Compares different kinds of animals regarding their prowess in such categories as jumping, swimming, weight-lifting, and acrobatic movement.

Are you ready to meet some of the most incredible Olympians in the world? These animal athletes are at the top of their game, and they’re ready to go for gold! This fascinating book for readers aged 5+ examines the incredible abilities of animals from all around the globe with a captivating and original conceit – in Animal Olympics, the creatures are competing, and the reader has a front row seat to the action. In each event, animals are awarded bronze, silver or gold for their skills. Events featured in the book include diving, wrestling, rock climbing and gymnastics. Readers will discover all kinds of astounding animals, from the bar-headed goose, which flies at heights of up to 6,300 metres, to the flic-flac spider, which cartwheels across the Moroccan desert. Fun vignettes show the animals in their heat, and are accompanied by absorbing, fact-packed captions. On your marks, get set, and off we go to the Animal Olympics!

Provides photographs and text for a variety of wild animals, including the cheetah, emperor penguin, orangutan, and chameleon.

Engineered Biomimicry covers a broad range of research topics in the emerging discipline of biomimicry. Biologically inspired science and technology, using the principles of math and physics, has led to the development of products as ubiquitous as VelcroTM (modeled after the spiny hooks on plant seeds and fruits). Readers will learn to take ideas and concepts like this from nature, implement them in research, and understand and explain diverse phenomena and their related functions. From bioinspired computing and medical products to biomimetic applications like artificial muscles, MEMS, textiles and vision sensors, Engineered Biomimicry explores a wide range of technologies informed by living natural systems. Engineered Biomimicry helps physicists, engineers and material scientists seek solutions in nature to the most pressing technical problems of our times, while providing a solid understanding of the important role of biophysics. Some physical applications include adhesion superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning, structural coloration, photonic devices, biomaterials and composite materials, sensor systems, robotics and locomotion, and ultra-lightweight structures. - Explores biomimicry, a fast-growing, cross-disciplinary field in which researchers study biological activities in nature to make critical advancements in science and engineering - Introduces bioinspiration, biomimetics, and bioreplication, and provides biological background and practical applications for each - Cutting-edge topics include bio-inspired robotics, microflyers, surface modification and more

Celebrating nearby nature and the marvels of our own backyards, this book helps you introduce children to the world around them. With quality children's literature and simple activities, you can cultivate a child's sense of wonder and joy and teach him or her the importance of living in harmony with nature. These projects span the curriculum and are presented in reproducible format, so they're easy to use. Highlighting the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch), they build connections between students and the land and create in young learners a sense of place-a true necessity for living in the world today. Grades K-6.

Animals, insects, and birds are capable of some amazing feats of speed, jumping, weight carrying, and endurance capabilities. As Olympic contestants, the records of these competitors challenge and in many cases exceed the best of human exploits and inspire us to emulate natural mechanisms and functionalities.

The Bumper Book of Slightly Forgotten British Olympians and Other Sporting Heroes is just that: a collection of stirring tales of pluck, grit, triumph, disaster and on occasion, ineptitude, featuring a host of former sportspeople who've been utterly forgotten by history. From Maude Waveney, the plucky servant girl who bravely took half a day off work scrubbing kitchen floors to win a gold medal folding bedsheets in the first London games, to Tom Drake, Dressage's first punk, who shocked the sport with his slashed jacket and swear words on his hat.There's the tale of the Lincolnshire javelin thrower who fell under the spell of a cult devoted to the eating of egg and chips; of the mascot of Bexhill-on-Sea's ill fated bid to host the Olympics and "Ample" Arthur Cartwright, whose football career was blighted by an obsession with archaeology. They, and many others, all have a story to tell.

Everything you need to create exciting thematic science units can be found in these handy guides. Developed for educators who want to take an integrated approach, these teaching kits contain resource lists, reading selections, and activities that can be easily pulled together for units on virtually any science topic. Arranged by subject, each book lists key scientific concepts for primary, intermediate, and upper level learners and links them to specific chapters where resources for teaching those concepts appear. Chapters identify and describe comprehensive teaching resources (nonfiction) and related fiction reading selections, then detail hands-on science and extension activities that help students learn the scientific method and build learning across the curriculum. A final section helps you locate helpful experiment books and appropriate journals, Web sites, agencies, and related organizations.

What animals have retractable claws, razor-sharp teeth, and tails for balancing? Cats! While they might seem as different from us as animals can possibly be, we actually have a lot in common with our feline friends.