Kirjahaku

Zombieism isn't just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It's real, and it's happening in the word around us, from wasps and worms, to dogs and moose - and even humans. In The Plight of the Living Dead, science journalist Matt Simon documents his journey through the bizarre evolutionary history of mind control. Along the way, he visits a lab where scientists infect ants with zombifying fungi, joins the search for kamikaze crickets in the hills of New Mexico, and travels to Israel to meet the wasp that stings cockroaches in the brain before leading them to their doom.

For fans of WHAT IF? and NEW SCIENTIST comes this brilliantly funny and informative look at the stranger side of evolution.Featuring:The Zombie ants mind-controlled by a fungusBeautiful salamanders that can regenerate any part of their bodies, including their brainsThe mantis shrimp, which fires its club-like appendage so fast that the surrounding water becomes as hot as the surface of the sunThe Antechinus, whose runaway testosterone levels cause them to have so much sex during their three-week mating season that they bleed internally, go blind, and drop dead...Featuring quirky illustrations and the signature blend of science smarts and humour that make Matt Simon's Wired column so entertaining, this is an ideal stocking-filler for every popular science aficionado...

It’s falling from the sky and in the air we breathe. It’s in our food, our clothes, and our homes. It’s microplastic and it’s everywhere—including our own bodies. Scientists are just beginning to discover how these tiny particles threaten health, but the studies are alarming. In A Poison Like No Other, Matt Simon reveals a whole new dimension to the plastic crisis, one even more disturbing than plastic bottles washing up on shores and grocery bags dumped in landfills. Dealing with discarded plastic is bad enough, but when it starts to break down, the real trouble begins. The very thing that makes plastic so useful and ubiquitous – its toughness – means it never really goes away. It just gets smaller and smaller: eventually small enough to enter your lungs or be absorbed by crops or penetrate a fish’s muscle tissue before it becomes dinner. Unlike other pollutants that are single elements or simple chemical compounds, microplastics represent a cocktail of toxicity: plastics contain at least 10,000 different chemicals. Those chemicals are linked to diseases from diabetes to hormone disruption to cancers. A Poison Like No Other is the first book to fully explore this public health threat, following the intrepid scientists who travel to the ends of the earth and the bottom of the ocean to understand the consequences of our dependence on plastic. As Simon learns from these researchers, there is no easy fix. But we will never curb our plastic addiction until we begin to recognize the invisible particles all around us.

It’s falling from the sky and in the air we breathe. It’s in our food, our clothes, and our homes. It’s microplastic and it’severywhere—including our own bodies. Scientists are just beginning to discover how these tiny particles threaten health,but the studies are alarming.In A Poison Like No Other, Matt Simon reveals a whole new dimension to the plastic crisis, one even more disturbing thanplastic bottles washing up on shores and grocery bags dumped in landfills. Dealing with discarded plastic is bad enough,but when it starts to break down, the real trouble begins. The very thing that makes plastic so useful and ubiquitous – itstoughness – means it never really goes away. It just gets smaller and smaller: eventually small enough to enter your lungsor be absorbed by crops or penetrate a fish’s muscle tissue before it becomes dinner.Unlike other pollutants that are single elements or simple chemical compounds, microplastics represent a cocktail oftoxicity: plastics contain at least 10,000 different chemicals. Those chemicals are linked to diseases from diabetes tohormone disruption to cancers.A Poison Like No Other is the first book to fully explore this new dimension of the plastic crisis, following the intrepidscientists who travel to the ends of the earth and the bottom of the ocean to understand the consequences of ourdependence on plastic. As Simon learns from these researchers, there is no easy fix. But we will never curb our plasticaddiction until we begin to recognize the invisible particles all around us.