Diane Ackerman - The Human Age

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