COLUMNS BECOME BOOKS: When Teisha Rowland was a grad student researching stem cells at UCSB in 2009, she started what became a popular column for independent.com called Biology Bytes. Her writing made us all feel smarter because we could actually comprehend Rowland’s difficult topics, like stem cells and other cutting-edge research going on at the U. Not surprisingly, she has turned those original columns into two new books: Biology Bytes: Digestible Essays on Stem Cells and Modern Medicine and Biology Bytes: Digestible Essays on Animals Both Commonplace and Bizarre. “The books should be particularly appealing to Santa Barbarans because many of the essays are closely tied to the area,” said Rowland. “They explore some of the unique biology found in Santa Barbara, such as grunion runs, the monarch butterflies in Ellwood, and the prevalence of eucalyptus trees.” The books are in paperback and Kindle editions at amazon.com.