New Releases by Rebecca L. Johnson

An immersive, high-interest approach to the highly curricular topic of biomes

An immersive, high-interest approach to the highly curricular topic of biomes

An immersive, high-interest approach to the highly curricular topic of biomes

An immersive, high-interest approach to the highly curricular topic of biomes

"How do the plants and animals of the prairie depend on one another for survival? Discover a world of tall grasses and wildflowers that creatures from butterflies to badgers call home"--

"The tundra is a windy and cold landscape. But the closer you look, the more life you see. Mosses, grasses, and wildflowers grow in the thin soil. Animals from bees to bears depend on the life growing in this chilly habitat"--

Take a walk in the rain forest. It''s hot and humid and humming with life. Look up into the dense canopy of leaves above you. Tangled vines lead to the treetops, where parrots squawk and monkeys swing from branch to branch. A poison dart frog clings to a slippery leaf. A sloth creeps through the canopy. The dense rain forest overflows with life. Discover the plants and animals that depend on each other in this unique biome through narrative text, entrancing photos, and illustrations.

Take a walk in the deciduous forest. Sunlight filters through new green leaves. It''s early summer, and squirrels are chattering in the treetops. A warbler calls out. She''s building a nest in an oak tree. A fox crouches behind a stump. Will he find a fat mouse for his next meal? Or will he go searching for berries? Discover this critical forest habitat through narrative text, striking photos, and illustations.

"A poison dart frog clings to a slippery leaf. A sloth creeps through the canopy. The dense rain forest overflows with life. Discover the plants and animals that depend on each other in this biome"--

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! The octopus spies a nice, tasty mantis shrimp. It swims over for a closer look at the small creature. Thenu0097WHAM!u0097the mantis shrimp strikes a nasty blow with its hammer-like forelimb. The octopus shrinks back, defeated. That wasn''t such an easy meal after all . . . In nature, good defenses can mean the difference between surviving a predator''s attack and becoming its lunch. Some animals rely on sharp teeth and claws or camouflage. But that''s only the beginning. Meet creatures with some of the strangest defenses known to science. How strange? Hagfish that can instantaneously produce oodles of gooey, slippery slime; frogs that poke their own toe bones through their skin to create claws; young birds that shoot streams of stinking poop; and more.

Ninja were skilled warriors in medieval Japan. And now you can find ninja in comics, movies, and TV shows. But what about in nature? Real animals aren''t anything like ninja . . . are they? A stealthy lizard that can climb walls and hang upside down by its toes? Yes! A sea creature that defends itself with weapons that look a whole lot like throwing stars? Definitely! An insect that blends in so well with its enemies that they never even know it''s there? Yes again! Encounter geckos, sea urchins, rove beetles, and many other living things that have more in common with ninja than you might expect. And hear from the scientists who are working to understand just how these animals are able to do what they do. Science meets martial arts in this fun and fast-paced look at some truly incredible animals.

Allocation of natural resources has become a prominent concern at the local, state, and federal level. Competing uses for increasingly scarce resources are requiring that the relative values of those uses be investigated. Although many types of value are important in decision making, this book is concerned with the economic value of natural resources. Economic values for certain natural resources are readily observable in markets. For others, however, market prices are not available, and estimates of value must be made through nonmarket valuation techniques. The progress that has been made in improving the theory, methods, and applications of these techniques has been remarkable. Along with the progress, however, come new problems that must be addressed. The chapters presented in this volume are a collection of examples of both progress and problems.

In the animal kingdom, survival is the name of the game—and not everything is as it seems. A number of animals rely on particularly clever tricks to fool predators or prey. A baby bird mimics a poisonous caterpillar. A moth escapes bats by making sounds that interfere with the bats'' echolocation. A tiny rain forest spider builds a big spider "puppet" out of bits of dead leaves, insect parts, and other items. Find out more about some of nature''s most bizarre and bloodthirsty con artists and meet the scientists who are working to figure out just how they pull off their amazing tricks.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and text highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience! The digestive system is made up of the tongue, the esophagus, the stomach, the intestines, and other parts. But what does the digestive system do? And how do its parts work together to keep your body healthy? Explore the digestive system in this engaging and informative book.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and text highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience! The muscular system is made up of three different kinds of muscles: skeletal muscles, smooth muscle, and heart muscle. But what does each kind of muscle do? And where in the body are they located? Explore the muscular system in this engaging and informative book.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience! Have you ever wondered what mysteries the ocean holds? Prepare to explore the ocean from sunlit shallows to the deepest, darkest depths. Along the way, you''ll meet many incredible creatures that are brand new to science. Dive to a coral reef and spot a new species of pygmy octopus. Travel deeper and discover fragile, nearly transparent jellies as they drift past. Then head down into a world of eternal night. You''ll encounter animals that make their own light and zombie worms that feast on the bones of dead whales. Your adventure is based on the real journeys of scientists involved in the Census of Marine Life. From 2000 to 2010, more than two thousand researchers from eighty-two countries carried out the most extensive investigation of ocean life ever attempted. Author Rebecca L. Johnson takes readers to research sites around the globe, showing how ocean scientists do their work. Stunning photographs throughout bring readers face-to-face with some of the most mesmerizing creatures on Earth.

"Patients diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus type 1 at a small Midwest critical access hospital are receiving inconsistent diabetic teaching and follow-up education by multiple staff; thus, patients are getting mixed messages on how to care for themselves at home. Staff nurses were surveyed at this small Midwest critical access hospital and were supportive of an in-service on Diabetes Mellitus type 1. An array of teaching/learning styles was reviewed in search for the best style to teach Diabetes Mellitus type 1 to the staff nurses. Based on the concepts in Pender''s health promotion model (2011) individuals look to regulate their own behaviors to reach optimal health. These behaviors can be identified and adjusted through nursing interventions ... An interactive in-service focused on Diabetes Mellitus type 1 education was designed for staff nurses to attend and motivate them in an encouraging environment."--Abstract.

After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion in Ukraine, scientists believed radiation had created a vast and barren wasteland in which life could never resurface. But the Dead Zone, as the contaminated area is known, doesn''t look dead at all. In fact, wildlife seems to be thriving there. The Zone is home to beetles, swallows, catfish, mice, voles, otters, beavers, wild boar, foxes, lynx, deer, moose—even brown bears and wolves. Yet the animals in the Zone are not quite what you''d expect. Every single one of them is radioactive. In Chernobyl''s Wild Kingdom, you''ll meet the international scientists investigating the Zone''s wildlife and trying to answer difficult questions: Have some animals adapted to living with radiation? Or is the radioactive environment harming them in ways we can''t see or that will only show up in future generations? Learn more about the fascinating ongoing research—and the debates that surround the findings—in one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

Are zombies real? As far as we know, dead people do not come back to life and start walking around, looking for trouble. But there are things that can take over the bodies and brains of innocent creatures, turning them into senseless slaves. Meet nature''s zombie makers—including a fly-enslaving fungus, a suicide worm, and a cockroach-taming wasp—and their victims.

If a black dog and a white dog have puppies, what color will the puppies be? Genetic scientists have been trying to answer this question for hundreds of years. Genetics is the science of heredity—how traits are passed from parents to offspring. One of the first breakthroughs came from Gregor Mendel, a nineteenth-century monk who spent eight years breeding thousands of pea plants. Pea plants might seem pretty different from dogs, but on a microscopic level, they have a surprising amount in common. Genetic pioneers of the twentieth century unlocked the secrets of DNA, the molecule that holds heredity information for all life-forms. Thjis book tells the story of how scientists cracked the code of life and revolutionized molecular biology.

What is matter made of? Scientists have been trying to answer this question for thousands of years. The concept of the atom—the tiniest fragment of a substance that still retains the characteristics of that substance—goes back to the Greek philosopher Leucippus, who lived in about 450 b.c. In the mid-1600s, Robert Boyle provided experimental evidence that atoms did, indeed, exist. And in 1897, British physicist Joseph John Thomson discovered the first subatomic particle: the electron. Yet even the tiny components of the atom—protons, electrons, and neutrons—are not the smallest things in the universe. Subatomic particles are made up of still tinier objects called quarks and leptons. This book tells the story of how scientists unlocked the secrets of the atom and revolutionized the way we look at the world around us.

In the 1880s, science witnessed a major shift: Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution. People dug up the first dinosaur fossils. And the field of paleontology—the study of ancient plants and animals—emerged. Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope became enthralled with these new ideas, discoveries, and developments. Both were determined to become world-famous paleontologists. When they met in 1863, they started off as friends. But within a few years, competition drove the men apart. Each fought bitterly to discover more fossils, name more species, and publish more papers than the other. In their haste to outdo each other, they both produced some shoddy work. The resulting confusion took many years to discover and correct, and their toxic relationship crippled the field of paleontology for decades afterward. However, the competition also produced a wealth of fossils. These laid a firm foundation for the field of paleontology and supported Darwin''s theory of evolution. Marsh''s and Cope''s discoveries generated keen public interest in prehistoric life and rich data for future generations of paleontologists. This book explores the great rivalry between Marsh and Cope, showing how it brought out the best and the worst in them—while bringing humankind a brand-new view of life on Earth.

National Geographic''s guide to 36 "super" herbs such as aloe, echinacea, ginkgo, and peppermint includes a wealth of essential information on the history, culture, folklore, and science of traditional and contemporary herbal medicine in all major culture areas of the world. Emphasizing current research and therapeutic uses, the volume provides an A-Z listing of 36 of the more than 80,000 known medicinal plants around the world. Information about each plant includes traditional and current medicinal uses, common and Latin names, description, habitat, cultivation and preparation, research, and caution alerts. Additional essays on the healing plants of Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Central and South America, China, Europe, India, North America, the Middle East, and Oceania provide insightful glimpses into the fascinating range and diversity of local health practices while also revealing the multifaceted roles that herbalists, healers, and herbal-medicine practitioners play in the lives of their patients.

A resource organized by body system lists the key herbal remedies available, their uses, and cautionary advice, in a book that includes full-color photos, a glossary and several thematic indexes.

Ice and water are both the same kind of matter, but, when water becomes ice, it can be transformed into art!

Nanotechnology has already improved our lives in many ways. Scientists continue to research new innovations using this technology.