BOOK REVIEW
Life Under Water in Monterey Bay
Lovell and Libby Langstroth, who wrote the text and took most of the stunning photographs for A Living Bay: The Underwater World of Monterey Bay (University of California, $60), have organized their book by the wide range of major habitats extending outward and downward from the shore. Sexual, chemical and predator-prey interactions are recurrent themes. Shown here (clockwise from lower left) are a leather star (Dermasterias imbricata) preying on Corynactis; Macrocystis kelp (the white spots on its blades are colonies of the encrusting bryozoan Membranipora membranacea); Pelagia ephyrae, which are tiny medusae (photograph by Freya Sommer); the aboral surface of a sea star (Asterina), showing its sieve plate (a buttonlike yellow structure that is the perforated opening of its water vascular system); and the "sand collar" that a female moon snail has molded about her shell from layers of mucus and sand to protect her fertilizaed eggs.
About once a month at Sigma Xi headquarters, we liven up the lunch hour with an American Scientist Pizza Lunch talk. In these informal lectures, scientists describe new research to nonscientists. The series is light on jargon but heavy on solid science. Each Pizza Lunch offers an in-depth look at its subject, whether it's bedbugs or the smart grid. Click below to read about and download these talks -- and to subscribe!
