New Books: Math & Natural Sciences

Evolving Tomorrow scrutinizes how evolutionary change happens, how modern-day genetic engineering can influence it, and what consequences we can expect to see in the future of the Anthropocene era. The first half of this book explores how living organisms change over time and how it can happen fast. It explains nature's evolutionary forces, how these forces interplay with genetics, and the intricacies of genetic biotechnologies like CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing. The second half of the book investigates the applications and implications of manipulating evolution and genetic engineering to alter and create new species.

If memory is a simple thing, why does it often go awry? How can you be certain about something you remember and be wrong about it? Why is it so difficult to remember people’s names? How can you study hard for an exam but not be able to recall the material on the test? This fascinating book covers everything you need to know about memory, from how it works, to what you can do to control and improve your memory, and how aging, mental and physical health, and lifestyle (sleep, consumption of alcohol or drugs, nutrition, exercise, and more) can impact memory.

Wilson, examining evolutionary history further back than he has ever done before, delivers a revelatory account of the deep origins of society. Asserting that the human body and mind have a physical base obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, Wilson argues that the only way for us to fully understand human behavior is to appreciate the long, complicated evolutionary histories of nonhuman species. Just as Darwin, in his 1871 Descent of Man, proposed humanity's origins through the study of apes and human behavior, Wilson here synthesizes the most updated research in evolutionary science to offer a path-breaking work of evolutionary theory.

Our brains are the most complex machines known to humankind, but they have an Achilles heel: the very molecules that allow us to exist can also sabotage our minds. Here are gripping accounts of unruly molecules and the diseases that form in their wake. With an intoxicating blend of history and intrigue, Peskin invites readers to play medical detective, tracing each diagnosis from the patient to an ailing nervous system. Along the way, she entertains with tales of the sometimes outlandish, often criticized, and forever devoted scientists who discovered it all.

In the summer of 1938, botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter set off to run the Colorado River, accompanied by an ambitious and entrepreneurial expedition leader, a zoologist, and two amateur boatmen. Journalists and veteran river runners boldly proclaimed that the motley crew would never make it out alive. But for Clover and Jotter, the expedition held a tantalizing appeal: no one had yet surveyed the plant life of the Grand Canyon, and they were determined to be the first. Through the letters and diaries of the two women, this book traces their daring 43-day journey down the river.

In May 2016, the city of Fort McMurray in Alberta--the seat of the Canadian oil industry, from which the U.S. derives almost half its oil imports--burned to the ground. The unprecedented disaster forced 88,000 people from their homes and showed us what the fires of the future look like: increasingly destructive, already here. While the chemistry and physics of wildfires remain unchanged over the last century and a half, climate change has created conditions that give fire exponentially more opportunity to burn. And yet there is no other natural force or element over which we have such a compelling illusion of control. Fire yearns, above all, for freedom.

What do we make of the incredible fact that animals seem to have inherent mathematical abilities? As cognitive psychologist Brian Butterworth shows us in Can Fish Count?, many "simple" animals--such as bees, which count trees and fence posts, and guppies, which can size up groups--have a sense of numbers. And unlike humans, they don't need to be taught. In telling animals' stories, Butterworth shines new light on one of our most ancient questions: Just where, exactly, do numbers come from? He reveals how insights gleaned from studying animals can help us make better sense of our own abilities.

Through fascinating text and graphics, Taylor examines the advantages of avian sociality and social breeding. Chapters provide detailed information on diverse types of bird colonies, including those species that construct single-family nests close together in trees; those that share large, communal nests housing multiple families; those that nest in tunnels dug into the earth; those that form exposed colonies on open ground and defend them collectively, relying on ferocious aggression; those that live communally on human-made structures in towns and cities; and more.

Fungi are everywhere. Most are harmless; some are helpful. A few are killers. Collectively, infectious fungi are the most devastating agents of disease on earth, and a fungus that can persist in the environment without its host is here to stay. In Blight, Emily Monosson documents how trade, travel, and a changing climate are making us all more vulnerable to invasion. Tracing the history of fungal spread and the most recent discoveries in the field, Monosson meets scientists who are working tirelessly to protect species under threat, and whose innovative approaches to fungal invasion have the potential to save human lives.

Crossings delves into the new science of road ecology to explore how roads have transformed our world. Millions of animals are killed by cars each day in the U.S. alone, and roads fragment wildlife populations into inbred clusters, disrupt migration for creatures from antelope to salmon, allow invasive plants to spread and even bend the arc of evolution itself. But road ecologists are also seeking innovative solutions: Goldfarb meets with conservationists building bridges for mountain lions and tunnels for toads, engineers deconstructing logging roads, and citizens working to undo the havoc highways have wreaked upon cities.