Bierman, Paul. When the Ice Is Gone: What a Greenland Ice Core Reveals About Earth’s Tumultuous History and Perilous Future. Norton. Aug. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781324020677. $27.99. SCI

Environmental science professor Bierman (who led the team that discovered that Greenland’s ice sheet melted 400,000 years ago without humans changing the climate) reports on what is on the horizon—what will flood and by how much—if society does not address the planet’s rising temperatures.

Bjornerud, Marcia. Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks. Flatiron. Aug. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9781250875891. $28.99. SCI

Bjornerud (author of the LJ Best Book Geopedia), a professor of environmental studies and geosciences at Lawrence University, returns with this exploration of the ways geology explains the planet and its constantly changing state. In addition to tracing her life as a scientist and the many transformations of her field, she delves into the rocks.

Cabrol, Nathalie A. The Secret Life of the Universe: An Astrobiologist’s Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life. Scribner. Aug. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9781668046685. $30. SCI

Cabrol, director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, leads readers through the profound quest of the people searching for life beyond this planet. The book moves from the moon, past Pluto, to beyond the solar system in its pursuit of answers.

Dolnick, Edward. Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World. Scribner. Aug. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9781982199616. $30. SCI

Dolnick, a former chief science writer at The Boston Globe and Edgar Award winner for The Rescue Artist, pens a scientific adventure of how the Victorian world stumbled upon fossilized dinosaur bones and changed human understanding of everything.

Kershenbaum, Arik. Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication. Penguin Pr. Aug. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9780593654934. $30. SCI

Kershenbaum (zoology, Univ. of Cambridge; The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy) offers a guide to the wealth of research that has changed human perception and understanding of animal communication. His work allows readers to understand howls, songs, clicks, and grunts from the perspective of the animals who utter these sounds.