Day 16: On a fin and a prayer

Date posted: February 8, 2009
Written by: Anne Minard
Posted in: 100 Days of Science | Behind the Science | climate change | Creation/evolution | Culture & society
Comments: 10 Comments

It’s a Sunday, and I haven’t been to church. I did pray, though, and I did invite God — the God, any God — to show me how to be of service today. That’s pretty much it for me, as far as a spiritual routine. But I have one; I do that much almost every morning.

Also, I believe in science — including its findings about climate change and evolution. And apparently, that statement, “I believe in God, and I believe in evolution,” puts me in a group of people that doesn’t get much air time in the mainstream media or the blogosphere. The atheists might say I’m no better than a fundamentalist Christian; a small step away from witchcraft in the world of woo-woo. The hardest-core Christians tell me I’m actually more like an atheist as far as they’re concerned, a non-believer. Too often, the middle doesn’t seem to be good enough for either camp.

Am I actually part of a silent majority? If so, I think it’s high time we speak out, because I think our society needs us.

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Day 15: Climate change could find Nemo

Date posted: February 7, 2009
Written by: Anne Minard
Posted in: 100 Days of Science | climate change | Culture & society | The wild in wildlife
Comments: 1 Comment
Adult orange clownfish Amphiprion percula form breeding pairs. Photo courtesy of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.

Adult orange clownfish Amphiprion percula form breeding pairs. Photo courtesy of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.

The news about oceans was pretty grim last week, but there is hope. Most of the world’s fishing countries are reneging on their agreements to fish responsibly and sustainably. Despite harvest restrictions in the Delaware Bay, plummeting horseshoe crab populations are leaving their migratory bird predators high and dry. In a climate change scenario, the poorest fishing countries will be the hardest hit, and are likely to face “unprecedented hardship.”

And global warming could rob Nemo of his sense of smell.

Seriously.

But each of the findings spells out an opportunity to avert the worst.

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Day 14: The next great telescope race

Date posted: February 6, 2009
Written by: Anne Minard
Posted in: 100 Days of Science | Behind the Science | Culture & society | Space science
Comments: none
Artists rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope

Artist's rendering of the Thirty Meter Telescope

 

Artists rendering of the Giant Magellan Telescope, by Todd Mason.

Artist's rendering of the Giant Magellan Telescope, by Todd Mason

Two teams with United States participation are angling to build the next-generation telescope, which will peer at the very edges of the universe, into galaxies that were created immediately after the Big Bang.

And as a citizen of a country that’s learning how to tighten its belt, I’m going to suggest they get together and build just one.

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Day 13(b): Hubble stalks Coma galaxies

Date posted: February 5, 2009
Written by: Anne Minard
Posted in: 100 Days of Science | Space science
Comments: none
Photo by the Hubble Space Telescope, courtesy of NASA, the European Space Agency and Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

Photo by the Hubble Space Telescope, courtesy of NASA, the European Space Agency and Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

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Day 13(a): Environmental downside of local food?

Date posted:
Written by: Anne Minard
Posted in: 100 Days of Science | Greener living
Comments: none
Produce from a Community Supported Agriculture program in Flagstaff, AZ

Produce from a Community Supported Agriculture program in Flagstaff, AZ

Buying locally is romantic. It feels good to support local economies, and reducing the carbon footprint of our food shopping habits is a noble goal.

But now, new research is adding a wrinkle. David Coley from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom is lead author on a new study showing that, on average, lower carbon emissions result from delivering a vegetable box than making a trip to a local farm shop. The paper is out this week in the journal Food Policy.

I’m not sure how many people live where produce delivery is available — I don’t. But the study makes an interesting point.

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