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The history of bees / by Lunde, Maja,author.; translation of:Lunde, Maja.Bienes historie.English.;
"In the spirit of Station Eleven and Never let me go, this dazzling and ambitious literary debut follows three generations of beekeepers from the past, present, and future, weaving a spellbinding story of their relationship to the bees--and to their children and one another--against the backdrop of an urgent, global crisis. England, 1852. William is a biologist and seed merchant, who sets out to build a new type of beehive--one that will give both him and his children honor and fame. United States, 2007. George is a beekeeper fighting an uphill battle against modern farming, but hopes that his son can be their salvation. China, 2098. Tao hand paints pollen onto the fruit trees now that the bees have long since disappeared. When Tao's young son is takenaway by the authorities after a tragic accident, she sets out on a grueling journey to find out what happened to him. Haunting, illuminating, and deftly written, The history of bees joins these three very different narratives into one gripping and thought-provoking story that is just as much about the powerful bond between children and parents as it is about our very relationship to nature and humanity"--
Subjects: Beekeepers; Bees; Extinction (Biology);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Ageless : the new science of getting older without getting old / by Steele, Andrew,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A startling chronicle by a brilliant young scientist takes us onto the frontiers of the science of aging, and reveals how close we are to an astonishing extension of our life spans and a vastly improved quality of life in our later years. Aging--not cancer, not heart disease--is the true underlying cause of most human death and suffering. We accept as inevitable that as we advance in years our bodies and minds begin to deteriorate and that we are ever more likely to be felled by dementia or disease. But we never really ask--is aging necessary? Biologists, on the other hand, have been investigating that question for years. After all, there are tortoises and salamanders whose risk of dying is the same no matter how old they are. With the help of science, could humans find a way to become old without getting frail, a phenomenon known as "biological immortality"? In Ageless, Andrew Steele, a computational biologist and science writer, takes us on a journey through the laboratories where scientists are studying every bodily system that declines with age--DNA, mitochondria, stem cells, our immune systems--and developing therapies to reverse the trend. With bell-clear writing and intellectual passion, Steele shines a spotlight on a little-known revolution already underway"--
Subjects: Aging; Longevity.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Twelve trees : the deep roots of our future / by Lewis, Daniel,1959-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A compelling global exploration of nature and survival as seen via a dozen species of trees that represent the challenges facing our planet, and the ways that scientists are working urgently to save our forests and our future.The world today is undergoing the most rapid environmental transformation in human history--from climate change to deforestation. Scientists, ethnobotanists, indigenous peoples, and collectives of all kinds are closely studying trees and their biology to understand how and why trees function individually and collectively in the ways they do. In Twelve Trees, Daniel Lewis, curator and historian at one of the world's most renowned research libraries, travels the world to learn about these trees in their habitats. Lewis takes us on a sweeping journey to plant breeding labs, botanical gardens, research facilities, deep inside museum collections, to the tops of tall trees, underwater, and around the Earth, journeying into the deserts of the American west and the deep jungles of Peru, to offer a globe-spanning perspective on the crucial impact trees have on our entire planet. When a once-common tree goes extinct in the wild but survives in a botanical garden, what happens next? How can scientists reconstruct lost genomes and habitats? How does a tree store thousands of gallons of water, or offer up perfectly preserved insects from millions of years ago, or root itself in muddy swamps and remain standing? How does a 5,000-year-old tree manage to live, and what can we learn from it? And how can science account for the survival of one species at the expense of others? To study the science of trees is to study not just the present, but the story of the world, its past, and its future."--
Subjects: Trees; Trees;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Wired for music : a search for health and joy through the science of sound / by Barton, Adriana(Journalist),author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In this captivating blend of science and memoir, a health journalist and former cellist explores music as a source of health, resilience, connection, and joy. Music isn't just background noise or a series of torturous exercises we remember from piano lessons. In the right doses, it can double as a mild antidepressant, painkiller, sleeping pill, memory aid-and enhance athletic performance while supporting healthy aging. Though music has been used as a healing strategy since ancient times, neuroscientists have only recently discovered how melody and rhythm stimulate core memory, motor, and emotion centers in the brain. But here's the catch: We can tune into music every day and still miss out on some of its potent effects. Adriana Barton learned the hard way. Starting at age five, she studied the cello for nearly two decades, a pursuit that left her with physical injuries and emotional scars. In Wired for Music, she sets out to discover what music is really for, combing through medical studies, discoveries by pioneering neuroscientists, and research from biology and anthropology. Traveling from state-of-the-art science labs to a remote village in Zimbabwe, her investigation gets to the heart of music's profound effects on the human body and brain. Blending science and story, Wired for Music shows how our species' age-old connection to melody and rhythm is wired inside us."--
Subjects: Barton, Adriana (Journalist); Music; Music;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Silent spring / by Carson, Rachel,1907-1964,author.; Lear, Linda J.,1940-; Wilson, Edward O.; Darling, Lois.; Darling, Louis.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages [301]-355) and index.
Subjects: Pesticides; Pesticides; Pesticides and wildlife.; Insect pests;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The book of eels : our enduring fascination with the most mysterious creature in the natural world / by Svensson, Patrik,1972-author.; Broomé, Agnes,translator.; translation of:Svensson, Patrik,1972-Ålevangeliet.English.;
Includes bibliographical references."Part H Is for Hawk, part The Soul of an Octopus, The Book of Eels is both a meditation on the world's most elusive fish--the eel--and a reflection on the human condition. Remarkably little is known about the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. So little, in fact, that scientists and philosophers have, for centuries, been obsessed with what has become known as the "eel question": Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether? Even today, in an age of advanced science, no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth, and we still don't understand what drives them, after living for decades in freshwater, to swim great distances back to the ocean at the end of their lives. They remain a mystery. Drawing on a breadth of research about eels in literature, history, and modern marine biology, as well as his own experience fishing for eels with his father, Patrik Svensson crafts a mesmerizing portrait of an unusual, utterly misunderstood, and completely captivating animal. In The Book of Eels, we meet renowned historical thinkers, from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud to Rachel Carson, for whom the eel was a singular obsession. And we meet the scientists who spearheaded the search for the eel's point of origin, including Danish marine biologist Johannes Schmidt, who led research efforts in the early twentieth century, catching thousands upon thousands of eels, in the hopes of proving their birthing grounds in the Sargasso Sea. Blending memoir and nature writing at its best, Svensson's journey to understand the eel becomes an exploration of the human condition that delves into overarching issues about our roots and destiny, both as humans and as animals, and, ultimately, how to handle the biggest question of all: death. The result is a gripping and slippery narrative that will surprise and enchant."--
Subjects: Eels.;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Saving Atlantis [videorecording] / by Baker, David Alexander,film director.; Smith, Justin Reid,film director.; Coyote, Peter,narrator.; Collective Eye Films,film distributor.;
Narrated by Peter Coyote."Saving Atlantis is a documentary about one of the most consequential issues of our time: the dramatic decline of global coral reef ecosystems and the impact on human populations that depend on them. Produced by a team of award-winning filmmakers and researchers, the film follows those who are fighting to uncover the causes of coral decline and find solutions before it's too late. It is an emotional exploration of some of our planet's greatest natural wonders at a tipping point in their ecologic history."--cover.E.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; stereo.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Environmental films.; Video recordings for the hearing impaired.; Corals; Coral reef conservation.; Aquatic biology.; Aquatic sciences.; Marine ecology.;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The power of regret : how looking backward moves us forward / by Pink, Daniel H.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From Daniel H. Pink, the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of When and Drive, a new book about the transforming power of that crucial and misunderstood emotion, regret. "Regret is not dangerous or abnormal, it is healthy and universal, an integral part of being human," Daniel H. Pink writes in his provocative and eye-opening new book. "Done right, it needn't bring us down; it can lift us up." Drawing from new research in social psychology, neuroscience, biology, and more, as well as from more than ten thousand people in thirty-five countries around the world who responded to his World Regret Survey-the largest of its kind ever conducted-Pink challenges the idea of regret being a drag on our self-esteem and outlook. In fact, understanding how regret actually works and using those insights to reframe our perspective of it will help us reclaim regret as an indispensable emotion that can help us make smarter decisions, perform better at work and school, and bring greater meaning to our lives. As he did in his other paradigm-changing books When, Drive, and A Whole New Mind, Pink sets down a dynamic new way of thinking about regret and frames his ideas in ways that are clear, accessible, and pragmatic. Packed with true stories of people's regrets as well as practical takeaways for reimagining regret as a positive force in your own life, this book shows how we can live richer, more engaged lives-with no regrets"--
Subjects: Regret.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Woman enough : how a boy became a woman and changed the world of sport / by Worley, Kristen,author.; Schneller, Johanna,author.;
"From a high-performance Canadian cyclist and transgender woman comes a powerful and inspiring story of self-realization and legal victory that upends our basic assumptions about sexual identity. Kristen Worley, a world-class cyclist, aspired to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Having begun her transition in 1998, she became the first athlete in the world to submit to the International Olympic Committee's Stockholm Consensus, a gender verification process that would allow her to engage in sport as the person she knew she was meant to be. An all-male jury determined she fit their biological criteria. Three decades earlier, Kristen was Chris, a male baby adopted by an upper-middle-class Toronto family. From early childhood, Chris felt ill-at-ease as a boy and like an outsider in his conservative family. An obsession with sports -- running, waterskiing, and cycling -- helped him survive what he would eventually understand to be a profound disconnect between his anatomical sexual identity and his gender identity. In his twenties, with the support of newfound friends and family and the medical community, Chris became Kristen. Sport had always been her means of escape, and now she wanted to compete for her country and herself. Though she passed the hurdle of gender verification, the IOC, international and local cycling associations and the World Anti-Doping Agency insisted that transitioned male-to-female athletes should not receive testosterone supplements. They viewed such supplements as performance-enhancing, failing to recognize that women produce varying levels of the hormone too. Kristen's transitioned body had stopped producing any hormones at all -- she needed hormone support to stay healthy and to compete. So Kristen fought back on behalf of all female athletes. She filed a complaint against the IOC and the other sports bodies standing in her way with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. And she won. Born to Be Kristen is the account of a human rights battle with global repercussions for the world of sport; it's a challenge to rethink fixed ideas about gender; and it's the extraordinary story of a boy who was rejected for who he wasn't, and who fought back until she found out who she is"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Worley, Kristen.; Women cyclists; Transgender athletes; Gender identity in sports.; Sports;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Some assembly required : decoding four billion years of life, from ancient fossils to DNA / by Shubin, Neil,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The author of the best-selling Your Inner Fish, now gives us a lively and accessible account of the great transformations in the history of life, that enable us to further understand whether our presence on this planet is an accident or inevitable. The great transformations in the history of life brought about whole scale shifts in how animals live and how their bodies are organized: the evolution of fish to land-living creature, the origin of birds, the beginnings of bodies in single-celled creatures. Shubin describes how over the last half-century, scientists have been able to explore how genetic recipes build bodies during embryological development--how these inventions and adaptations occur in a nonprogressive manner in different contexts, at different speeds. Paleontology has been transformed over the last 50 years by tools and techniques of molecular biology--and it is that revolution in our understanding of the evolution of life that Shubin traces here. Each of us is a mosaic of precursors that came about at different times and places, with deep rooted connections across species that Darwin, for all he understood, could never even have imagined"--
Subjects: Life; Paleontology.; Human evolution.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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