The sequencing of the human genome is an epic milestone in human intellectual history. You will hear it compared to the building of the atomic bomb, or putting a man on the moon. It is more, much more.
Articles from May 2022
Photo by Elia Pellegrini on Unsplash
Photo by Chuck Givens on Unsplash
On the contrary, Mr. Thoreau
“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in one of his more self-indulgent moments, and environmentalists never tire of quoting him. Into the woods, they urge. Into the woods. That’s where we’ll find our salvation.
Mosaic image of the Sun provided by TRACE • NASA (Public Domain)
TRACE photos let us perceive the Sun’s power
“Knowledge has killed the Sun, making it a ball of gas with spots,” wrote D. H. Lawrence in one of his crankier anti-science moments. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Photo by Marisa Barrett on Unsplash
Love as defined by genetic script
This week, Science Musings offers Valentine’s Day advice to the lovelorn.
Model of a DNA molecule • Photo by CGP Grey (CC BY 2.0)
Time for a new Origin of Species
The mid-19th century was fossil time in science.
A juvenile Rhesus macaque • Photo by Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Grappling with moral arithmetic
An adorable 3‑month-old rhesus monkey looks out at us from the pages of the journal Science. His name is ANDi. He has, apparently, not a care in the world; a healthy little scamp who is presumably treated affectionately by his keepers.
Map of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation developed with the data provided by the COBE satellite • NASA (Public Domain)
Fact is, science is skepticism
Astonishing fact Number 1: The universe began billions of years ago in an explosion from an infinitely small, infinitely hot seed of energy. The Big Bang.
Tourist cruises at the Galápagos Islands • Photo by Deb Dowd on Unsplash
Darwin might have warned us
On Dec. 27, 1835, young Charles Darwin, in the fifth year of his ’round-the-world voyage as naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle, posted a letter to his sister, Caroline, from New Zealand.
“The Triumph of Death” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1562)
Plague’s cause had a job to do
For many of us of a certain age, the words “Black Death” evoke images from Ingmar Bergman’s film, “The Seventh Seal.”
Photo by Ryan Jacobson on Unsplash
A year mapped for stargazing
Thank goodness for Guy Ottewell. If he didn’t exist, I would have to invent him.