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

"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"--

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.

"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 desert. It''s hot and dry--and full of life. An elf owl peers out at you from its home, a hole in a saguaro cactus. Nearby, a desert tortoise stretches its neck to nibble on a wildflower. From the thick green stems of cacti to fluffy jackrabbits, the desert is teeming with life. Narrative text and you-are-there photos put the reader in the middle of this misunderstood biome and critical habitat.

"How does the climate, soil, and plant life of the deciduous forest support a community of animals? Take a walk through this biome among the pileated woodpeckers, fern leaves, and butterflies to discover this critical forest habitat"--

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.

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! Did you know that some animals have natural ninja-like talents? In this book, you''ll learn all about them, including geckos, sea urchins, bombardier beetles, and more. For example, geckos can grip almost any surfaceu0097including walls and ceilingsu0097with their amazing toes. And when collector urchins are attacked, they release tiny, sharp objects that bear a striking resemblance to throwing stars. You will also meet the scientists who are studying these animals'' amazing abilities.

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.

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 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.

"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.

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.

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.

Relates the competition between Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope to discover more fossils, name more species, and publish more papers that brought out the best and worst in them and provided the world with a new view of life on Earth.

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.

For hundreds of years, people found the fossils of ancient sea creatures at the tops of tall mountains. Scientists puzzled over this problem. A fish couldn't have swum up a mountain. And how could rocks on a mountain move up from the bottom of a sea? Geologists finally found the answers they needed in the 1960s, when they developed the theory of plate tectonics. This theory revolutionized our understanding of the earth. Plate tectonics explains how volcanoes form, why earthquakes happen, and what goes on deep inside the earth to make the continents move. This book tells the story of scientists and their discoveries to explain how the theory of plate tectonics came to be.

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.

Follow a number of scientific investigations looking for the causes of climate change.

DNA.

Explores the causes of current environmental problems, particularly global warming, and discusses new trends, technology, and new solutions.