chemical toxicity developed slowly and that, once companies and institutions became aware of risks, they sometimes acted to suppress or delay action.

 

The Tucson Festival of Books is community-wide celebration of literature drawing 130,000-140,000 attendees each year. Festival activities include author panels and workshops on various literary and book-centered topics.