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Nature and Science June 2025 |
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| The Ocean's Menagerie: How Earth's Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life by Drew HarvellMarine biologist Drew Harvell amazes with a rich and descriptive catalog of ocean invertebrates, a group that outnumbers backboned species 30 to one and includes octopuses, jellies, crustaceans, and sea stars. Harvell details these creatures' superpowers, hardly an exaggeration given their potential benefits to the environment and human life. Those curious about exotic marine life should also check out The World Beneath by Richard Smith. |
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| White Light: The Elemental Role of Phosphorus -- in Our Cells, in Our Food, and in Our World by Jack LohmannIn this debut scientific history, Jack Lohmann explores civilization’s interaction with phosphorus, from before humans were even aware of the element. Once people understood its use as a fertilizer, we unfortunately began to mine and then overuse it, leading to pollution, reduced biodiversity, and less nutritive crops, errors we are only now beginning to correct. Try this next: Carbon: The Book of Life by Paul Hawken. |
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| Inside the Stargazer's Palace: The Transformation of Science in 16th-Century... by Violet MollerHistorian Violet Moller’s tour of scientific innovation in the 1500s focuses on astronomy. Early stargazers Tycho Brahe and Nicolaus Copernicus laid the groundwork using curious new instruments of observation during a fascinating period when scientific inquiry still mingled with religion, mythology, and alchemy. It’s an atmospheric “run-up to the Scientific Revolution in expert hands” (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker by Suzanne O'SullivanAccording to neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan, a combination of expanding disease definitions and advances in medical screening is causing diagnoses to increase drastically, which taxes healthcare systems, feeds health anxiety in patients, and gives rise to the “nocebo effect,” where giving a patient a disease label can actually produce symptoms. Readers looking for other interesting books about physician-patient communication should try How Medicine Works and When It Doesn’t by F. Perry Wilson. |
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| Valley of Forgetting: Alzheimer's Families and the Search for a Cure by Jennie Erin SmithWhile researchers had long been aware of the alarmingly high rates of early-onset Alzheimer’s in one remote region of Colombia, the discovery that many of the patients were related sparked the search for a genetic cause. Journalist Jennie Erin Smith tells the moving story of how an inherited gene was eventually isolated, igniting hope for a cure. For other emotional narratives about genetics and disease, try My Father’s Brain by Sandeep Jauhar or A Fatal Inheritance by Lawrence Ingrassia. |
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| Eavesdropping on Animals: What We Can Learn from Wildlife Conversations by George BumannGeorge Bumann, an observant Yellowstone wildlife ecologist and artist, encourages us to listen in on the lively chatter among animals that we might usually tune out. With enthusiastic guidance that can apply to backyards as well as national parks and runs from birds to insects to coyotes, Bumann reminds us that a big part of nature appreciation is paying attention. Try this next: Meet the Neighbors by Brandon Keim. |
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| Is Anyone Listening? What Animals Are Saying to Each Other and to Us by Denise L. HerzingDenise L. Herzing, a marine biologist involved in the Wild Dolphin Project, details her fascinating work analyzing dolphin sounds, the patterns of which suggest that these animals might have developed a primitive form of grammar. The use of AI promises further insight into this behavior, as well as the possibility of inter-species communication. Looking for other surprising stories about animal intelligence? Try Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal. |
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| Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication by Arik KershenbaumUniversity of Cambridge zoologist Arik Kershenbaum has been in the field of animal communication for decades. His study of the speech-like sounds and songs emitted by creatures including wolves, parrots, dolphins, and chimpanzees runs afoul of the idea that humans are Earth’s sole language users, and posits that “animals have much to say to each other -- but also to us” (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate by Nicolas Mathevon; illustrations by Bernard MathevonIn Nicolas Mathevon’s “exceptional” (Library Journal) debut, the biologist and neuroscientist looks at how different animal species decode the sounds made by creatures around them and respond (sometimes with sounds of their own) to aid in their survival. The result is a technical yet accessible panorama of ecological dynamics and cross-species interaction. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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