Every year in Namibia, about two thousand zebras suddenly disappear from their grazing area along the Chobe River. Months later, the herd returns. Where do they go? And why? Thanks to satellite-tracking collars, scientists were able to solve the mystery, but several questions remain. Award-winning science author Sandra Markle reveals the process scientists used to study the zebras, and she also delves into the science of migration, exploring how animals know where to go, how to get there, and when to leave.
What's the fastest, most complex computer we know of? The human brain. The latest in brain science comes straight out of science fiction, as researchers use artificial intelligence and neuron mapping to understand our brains' complex machinery. Explore how what you eat affects your memory and whether we'll one day be controlling robotic arms with our minds in this fascinating title.
Explore how your body works through interactive augmented reality experiences! Examine a full-color cutaway of a human bone, explore the different ways bones can break, and much more in amazing augmented reality experiences. Through close-up pictures, interactive augmented reality experiences, and lots of disgusting facts, you’ll learn all about the gross science behind your body’s functions.
Explore how your body works through interactive augmented reality experiences! Blisters and nits. Fungus, pimples, and pus. Human skin and hair attract a host of bugs and problems. Through close-up pictures, interactive augmented reality experiences, and lots of disgusting facts, you’ll learn all about the gross science behind your body’s functions.
In the history of life on this planet, 99.9 percent of all species have gone extinct. But a few have survived almost unchanged. Author Rebecca E. Hirsch introduces readers to six living fossils, including the chambered nautilus, the horseshoe crab with its sticky blue blood, and venomous platypuses that sting, as well as a comprehensive explanation of evolution and extinction for readers who may not be familiar with the terms yet. Readers will also discover a a spectacular timeline of the history of animal life on Earth. Dive into the stories of these incredible animals and find out how they help scientists piece together evolutionary history.
Charles Darwin's scientific work transformed the way people think about life on Earth. From his childhood in England to his pivotal ocean voyages, he took every opportunity to study the natural world. And he helped shape a new understanding of how life forms change over time. This graphic biography highlights Darwin's youthful push to become a naturalist—against the wishes of his stern father. It also shares a look at his field research, collaborations, and scientific breakthroughs.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia, so when one showed up dead along the side of a Florida highway in 1979, scientists wondered where it came from. No one knew the snakes had launched a full-scale invasion. Pet pythons that escaped or were released by their owners started breeding in the wild, and these enormous predators began eating every animal in their path. Today a group of scientists at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida is tracking Burmese pythons to find ways to stop their spread. Page Plus links lead to video clips and photos of the scientists working in the field. Delve into the science of pythons and their role as invasive predators.
An innovative look at animal eyes from the creators of Bone by Bone, Tooth by Tooth, and Fossil by Fossil. What kind of animal would you be if you had eight eyes? Or if your pupils were the shape of the letter W? Keep an eye out for weird and surprising facts in this playful picture book, which brings together comparative anatomy with a guessing game format. See how your animal eyes are like—and unlike—those of starfish, spiders, goats, cuttlefish, owls, and slugs.
At the start of the twentieth century, Marie Curie, a Polish physicist and chemist, stunned the scientific world. Her research led to the discovery of two elements, polonium and radium. She also examined the most unusual property of these elements: radioactivity. This graphic biography follows Curie from her early life in Poland to her scientific education in France. It also spotlights her work with Pierre Curie and her efforts to treat wounded soldiers during World War I.
Isaac Newton's youth was marked by constant curiosity. As he began a life of research and experiments, he turned this curiosity into major insights about the workings of Earth and the universe. He even developed three laws to explain the motions of objects. This graphic biography moves from Newton's childhood inventions to the breakthrough theories of his adult life. It also spotlights his time at England's Royal Mint, where he combated counterfeiting, and his gift of knighthood from Queen Anne.
Explore outer space through interactive augmented reality experiences! Black holes are invisible because light cannot escape their gravity. Explore new techniques that astronomers use to study black holes and learn about thrilling discoveries in black hole science, with the help of exciting augmented reality features.
Albert Einstein's restless intelligence drove him to ponder the biggest topics the universe has to offer: light, time, mass, energy, and more. His conclusions changed the way people thought about the laws of physics. But first, he had to pass his university entrance exams. This graphic biography traces Einstein's path from his home country of Germany to his studies in Switzerland to his time in the United States. It also follows his life as an international scientific celebrity and his refusal to stay silent in the face of anti-Semitism.
New technologies such as augmented reality, brain-computer interfaces, and lifelike robots will change the way humans interact with one another and their environment. Discover the ways people will communicate in the future.
The fossil fuels powering cars, trains, and planes are harming the environment, but scientists are creating innovative and clean transportation solutions. Explore the future of transportation from self-flying drones to levitating trains.
Beginning coders can build their skill set with step-by-step instructions and animation projects. Start with stop-motion, add text and emoji, and finish with a few special effects! Page Plus links to hands-on coding activities are included. These project-based titles are created in partnership with Vidcode, an online coding platform for grades 4 and up.
As Earth's human population grows, scientists and farmers must find new ways to create more food with less space. Learn about the challenges farmers face, how the meat industry may change, and more about the future of food.
How can we make the world a better place? This inspiring resource for middle-grade readers is organized as a dictionary - each entry presents a word related to creating a better world, such as ally, empathy, or respect. For each word, there is a poem, a quote from an inspiring person, a personal anecdote from the authors, and a "try it" prompt for an activity.
American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever to serve in the US Congress. Learn about her young life, her work as an activist, and her career in the House of Representatives.
Create a filter, dress up a photo, share it with your friends! Beginning coders learn solid skills while they build their own filters. Page Plus links to hands-on coding activities are included. These project-based titles are created in partnership with Vidcode, a rigorous and creative online coding platform designed for grades 4 and up that appeals as strongly to girls as to boys.
Thirteen-year-old Satoshi Matsumoto spent the last three years living in Atlanta where he was the star of his middle-school baseball team—a slugger with pro potential, according to his coach. Now that his father's work in the US has come to an end, he's moved back to his hometown in rural Japan. Living abroad has changed him, and now his old friends in Japan are suspicious of his new foreign ways. Even worse, his childhood foe Shintaro, whose dad has ties to gangsters, is in his homeroom. After he joins his new school's baseball team, Satoshi has a chance to be a hero until he makes a major-league error.
During the Middle Ages, your position in life was based on birth. This position would follow you throughout your life. To make it easy for others to know your social class, rules about what you could wear—or not wear—were created. Such rules, called sumptuary laws, determined colors of clothing, types of fabric and trims, length of garments, types of sleeves, and types of furs. The laws also regulated shoe lengths and height, hat height, types of buttons, and even the number of buttons you could wear. People were to dress according to the class in which they were born. In this way, just by looking at someone, you could tell if they were important or not.
A heartfelt story that sensitively tackles the everyday inner turmoil of growing up and staying true to oneself. Twelve-year-old Agnes hates everything about her life: her name, her parents' divorce, her best friend's abandonment, her changing body . . . . So while staying with her dad over the summer, she decides to become someone else. She tells people she meets that her name is Chloe, she's fourteen, her parents are married, and she's a dancer and actor—just the life she wants. But Agnes's fibs quickly stack up and start to complicate her new friendships, especially with Fin, whose mysterious relative runs a local raptor rehab center that fascinates Agnes. The birds, given time and care, heal and fly back home. Agnes, too, wants to get back to wherever she truly belongs. But first she must come to see the good in her real life, however flawed and messy it is, and be honest with her friends, her family, and herself.
A suspenseful and heartfelt story about an era whose uncertainties, controversies, and dangers will seem anything but distant to contemporary readers. If thirteen-year-old Marty Rafner had his way, he'd spend the summer of 1953 warming the bench for his baseball team, listening to Yankees games on the radio, and avoiding preparations for his bar mitzvah. Instead, he has to deal with FBI agents staking out his house because his parents—professors at the local college—are suspected communist sympathizers. Marty knows what happens to communists, or Reds, as his friends call them: They lose their jobs, get deported...or worse. Two people he's actually met, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, have been convicted of being communist spies, and they're slated to be executed in two months. Marty just wants everything to go back to normal, but that's impossible thanks to the rumors that his parents are traitors. As his friends and teammates turn on him and federal agents track his every move, Marty isn't sure what to believe. Is his family really part of a Red Menace working against the United States? And even if they're simply patriotic Americans who refuse to be bullied by the government, what will it cost them?
Scott Schroeder dreams of a day when he and his father can have a home of their own. Following an accident that took his mother's life eight years before, doctors discovered Scott was suddenly deaf. Blessed with being an accomplished gymnast and skilled at signing and reading lips, Scott's biggest challenge is convincing others he is able to do all the same things as those in the hearing world. Picking up on conversations he observes along the way, Scott figures out a big family secret concerning his father and uncle and makes his mind up to play a part in their reconciliation.
Growing up on Chicago's South Side, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson loved school and her family. Driven by her parents' passion for education and her own desire to succeed, she graduated first from Princeton and then Harvard Law School and landed a job at a prestigious law firm, where she met her soon-to-be husband, Barack Obama. While raising their two young daughters, Michelle Obama committed herself to public service. She kept that commitment as her husband's political career soared and worked hard to continue serving the public when her family landed in the White House. Follow Obama's journey from Chicago school kid to history-making First Lady and beyond as she continues to make her mark as an inspiring speaker, bestselling author, and agent for positive change.
