Have you ever stopped to closely examine the wall of an old stone building? You should. It may be made of a particularly interesting type of stone, or contain tiny fossils that would be easily missed by the casual passer-by. Raymond Wiggers is an enthusiastic advocate of such investigations, and his new field guide to the structures of the Chicago area can open the door to such explorations to a wide range of readers.
A wide range of creatures engage in natural engineering projects, be they independent structures in which to live in or as part of their own bodies. And it is this vast range of structures that Kimberly Ridley presents in her forthcoming book “Wild Design; Nature’s Architects.”
Detailing his techniques for creating the intricate castings of ant nests that depict their myriad Myrmecological tunnels and chambers in what are essentially three-dimensional physical “negative” representations of the nests that would be equally appropriate in a museum of natural history or one of modern art, Prof. Tschinkel then goes on to use these castings to explain the engineering skills and life histories of the remarkable creatures responsible for them.