In Body Weather: Notes on Chronic Illness in the Anthropocene Lorraine Boissoneault likens variations in symptoms of her autoimmune illnesses to encounters with hot and cold weather, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, and other climate extremes. "Illness has taught me determination, creativity, resilience, and the importance of community," she says, "knowledge we all need to foster a healthier planet."
“The tools for caring have been woven into our DNA,” Elizabeth Preston writes in The Creatures' Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care. From spiders to bats to whales, nature on land and sea is replete with examples. Humans and other animals’ shared biology and brain circuitry not only enable caring for our young, she says, but also living together in societies.
Contrary to common belief, we constantly experience genetic mutations. Some cause illnesses, such as cancer & heart disease. Others correct inherited disorders. In Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health Roxanne Khamsi reports successes, challenges, and risks of blocking or erasing some non-inherited mutations and tapping the healing potential of others.
Methadone is a life-saving medication upon which users are dependent in the same way people with diabetes require insulin, Melody Glenn notes. In Mother of Methadone: A Doctor's Quest, a Forgotten History, and a Modern-Day Crisis, Glenn interweaves the biography of Marie Nyswander, co-founder of methadone maintenance treatment, with experiences from her own training as an addiction physician.
When beavers become a nuisance in Washington State, chopping down trees and damming streams near homes, the Tulalip Tribes come to the rescue. They send biologists to transfer the beavers to ancestral tribal land in the Cascade Mountains. As Alison Pearce Stevens tells young readers in When Beavers Move In, the beavers thrive in their new homes and help restore trout and salmon populations.
Growing up blind in the Netherlands, Geerat Vermeij learned to navigate the world via touch. Visits to the nearby ocean fostered his fascination with seashells and led to his discoveries on the evolution of both mollusks and their predators. In Shell Seeker: The Life, Work, and Adventures of a Blind Biologist, Suzanne Sherman highlights the value of curiosity and perseverance for K-5 readers.
The term “climate change” is too tame, Meera Subramanian and Danica Novgorodoff assert. In their graphic nonfiction book, A Better World is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis, they interweave climate science with reports from four young activists who helped organize a youth climate protest that drew over 250,000 people to New York, part of a Sept 2019 worldwide wave of climate rallies.
Hammy, the 4-year-old beagle Melanie Kaplan adopted, a former laboratory research subject, was jittery, skittish, and often listless. In Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research, Kaplan tells how she helped Hammy adjust to life outside the lab and examines the breeding and use of animals for biomedical research, drug and product testing, and teaching.
“More Than a Feeling,” the rock band Boston’s most enduring hit, attracting more than a billion listens on Spotify, marks its 50th anniversary in 2026. In Power Soak: Invention, Obsession, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Sound, Brendan Borrell tells the story of MIT-trained engineer Tom Scholz, who built Boston’s sound in his basement and later invented sound devices used by other big-name bands.
