Book

Biosphere 2 was built nearly thirty years ago to develop technologies for human living in space and on other worlds. Eight biospherians survived sealed inside the engineered ecosystem for two years. The results of the mission were mixed, but they definitely succeeded in constructing a research facility like none other in the world.

This book provides broad support for using games in middle and high school science classes including Earth science/living environment, biology, chemistry, and physics. The lesson plans and resources support a play-based approach to evolution, ecosystems, cellular organisms, elements and compounds, and vector motion. Though easy to learn, the included games provide detailed scientific accuracy allowing complex simulations and immersive learning experiences.

Games:

Evolution. Dominic Crapuchettes, Dmitry Knorre, Sergey Machin. North Star Games, 2014.

On a cold day in November 1944, eighteen-month-old Eileen Saxon was brought into an operating room at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She could barely breathe, and he lips and fingertips had turned a dusky blue, the result of a heart condition known as blue baby syndrome. Most doctors who had seen her expected her to die within hours.

The world's seeds are in crisis.

Of 12,000 plant species used for human food, only about 150 are being grown for sale, only eight grains are traded throughout the world, and half of our calories come from just three: rice, wheat, and maize.

This means that our food diversity is diminishing at a shocking rate. More than on in five plants on earth are threatened with extinction. Our lives depend on all kinds of seeds, but they are facing many threats: war-torn countries, damaged habitats, and climate change, to name a few.

April Pulley Sayre’s wry, quirky storytelling tone shines from the warning on the first page (“This is a S-L-O-W book. Do not read it while surfing, water skiing, or running to escape giant weasels.”) right through to the glossary at the end. In between, readers will explore an astounding variety of information about all things slow—in nature, geology, art, outer space, etc. Throughout, The SLOWEST Book EVER playfully encourages readers to slow down and savor everything.

Have you ever wondered how experts train a gorilla? Or what design features make a great gorilla habitat? Did you know that some gorillas can solve problems on giant touch-screen computers?

Filled with facts and photos, Gorillas Up Close takes us into the world of gorillas. Explore the differences between gorillas in zoos and in the wild with the gorilla family troop in Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. Readers will delight in the similarities gorillas share with humans while finding out more about these incredible animals.

Around the world, from US coastal towns to island nations of the Pacific and the deserts of Africa, people are in danger of losing their homes. Some have already fled. Others know they are running out of time. By 2050, at least 25 million people will be driven from their homes due to the effects of climate change.

Sea Otter Rescue is the third in the four-book Wildlife Rescue series. Each book introduces a species of animal in danger somewhere in the world and profiles a rescue center that helps it. Stunning photos by award-winning wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas give readers a rare view of these endearing creatures and the high level of care they receive.

Milly Zantow wanted to solve the problem of her town’s full landfill and ended up creating a global recycling standard — the system of numbers you see inside the little triangle on plastics. This is the inspiring story of how she mobilized her community, creating sweeping change to help the environment.

Do all the insects in the world weigh more than all the humans?

Which animal can survive both boiling water and the vacuum of space?

Which animal sleeps more, a python or a bat?

Which animal is more dangerous: a shark or a hippopotamus?

In Animals by the Numbers, Steve Jenkins answers these questions and many more. Mind-boggling facts, figures, and comparisons are explained with colorful, easy-to-understand infographics and illustrations. Filled with unexpected and accessible information, this is a book to pore over for hours!

Decades of commercial whaling nearly decimated a variety of species of whales. These intriguing animals, which capture humans' imagination, are a keystone species. They and other keystone species are indicators of the overall health of Earth's habitats. While whales have made a comeback through an international ban on commercial whaling, they are still threatened with extinction. In fact, two whale species - the Cook Inlet beluga whale and the Southern Resident killer whale - are endangered.

Two Truths and a Lie is the first book in a fascinating new series that presents some of the most crazy-but-true stories about the living world as well as a handful of stories that are too crazy to be true—and asks readers to separate facts from fakes!

"It's a whole new world. It's a planet I think everyone has tried to imagine."

Only a few dozen vertebrate animals have evolved true gliding abilities, but they include an astonishing variety of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.

In Elkhorn Slough, an inlet on the California coast, seagrass grows healthy and strong in the shallow water, providing homes for fish, preventing erosion, and trapping carbon from the environment.

This healthy seagrass baffled marine biologist Brent Hughes. Water in the slough is chock-full of nutrients from fertilizer runoff on nearby farms. Normally, nutrient-polluted water supports huge population of algae that block sunlight from reaching the seagrass, and the seagrass dies. Why has the slough's seagrass thriving?