Science

News for dogs and dog lovers to smile about: The irresistible bestseller is now even more irresistible with a 4-by-6-inch "chunky" format. As quirky, colorful, and giftable as ever, 97 Ways to Make a Dog Smile is now fresher and more appealing.

Developed by Jenny Langbehn, a veterinary nurse who has a gift for making dogs happy, here are 97 foolproof methods and tricks for putting any dog into a state of pure pleasure. Enhancing each entry is an adorable, full-color photograph of the guaranteed result--a smiling dog. Give these a try: Lower-Ear Noogies. The Thumper. Lazy Man's Tetherball. The Hansel and Gretel--"For an afternoon of fun, scamper about the house leaving a trail of plain popped popcorn in your wake." Or "Subliminal Game," which works by sneaking a favorite word like "cookie" into otherwise boring jabber.*

The tricks require no fancy props or special talents--just a willingness to surrender yourself to sheer silliness. They combine the creative gift of touch-- unexpected ways to rub, massage, scratch, tickle, and knead--with imaginative play scenarios that are just loopy enough to ensure your dog will be amused, whether he's laughing with you or at you. These tricks really work.

*Don't forget to have said cookie on hand.

Fourteen novels. Fourteen poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's all made-up . . .

Agatha Christie reveled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books; indeed, she employed it more than any other murder method, with the poison itself often being a central part of the novel. Her choice of deadly substances was far from random--the characteristics of each often provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but this is not the case with poisons. How is it that some compounds prove so deadly, and in such tiny amounts?

Christie's extensive chemical knowledge provides the backdrop for A is for Arsenic, in which Kathryn Harkup investigates the poisons used by the murderer in fourteen classic Agatha Christie mysteries. It looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, the cases that may have inspired Christie, and the feasibility of obtaining, administering and detecting these poisons, both at the time the novel was written and today. A is for Arsenic is a celebration of the use of science by the undisputed Queen of Crime.

In early 1861, as he prepared to move into the White House, Abraham Lincoln dreaded telling his two youngest sons that the family's beloved pet dog, Fido, would not be accompanying them to Washington. Lincoln was afraid the skittish dog wouldn't survive the long rail journey, so he decided to leave the mutt behind with friends in Springfield. Abe & Fido tells the story of two friends, an unlikely tandem who each became famous and died prematurely. It also explores the everyday life of Springfield in the years leading up to the Civil War, as well as Lincoln's sometimes radical views on animal welfare, and how they shaped his life and his presidency. It's the story of a master and his dog, living through historic, tumultuous times.

With delightful photographs, Jenna Woginrich chronicles the life journey of three chickens (Amelia, Honey, and Tilda) from fluffy, newly hatched bundles to grown hens laying eggs of their own. Following their progress from day to day and week to week, you'll learn everything you need to know to be successful in raising and keeping a happy, healthy flock. Topics covered include understanding chicken behavior; housing and feeding requirements; hygiene and basic health care. Both entertaining and educational, this highly accessible book provides just the right amount of information to get started and enjoy the pleasures of keeping backyard chickens.

In this fascinating foray into the centuries-old relationship between science and military power, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and writer-researcher Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. The overlap is strong, and the knowledge flows in both directions, say the authors, because astrophysicists and military planners care about many of the same things: multi-spectral detection, ranging, tracking, imaging, high ground, nuclear fusion, and access to space. Tyson and Lang call it a curiously complicit alliance. The universe is both the ultimate frontier and the highest of high grounds, they write. Shared by both space scientists and space warriors, it's a laboratory for one and a battlefield for the other. The explorer wants to understand it; the soldier wants to dominate it. But without the right technology--which is more or less the same technology for both parties--nobody can get to it, operate in it, scrutinize it, dominate it, or use it to their advantage and someone else's disadvantage.

Spanning early celestial navigation to satellite-enabled warfare, Accessory to War is a richly researched and provocative examination of the intersection of science, technology, industry, and power that will introduce Tyson's millions of fans to yet another dimension of how the universe has shaped our lives and our world.

With passion and curiosity, Alan Lightman explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by recent discoveries in science. He looks at the dialogue between science and religion; the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature; the possibility that our universe is simply an accident; the manner in which modern technology has separated us from direct experience of the world; and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws.

Behind all of these considerations is the suggestion--at once haunting and exhilarating--that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.

Let your dog lead the way to adventure!

Grab your four-legged best friend and start making the most of every day, and every dog year. In Adventure Dogs: Activities to Share with Your Dog--from Comfy Couches to Mountain Tops, author Fern Watt teams up with canine experts to offer more than 50 surprising new ways to strengthen the connection you share with your dog. Captured in vibrant, full-color photography, activities range from simple to epic. What would make your dog's bucket list of must-see and -do adventures? Find out together as you uncover your pup's special interests and skills using this adventure book.

Follow your pup into a world of herding, sniffing, playing, howling, and walking! From hiking a mountain or taking a smell walk in your own neighborhood to training like a Navy SEAL or practicing doga poses, Adventure Dogs has an activity or experience for every breed, personality, energy level, age, and dog parent. Our Dogs remind us that great adventures don't always require a passport--there are tons of wonders right outside our front doors.

Perfect for dog lovers, armchair travelers, and active pet parents alike, Adventure Dogs reveals inspirational and practical ways for us humans to understand, appreciate, and live in the moment with our furry companions.

- PRACTICAL ADVENTURES: Features more than 50 real, everyday activities to engage with your dog in scientifically-backed ways. With a range of prices, activity levels, and time investments, there's something in this animal activity book for everyone and every pup.
- BACKED BY RESEARCH: Author Fern Watt traveled and did her own research with her rescue dog, Bette. She's also consulted renowned scientists and behaviorists (Alexandra Horowitz), bestselling dog-book authors (Seth Casteel), Instagram-famous dog owners (@tunameltsmyheart), and people who have expanded the limits of what we thought dogs could do, whether it's surf, skateboard, paint, do yoga, run for mayor, or graduate from an Ivy League school.
- INSPIRATIONAL LOCATIONS: Features pet-friendly destinations (hotels, beaches, dog parks, hikes, and more!) around the United States and abroad.
- OVERFLOWING WITH IDEAS: Watt consults a range of experts to add stories, tips, and photography to the book. The result is a vibrant collection of voices and perspectives.

The technology underground is a thriving, humming, and often literally scintillating subculture of amateur inventors and scientific envelope-pushers who dream up, design, and build machines that whoosh, rumble, fly--and occasionally hurl pumpkins across enormous distances. In the process they astonish us with what is possible when human imagination and ingenuity meet nature's forces and materials. William Gurstelle spent two years exploring the most fascinating outposts of this world of wonders: meeting and talking to the men and women who care far more for the laws of physics than they do for mundane matters like government regulations and their own personal safety.
"Adventures from the Technology Underground" is Gurstelle's lively and weirdly compelling report of his travels. In these pages we meet Frank Kosdon and others who draw the scrutiny of the FAA, ATF, and other federal agencies in their pursuit of high-power amateur rocketry, which they demonstrate to impressive--and sometimes explosive--effect at the annual LDRS gathering held in various remote and unpopulated areas (a necessary consideration since that acronym stands for Large Dangerous Rocket Ships). Here also are the underground technologists who turn up at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada high desert, including Lucy Hosking, "the engineer from Hell" and the creator of Satan's Calliope, aka the World's Loudest Thing, a pipe organ made from jet engines. Also at Burning Man is Austin "Dr. MegaVolt" Richard, who braves the arcing, sputtering, six-digit voltages of a giant Tesla coil in his protective metal suit. Add in a trip to see medieval-style catapults, air cannons, and supersized slingshots in action at theWorld Championship Punkin Chunkin competition in Sussex County, Delaware, and forays to the postapocalyptic enclaves of the flamethrower builders and the future-noir pits of the fighting robots, and you have proof positive that the age of invention is still going strong.
In the world of science and engineering, despite its buttoned-down image, there's plenty of fun, humor, and sheer wonder to be found at the fringes. "Adventures from the Technology Underground" takes you there.

- Launch homemade high-power rockets.
- Catapult pumpkins the better part of a mile.
- Watch robot gladiators saw, flip, and pound one another into high-tech junk heaps.
- Dazzle the eye with electrical discharges measured in the hundreds of thousands of volts.
- Play with flamethrowers, potato guns, and other decidedly unsafe toys . . .

If this is your idea of fun, you'll have a major good time on this wild ride through today's Technology Underground.
From the Burning Man festival in Nevada's high desert to the latest gathering of Large Dangerous Rocket Ship builders to Delaware's annual Punkin Chunkin competition (a celebration of "science, radical self-expression, and beer"), you'll meet the inspired, government-unregulated, and corporately unfettered men and women who operate at the furthest fringes of science, engineering, and wild-eyed arc welding, building the catapults, ultra-high-voltage electrical devices, incendiary artworks, fighting robots, and other machines that demonstrate what's possible when physics meets human ingenuity.