This book shoves aside the cliché of the shivering ragged figure in an ice wasteland to tell the complex and fascinating true story of the Neanderthal.

Renowned environmentalist Albert Bates provides children with an educational and engaging look at the interdependent relationship between the oceans and ourselves and what is needed to protect the ocean?s ecosystems. They gain an understanding of the ocean?s biodiversity and learn how human activities have resulted in significant changes in ocean temperature, oxygen levels, acidity, ice, sea levels, and sea life populations. Clear explanations show how this will have a consequential effect not just on the oceans themselves but humans on land as well. On an encouraging note, Bates explains that these dangerous trends can be stopped if the right measures are taken, such as blue carbon initiatives to prohibit deep-sea mining, replanting mangroves, protecting salt marshes and seagrasses, curtailing cruise ships and trawlers, and restoring coral reefs. The benefits from these actions often have a multiplier effect, and kids are shown that it is more cost-effective and financially rewarding to do them soon rather than later.

Mineral collecting by amateur rockhounds has never been more popular. Old quarries, road cuts, and exposed landscapes are being examined by new generations of minerals enthusiasts. Each needs a comprehensive guidebook with clear photographs and accurate data. This is it. In a thick but handy format, more than 700 different minerals and rocks are grouped by color (for ease of location in the book) -- blue, red, yellow, brown, green, white and black crystals; brown and gray sedimentary rocks; and meteorites for anyone lucky enough to find one. Each has a picture -- four to a page -- opposite detailed but clear data: Chemical formula Hardness Color Density Lustre Cleavage Fracture Tenacity Crystal form Similar minerals and where they are likely to occur. And many will have a diagram of its crystal form -- up to four, for fluorite, for example. The Minerals Encyclopedia is unusual for the number of minerals it covers: more than 700 in 448 pages, with a useful glossary, an introduction to mineral collecting, printed front and back flaps that offer quick reference in the field, and a measuring rule on the back cover. This is a superior reference for rockhounds, geology students and outdoors people with an interest in what's under their feet.

A new "bible" title that reveals the science of our brains. The term "mind mapping" has been used in various contexts over time, however this book, The Neuroscience Bible, is strictly about the human brain as a vital organ and how it controls the nervous system and thus our life. It is a crash-course in the latest scientific knowledge of the workings of the brain and the nervous system it controls. The most elusive concepts, such as memory and addiction and the difference between the brain and the mind, are broken down into easily understandable bite-sized pieces. In pictures of the brain, the cerebrum is most noticeable. Sitting at the top of the brain, it is the source of all intellectual activities. It is split into two halves -- the proverbial "left brain and right brain" -- which communicate via nerve fibers. Information collected by your senses moves along a network of linked nerve cells called neurons, which are the basic building blocks of the nervous system. These neurons are active in both sides of the brain, which although looking the same, are different. Words are formed in the left hemisphere, abstract reasoning in the right. Together, they control every brain activity -- from memories, planning, imagination, recognizing friends and reading books to playing games and creating art. The Neuroscience Bible explains all this and much more. Topics include: The anatomy of the brain Neurons, synapses and axons The building blocks of the brain The difference between the brain and the mind The biology of mental illness Modern treatment of mental illness The effects on the brain of alcohol and drugs Memory, senses, cravings Fight or flight Exploring the brain's billions of neurons with mind mapping The future of neuroscience. As you read this book, your brain and your nervous system will be busy making sense of the words. Nerve cells in your eyes will sense the letters' boundaries and transmit them from your eyes to your brain which forms the words and recalls their meanings.

This book enables easy identification of every common tree species in southern Ontario. It includes detailed visuals showing tree shape, leaf shape and colour, seed and cone size, and bark texture. Using the illustrations and key ID features, a tree can be identified in any season of the year. Author and illustrator Jeffrey C. Domm spent many weeks tracking down examples of each tree to create illustrations for each species. The detail and clarity of his visuals go far beyond anything seen before in tree guides. He also photographed many of the oldest and most significant heritage trees of the region. These trees are featured in the book, along with their locations. The trees include needle-leaf species -- cedar, hemlock, larch, pine and spruce -- as well as broad-leafs -- ash, birch, elm, magnolia, maple, oak, poplar, sycamore, walnut and willow.

In Planktonia, Erich Hoyt invites readers to dive into the dazzling nighttime ocean. Countless microscopic plankton -- larval creatures such as ornate ghost pipefish, left-handed hermit crabs and bony-eared assfish -- ascend to the upper waters to feed, returning to the depths before sunrise. These tiny planktonic creatures are delicate and beautiful; some look terrifying; and most look nothing like the creatures they will become as adults. This great vertical migration attracts larger adult creatures, too, from the solitary 6-inch (15 cm) bigfin reef squid and the fierce and hungry 6 1/2 foot (2 m) female blanket octopus, which is up to 40,000 times heavier than her male mate. Everyone comes here for the midnight feast, and they are all ravenously hungry.

A brain-bending exploration of real-life zombies and mind controllers, and what they reveal to us about nature—and ourselves Zombieism isn’t just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It’s real, and it’s happening in the world around us, from wasps and worms to dogs and moose—and even humans. In Plight of the Living Dead, science journalist Matt Simon documents his journey through the bizarre evolutionary history of mind control. Along the way, he visits a lab where scientists infect ants with zombifying fungi, joins the search for kamikaze crickets in the hills of New Mexico, and travels to Israel to meet the wasp that stings cockroaches in the brain before leading them to their doom. Nothing Hollywood dreams up can match the brilliant, horrific zombies that natural selection has produced time and time again. Plight of the Living Dead is a surreal dive into a world that would be totally unbelievable if very smart scientists didn’t happen to be proving it’s real, and most troublingly—or maybe intriguingly—of all: how even we humans are affected. “Fantastic . . . You'll be thinking about this book long after you're done reading it.” —Kelly Weinersmith, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Soonish

Dr. McAlister has captured her affection for the Diptera in The Secret Life of Flies, a short, rich book by turns informative and humorous, both a hymn of praise to her favorite creatures and a gleeful attempt to give readers the willies. -- New York Times An enjoyable and informative read. Highly recommended for anyone interested in biology and in particular those intrigued by entomology and zoology. -- Library Journal Stories and science about nature's most complex, crucial and highly adaptive insect. The Secret Life of Flies takes readers into the hidden world of snail killers, con artists, crazy sex and a great many silly names. It dispels common misconceptions about flies and reveals how truly extraordinary, exotic and important are these misunderstood creatures. There are 10 chapters: 1. The immature ones -- Squirmy wormy larvae can be just a bit unnerving. 2. The pollinators -- Those annoying No See Ums, or midge flies, are the only pollinator of the chocolate-producing cacao tree. 3. The detritivores -- These garbage eaters are often fluffy and thus water-repellent, good for a life spent in a sewer. 4. The vegetarians -- Entomological spelunkers, many of these flies prefer plant roots. 5. The fungivores -- The mushroom eaters include the dark-winged fungus gnats. 6. The predators -- Here are the most devious and imaginative methods of luring, capturing and eating prey. 7. The parasites -- Their methods of survival are often disgusting but the evolutionary genius is admirable. 8. The sanguivores -- Exactly why do we have blood-sucking disease-spreading mosquitos? 9. The coprophages -- The champions of dung, detritus and other unpleasant things. 10. The necrophages -- The body eaters without which we would be in a most disagreeable situation. In clear language, McAlister explains Diptera taxonomy and forensic entomology, and describes the potential of flies to transform their relationship with humans from one of disease vector to partner in environmental preservation. She has a wonderful knack for storytelling, deftly transforming what could be dry descriptions of biology, reproduction and morphology into entertainment. She takes readers to piles of poo in Ethiopia by way of underground caves, latrines and backyard gardens, and opens the drawers at the Natural History Museum to rhapsodize over her favorite flies.