Anand Varma--author and curator of this book--is a National Geographic photographer and explorer whose work on hummingbirds, insects, and jellyfish has attracted international acclaim. Working first as assistant to renowned photographer David Liittschwager, Varma received a National Geographic Early Career Grant in 2010 and has since been recognized as a National Geographic Media Innovation Fellow and a Rita Allen Civic Science Fellow. His 2014
National Geographic cover story, "Mindsuckers," about parasitic insect behavior, won first prize for a nature photo story from the World Press in 2015. His TED talk, accompanied by photographs, of "The First 21 Days of a Bee's Life" has garnered
2.75 million views. In 2022 the National Geographic Society agreed to fund his Wonder Lab, designed to support visionary photographic techniques in service to science.
