Thirty-five percent of the world’s food crops and 75% of our flowering plants depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. Do neonicotinoids affect all pollinators, including native bees and butterflies? Are there alternatives to this pesticide? How can we encourage pollinators?

Last week, browsing the new arrivals at my local library, a title caught my eye. The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, co-authored by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams.

Mistletoe. How did it become associated with Christmas? What's up with kissing under the mistletoe? Does this strange, parasitic plant kill the trees it grows on?