Stefan Helmreich

Helmreich is an MIT anthropologist of science and technology who studies how scientists define life, oceans, waves, sound, and code. His work treats scientific concepts as shaped by instruments, institutions, metaphors, and field practices. [MIT Anthropology profile](https://anthropology.mit.edu/people/faculty/stefan-helmreich)

Alien Ocean, published by the University of California Press in 2009, follows marine biologists studying microbes in the deep sea and other ocean environments. It connects microbial research to debates about climate change, biotechnology, the origin of life, and life on other worlds. [University of California Press](https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520250628/alien-ocean)

Silicon Second Nature, published in 1998, is an ethnography of artificial-life research and computer modeling. Helmreich focuses especially on the people and programs connected with the Santa Fe Institute's complexity research. [University of California Press](https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520208001/silicon-second-nature)

A Book of Waves, published by Duke University Press in 2023, examines how scientists measure and model ocean waves and other wave phenomena. Helmreich also connects wave science with mythology, surf culture, cosmology, sound, and Indigenous Pacific activism. [MIT Anthropology profile](https://anthropology.mit.edu/people/faculty/stefan-helmreich)