Nonfiction - Young Adult

Drug overdosing and death from prescription painkillers and heroin are at epidemic levels in the United States. How do people become addicted to opioids and other dangerous drugs, and why? Meet the experts who study the neurology of addiction. Hear stories of addicts in recovery, and of loved ones left behind by those who died from overdosing. Discover more about the social and economic costs of overdosing and learn about scientific research to decrease it. Learn about the connection between addiction and mental health disorders. Find out how to identify signs of addiction and overdose and what you can do to help someone get assistance.

Most scientists agree that Earth is warming rapidly. Glaciers are melting and rising seawaters are submerging islands and coastal cities. In the coming decades, millions will likely have to escape extreme weather caused by climate change. Some scientists say we need to act faster and with radical new technologies now to save our planet. They propose geoengineering, or "engineering Earth," to reset our global thermostat. Ideas include thickening clouds with chemicals to reduce the amount of sunlight and pulling carbon dioxide from the air with machines. However, critics say that geoengineering could backfire and create even worse weather. Is geoengineering too risky? Or is it our best hope of survival?

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, emerged in the Middle East during the first decade of the 2000s. The group vows to wage violent jihad, or holy war, on those who do not adhere to its extremist interpretation of Islamic law. ISIS conquers territory and rules savagely. ISIS terrorists manipulate social media brilliantly, shocking viewers around the globe with brutal video footage. Government leaders and agencies all over the world are working to prevent the next ISIS attack. How can nations combat ISIS? Can it be defeated with military force? This in-depth investigation tackles these and other thorny issues related to the twenty-first-century face of global terrorism.

When you think of smart animals, what comes to mind? Wise old owls? Problem-solving dolphins? Maybe you have heard of Koko the gorilla, who has mastered one thousand signs in American Sign Language, or Chaser the border collie, who recognizes one thousand names for her stuffed toys. But what about ants building megacolonies or bees reporting to the hive about new nesting sites? What about escape artist octopuses and jellyfish that use their eyes (they have twenty-four!) to navigate? Are insects, spiders, and other animals without backbones considered smart, too? When we think of intelligent creatures, we often think of vertebrates, or animals with spinal columns and relatively large brains. We don't usually think of invertebrates, or animals without a spine. But invertebrates can be astonishingly intelligent. These animals exhibit surprising feats of learning, memory, and problem-solving using their relatively simple, tiny brains-some the size of a sesame seed or even smaller. In fact, some intelligent invertebrates have no brain at all! Scientists around the world are putting invertebrate intelligence to use in mind-boggling ways. Engineers are designing swarmbots based on bees to take part in search-and-rescue efforts. And materials scientists are basing a new, tough ceramic on the structure of a mantis shrimp's claw. In Smart and Spineless, readers will be challenged to think in a whole new way about what it means to be smart!

In 2011 a computer named Watson outscored two human competitors on the TV quiz show Jeopardy! and snagged the million-dollar prize. Watson isn't the only machine keeping up with humans. The field of artificial intelligence (AI) is booming, with drones, robots, and computers handling tasks that once only humans could perform. Such advances raise challenging questions. Do Watson and other computers really think? Can machines acquire self-awareness? Is AI a promising or a dangerous technology? No machine, not even Watson, yet comes close to matching human intelligence, but many scientists believe it is only a matter of time before we reach this milestone. What will such a future look like?

Sneakers in the 1800's were just a canvas upper and a rubber sole. Today athletic shoes are a multi-billion dollar industry. Examine the history of sneakers and their impact on athletics, fashion, culture, and more.

On a global scale, humans create around 2.6 trillion pounds of waste every year. None of this trash is harmlesslandfills and dumps leak toxic chemicals into soil and groundwater, while incinerators release toxic gases and particles into the air. What can we do to keep garbage from swallowing up Earth? Reducing, reusing, recycling, and upcycling are some of the answers. Learn more about the work of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Ocean Cleanup Array, the zero waste movement, and the many other government, business, research, and youth efforts working to solve our planet's garbage crisis.

Decades of commercial whaling nearly decimated a variety of whales considered a keystone species. Keystone species are indicators of the overall health of Earth's habitats. While whales have made a comeback through an international ban on commercial whaling, they are still threatened with extinction. Global warming, water and noise pollution, and commercial shipping and fishing are among the most serious threats to whale survival. Meet the scientists, citizen scientists, researchers, whale watching guides, and other concerned citizens who are working together to protect whale populations around the globe. Learn about whale biology, habitats, and behavior, and discover more about the high-technology tools that help researchers in their work.

Whether you call them kicks or sneakers, runners or gutties, you probably have a pair of athletic shoes in your closet. The earliest sneakers debuted in the 1800's and weren't much more than a canvas upper and a flexible sole made of a crazy new material-rubber. The stuff might have been new to Americans then, but for thousands of years, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin of South America had been using latex made from the milky sap of hevea trees to protect their feet from rocks, sticks, and biting insects. Once Charles Goodyear figured out how to make the stuff more durable, sneakers were here to stay. Early sneakers were initially designed for elite athletes, but kids and teens quickly adopted them. Some of the first brands included Converse, Brooks, and Saucony. German companies Adidas and Puma started up during World War II. The Nike shoe debuted in the 1970's (with a bit of inspiration from a waffle iron). As fitness crazes took off in the 1980s, people all over the world started buying the shoes for workouts and everyday wear. At about the same time, companies began hiring high-profile athletes and pop stars for big-dollar endorsements, and shoe sales soared into the stratosphere to the tune of billions of dollars each year. In Sneaker Century, follow sneaker fashions and the larger-than-life personalities behind the best known athletic shoe brands in history. Learn how teen sneakerheads became important style makers and drove the success of NIKE, Inc., and other shoe companies. Look behind the scenes at the labor-intensive process of manufacturing sneakers. Explore the sneaker frontier of the future-recycled shoes, earth-friendly initiatives, and high-fashion statements. Get ready to speed through the Sneaker Century!