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Nature and Science June 2017
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| Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River by David OwenEvery gallon of water in the Colorado River legally belongs to someone, explains New Yorker staff writer David Owen. This has consequences: though the river is supposed to flow to the Gulf of California, so much is diverted along the way that it simply runs dry near the U.S.-Mexico border. Following the Colorado from source to terminus, Owen explores the river's ecology as well as the complex network of systems that exploit its resources. With its in-depth examination of the links between natural and human-made ecosystems, this book may interest readers who enjoyed Dan Egan's The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. |
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| Miracle Cure: The Creation of Antibiotics and the Birth of Modern Medicine by William RosenHow would you cure an infection? Bloodletting? Blistering plasters? Mercury? All of these (and more) were standard practice before antibiotics came on the scene. Beginning with the germ theory of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, this eye-opening book traces the scientific breakthroughs that contributed to the development of penicillin -- a game-changer that revolutionized medicine (while generating huge profits for pharmaceutical companies.) Miracle Cure also gives us a glimpse into the future: antibiotic-resistant bacteria and few, if any, treatment options. |
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| Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. SapolskyAs both a neurobiologist and a primatologist, author Robert Sapolsky can confidently state that human behavior is...complicated. To understand why we do what we do, he asserts, one must take an interdisciplinary approach. In Behave, Sapolsky explores the best and worst of human behavior by taking a single (re)action and examining what's going on in the brain and body in the seconds, minutes, hours, days, and even years before it occurs. It's an unusual but fascinating approach that will make you reconsider your own behavior. |
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| Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson"America's most approachable astrophysicist" (Kirkus Reviews) offers readers a concise and conversational introduction to cosmology. In 12 engaging chapters, Neil deGrasse Tyson explains, in straightforward and mostly jargon-free prose, the composition of the universe and the laws that govern it. Covering topics ranging from the Big Bang to general relativity to dark matter, he also describes what we don't yet know about the universe. While some science background is always useful when confronting astrophysics, it's not essential to enjoy this book. |
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| The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease by Daniel E. LiebermanYou'd think that after six million years of evolution, humans would be less vulnerable to disease. However, as biologist Daniel Lieberman explains, we didn't evolve for optimal health, but rather to produce viable offspring in challenging environments. What's more, cultural evolution creates mismatches between the bodies we inherited from our ancestors and the environments we create and transform for ourselves and our descendants. This thought-provoking book uses our evolutionary history to examine the challenges we currently face in staying alive. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Avon Lake Public Library 32649 Electric Blvd. Avon Lake, Ohio 44012 440-933-8128alpl.org |
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