During the third week of March [2003], 10,000 delegates from around the world met in Japan for the UN-sponsored World Water Forum.
Technology
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Part of the shovel collection at Stonehill College • Photo by Casey Bisson (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The current era is defined locally
In a park in West Bridgewater stands an old iron anvil. A plaque on a nearby forge-stone reads: “And here before the Revolutionary War […] Captain John Ames, began the manufacture of shovels with a trip-hammer set on this stone.”
Photo by James Baltz on Unsplash
Jury still out on GM food’s effects
Last summer, I bought a prepackaged chocolate cake in a European supermarket. The wrapper proclaimed prominently: NO GM INGREDIENTS. GM, of course, stands for “genetically modified.”
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Even Wired isn’t wired tightly enough
Wired magazine is about to have its 10th birthday. Flashy, brassy, Day-Glo graphics. The holy scriptures of technofreaks, ubergeeks, and dot-com digerati.
Photo by Slejven Djurakovic on Unsplash
Will evolution leave humanity behind?
History is not the same old same old, nor is it just one darn thing after another. History — cosmic and human — has a direction, and the direction can be quantitatively defined.
New York City from above • NASA (Public Domain)
The masking of the heavens dims our age of enlightenment
A few weeks ago I flew from Miami to Boston on a clear, dark night.
Photo by Thomas Schweighofer on Unsplash
Hobbit thinking might be wise
I first read J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” in the early 1960s. The maps of Middle Earth attracted my interest. I had not previously heard of Tolkien, and his books were only beginning to become cult favorites of the college crowd.
Photo by Sabri Tuzcu on Unsplash
Merry Chipmas to all
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse,
Little Susie asleep with her dollies galore,
And a dozen stuffed animals strewn on the floor.
Photo by Elisabeth Arnold on Unsplash
Modification part of balanced chain
Plant genetically modified, or GM, crops anywhere in Europe and in a trice you will have a crowd of protesters at your gate waving “Frankenfood” placards and lying down in front of tractors.
Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash
ERROR: Too old for new device
As a public service, Science Musings offers an all-purpose Troubleshooting Guide for your newest electronic device.