An informative, useful look at a current and ongoing mission to explore our nearest neighbor in the solar system.
A brief overview of how Curiosity, the rover NASA sent to Mars in November 2011, is making amazing discoveries suggesting some parts of Mars may have been habitable—and could be again in the future.
Could life have previously flourished on Mars? Will humans be able to travel there and colonize the red planet? These are questions NASA scientists hope Curiosity will help answer and that Miller explores, covering the essentials. By gathering information about Mars’ climate and geology, the rover is helping scientists uncover the secrets of the planet and its past. Curiosity has discovered an ancient streambed where water once flowed for thousands of years and analyzed rock samples proving that the surface soil on Mars still has water. Drilling into Martian rock, the rover has detected the key elements necessary for life—sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon. Curiosity’s measurement of radiation on Mars shows levels similar to that at the International Space Station. All of this information, Miller explains, will help scientists decide if human travel to Mars is possible and colonization of the planet plausible. He also includes information on previous Mars missions and how the idea of life on the red planet has captured imaginations since the late 19th century.
An informative, useful look at a current and ongoing mission to explore our nearest neighbor in the solar system. (source notes, glossary, further reading, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: May 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1087-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: March 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
A comprehensive introduction to biofluorescence and bioluminescence by an expert in the field.
The cold light of living creatures from fireflies to deep-sea fishes has provided science with new tools to track body processes and the progress of disease.
Beginning with a general explanation of luminescence in animals and the discovery of the chemicals luciferase and luciferin that animals use to give off light, researcher Zimmer goes on to introduce some of the animals that use the light they produce to find prey, communicate, and defend themselves. There’s a whole chapter on fireflies as “model organisms” frequently studied as representative of bioluminescent creatures. After a chapter on the use of bioluminescent chemicals in science, the author goes on to consider biofluorescence: the emission of received light at a lower-energy color. Mantis shrimp and crystal jellyfish are the example animals here. The green fluorescent protein genes that make biofluorescence possible can be transferred into other organisms for a wide variety of scientific and medical uses. The author is a working and teaching scientist; his explanations are complex but clear enough for an interested student. Boxed information on related topics and interesting examples appear throughout the text, along with plentiful illustrations, mostly photographs.
A comprehensive introduction to biofluorescence and bioluminescence by an expert in the field. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-5784-3
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
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