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.”
Articles with 2003
Part of the shovel collection at Stonehill College • Photo by Casey Bisson (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Photo by Viktor Talashuk on Unsplash
Facing new questions about transplants
In a recent story in The New York Times Magazine, author Charles Siebert recounts his interview with Dr. Peter Butler, a British plastic surgeon who is prepared to supervise the first transplant of a human face. That’s right, a human face.
Photo by Nando García on Unsplash
Time for new cliche: The sane scientist
My guest today is Dr. Sivana, the Mad Scientist. Sivana is not really a mad scientist, but he plays one on TV…
Photo by Hikarinoshita Hikari on Unsplash
Blinded by the night lights
In the year 1750, a baby boy was born in Gambia in West Africa. On the eighth day after the birth, as was the custom, the village paused from its normal routines to celebrate, with feasting, music and prayer, the naming of the child — Kunta. Kunta Kinte.
Composite image of Saturn and the angle of its rings relative to Earth from 1996 to 2000 • NASA Hubble (CC BY 2.0)
Modern science can thank Saturn
Every stargazer with a telescope has been looking at Saturn lately. This year the planet reaches the point in its orbit that brings it closest to the Earth. It appears bigger and brighter than at any time in the past 30 years.
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 Taha on Unsplash
Where nature and nurture can’t agree
NATURE: Well, my friend, you must admit that I’ve had quite the best of it lately. The human genome has been sequenced. Thousands of human genes have been identified, and hundreds more are sorted out every month. The floodgates are open.
Bahama woodstar • Photo by Under the Same Moon... (CC BY 2.0)
The power behind our invisible cells
For several weeks now I have been living with a pair of hummingbirds — Bahama woodstars, tiny creatures, about the size of my little finger.
Columbus landing in the West Indies, as depicted by John Vanderlyn
The Columbus myth
My favorite picture book when I was a kid told the story of Christopher Columbus.
Caenorhabditis elegans • Image by Bob Goldstein, UNC Chapel Hill (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A dialogue on a worm
“If you haven’t already met Caenorhabditis elegans, you really should. This little worm…” “Worm?”