Spineless Wonders

Download or read book Spineless Wonders written by Richard Conniff and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blending natural history and human lore, Ric hard Conniff relates some of his knowledge of the world of i nvertebrates. Spineless Wonders marvels at the skills of the housefly, looks at the world of the fire ant, and meets a m an who loves beetles. '

Download or read book Spineless written by Juli Berwald and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A book full of wonders" —Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk "Witty, insightful. . . .The story of jellyfish. . . is a significant part of the environmental story. Berwald's engaging account of these delicate, often ignored creatures shows how much they matter to our oceans' future." —New York Times Book Review Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. They make a venom so toxic it can kill a human in three minutes. Their sting—microscopic spears that pierce with five million times the acceleration of gravity—is the fastest known motion in the animal kingdom. Made of roughly 95 percent water, some jellies are barely perceptible virtuosos of disguise, while others glow with a luminescence that has revolutionized biotechnology. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science, and they remain among the most poorly understood of ocean dwellers. More than a decade ago, Juli Berwald left a career in ocean science to raise a family in landlocked Austin, Texas, but jellyfish drew her back to the sea. Recent, massive blooms of billions of jellyfish have clogged power plants, decimated fisheries, and caused millions of dollars of damage. Driven by questions about how overfishing, coastal development, and climate change were contributing to a jellyfish population explosion, Juli embarked on a scientific odyssey. She traveled the globe to meet the biologists who devote their careers to jellies, hitched rides on Japanese fishing boats to see giant jellyfish in the wild, raised jellyfish in her dining room, and throughout it all marveled at the complexity of these alluring and ominous biological wonders. Gracefully blending personal memoir with crystal-clear distillations of science, Spineless is the story of how Juli learned to navigate and ultimately embrace her ambition, her curiosity, and her passion for the natural world. She discovers that jellyfish science is more than just a quest for answers. It’s a call to realize our collective responsibility for the planet we share.

Download or read book Origins written by Frank H. T. Rhodes and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2016-07-29 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these meager scraps by the use of biochemical markers or geochemical signatures that add useful information, but, even with such additional help, our reconstructions and our models of descent are often tentative. For the fossil record is, as we have seen, as biased as it is incomplete. But fragmentary, selective, and biased though it is, the fossil record, with all its imperfections, is still a treasure. Though whole chapters are missing, many pages lost, and the earliest pages so damaged as to be, as yet, virtually unreadable, this—the greatest biography of all—is one in whose closing pages we find ourselves."—from Origins In Origins, Frank H. T. Rhodes explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. Rhodes argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understanding of life’s past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies. Rhodes’s accessible and extensively illustrated treatment of the origins narrative describes the nature of the search for prehistoric life, the significance of geologic time, the origin of life, the emergence and spread of flora and fauna, the evolution of primates, and the emergence of modern humans.

Download or read book Loopholes written by Susan McCreery and published by . This book was released on 2016-10-26 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LOOPHOLE, noun. 1. An escape route from a sticky situation. 2. A chink in the system that allows us to circumvent or avoid consequences. Susan McCreery's perfectly-formed microfictions provide glimpses into the travails of everyday existence - of family life, relationships, ageing and loss. Her characters are typical humans - flawed yet admirable, frustrating and frustrated. Told with wit and compassion and honed with a wordsmith's skill, McCreery's Loopholes makes us see ourselves and each other differently. Ranging in length from a page to four lines, Susan McCreery's vivid glimpses into diverse lives and situations will amuse, shock and inspire you. ELIZABETH WEBBY AM

Download or read book The Butcherbird Stories written by A.S. Patric and published by Transit Lounge . This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleven stories. Each like a matchstick struck to illuminate the darkness. Evocations of place ranging from a Bangla jungle to the deep, blue Danube to a winter beach in Melbourne excite and seduce. But what truly draws the reader in are the unexpected landscapes of people's lives, explored with rare sensitivity, grace and a fearless truthfulness. A lonely St Kilda chef invites a beautiful busker to use his spare room. A father sings a lullaby to comfort his young daughter who has woken from a nightmare. A taxi driver picks up an old-world gentleman who is reluctant to disclose his destination. A young immigrant boy growing up in the western suburbs of Melbourne daydreams of infinite possibility. Death, loneliness, passion and belief: Patrić takes on the big questions in life and writes about the small people of the world with stylistic verve and deep humanity. This collection of stories reveals the author, best known for his award-winning novels, as a true master of the short story form. ‘One of the most interesting and valuable writers working in Australia today.’ — The Australian

Download or read book The Complete Naturalist written by Nick Baker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-21 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete practical introduction to observing, understanding and investigating the natural world written by an experienced and well travelled naturalist. Nick Baker's fascination with the natural world began at an early age, inspired by Gerald and Lee Durrell's classic book The Amateur Naturalist. Whether you want to understand what makes an insect and insect, rear a family of frogs for your garden pond, or record bird songs and calls, Nick can give you all the advice and information you need. Fact-packed and brimming with practical tips, techniques and activities, The Complete Naturalist offers a rich source of new ideas for more experienced naturalists, as well as sparking the natural curiosity of a whole new generation. From communicating with wild animals to setting up an aquarium, this is the naturalist's guide no family bookshelf should be without. Nick is an experienced and well-travelled naturalist, and his book includes his international experiences.

Download or read book Evolution written by Donald R. Prothero and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007-11-06 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past twenty years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before. The fossil record is now one of the strongest lines of evidence for evolution. In this engaging and richly illustrated book, Donald R. Prothero weaves an entertaining though intellectually rigorous history out of the transitional forms and series that dot the fossil record. Beginning with a brief discussion of the nature of science and the "monkey business of creationism," Prothero tackles subjects ranging from flood geology and rock dating to neo-Darwinism and macroevolution. He covers the ingredients of the primordial soup, the effects of communal living, invertebrate transitions, the development of the backbone, the reign of the dinosaurs, the mammalian explosion, and the leap from chimpanzee to human. Prothero pays particular attention to the recent discovery of "missing links" that complete the fossil timeline and details the debate between biologists over the mechanisms driving the evolutionary process. Evolution is an absorbing combination of firsthand observation, scientific discovery, and trenchant analysis. With the teaching of evolution still an issue, there couldn't be a better moment for a book clarifying the nature and value of fossil evidence. Widely recognized as a leading expert in his field, Prothero demonstrates that the transformation of life on this planet is far more awe inspiring than the narrow view of extremists.