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  1. Book Review: What On Earth Evolved? 100 Species That Changed the World by Christopher Lloyd

    Review by Sid Perkins.

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  2. Book Review: The Joy of Chemistry: The Amazing Science of Familiar Things by Cathy Cobb and Monty L. Fetterolf

    Review by Rachel Ehrenberg.

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  3. Book Review: Breeding Bio Insecurity: How U.S. Biodefense Is Exporting Fear, Globalizing Risk, and Making Us All Less Secure by Lynn C. Klotz and Edward J. Sylvester

    Review by Rachel Zelkowitz.

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  4. Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making by Gary Klein

    Good decision makers share traits such as being accepting of ambiguity and complexity, one scientist argues. MIT Press, 2009, 337 p., $27.95. STREETLIGHTS AND SHADOWS: SEARCHING FOR THE KEYS TO ADAPTIVE DECISION MAKING BY GARY KLEIN

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  5. On Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar Bear by Richard Ellis

    The natural history of polar bears entwines with human history in this science writer’s ode to the world’s largest land carnivore. ON THIN ICE: THE CHANGING WORLD OF THE POLAR BEAR BY RICHARD ELLIS Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, 400 p., $28.95.

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  6. So You Want to Be a Scientist? by Philip A. Schwartzkroin

    A neuroscientist describes the pros, cons and politics of a career in research for aspiring scientists. SO YOU WANT TO BE A SCIENTIST? BY PHILIP A. SCHWARTZKROIN Oxford University Press, 2009, 192 p., $19.95.

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  7. Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life by Scott D. Sampson

    The past three decades have seen a plethora of major discoveries, described here, about dinosaurs and prehistoric Earth. DINOSAUR ODYSSEY: FOSSIL THREADS IN THE WEB OF LIFE BY SCOTT D. SAMPSON University of California Press, 2009, 332 p., $29.95.

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  8. Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait by William W. Fitzhugh, Julie Hollowell and Aron L. Crowell, eds.

    The histories of Arctic cultures are explored through scholarly essays, illustrations and photos of the region’s intricately carved relics. GIFTS FROM THE ANCESTORS: ANCIENT IVORIES OF BERING STRAIT BY WILLIAM W. FITZHUGH, JULIE HOLLOWELL AND ARON L. CROWELL, EDS. Yale University Press, 2009, 328 p., $55.

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  9. Before the Big Bang: The Prehistory of Our Universe by Brian Clegg

    A scientist-writer explains theories of the universe’s origin for the nonscientist. BEFORE THE BIG BANG: THE PREHISTORY OF OUR UNIVERSE BY BRIAN CLEGG St. Martin’s Press, 2009, 306 p., $25.99.

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  10. The Humans Who Went Extinct: Why Neanderthals Died Out and We Survived by Clive Finlayson

    An evolutionary ecologist argues that humans weren’t superior to other hominid species, only luckier. THE HUMANS WHO WENT EXTINCT: WHY NEANDERTHALS DIED OUT AND WE SURVIVED BY CLIVE FINLAYSON Oxford University Press, 2009, 273 p., $29.95.

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  11. Making informed decisions about mammograms

    In November, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a nongovernmental advisory panel of health experts, recommended that routine mammography for breast cancer screening start at age 50, not 40. It met with a chorus of objections. Lisa Schwartz, a general internist at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon, N.H., investigates […]

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  12. Science Future for February 13, 2010

    February 22–26 The American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences meeting is held in Portland, Ore. See www.agu.org/meetings/os10 March 5–6 Researchers and clinicians meet in San Diego to discuss genomic medicine’s future. See www.scripps.org/events March 18 Debut of an interactive exhibit on extreme weather at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. See www.msichicago.org

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