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Nature and Science December 2025 |
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The Long Heat: Climate Politics When It's Too Late
by Andreas Malm
What do we do when the climate warming boundaries set by the Paris Agreement have been passed? In the overshoot era, schemes proliferate for muscular adaptation or for new technologies to turn the heat down at a later date by removing carbon from the air or by blocking sunlight. Such technologies are by no means safe; they come with immense risks and provide an excuse for those who would rather avoid limiting emissions in the present. But do they also hold out some potential? Can the catastrophe be reversed, masked or simply adapted to once it is a fact? Or will any such roundabout measures simply make things worse?--Provided by publisher.
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| The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us About How to Live Well With the Rest of Life by Rob DunnThe evolution of life is mainly a story of competition. But this has caused scientists to miss the cooperation between organisms happening everywhere in nature. These “mutualisms” (mutually beneficial relationships between species) occur between animals and plants of all types on every continent, and biologist Rob Dunn’s vivid descriptions enable the reader to envision the complex interdependencies in nature’s ecosystems in his “triumph of popular science” (Publishers Weekly). |
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The Healing Power of Trees: The Definitive Guide to Forest Bathing
by Olga Terebenina
'I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.' - Henry David Thoreau From Thoreau and Nietzsche to Aristotle, history's greatest thinkers have long celebrated the healing power of the natural world. But forest bathing is more than just a walk in the woods - it's the mindful practice of reconnecting with nature through your senses, and The Healing Power of Trees is here to show you how. Recent research shows that just 15 minutes outside can enhance mood, concentration and physical health. This beautifully crafted guide reveals the unparalleled health benefits of the great outdoors, with the experts at The Forest Bathing Institute leading you on a journey of healing through forest bathing. The book includes both practical guidance and advice on addressing key challenges such as: Easing depression and anxietyLowering stressImproving energy levels Boosting your immune system The Forest Bathing Institute has spent years collaborating with universities and governments to research the benefits of this practice and train practitioners to share them. Now, its founders present their unique method in this stunning guide - an essential gift or self-purchase for anyone ready to reconnect with nature. Packed with expert insights and captivating photography, The Healing Power of Trees not only helps you plan your next forest bathing trip but also brings the restorative power of nature into your home. For more ways to connect with nature, discover other books in the series, The Healing Power of Water and The Healing Power of Sound.
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The Genius Bat: The Secret Life of the Only Flying Mammal
by Yossi Yovel
An awe-inspiring tour of bat world by the world's leading expert With nearly 1500 species, bats account for more than twenty percent of mammalian species. The most successful and most diverse group of mammals, bats come in different sizes, shapes, and colors, from the tiny bumblebee bat to the giant golden-crowned flying fox. Some bats eat fruit and nectar; others eat frogs, scorpions, or fish. Vampire bats feed on blood. Bats are the only mammals that can fly; their fingers have elongated through evolution to become wings with a unique, super-flexible skin membrane stretched between them. Their robust immune system is one of the reasons for their extreme longevity. A tiny bat can live for forty years. Yossi Yovel, an ecologist and a neurobiologist, is passionate about deciphering the secrets of bats, including using AI to decipher their communication. In The Genius Bat, he brings to vivid life these amazing creatures as well as the obsessive and sometimes eccentric people who study them-bat scientists. From muddy rainforests to star-covered night deserts, from guest houses in Thailand to museum drawers full of fossils in New York, this is an eye-opening and entertaining account of a mighty mammal.
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The Book of Memory: How We Become Who We Are
by Mark Rowlands
Reveals how memories aren't fixed. They soften and consolidate -- and are distorted -- each time we revisit them, even those memories most deeply ingrained. The way we call on memory is closer to a 'negotiation with the past.' From episodic memories like 'shining islands in dark waters' and forgotten 'Rilkean' memories that underpin our personalities and essential style to the memories we might hold that have been authored by others close to us, The Book of Memory draws on philosophical argument, a range of writers and thinkers, the latest neurological research, and psychology experiments to chart how memories are made, lost and remembered, with important consequences for how we understand ourselves.--
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| The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics by Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH and Mark OlshakerNot to sound alarmist or anything, but authors Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker concede that COVID-19 may have been merely a warm-up for the next pandemic. To that end, they construct some chilling real-world scenarios that they hope will urge government leaders to take communicable disease as seriously as any national security issue. For readers fascinated by World War C: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic and How to Prepare for the Next One by Sanjay Gupta. |
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| If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All by Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate SoaresAI researchers Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares sound a strident alarm over the race to design the ultimate machine intelligence. While corporations and governments everywhere push relentlessly toward the development of “artificial superintelligence” (ASI), the authors warn that current industry safeguards are insufficient to contain a program that is “optimized for efficiency and unconstrained by human ethics” (Booklist). For further predictions of terrifying techno-disasters, check out X-Risk: How Humanity Discovered Its Own Extinction by Thomas Moynihan. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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