Nature and Science April 2025 Recent Releases When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance by Riley Black Science writer Riley Black stuns with a panoramic natural history that acquaints readers with the interactive nature of life among Earth’s plants, animals, and habitats through the eons. Black’s accessible writing “illuminates natural history into sparkling descriptions of what the Earth was like millions of years ago” (Publishers Weekly). Read-alike: "A Brief History of Earth" by Andrew H. Knoll. Co-intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick  We have invented technologies that boost our physical capabilities and others that automate complex tasks, but never, until now, have we created a technology that can boost our intelligence-with an impact on work and life that researchers project will be greater than that of steam power or the internet. Mollick urges us not to turn away from AI, and instead to invite AI tools to the table. He demonstrates how AI can amplify our own capacities, acting in roles from brainstorming partner to cowriter to tutor to coach, and assesses its surprising, positive impact on business and organizations.  Code dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia An award-winning Indian-British journalist and commentator shows how artificial intelligence systems are shaping people's lives around the globe and explores the perils and inequities of the growing reliance on automated decision-making.  Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-changing Brain by David Eagleman The Stanford University professor, host of the Emmy-nominated The Brain and best-selling author of "Incognito" draws on the latest scientific findings in a revelatory portrait of the human mind that explores how it continually adapts, recreates and forges new understandings.  Mischievous creatures: The Forgotten Sisters who Transformed Early American Science by Catherine McNeur This indelible portrait of two unsung pioneers and sisters—entomologist Margaretta Hare Morris and botanist Elizabeth Carrington Morris—reveals how their discoveries helped fuel the growth and professionalism of science in antebellum America.  Still life with bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains by Alexa Hagerty An anthropologist, working with forensic teams and victims' families to investigate crimes against humanity in Latin America, comes to see how cutting-edge science also acts as a way of caring for the dead with symbolic force that can repair societies torn apart by violence. Entangled life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds & Shape our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake Citing the ubiquitous role of fungi in the environment, a scientific tour of examples ranging from yeast to psychedelics reveals the complex fungi networks that link plants together and make most biological life processes possible.  How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going by Vaclav Smil A Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba examines seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity, such as energy, food production, globalization and our environment and its future.  Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer Science writer Carl Zimmer puts airborne pathogens under the microscope, taking readers on a tour spanning from the 14th century to COVID-19 that exposes how much we have yet to learn about communicable diseases in the Earth’s atmosphere.  Ask us for more great recommendations! Sign up for more NextReads newsletters here.    www.ckpl.ca