Grade 9

We all know our planet is in crisis, and that it is largely our fault. But all too often the full picture of change is obstructed by dense data sets and particular catastrophes. Struggling with this obscurity in her role as an editor at Nature, Gaia Vince decided to travel the world and see for herself what life is really like for people on the frontline of this new reality. What she found was a number people doing the most extraordinary things. During her journey she finds a man who is making artificial glaciers in Nepal along with an individual who is painting mountains white to attract snowfall; take the electrified reefs of the Maldives; or the man who's making islands out of rubbish in the Caribbean. These are ordinary people who are solving severe crises in crazy, ingenious, effective ways. While Vince does not mince words regarding the challenging position our species is in, these wonderful stories, combined with the new science that underpins Gaia's expertise and research, make for a persuasive, illuminating -- and strangely hopeful -- read on what the Anthropocene means for our future.

Today, an ancient world is vanishing right before our eyes: the age of giant animals. Over 40,000 years ago, the earth was ruled by megafauna: mammoths and mastodons, saber-toothed tigers and giant sloths. Of course, those creatures no longer exist, due to the evolution and arrival of the wildly adaptive human species, among other factors. Many more of the world's biggest and baddest creatures - including the black rhino, the dodo, giant tortoises, and the great auk - have vanished since our world became truly global. Last of the Giants chronicles those giant animals and apex predators who have been pushed to extinction in the modern era.

In its 4.5 billion-year history, life on Earth has been almost erased at least half a dozen times: shattered by asteroid impacts, entombed in ice, smothered by methane, and torn apart by unfathomably powerful megavolcanoes. And we know that another global disaster is eventually headed our way. Can we survive it? How? As a species, "Homo sapiens" is at a crossroads. Study of our planets turbulent past suggests that we are overdue for a catastrophic disaster, whether caused by nature or by human interference. Its a frightening prospect, as each of the Earths past major disasters--from meteor strikes to bombardment by cosmic radiation--resulted in a mass extinction, where more than 75 percent of the planets species died out. But in "Scatter, Adapt, and Remember," Annalee Newitz, science journalist and editor of the science Web site io9.com explains that although global disaster is all but inevitable, our chances of long-term species survival are better than ever. Life on Earth has come close to annihilation--humans have, more than once, narrowly avoided extinction just during the last million years--but every single time a few creatures survived, evolving to adapt to the harshest of conditions. This brilliantly speculative work of popular science focuses on humanitys long history of dodging the bullet, as well as on new threats that we may face in years to come. Most important, it explores how scientific breakthroughs today will help us avoid disasters tomorrow. From simulating tsunamis to studying central Turkeys ancient underground cities; from cultivating cyanobacteria for "living cities" to designing space elevators to make space colonies cost-effective; from using math to stop pandemics to studying the remarkable survival strategies of gray whales, scientists and researchers the world over are discovering the keys to long-term resilience and learning how humans can choose life over death. Newitzs remarkable and fascinating journey through the science of mass extinctions is a powerful argument about human ingenuity and our ability to change. In a world populated by doomsday preppers and media commentators obsessively forecasting our demise, "Scatter, Adapt, and Remember" is a compelling voice of hope. It leads us away from apocalyptic thinking into a future where we live to build a better world--on this planet and perhaps on others. Readers of this book will be equipped scientifically, intellectually, and emotionally to face whatever the future holds.

Explaining different scientific disciplines in clear, colorful chapters, this illustrated primer is a great way to introduce young readers to a complex topic. In her easily accessible style, Margreet de Heer visualizes science and makes it approachable for those with little knowledge of the subject. Touching a number of topics in various scientific disciplines--including math, chemistry, physics, biology, geology, and quantum theory--this work and ponders questions such as Who exclaimed Eureka and why? What is the Philosopher's Stone? Why did Galileo get into a fight with the Church? and What happens when you have your DNA tested? This humorous yet substantive graphic account strips the subject of unnecessary complexity, making it a perfect introduction to exploring scientific concepts.

The world of cutting-edge scientific knowledge in one volume for the general reader. This practical reference provides clear and concise explanations of the key scientific concepts, making it the ideal guide for science enthusiasts as well as beginners. Science 1001 covers all of the scientific disciplines including: Physics Chemistry Biology Earth science Space Health and medicine Social science Knowledge Applied science The future The book concludes with an exciting glimpse of what's to come for science, from time travel to transhumanism. From the physics of black holes to cloning therapy, Science 1001 demystifies the most important scientific ideas and disciplines in the simplest language with a minimum of jargon, making them easier to understand and, thus, more entertaining for any general reader.

October 31, 2011, marked an uneasy milestone for Planet Earth. On this day, the global population surpassed seven billion. What does that mean for a world that, until the nineteenth century, was home to less than one billion people? Experts say it means the planet is in trouble. Some wonder if Earth will even be able to sustain human life at its current rate of growth. Will there be enough food for everyone? Will conflicts over land increase? How will the environment be affected? Can humanity survive the predicted disasters? More than a simple case of running out of space, the population crisis is interwoven with a host of other issues--from climate change and resource management to war, disease, and poverty. Discover how all these factors converge to place an entire planet in crisis mode--and explore what sort of responses that crisis may require.

In his latest, thrilling foray into the future, a great inventor and futurist envisions an event--the "singularity"--in which technological change becomes so rapid and so profound that human bodies and brains will merge with machines.

"A bizarre collection of evolution tales . . . the weirder, the better." --Entertainment Weekly A fascinating exploration of the awe-inspiring, unsettling ingenuity of evolution from Wired writer Matt Simon, author of Plight of the Living Dead (coming soon from Penguin Books) On a barren seafloor, the pearlfish swims into the safety of a sea cucumber's anus. To find a meal, the female bolas spider releases pheromones that mimic a female moth, luring male moths into her sticky lasso web. The Glyptapanteles wasp injects a caterpillar with her young, which feed on the victim, erupt out of it, then mind-control the poor (and somehow still living) schmuck into protecting them from predators. These are among the curious critters of The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar, a jaunt through evolution's most unbelievable, most ingenious solutions to the problems of everyday life, from trying to get laid to finding food. Join Wired science writer Matt Simon as he introduces you to the creatures that have it figured out, the ones that joust with their mustaches or choke sharks to death with snot, all in a wild struggle to survive and, of course, find true love. Winner of the American Library Association's Alex Award