Discovery in Science is Always Political

Environmental & Science Education

STEM

History of Science

Edward Hessler

In its September 24, 2019 issue, the British journal Nature announced a series of essays by historians of science on "How did we get here from there? (with 'there' being 'science in 1869', the year Nature began publishing, and 'here' being science in 2019.) 

The motivation for this series is found in the sentence, "We ignore our past at our peril."

I may provide summaries of (some of) these and decided after reading the first entry--Discovery is Always Political--to give the first a try but I urge you to read it in full. In this essay, David Kaiser, a historian of science at MIT, traces the roots of government support for science.

Kaiser starts with Galileo's optick tube or spyglass, a device he didn't invent but vastly improved (1609). The Venetian senate asked for a demonstration and "voted immediately to grant Galileo an appointment for life at the University of Padua in Italy."

Jump ahead 250 years when astronomer Norman Lockyear founded Nature in 1869.It had been preceded by a period of private funding for laboratories, including the Royal College of Chemistry, by "prominent British politicians who were convinced that the advancement of 'fundamental scientific understanding" would be advanced by "precision measurements and spur industrial development."  The Second Industrial Revolution beginning in 1870, "demanded standard units and measures."

The "British were playing catch-up to Germany" which had "invested heavily in academic research across the natural sciences," including "the establishment of...the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in Berlin in 1887...to accelerate work at the intersection of basic science, applied research and industrial development." There, while evaluating "competing proposals for large-scale street lighting...measurements of radiation output from various devices," led to a change in physical theory and Max Planck's 'first, tentative steps towards quantum theory."

With the formation of the of the Austro-Hungarian empire (1867), "the imperial authorities launched epic efforts in meteorology and climatology." The aim was to understand large-scale patterns in terms of local patterns. This is the subject of a new book by historian of science Deborah Coen (Climate In Motion: Science, Empire, and the Problem of Scale) which is reviewed by Mott Greene in Nature.

Tsar Alexander II (Russia)  issued a series of proclamations (beginning in 1861) that came to be known as the Great Reforms," a modernization project that freed the serfs and overhauled 'the state-run, as well as changes to regional governments and the judicial system." This provided new opportunities for scientists such as Dmitri Mendeleev" whose name we associate with the periodic table of the elements, first published in 1869.

In the far east, "the Meiji Restoration of 1868 (Japan) marked a period of opening up for the formerly isolated country." Government investments were made in manufacturing" and "fellowships to send students abroad to study."

During this period, the US lagged science elsewhere. Kaiser notes that "the timing was far from promising for new investment. The bloodiest conflict in US history sputtered to an end in 1865, punctuated by the assinadtion of President Lincoln. (More US soldiers died during the civil war than during the First and Second Word Wars and the war in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.)" It was only "in the early 1940s, amid emergency wartime mobilization, did the US federal government undertake large-scale support for research and development." After World War II "spending on science became an investment in hearts and minds." This led to the training of students, development of "a national laboratory system and supported a broad spectrum of research at universities."

"(I)n 1969, military auditors in the United States released...Project Hindsight" which found "that the federal defense agencies has received a poor return on their investment in open-ended in science." This report led to an "amendment to the federal Military Authorization Act of 1970. It stipulated that no funds from the Department of Defense could be used 'to carry out any research project of study' that did not have 'a direct and apparent relationship to a specific military function'."

With the "Vietnam War, scientists and students grappled with the proper place of defense spending in higher education came raucous protests, including the bombing of laboratories on two campuses on the relationship between government support of research. And in the 1970s and onward, the scientific community 'forged partnerships with private industries as well as philanthropies" as government investments in science were steeply cut.

Currently, these "hybrid patterns of support still depend heavily on central-government funding" but Kaisere writes that "fewer than 20 countries currently invest more than 2% of their gross domestic product in research and development. ... In several of those countries...the nature of government support has shifted, often prioritizing projects with short-term goals and practical applications over longer-scale inquiries."

In his introduction to this essay, Kaiser draws attention to Galileo's "knack for convincing government officials and courtly patrons to support his research." He closes with an admonition about the "range of monetary relationships that scientists now navigate" including the courting of equivalents in Galileo's time--the tracking of government legislation and "courting private donors that "we would do well to keep Galileo in mind."

Greta Rejects Nordic Council Award: Read Her Stirring and Reasoned Letter

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Climate Change
Sustainability
Ethics
Edward Hessler


Greta Thunberg has rejected the Nordic Council's environmental prize which includes 500,000 Swedish kroner (US $51.574.03).

Please read her letter rejecting the prize. There is a recurrent theme in what Ms. Thunberg says and writes: Listen to the science and act accordingly.

Thunberg has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and also rejected at least one other award.

Material Added. This has been published in Huffington Post with a longer story by Nick Visser and I include two quotes from his reporting that I was unable to "grab" from the CBC's report.  It also serves as a back-up in the event that the CBC report disappears.

The award was “'for breathing new life into the debate surrounding the environment and climate at a critical moment in world history.'”

And Ms. Thunberg's closing paragraph. “In Sweden we live as if we had about 4 planets according to WWF and Global Footprint Network. And roughly the same goes for the entire Nordic region,” she wrote. “Until you start to act in accordance with what the science says is needed to limit the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees or even 2 degrees celsius, I — and Fridays For Future in Sweden — choose not to accept the Nordic Councils environmental award nor the prize money.”

Tops or Spintops

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Culture
Society
Miscellaneous
Edward Hessler

Tops (spinning tops, spin tops) have a long history-- ~6000 years.  They have not escaped the attention of mathematicians, e.g., this article from Nature (1899). Don't miss the abstract! And Scientific American published a book (1985) by physicist Jearl Walker titled Roundabout, which includes the physics of tops.

There is more to tops though than mathematics and science. I focus on one: the pleasure and joy of watching them in their various forms.

In 1969, the industrial designers Charles and Ray (Bernice Alexandra "Ray" Kaiser) Eames released a film (7 m, 15 s) that "is a celebration of the ancient art and craft of top-making and spinning. One hundred and twenty-three tops spin to the accompaniment of a score by Elmer Bernstein." The tops are old and new and "from various countries, including China, Japan, India, the United States, France, and England."

Good News: Kirtland's Warbler

Environmental & Science Education

STEM

Behavior

Biodiversity

Endangered Species

Nature

Edward Hessler

There has never been a time in my life that the Kirtland's warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) has not been in trouble. It is a beautiful bird found in Michigan jack pine forests with specific requirements for nesting: open areas and small trees. This habitat was a natural outcome of a fire disturbance regime until fire-suppression practices were adopted.

It was a pleasure to read an article published in Science by Michael Doyle that the Kirtland's warbler has been removed from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) endangered species list. It has been on that list from the beginning, 1973--50 years. "In 1971, two years before enactment of the ESA (Endangered Species Act), the Kirtland's warbler population declined to approximately 201 singing males and as restricted to six counties in the northern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. By 2015...the population reached a record high of 2383 singing males and had spread geographically."

This has been accomplished by the replanting of "approximately 90,000 acres (~36400 ha) of Kirtland's warbler habitat and a Brown-headed cowbird control program." Cowbird's are aggressive nest parasites. Their breeding strategy is that the females put all their energy into egg-laying, letting others build nests and raise their chicks.

While this is wonderful news, Doyle reminds us that ESA officials, describe the Kirtland's warbler as. "'a conservation reliant species'" that will still require hands-on management."

Kirtland's warbler was named after Jared Potter Kirtland (November 10, 1793 - December 10, 1877) an Ohio physician, politician and naturalist.

Gloomy Forecast

Environmental & Science Education

STEM

Climate Change

Sustainability

Edward Hessler

In late September, Ron Way wrote a column for the Star Tribune (September 29) about a recent lunch. He starts by asking "Ever had a late lunch on a fine day with a foremost authority on energy--to discuss the nuclear industry and how nuke power plants might help mitigate climate change?" Way left, he writes, "with a sinking sense of despair."  

The expert was Dr. Dean Abrahamson, an emeritus professor of public policy at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute.(Abrahamson has a Ph.D. in physics, an M.D. and a degree in public policy.)

A few highlights or, if you prefer, lowlights.

--Abrahamson knows nukes so it was a natural question about their place in the future, both in MN and also the US.  They are carbon free, prohibitively expensive requiring substantial subsidies, MN has a nuclear moratorium, and Xcel Energy is committed to renewables. Pointless here and across the US.

--The Paris Climate Agreement (2016) has a requirement: The elimination of greenhouse emissions by 2100 BUT by 2050, 80% of those emissions must end. A "kicker," as Way put it.

--The "calamity level" is already less than a degree away providing little wiggle room.

--And furthermore and importantly consider "the sheer enormity of the challenge, the world is still at the talkity-talk stage."  It is not that there have been no warnings which started in the 1960s, "and more recently a broad consensus of the world's top climate experts says we're at the hair-on-fire stage."

Way continues by discussing the nature of the warnings, e.g., 

--The various ways we spew carbon which in the end "amounts to a staggering amount of heat-trapping stuff still going up...."

--The indicators. Today everything is mega: storms, hurricanes, and flooding, the "wildly irregular weather patterns, polar ice melt, species extinction (and habitat loss), and drought...(Florida Key) climate exodus" and the voiding of insurance.

Of course Way discusses the growing hope coupled with "soaring public demand to address climate change," and technologies that offer some hope.

"What to do?," Way asks. About us older folks he suspects that we are likely to "grumble away our remaining time, thinking that all creativity for positive cultural change went into Smartphones and gadgets we're not good at using."  

There is some reason to think we can get on a fast or faster track and if you believe this "then pay heed to Greta (Thunberg), stop grumbling, get off the couch, and expend all the vigor you have to push real solutions. You could also fly less, drive much less, and forgo red meat (more important than you'd think)."

Way closes this gloomy and yet stirring essay (I hope you READ IT.) by writing, "This climate change thing is mega-serious, folks. It won't solve itself."

I owe the title to Mr.Way. It is perfect.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Some comments on neighbors and October by poet David Baker.

Young Protesters Who are Leading the World.

Environmental & Science Education

STEM

Climate Change

Sustainability

Edward Hessler

What is it with kids/young people these days?  

They are, writes Emma Marris for Nature, "using their moral authority as children, and their social media savvy to surf a rising tide of adult concern" for action on global climate change, fighting for stricter gun control laws, and "tackling global climate change as a matter of social justice."

Marris quotes Harriet Thew of the University of Leeds exactly what it is that these young activists recognize, emphasize and why they "have captured the world's attention." Thew notes that "'More and more, they are talking about the problems for people and really recognizing that human-environment connection."

In September, Domini Sengupta (NYT) wrote  profiles about eight of these young protesters. They are Keah Namugerwa (15, Uganda), Adriana Salazar (19, Bolivia), Nikhil Kalmegh (24, India), Ruby Sampson (18) and Ayakha Melithafa (17) both of South Africa, Freta Brown (16, Australia), Jamie Margolin (17, New York), Elijah McKenzie-Jackson (15, London), and Adriana Salazar (19, LaPaz).

Fishing Techniques: Brown Bears of Katmai National Park

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Biodiversity
Edward Hessler

This short film is about the fishing techniques the brown bears of Katmai National Park use.

The bears try, practice them and evenually individual bears choose one over the other. They also choose places to fish--a favorite fishing hole.

No matter how many times I watch brown bears fishing, I'm amazed by their ability to make a good living doing this.

By the Numbers

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Climate Change
Sustainability
Edward Hessler

This set of illustrated charts from the journal Nature shows climate change by the numbers.

Hard truths shown in ways that may help in understanding them.

Select Your Favorite Three Images of Brooks Falls Brownies

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Nature
Biodiversity
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

You may vote for three (from 20) BearCam Moments of 2019 here.

BearCam features the Brooks Falls River and Falls brown bears of Katmai National Park during the fishing season. The season is winding down and only one or two cameras are operating, at best. Often the offer is highlights. Juvenile eagles have taken over and sometimes a wolf is to be seen.

Yikes!

Environmental & Science Education

STEM

Art and Environment

Behavior

Biodiversity

Miscellaneous

Edward Hessler

Photographer Yongqing Bao has been awarded the top prize in the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year. A by-product is that Bao also won the prize for the best picture in the mammal behavior category. The photo is of a young marmot surprised by a hunting fox--the beginning of the end for the marmot. It was taken in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau.

The Junior Grand Prize (11-14 years) was awarded to Cruz Erdmann for his night-time photograph of a bigfin reef squid in the Dembeh Strait off North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The reporting by BBC science correspondent is found here. It includes several other images from the 2019 competition and includes some details on how the two photographs mentioned above were taken.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Today's poem is by Dante DiStefano, a high school English teacher in Endicott, New York.

Impersonators

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Biodiversity
Nature
Edward Hessler

Madeline "Maddie" Sophia, a science nerd for NPR, did a great video on some insects who look like another critter/organism for various reasons: defense, camouflage, predation, etc.

Sophia takes us "inside the largest entomology collection in America," where "there are insects that are out to fool us and others." These tricksters are known as mimics who are masters of disguise.  Anna Woods, an arachnologist (a spiderologist to use the technical term) with the Smithsonian, is Maddie's guide.

Here is the short essay and video (~3.5 minutes long).

Another Salute to 150 Years of the Periodic Table

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
History of Science
Edward Hessler

As you know the United Nations proclaimed 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table to call attention to its 150th birthday. "The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is one of the most significant achievements in science, capturing the essence not only of chemistry, but also of physics, medicine, earth sciences and biology."

Bloomberg Businessweek devotes a "rather jazzy special issue," writes Flora Graham (Nature Briefing, August 29 2019) to the table's elements--one short story for each element. In the introduction economics editor Peter Coy writes "matter still matters" and this issue shows exactly that.

Bret Begun ends this special issue with a report on his mining of  "the depths of the internet for this superlegit, 100% scientific analysis of the most creative, not-at-all natural wonders. And if you want to argue that some of these are compounds or alloys or whatever, put down the jerktonium* and go wave some mithril**."

*Jerktonium (Jt) first found in Sponge Bob Square Pants
**Mithril (Mi) first found in The Lord of the Rings

Health Care and Us

Environmental & Science Education

STEM

Health

Medicine

Society

Edward Hessler

In July, David Freedman wrote an essay for Atlantic Magazine about the worst patients in the world. Any guess on who he was describing?

Us, Americans.

Freedman tells the story of his father who would have once been labeled by the medical literature as a "'hateful patient,' a term  since softened to 'difficult patient'."  These are patients who are not only trying to all (family as well as medical staff) but who also require a large amount of medical time and sometimes expense. However, what characterized Freedman's father was "his self-neglect, rather than his hostility, that my father found common cause with the tens of millions of American patients who collectively hobble our health-care system." Freedman describes his father's excesses.

Perhaps the major point of his essay is that high income countries "surpass us in most medical outcomes" and spend "less than America does as a share of GDP." However, we believe and are told that if only we would adopt "their" health care systems, lower costs and better medical outcomes would follow as day becomes night and night becomes day. We never ask or are asked by promoters of health care as a right and for all whether we are also part of the cost and outcomes problem.

Freedman cites a JAMA Internal Medicine study which "reported that 74 percent of the variation in life expectancy across counties is explained by health-related lifestyle factors (inactivity, smoking, obesity, diabetes)," i.e., "what patients do seems to matter much more" than "what providers do."

Among the items Freedman discusses is our habit of overtreatment, the lack of distrust of doctors (although we are not unique here, Chinese patients appear to be worse), our "flagrant disregard for routine care," and the matter of death with the American preference for "heroic end-of-life health-care."

Freedman's essay also serves as a springboard, one I never expected, to a recent segment on Bill Maher where he addressed the obesity epidemic (Susan Perry, MinnPost) in the United States--New Rule:The Fudge Report--Real Time with Bill Maher. (View this at your own discretion. For my purposes it is not necessary that you watch it.). It is these two sentences in the opening that interest me: "All the candidates will talk about their health plan but no one will mention the key factor. The citizens don't lift a finger to help."

If you are interested in details of the obesity epidemic, Susan Perry's essay linked above provides a state by state analysis showing the increase and also points out the known obesity related illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, certain cancers, etc.

And here is the just released report on childhood obesity in America. More than 1 in 7 children ages 10 to 17 are described as obese.

Freedman and Maher call on Americans to take some control of their health and actively participate in their own health health care in order to address the growing epidemic of health problems over which we have some control.

1 in 4 North American Birds Lost Since the 1970s

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Endangered Species
Birds
Biodiversity
Extinction
Edward Hessler


North America has three billion less birds than it did in the 1970s according to research reported in the journal Science by U.S. and Canadian researchers (the full article is behind a paywall). To put this loss another way: 1 in 4 birds have disappeared. Fortunately, Elizabeth Pennisi who writes for Science provided a summary of the technical paper.

Pennisi reports that the data the research team used includes "the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), an annual spring census carried out by volunteers...which has amassed decades of data about 420 bird species."  In addition, data from "the Audubon Christmas Bird Count" provided information on "about 55 species found in boreal forests and the Arctic tundra, and on the International Shorebird Survey. The team made use of "aerial surveys of water bodies, swamps, and marshes." This resulted in information on 529 bird species,  "about three-quarters of all species in North America...."

According to Pennisi, researchers were surprised and expected species already known as rare would be declining but that common birds would make up that difference--common birds are hardy as well as generalists. However, even common birds are in decline. Pennisi continutes, "19 common species have each lost more than 50 million birds since 1970. Twelve groups, including sparrows, warblers, finches, and blackbirds, were particularly hard hit. Even introduced species that have thrived in North America, such as starlings and house sparrows, are losing ground."

Pennisi's essay includes two summary graphs, one showing decline by habitat and the other decline by type. "Annual surveys show that since 1970, North American birds have dwindled in all habitats except wetlands. Whereas most groups have declined , ducks and geese have flourished, as have raptors since the 1972 ban on DDT."

The standard culprits include habitat loss/degradation, climate change, and house cats. Pennisi notes that other possible "causes may be more subtle. Last week, toxicologists described how low doses of neonicotinoids--a common pesticide--make migrating sparrows lose weight and delay their migration....." This is likely to influence survival and reproduction. 

"Neonics," as these widely used pesticides are commonly known, also disrupt food webs by reducing food. Neonics don't differentiate between good (beneficial) and bad (harmful) insects. The sequence is inexorable: neonics--->kill insects---->less food---->fewer birds. According to a recent paper on insecticide use and exposure world wide, Michael C. R. Alavanja  notes that more than "1 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the United States each year and approximately 5.6 billion pounds are used worldwide." This includes all pesticides.

The Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology publication All About Birds has a lavishly illustrated article about the study reported in Science. It includes a sidebar on the use of radar data collected between 2007 and 2017  which provides independent data supporting the 2019 study. Radar cannot "see" individual birds. It detects "blobs" of birds.  Dr. Adriaan Dokter, a migration ecologist converts these blobs into bird masses.

So what can we as individuals do? Here are seven simple actions from the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology which includes a link to a checklist for fridge or bulletin board.

Nature Picks the Month's (September) Best Images--All Focus on Climate Change

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Miscellaneous
Climate Change
Edward Hessler

The British journal Nature has picked Septembers best science images. All of them focus on climate change and the researchers who study it.

Here they are.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Today's poem is from The Writer's Almanac.

It is by Danusha Lameris.

And the Champ Is....

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Nature
Water & Watersheds
Edward Hessler

For the past five years the rangers at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska have held a fat bear contest to choose the bear thought by viewers best prepared to go into winter hibernation. This is the one laying on the most layers of fat...the best sockeye salmon fisher.

The 2019 winner is #435, aka Holly. And here she is and the announcement: "Holly sat on.... Errr, smashed....Uhm...Soundly defeated all other competitors by rallying tens of thousands of fans to campaign and vote for her! Way to go Holly."

#435 was chosen by viewers in a September-madness bracket in which 12 bears were pitted against one another until the final bear emerged. And did Holly emerge! Some 17500 votes to Lefty's 3600.

Of course we want to know what Holly looked like before and NPR's Tom Goldman's report on the competition includes a side-by-side of her before and now. Goldman also discusses this year's delay in the salmon run. As you know this was a dry year in Alaska and the salmon run was late. Bears, including Holly, are still fishing.

Here is the link to the Brooks Falls brown bear cams. It is a great site and viewer comments are definitely worth a scan. You will find that there are some very dedicated observers who know who is who. I'm not one but keep informed through them.

You can meet both Lefty, #775 and Holly,#435 in these short films by ranger Mike Fitz. And here are some quick facts about brown bears.

2019 Nobel Prize Chemistry

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
History of Science
Miscellaneous
Edward Hessler


The Nobel Foundation announced that John B. Goodenough (UTexas-Austin, USA), M. Stanley Whittingham (Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA), and Akira Yoshino (Ashai Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and Meijo University (Nagoya, Japan)) have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of lithium-ion batteries." In other words they created a new world, one that is rechargeable.

According to the press release "the result (of their work) was a lightweight, hardwearing battery that could be charged hundreds of times before its performance deteriorated. The advantage of lithium-ion batteries is that they are not based upon chemical reactions that break down the electrodes, but upon lithium ions flowing back and forth between the anode and cathode.

"Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991. They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind."

In an article by Nicola Davis and Hannah Devlin in the British publication,The Guardian, "Professor Mark Miodownik, a materials expert at University College, London," put the significance of this word this way, that "'it was right that lithium-ion batteries were celebrated. “They are one of the most influential pieces of materials science that influence the modern life of everyone on the planet.'”

“'It is remarkable too that although 30 years old, they have not been eclipsed by a better battery technology even now, which makes you realise what a remarkable discovery they are.'”

I recommend this article for many reasons, not the least of which that you will learn that Goodenough slept through the telephone call and how he was told. He is also the oldest (97) Nobel recipient. 

The announcement page includes videos of the prize announcement and an interview about the award, the press release, and illustrations.

Alan Turing: New Face Of The Bank Of England L50 Note

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
History of Science
Maths
Computing
Edward Hessler

This is only a foretaste of what is to come and only the shadow of what is going to be.--Alan Turing, The Times, 1949)

Alan Turing (1912 - 1954) is probably remembered most for his code-breaking work during WWII.  Germany had developed Enigma, a machine for sending coded messages to its military--army, navy, and airforce. In particular, the decryption of the Enigma code was crucial in protecting ships loaded with materials sailing from the United States to Britain. In the end, the result was the saving of millions of lives.

Turing also made significant contributions to the development of computers, computer science (contributions to the algorithm concept), and to artificial intelligence (the Turing test or how to tell whether a computing machine is intelligent).

In 1952, Turing was convicted for "gross indecency following which he was chemically castrated." He died two years later from cyanide poisoning (The official inquest determined that it was suicide but there are arguments that it could have been accidental.) It wasn't until 2013, nearly 70 years following his death) that he was given a royal pardon.

Turing's face will be on the new Bank of England's 50 pound polymer note, to be in general circulation by the end of 2021. In addition to his photograph, this new note will include technical drawings of the Bombe (the British decryption device), a table and mathematical formulas from an important paper he wrote (1936) on the nature of computable numbers, the quote in the epigraph above, some zeros and ones, and Turing's signature.  It is a very handsome bill.

The link includes more information, e.g., the other candidates considered for the note, a short video featuring Bank of England governor Mark Carney on Turing's contributions, an analysis of Turing's work, a link to a BBC essay written on the occasion of Turing's 100th birthday (2012), and comments on other Bank of England notes.

2019 Nobel Prize in Physics

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Cosmology
History of Science
Miscellaneous
Edward Hessler

One-half of this the 2019 Nobel Prize in physics was made to James Peebles (Princeton University) for "theoretical discoveries in physcial cosmology." The other half was made jointly to retired University of Geneva physicist, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz University of Geneva and University of Cambridge for "discoveries of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.

You may learn more here which includes the press release announcing the awards, the scientific background and links to popular information. And in this short (6m 19s) video, Didier Queloz talks about the search for exoplanets.

2019 MacArthur Fellows

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Miscellaneous
Edward Hessler

Meet the 2019 MacArthur Fellows.

There are 26 in this year's class which includes historians, scientists, artists, a legal scholar, criminal justice reformers, a cognitive scientists and a translator of classics.

At the website you will find videos of the recipients in which they describe their motivations and hopes, background information, and fellows data as well as FAQS about the program which is sometimes referred to as the "Genius Awards."

2019 Nobel Prize: Physicology or Medicine

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
History of Science
Edward Hessler

Today the first Nobel Prize of 2019 was announced: the Physiology or Medicine prize goes to three scientists who decoded how cells sense and respond to oxygen by switching genes on and off.

They are William Kaelin (cancer researcher), Peter Ratcliffe (physician-scientist) and Gregg Semenza (geneticist).  The trio also won the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 2016. This link includes a video about the awardees.

Among the applications of their discovery is a better understanding of how the body reacts when oxygen levels drop owing to exercise or stroke, and efforts to manipulate the response to slow the growth of oxygen-hungry cancer tumors.

Here is a short summary from the British journal Nature.

"There is No Poop Fairy"

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Solid Waste
Water & Watersheds
Health
Edward Hessler

A friend sent me this short video/vimeo (1 m, 50 s).

I know almost nothing about it except that Danger Bird Productions is in Duluth, MN so think I jump to a conclusion/inference: it is about protecting the waters of Lake Superior.

It is splendid, effective and direct.

And if I'm wrong about the watershed it was developed for it is in everyway a superior production.

The Center for Global Environmental Education (CGEE) has several watershed protection programs for which see here.

h/t Rita

World Teachers' Day

Environmental & Science Education
Education
Society
Miscellaneous
Edward Hessler

Today, October 5 2019, is World Teachers' Day, aka International Teachers Day, a UNESCO designation.  It was founded in 1994. The Wiki entry notes that the aim is "appreciating, assessing and improving the educators of the world and to provide an opportunity to consider issues related to teachers and teaching." This is not a trivial purpose!

This day is not much celebrated, acknowledged may be more accurate, in the United States but I'm in favor of appreciating teachers as well as understanding the nature of their work and the kind of support they need. The work is difficult and important.

I suggest you read this post by retired English teacher, Peter Greene who writes wisely based on deep experience about the hard part of teaching. It reminds me of the minute-by-minute decisions a teacher makes each day, almost all of them moral ones.

Which leads to follow, for how long and to what end. How much help, when and how. The endless hands and who to call on. Making time to teach and help students learn. How to allocate time for science, technology, engineering, maths, art, English, social studies, music?

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Today's poem is by the late Stanley Plumly.

The Anthropocene: Who Decides?

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Earth Science
Earth Systems
Geology
Society
Culture
Edward Hessler


As you probably know a committee of geologists, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) has voted to establish the marker for a new geologic epoch--the Anthropocene, a new unit of geologic time which recognizes the role of humans on changing the planet. It is a first step in winnowing other candidates (emphasis added). The proposed marker is the first appearance of radioactive dust on the planet. 

Whoa! Wait a minute, say other scientists from the human sciences.

The argument is that other sciences, beyond stratigraphy, should be involved such as archeologists, anthropologists, geographers and sociologists. The most recent argument is put forward in a recent essay (2019) in The Conversation. "Maybe the Anthropocene began at different times in different parts of the world."

The authors asked more than "1300 archeologists from around the world to contribute their knowledge on how ancient people used the land in 146 regions spanning all continents except Antarctica from 10,000 years ago right up to 1850."  Of the archeologists who responded--more than 250-- "42% of our regions had some form of agriculture by 6000 years ago." Crowdsourcing from experts.

The Anthropocene, according to the authors has deep roots. "Global archeological data show that human transformation of environments began at different times in different regions and accelerated with the emergence of agriculture. Nevertheless, by 3000 years go, most of the planet was already transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists."

The authors argue that "The message, from archaeology is clear. It took thousands of years for the pristine planet of long ago to become the human planet of today." Furthermore, "to build a more robust Earth science in the Anthropocene, the human sciences must play as central a role as the natural sciences do today."


In an essay published in 1916 in the The Conversation , co-authored by one of the four authors of first paper linked above, the request is more pointed. "We instead call for a dedicated scientific institution, perhaps called the International Anthropocene Commission, to coordinate this. ... Half its members should be drawn from anthropology, archaeology, history, sociology, geography, paleoecology, economics and philosophy. It should have a formal, documented, procedure for membership, decision-making and reporting, and feedback on its workings."

In a related report in Science by Mohi Kumar on the archeological study on ancient farmers irreversibly changing the planet, Kumar directs attention to an explanation made by AWG chair Jan Zalasiewicz (University of of Leicester). Kumar writes "There's no doubt humans have altered landscapes throughout prehistory...but for the Anthropocene to be recognized as a formal geological epoch, it needs to show a distinct signature in the rock record, which the study (survey) study doesn't provide."

Definitions in science are important and sometimes difficult, as this example shows. And the resolution is likely to be even more difficult but it will shed light on just how long humans have been a measurable influence on the earth and its systems.

In Celebration of a New Academic Year

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Flora Graham is the senior editor of Nature Briefing which I've said more than once and will again, is a bit of daily news on science to which I look forward. You can sign up to receive it at the link about her.

Ms. Graham noted today, 9.3.2019, that this is a new academic year and in celebration and best wishes she linked us to ecological communicator Liz Anna Kozik's (and PhD student at the University of Wisconsin) yearly gentian prayer to the academic gods.

William Cronon who is in the panels is an environmental historian at the University of Wisconsin. I recommend his books.