Describes the process of decomposition, discussing the role of decomposers such as sharks, vultures, and earthworms, and includes experiments demonstrating how decomposition supports new life.

Revealing little-known facts about the fight to teach evolution in schools, this riveting account of the dramatic 1925 Scopes Trial (aka "the Monkey Trial") speaks directly to today's fights over what students learn, the tension between science and religion, the influence of the media on public debate, and the power of one individual to change history. Arrested? For teaching? John Scopes's crime riveted the world, and crowds flocked to the trial...

Looking past its itch-inducing nature, describes the other things that poison ivy can do, from providing food for rabbits in spring to being used as shade by salamanders in the summer.

Presents the life of the eighteenth-century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who devised the modern classification system for naming plants and animals.