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Nature and Science October 2020
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Ancient Bones : Unearthing the Astonishing New Story of How We Became Human (ebook)
by Madelaine Böhme
"A renowned paleontologist takes readers behind-the-scenes of one of the most groundbreaking archaeological digs in recent history. Somewhere west of Munich, paleontologist Madelaine Böhme and her colleagues dig for clues to the origins of humankind. What they discover is beyond anything they ever imagined: the twelve-million-year-old bones of Danuvius guggenmosi make headlines around the world," (Hoopla, 2020).
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| The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers (ebook and Audiobook) by Emily LevesqueWhat it's about: an astronomer recounts her career in science while contemplating the past, present, and future of her field.
Don't miss: visits to Hawaii's Mauna Kea Observatories, Chile's Paranal Observatory, and the airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
Did you know? Professional astronomers spend relatively little time looking through giant telescopes (and a lot of time on laptops). |
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| The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie MackWhat it is: theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack's engaging survey of five potential ways in which the universe could end: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, the Big Rip, Vacuum Decay, and the Bounce.
Reviewers say: a "rollicking tour through the nooks and crannies of physics" (New Scientist).
Further reading: Bob Berman's Earth-Shattering (for those interested in cosmic cataclysms); Brian Greene's Until the End of Time (for a more philosophical take on cosmology). |
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| Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Jonathan C. SlaghtWhat it's about: a conservationist's five-year study of the endangered Blakiston’s fish owl in its natural habitat, the Primorye region of Russia.
Read it for: an authentically detailed account of scientific fieldwork, vivid descriptions of the terrain and its inhabitants (both animal and human), and, of course, the quest for an elusive bird.
For fans of: ornithology-themed travelogues, such as Tim Gallagher's Imperial Dreams or Vernon R.L. Head's The Rarest Bird in the World. |
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The Hidden Life of Ice : Dispatches from a Disappearing World (ebook and Audiobook)
by M. Tedesco
"A pioneering researcher's illuminating account of Arctic ice--its secret history and dire future. Tedesco unearths its secrets--from evidence of long-extinct "polar camels" to fantastically weird microorganisms living at freezing temperature in cryoconite holes--and weaves together the bald facts on climate change with poetic reflections on this endangered landscape, epic tales of Arctic explorers, and the legends of the rare local populations"
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Focus on: The Lighter Side of Science
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Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death (also on ebook)
by Caitlin Doughty; illustrated by Dianne Ruz
The premise: a mortician answers children's questions about death in an engaging and matter-of-fact style.
About the author: Funeral director Caitlin Doughty is the creator of the web series "Ask a Mortician" and the author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity.
So...will your cat eat your eyeballs? Not immediately. (Not when there are tastier tidbits like eyelids.)
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| Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances that Flow Through Our Lives (Audiobook) by Mark MiodownikWhat it's about: Having tackled solids in Stuff Matters, materials scientist Mark Miodownik introduces readers to the unique properties of liquids from the confines of an airplane cabin during a transatlantic flight.
Why you might like it: Filled with fascinating facts (airplanes are essentially glued together), this accessible book pairs scientific principles (viscosity, vaporization) and their real-life applications (how ballpoint pens work, brewing the perfect cup of tea). |
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| Imagined Life: A Speculative Scientific Journey Among the Exoplanets in Search of.... (Audiobook) by James Trefil and Michael SummersWhat it's about: a physicist and a planetary scientist draw on current scientific knowledge to speculate about exoplanets and their potential to support "life like us, like not like us, or life really not like us."
Includes: discussions of tidally locked planets, subsurface ocean worlds, super-Earths, and rogue planets (which do not orbit stars).
You might also like: Alan Boss' Universal Life, about the Kepler Space Telescope. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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