The Science and Superpowers of Seaweed


Book Description

A middle-grade and family-friendly introduction to the enchanting world of seaweed. Young readers will be delighted to learn about the wonderful, watery world of seaweed, where emerald-green kelp forests grow as tall as trees and rainbow seaweeds shimmer like gemstones in the sunlight. Seaweed can be fun too, providing tasty snacks like nori crisps and cool things to do: hunt for dead man’s fingers to squeeze like a squirt gun, have a popping contest with rockweed or make seaweed art. Seaweeds are also critical to the health of the planet—they produce most of the oxygen we need to breathe, help to keep the earth cool and provide habitat for sea creatures. And they're full of healthy vitamins and have more minerals than any other food! This colourful, activity-packed book explores the science of seaweed while showing how to sustainably harvest and use it, and providing many fun facts about marine plants and animals. It is a unique field guide, featuring seaweeds from both Atlantic and Pacific oceans and showcasing the beautiful and vital ecosystems of the coasts, and is sure to inspire curious beachcombers of all ages.




Superpowers On The Shore


Book Description

Our coasts are large, vast wildernesses that witness the mystical pageantry of life. They have given us monsters and myths, they are fathoms deep and full of whispers, home to unknown creatures and sprawling ecosystems. They are chasms of beauty and frontiers of possibility. From the space between land and sea, revealed only at low tide, comes a coruscating kaleidoscope of colours and brilliance: the intertidal zone. And the marine lifeforms of these zones are capable of superpowers. Yes, superpowers! Of the kind that comic book characters can only dream of. The Indian coastline hosts some magnificent intertidal species: solar-powered slugs, escape artist octopuses, venomous jellies, harpooning conus sea snails, to name just a few. It is as biodiverse as a forest wildlife safari, and twice as secretive. From bioluminescence and advanced sonic capabilities to camouflage and shapeshifting, these cloaked assassins are capable of otherworldly skill. Superpowers on the Shore by Sejal Mehta is a dazzling, assured look at some of the creatures with whom we share our world, our water, our monsoons, our beaches and the sandcastles therein. Come witness the magic of our intertidal superheroes, their fragile beauty and their iridescent drama. Put on your waterproof shoes, pack a bottle of whimsy, bring your sense of wonder. And prepare to be mesmerized




Marine Science for Kids


Book Description

Do you ever dream of being a marine explorer or adventurer? Are you a fan of cool, cute, or creepy creatures? Then here's some good news: some of the coolest, cutest, and creepiest creatures live in Earth's oceans and other watery places. Marine Science for Kids is a colorful, fun, photo-filled guide to exploring our underwater world. In these pages, you'll delve deep into the science of aquatic study, including geology, chemistry, and biology in both salt- and freshwater environments, and gain insight into the real-world practice of aquatic science. You'll discover how and why oceans move, and learn the answers to questions such as "Why is the ocean blue?" You'll meet cool creatures, including sharks and rays, penguins and other seabirds, whales and dolphins, squids and octopuses, and many more. You'll uncover some of the most pressing challenges facing marine environments and find out how you can use your talents to make a difference. Real-life marine scientists share what inspires them every day and provide insights into their exciting careers. Hands-on activities in each chapter make learning fun. Kids can: make an edible coral reef; explore marine camouflage; construct a water-propelled squid; test methods of cleaning up an oil spill; experiment with ocean acidification; and much more.




Complexity


Book Description

“If you liked Chaos, you’ll love Complexity. Waldrop creates the most exciting intellectual adventure story of the year” (The Washington Post). In a rarified world of scientific research, a revolution has been brewing. Its activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics and pony-tailed graduates, mathematicians, and computer scientists from all over the world. They have formed an iconoclastic think-tank and their radical idea is to create a new science: complexity. They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell—and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. This book is their story—the story of how they have tried to forge what they like to call the science of the twenty-first century. “Lucidly shows physicists, biologists, computer scientists and economists swapping metaphors and reveling in the sense that epochal discoveries are just around the corner . . . [Waldrop] has a special talent for relaying the exhilaration of moments of intellectual insight.” —The New York Times Book Review “Where I enjoyed the book was when it dove into the actual question of complexity, talking about complex systems in economics, biology, genetics, computer modeling, and so on. Snippets of rare beauty here and there almost took your breath away.” —Medium “[Waldrop] provides a good grounding of what may indeed be the first flowering of a new science.” —Publishers Weekly




Seaweed


Book Description

Some might be put off by its texture, aroma, or murky origins, but the fact of the matter is seaweed is one of the oldest human foods on earth. And prepared the right way, it can be absolutely delicious. Long a staple in Asian cuisines, seaweed has emerged on the global market as one of our new superfoods, a natural product that is highly sustainable and extraordinarily nutritious. Illuminating seaweed’s many benefits through a fascinating history of its culinary past, Kaori O’Connor tells a unique story that stretches along coastlines the world over. O’Connor introduces readers to some of the 10,000 kinds of seaweed that grow on our planet, demonstrating how seaweed is both one of the world’s last great renewable resources and a culinary treasure ready for discovery. Many of us think of seaweed as a forage food for the poor, but various kinds were often highly prized in ancient times as a delicacy reserved for kings and princes. And they ought to be prized: there are seaweeds that are twice as nutritious as kale and taste just like bacon—superfood, indeed. Offering recipes that range from the traditional to the contemporary—taking us from Asia to Europe to the Americas—O’Connor shows that sushi is just the beginning of the possibilities for this unique plant.




The Shark Whisperer


Book Description

After his most klutzy move ever, falling into a pool of sharks, things for Tristan Hunt begin to look up. Tristan is invited to an ocean-themed summer camp in the Florida Keys where he discovers that he and the other young teens there have very special and rare talents when it comes to the ocean. After the camp receives a distress call from ocean animals, Tristan and his new friends get pulled into a daring rescue in the Bahamas. With the help of sharks, dolphins, a quick-escape artist octopus, and some seabird bombers, the campers must use their young talents in an attempt to outwit an evil shark-finning, reef-blasting billionaire.




The Animal Book


Book Description

Learn some amazing facts relating to over 300 animals.




The Unwanteds


Book Description

In a society that purges 13-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic.




Splinterlands


Book Description

In this dystopian trilogy opener, an elderly scientist reminisces, wondering why both the planet and his family fell apart. Part Field Notes from a Catastrophe, part 1984, part World War Z, this striking dystopian novel takes us deep into the battered, shattered world of 2050. The European Union has broken apart. Multiethnic great powers like Russia and China have shriveled. America’s global military footprint has virtually disappeared, and the United States remains united in name only. Nationalism has proven the century’s most enduring force as ever-rising global temperatures have supercharged each-against-all competition and conflict among the now three hundred-plus members of an increasingly feeble United Nations. As he navigates the world of 2050, Julian West offers a roadmap for the path we’re already on, a chronicle of impending disaster, and a faint light of hope. He may be humanity’s last best chance to explain how the world unraveled—if he can survive the savage beauty of the Splinterlands. Praise for Splinterlands “In a chilling, thoughtful, and intuitive warning, foreign policy analyst Feffer . . . takes today’s woes of a politically fragmented, warming Earth and amplifies them into future catastrophe . . . . This novel is not for the emotionally squeamish or optimistic; Feffer’s confident recitation of world collapse is terrifyingly plausible, a short but encompassing look at world tragedy.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review “Feffer’s book is a wild ride through a bleak future, casting a harsh, thought-provoking light on that future’s modern-day roots.” —Foreword Reviews “A startling portrait of a post-apocalyptic tomorrow that is fast becoming a reality today. Fast-paced, yet strangely haunting, Feffer’s latest novel looks back from 2050 on the disintegration of world order told through the story of one broken family—and offers a disturbing vision of what might await us all if we don’t act quickly.” —Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times–bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed and Had I Known, and founder of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project




Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands


Book Description

Home to the 2,500-km Fossil Trail, the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, and Dinosaur Provincial Park--a UNESCO World Heritage site--the Alberta Badlands have unearthed more species of dinosaurs than anywhere else in the world and hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the fossil beds annually. Despite being star attractions in museums around the world, the dinosaurs of Alberta have never before been the subject of a book that explores their unique interrelationships and scientific importance, while still being accessible to young readers. In Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands, paleontologist Dr. Persons travels back in time 76 million years to the Late Cretaceous period, when pterosaurs soared through the skies, prehistoric sea monsters as long as school buses swam in Alberta's shallow sea, and anklyosaurs and cerotopsians roamed the swamps and flood plains that would eventually become the badlands of today. Meet the terrifying Albertosaurus, a relative of Tyrannosaurus, and the plant-eating, duck-billed Edmontosaurus. Bet on the winner of a race between a tyrannosaur and a hadrosaur--who's quick and deadly, who's slow and steady? Explore some of Alberta's most notable dig sites, including the Danek Bonebed, and learn how fossils form and what paleontologists do when they find them. And discover dinosaurs' avian legacy and Alberta's official provincial "dinosaur"--the great horned owl. Featuring paleoart by Julius Csotonyi, over seventy-five photos and illustrations, and profiles of leading paleontologists, Dinosaurs of the Alberta Badlands showcases Alberta's prehistoric beasts, not as participants in a parade of isolated monsters, but as animals adapted to be part of a long-lost ecosystem.