Rattlesnakes use heat sensors to locate warm-blooded prey. African elephants have powerful odor detectors that enable them to find foods they like in a maze. Electric eels stun their quarry with high-voltage blasts. Some animals owe their survival to senses humans lack, Rebecca E. Hirsch reports in Sensational Senses: Amazing Ways Animals Perceive the World, her book for readers in Grades 3-8.
Ladybird beetles, aka ladybugs, with their bright colors and polka dots, may be “the world’s cutest killers,” Sneed B. Collard III writes in his amply illustrated Little Killers: The Ferocious Lives of Puny Predators. These and other tiny predators, some microscopic in size, use poisons, teeth, hooks, and other weapons to hunt, says new NASW member Collard, author of 85+ children’s science books.
Teens need 8-10 hours of sleep each night, but few get it. Schools start too early, Lisa L. Lewis says in The Sleep-Deprived Teen: Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, and How Parents and Schools Can Help Them Thrive. Biological clocks push teens to stay up ‘til 11 pm. A practical remedy: start schools later. Lewis helped prompt a Calif. law mandating 8:00 am middle & 8:30 am high school start times.
Daily exposure to sunlight and darkness fosters cyclic activity and rest, yet many of us live out of sync with inner clocks. Pandemic-related social isolation, work stress, family duties, and more harm health and well-being, Sara Mednick says. She explains how and why and offers tips for regaining balance in The Power of the Downstate: Recharge Your Life Using Your Body's Own Restorative Systems.
Numbers tell the story of our lives, from our one and only first kiss, to the 183 pairs of jeans we buy over a lifetime. We can control some numbers, Christoph Drösser asserts in Absolutely Record-Breaking: Your Life in Numbers. “We can work on producing less waste or CO2,” he says, “and eat more fruit or less meat.” His book for young readers currently is available only in German.
When Florence Williams’ husband left her after 25 years of marriage, she felt bereft, lost 20 lbs., and had trouble sleeping. “People who have suffered lost love face an elevated risk of serious medical woes, including sudden heart attacks,” she reports. In Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey, Williams explores heartbreak’s impact on mind and body and tactics that helped her recover.
Birds don’t see glass; some crash into skyscrapers and die. Free-ranging cats find birds easy prey. Pesticides harm insects essential to birds’ diets. In Where Have All the Birds Gone: Nature in Crisis, Rebecca Hirsch describes bird-friendly building and lighting tactics adopted by some cities, wetlands restoration, endangered species laws, and other efforts to save dwindling bird populations.
Balancing two intertwined forks on a toothpick resting on the edge of a glass helps kids understand Isaac Newton’s concept of gravity. Homemade slime helps illustrate Lise Meitner’s recognition of nuclear fission. In The Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Physics for Kids, Liz Heinecke introduces young readers to 25 physicists & provides photo-illustrated guides to home experiments based on their work.
A prosthesis for a one-armed rock-climber, a ramp enabling wheelchair-dancers to reach a stage, a portable lectern for a short-statured speaker: Sara Hendren and her engineering students designed these assistive tools. Hendren’s book, What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World, tells why homes and public spaces need to be accessible to all. It earned a NASW 2021 Science and Society award.