Agent Research and Evaluation has given the Science Factory 'full marks' in its July email newsletter, Talking Agents. Headed by husband-and-wife team Bill and Beverly Swerling Martin, this US-based consultancy assesses the strengths and weaknesses of agents on both sides of the Atlantic and helps writers to find effective literary representation. Peter Tallack recently talked to Bill Martin about the Science Factory, and Bill reports that he was 'very impressed'. He goes on to say, 'One group Tallack's after is the special universe that years ago put John Brockman on the map, i.e. heavily credentialed scientists with a book that has some hope of interesting the general public. So if you're one of those with one of them, this guy looks especially good.' And after briefly describing a few Science Factory titles, he concludes, 'It is apparent that Tallack is not exactly like Brockman. You don't have to be a Nobel laureate to get a look-in (though it can't hurt)... [Tallack] is after the zeitgeist zinger... [he] has a backlist, a frontlist, and lots of irons in the fire. Full marks from us.' More information about Agent Research and Evaluation can be found at www.agentresearch.com.

Angela von der Lippe at Norton has acquired at auction North American rights in Jesse Bering's UNDER GOD'S SKIN: The Hidden Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life. In the book, Jesse examines how people's everyday thoughts, behaviours and emotions betray a default tendency to reason as though supernatural beings are deeply invested in their public lives and secret affairs. A lead researcher in the €2-million European Commission 'Explaining Religion' project, he also provides some of the first evidence for the 'naturalness' of beliefs in signs, omens and the afterlife. Publication is planned for Spring 2010, but those who want an early dose of the author's provocative thoughts should subscribe to his Psychology Today blog Quirky Little Things.

Nicholas Dunbar's The Devil's Derivatives has been acquired at auction by Jacqueline Murphy at Harvard Business Press in the US and by Phoebe Clapham at Yale University Press in the UK. In the book, Nicholas tells the story of how innovation in the selling of financial risk spawned a culture of complexity and an illusion of consumer wealth. As well as showing how this triggered the credit crunch, he also explores what kind of financial system we should desire for the future. It's a story that Nicholas, as editor of Risk magazine, the bible of derivatives traders, is uniquely placed to tell. The deal was brokered in the US by Christy Fletcher at Fletcher & Parry on behalf of the Science Factory.

Bungeishunjue has acquired at auction the Japanese rights in Jo Marchant's forthcoming Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World’s Oldest Computer. The English Agency Japan represented the Science Factory in the negotiations. The book will be published early next year by Heinemann in the UK and Da Capo in the US.

Congratulations to the journalist Mark Lynas, winner of the 2007 Royal Society Science Book Award for his book Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. Published by Fourth Estate in the UK and by National Geographic in the US, the book tracks what our planet may look like as it warms in the future, with each chapter upping the temperature by one degree. The £10,000 prize was awarded last night at the Royal Society in London. Lynas beat the Science Factory's own shortlisted writers – Stuart Clark (The Sun Kings) and Ian Stewart (Why Beauty is Truth) – as well as Gerd Gigerenzer, Craig Venter and Steve Jones, who each received a cheque for £1,000. The prize for the best children's science book went to The Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do, written by Rebecca Gilpin and Leonie Pratt, and designed and illustrated by Josephine Thompson.