The Human Age (44 page)

Read The Human Age Online

Authors: Diane Ackerman

Tags: #Science, #General

katydids, 173–74

Kawasaki, Japan, 23

Keating, Tim, 147

kelp, 56, 57, 58, 60, 63–64

biofuels from, 64

Kenya, 124

Khoshnevis, Behrokh, 235

Kidd, Captain, 58

kidney, 239

King, Ross, 221

Kiribati, 49

knapweed, 166

knife fish, 147–48

Knights of the Order of the Barrier, 51

koalas, 164

Kockums, 101

Kojo Moe
(Ohyama), 23

Korup National Park, 126

krill, 134

Kublai Khan, 272

Kubrick, Stanley, 269

kudzu vine, 132

Kungsbrohuset office building, 96

Kurzweil, Ray, 181, 218

Lactobacillus johnsonii
, 301

Lafferty, Kevin, 299

Lake Cayuga, 30–31

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste, 276–77

Lammens, Kathy, 302

lampreys, 132

Lancet
, 277, 278

landscapes, 22–23

manufactured, 23–25

language, 7, 10, 171, 191, 255, 303

of animals, 201–3

Language Research Center, 201–2

Larry (boa), 130

lead, 271

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), 88

Leaves of Grass
(Whitman), 184

Lederberg, Joshua, 289

LED lights, 90, 103–4

Leeuwenhoek, Antonie van, 290

Leno, Jay, 235

leopards, 118

leucine, 179

Library of Congress, 59

lifespan, 13

lights, 17

Lincoln Memorial, 59

Lindholm, Bosse, 100

Linnaeus, Carl, 217

lions, 164, 273

Lipson, Hod, 208–25, 226–27, 229, 235, 247, 250

livers, 150, 248

Living Machines Conference, 218–19

local farms, 88

Lockheed Martin, 236

locusts, 41

London, 50–51

London Zoo, 159

Long Island Sound, 60

loosestrife, 132

Losiny Ostrov National Park, 78

lotusin, 91

Louisiana, 46

Louv, Richard, 196

lungs, 239, 248

Lyme disease, 121

Lyme ticks, 39

lynxes, 132

macaws, 164

Maeslantkering, 50

magnolias, 111–12

magpies, 217

Mail Online
, 271

malaria, 302

Malaysia, 79

Maldives, 76–77

mallards, 117

Mall of America, 96

Mandarin Chinese, 281

mantis shrimp, 61

manufactured landscapes, 23–25

manufacturing, 12

mariculture, 56–67

pushback against, 64–65

marigolds, 90

marine transport pollution, 76

Marshall Islands, 314

marsh rabbits, 129

Marsico, Ron, 119

Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, 103–4

Masters, Jeff, 47

mastodons, 31

Mayflower
, 132

McDonough, William, 87–88

McGill University, 282, 284

McKibben, Bill, 112

McMurdo Station, 88–90

Meaney, Michael, 282–84

Mecanoo, 104

medical ecology, 300

medicine, 7, 12–13

Medieval Warm Period, 43

Mehler, Mark, 282

memories, 255

Men Who Stare at Goats, The
(Ronson), 146

Mercedes, 236

mercury, 271

Mesopotamia, 235

metal alloy teeth, 253

methylation, 281

Mexico, 88

Mexico City, 77, 82–83

mice, 302

Michigan, 132

microbes, 287–304

effects of, on humans, 292, 295–303

evolution affected by, 292–93

microbiome, 289

microscope, 290

microtia, 244–45

Milky Way, 176

Milton, John, 51, 212–13

mining, 11, 21, 24, 34

mitochondria, 291

Mitsuku, 317

Mohali, India, 99

moist shaded zones, 79

Mojave Desert, 22, 106

Mongolia, 132

monkeys, 146, 267

monk parakeets, 131

monkshoods, 125

monsoon season, 51, 53

Montaigne, Michel de, 63

Montana, 117

Mooallem, Jon, 139–40

moon, 306

Moorea, 158

moor frogs, 124

moose, 132

Moscow, 78

MOSE Project, 50

mosquitoes, 302

Motherwell, Robert, 218

Motley Fool, 235

multiple sclerosis, 301

Mumbai, 78

musk oxen, 132

mussels, 58, 60, 66, 78

mussel tissue, 91

Muybridge, Eadweard, 191

Nakamura, Makoto, 238

Naki’o, 256

Namibia, 180–81

nanobots, 181

Nano Impacts Intellectual Community, 183

nanoparticles, 182–83

nanotechnology, 179–87

nanotubes, 179

NASA, 204, 235, 305, 314

Nasheed, Mohamed, 76

National Academy of Science, 266–67

National Arbor Day Foundation, 38

National Institutes of Health (NIH), 285

national parks, 165

National Resources Defense Council, 316

National Zoo, 123

NATO, 237

Natural History of the Senses, A
(Ackerman), 175

nature:

balance of, 132–33

romance with, 126–27

as term, 25, 111–27, 171–72, 309–10

Nature
, 134

nature deficit disorder, 196–97

Nature Neuroscience
, 282

Navigenics, 271

Navy, U.S., 145, 147

Nazis, 273–74

Neanderthals, 162, 178, 189, 263

nearsightedness, 192

Nelson Island, 48

Nemo, Blizzard, 58

Nestlé, 212

Netherlands, 101, 124, 132

Netherlands Antilles, 88

neural implants, 253

Nevada, 106

New Forest, 174–75

Newfoundland, 42

New Jersey, 46

New Mexico, 40

Newton, Isaac, 220

New York, 38, 46, 77

New York, N.Y., 55, 73

New York University, 197–98

night fiddlers, 172–73

Nile perch, 131

Nin, Anaïs, 186

nitrogen, 36

NOAA, 210

Norrbotten, Sweden, 275–76, 277–78, 280

North Africa, 106

North Carolina, 46

northern goshawks, 132

Northwest Passage, 135

Norway, 101, 124, 132

Norway maples, 132

nuclear bomb, 191

nuclear power, 22, 100

nuclear winter, 8, 9

Obama, Barack, 177

Obama administration, 233

obesity, 196

ocean, acidification of, 65, 66, 154

octopuses, 202, 216

Ohio, 77

Ohyama, Ken, 23

oil, 99, 106

oil refineries, 22

oil spills, 300

Oman, 132

1D farming,
see
mariculture

Operation Acoustic Kitty, 146

Operation Migration, 139–40

opossums, 129

Orangutan Awareness program, 28

Orangutan Outreach, 5, 6, 313

orangutans, 3–7, 25–28, 132, 216, 217, 231, 296

human genes shared by, 3

impending extinction of, 27–28, 313

solitary lives of, 4

tool use by, 5

orca whales, 135, 144

orchids, 206

Orff, Kate, 55

organic fertilizer, 64

Organovo, 238–39

Ornstein, Len, 54

Orthopets, 256

Oshkosh Airshow, 187

osteoarthritis, 248

otters, 124

Outer Island, 58

ovarian cancer, 281–82

Överkalix, Sweden, 279–80

oxen, 140

oxeye daisies, 132

oxygen, 41, 53

oysters, 54–55, 56, 57, 60, 61–63

Ozawa, Masakatsu, 23

P-52 (python), 128

pacemakers, 253

Panbanisha (bonobo), 201–2, 203

pancreas, 281

pansies, 90

Papua New Guinea, 72

Paradise Lost
(Milton), 212–13

Paris, 95–96

Paris Habitat, 96

Parkinson’s disease, 253, 295

parks, 73–74, 78

parrots, 202

parsley, 89

Partula
, 156–59

passenger pigeons, 151–52

Pasteur, Louis, 290

Patagonia National Park, 99

pathogens, 290

peacock feathers, 91

Pearce, Mick, 93–94

Pembrey, Marcus, 279, 281

penguins, 134–35

peonies, 125

People’s Daily
, 146

peppers, 89

peregrine falcons, 132

periwinkles, 61–62

permafrost, 48

personality, 200, 214, 216–17, 222–23, 229, 253, 292, 297, 299, 303–4, 307

Peru, 77

pesticides, 153, 166

pets, 149–50

Pettit, Don, 16

Phelps, Michael, 258

phenotypic elasticity, 249–50

Philippines, 46

photonic clusters, 35

phytoplankton, 61

piezoelectricity, 317

pigeons, 140, 142, 144, 145–46

pigs, 71

in war, 146

Pistorius, Oscar, 258, 260

Plan Bee, 166

planes, 171, 191

planets, 220–21

Planets, The: A Cosmic Pastoral
(Ackerman), 220

plankton, 134–35

PlantLab, 90

plants:

in cities, 79–85

texting by, 205–7

plastic stents, 253

Pleistocene Park, 151

Pliocene, 29

PLOS ONE
, 271

pneumonia, 183

Poland, 78, 132, 273

polar bears, 134

polar molecules, 35

polar T3, 90

pollution, 154

marine transport, 76

Polo, Marco, 272

polymer teeth, 253

Polynesia, 156, 157

Ponce, Brent, 260–61

ponies, 137–38

Pons, Lily, 264

poppies, 125

population growth, 10

Porter, Eliot, 25

poverty, 285, 286

Power Felt, 185

prairie dogs, 131

presence, 199

Price of Freedom: Americans at War
exhibit, 145

probiotics, 300

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
, 129

produce, 89

Project Orcon, 145

Project Pigeon, 145

Project X-Ray, 145

proprioception, 175–76

prosthetics, 256–58

protein, 190

protozoans, 172, 289–90, 300

Przewalski’s horses, 132

Puerto Rico, 175

Puppe (orangutan), 26–27

purple finch, 137

pyrolysis technology, 76

pythons, 128–31, 133, 140, 315

Quai Branly Museum, 80–82, 84–85

quarries, 24

quasi-crystal, 34

rabbits, 126, 129, 133

rabies, 298

racoons, 129

rail trails, 77

rainforests, 79

rains, 41

Raison, Charles, 300–301

Rambuteau subway station, 95–96

Rand, Ayn, 59

rats, 282–83, 296

reading, 191–92

Reconciliation Ecology, 74

recycling, 52, 74, 78, 87, 88, 90

heat, 95–108

red clover, 166

Red Delicious, 137

red foxes, 153

red kites, 132

Red Sea Star Restaurant, 76

reef death, 36–37

refrigerators, 87

regenerative medicine, 244

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 254–55

reindeer, 132

Reiss, Diana, 202, 204

religion, 176

Relman, David, 300

Renaissance, 190

Renault, 83

renewable energy, 307

restaurant rooftop farms, 88

retinas, 253

Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, 258–59

Rezwan, Mohammed, 52–53

rhododendrons, 125

rice, 71

Rice Plant Conservation Science Center, 82

Rig Veda, 257

RinkWatch.org, 40, 314

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 78

Ripasso Energy, 100–101, 106

roadkill, 115–16

robomoths, 146–47

RobotCub Consortium, 218–19

robot fleas, 148

robotic evolution, 210, 213, 224–25

robots, 210–25

rocketships, 171

rock strata, 31, 35

roe deer, 124

Romania, 78, 124

Romans, 185

Rome, 267

Roosevelt, Franklin D., 145

rosemary, 90

Rosenzweig, Michael, 74

roses, 125

Rotterdam, Netherlands, 77

Royal Botanic Gardens, 118

Rwanda, 46

Ryu Chan Hyeon, 102

saber-tooth tigers, 162, 163

Sagan, Carl, 220

sage, 125

Sahara Desert, 54

Sahel, 46

St. John’s wort, 132

St. Luke’s Hospital, 78

Salem witch trials, 207

salmon, 60, 65

salt deposits, 31

sandhill cranes, 161

San Diego Zoo, 151

sand mandala, 174–75

Sandy, Hurricane, 31, 43, 44–47

oyster beds smothered by, 57

Sanjay Gandhi National Park, 78

Santiago, 77

Sapolsky, Robert, 298

Sapsucker Woods Bird Sanctuary, 193–94

scallops, 57, 60

schizophrenia, 176, 282, 285

science, 11

scientific reasoning, 219–20

Scotland, 132

Scots pine, 132

Scripps Research Institute, 151

sea grapes, 61

sea levels, 32, 41, 51

sea lions, 144, 147

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), 175

sea squirt, 61

seaweed, 61

sediment, 31–32

sedum, 83, 87–88

self-awareness, 216–17, 219

self-cleaning clothes, 181

sensory overload, 197

Seoul, 192

sepsis, 183

Serengeti, 126

Seurat, Georges, 246

sex, biology of, 293–96

Shakespeare, William, 259

Shanghai, China, 192

sharks, 147

Shark Valley, 129, 315

sheep, 71, 267

Shelley, Mary, 212–13

shellfish, 60

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, 52

Shostak, Seth, 175

shrews, 115

shrikes, 74

Siberia, 161

Siju-Rewak Coridor, 124

silicon retinas, 13

silver, 182–83

Singapore, 78

singing, 93

Sinhyung Cho, 102

skin, 257

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