Scientists in the field (Houghton Mifflin)

Surveys the history of the troubled relationship between wolves and humans, examines the view that these predators are a valuable part of the ecosystem, and describes the conservation movement to restore them to the wild.

Investigates how scientists, particularly Jill Tarter, Director of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, use twenty-first century technology to investigate whether life exists on other planets.

Mountain gorillas are playful, curious, and protective of their families. They are also one of the most endangered species in the world. For years, mountain gorillas have faced the threat of death by poachers. Funds raised by gorilla tourismbringing people into the forest to see gorillashave helped protect them. This tourism is vital, but contact between gorillas and people brought a new threat to the gorillas: human disease. The Mountain Gorilla...

John Craighead George is an Arctic whale scientist studying bowhead whales in Barrow, Alaska. He conducts his research in harmony with the cultural traditions of the Iñupiaq Eskimos, natives to the area, who have been hunting these whales for more than two thousand years.

Without honeybees the world would be a different place. There would be no honey, no beeswax for candles, and, worst of all, barely a fruit, nut, or vegetable to eat. So imagine beekeeper Dave Hackenburgs horror when he discovered twenty million of his charges had vanished. Those missing bees became the first casualties of a mysterious scourge that continues to plague honey bee populations today. In The Hive Detectives, Loree Griffin Burns profiles...

Highlights the work scientists are doing to protect the manatee, an endangered species.

An account of the work of volcanologists Andy Lockhart, John Pallister, and their team describes their life-risking efforts to investigate dangerous volcanoes that pose threats to more than one billion people worldwide.

"In The Spider Silk Scientists, readers enter Randy Lewis' lab where they come face to face with golden orb weaver spiders and genetically engineered goats, whose milk contains the proteins to spin spider silk--and to weave a nearly indestructible fiber. Learn how this amazing material might someday be used to repair or replace human ligaments and bones, improve body armor, strenghten parachute rope, and even tether an airplane to an aircraft carrier!...

Traces the work of two wildlife veterinarians who protect and chart the lives of Assateague Island's wild horses, describing their shared efforts to balance the horses' ecosystem and raise awareness.

This meticulously researched and photographed account follows three University of Montana scientists and their interdisciplinary work with osprey: fish-catching birds with gigantic nests and a family that functions with teamwork and cooperation. Today the osprey is studied to monitor the effects of mercury on living things. The osprey hunts in a very small area around its large nest and so scientists can pinpoint where mercury is coming from. In Missoula,...

With three hearts and blue blood, its gelatinous body unconstrained by jointed limbs or gravity, the octopus seems to be an alien, an inhabitant of another world. It's baggy, boneless body sprouts eight arms covered with thousands of suckers-suckers that can taste as well as feel. The octopus also has the powers of a superhero: it can shape-shift, change color, squirt ink, pour itself through the tiniest of openings, or jet away through the sea faster...

"The Great White Shark Scientist is the latest ocean adventure from the venerable team of Sy Montgomery and Keith Ellenbogen. In it, they follow Dr. Greg Skomal, biologist and head of the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, as he strives to better understand the habits and habitats of Great Whites in order to save this amazing, if maligned, creature of the deep." --

"Part science, part carnival--this winding adventure down the Amazon River with award-winning author Sy Montgomery and photographer Keith Ellenbogen explores how tiny fish, called piabas, can help preserve not only the rainforest and it's often misunderstood inhabitants, but the fate of our entire environment."--

"Asteroids come in all shapes and sizes--and hit our planet in them, too. But what happens if a catastrophically large one approaches earth? By looking on the ground at historical asteroid craters and present-day falls, and up into space for the big ones yet to come, a wide variety of scientists are trying to figure out how to track asteroids--and how to avoid devastating impacts in the future."--

North Carolina's black bears were once a threatened species, but now their numbers are rising in and around Asheville. But what happens when conservation efforts for a species are so successful that there's a boom in the population? Can humans and bears live compatibly? What are the long-term effects for the bears? Author Amy Cherrix follows the scientists who, in cooperation with local citizen scientists, are trying to answer to these questions and...

From an acclaimed Scientists in the Field author comes the electrifying story of the scientists and engineers who are working to transform ocean waves into electricity in hopes of generating a cleaner, more sustainable power source.

"The August 2017 solar eclipse is the chance of a lifetime for astronomer Shadia Habbal--years of planning come down to one moment of totality. Will everything go off as planned?"--

In this addition to the critically-acclaimed Scientist in the Field series, scientist Robin Tanamachi and her team are trying to save countless lives across America's heartland, chasing one tornado at a time. Robin Tanamachi has been captivated by tornadoes and extreme weather her entire life. When she realized people researched weather for a job, she was hooked. She now studies tornado genesis, or how tornadoes form, and what causes them to get...

Award-winning and best-selling author Sy Montgomery turns her talents to the story of California condors and the scientists who have fought against their extinction.