by James Morris
William Happer, a retired Princeton University physicist and Deputy Assistant for Emerging Technologies on the National Security Council, recently stated that carbon dioxide is beneficial to humanity and therefore should not be regulated in any way. In biology, however, the idea that things are “good” or “bad” is simply a lot of hot air. Continue reading
by James Morris
Last week, the United Nations reported that one million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction. The high rate of extinction we are currently experiencing is a result of all kinds of human activities, notably climate change, pollution, hunting, over-harvesting, deforestation, land use changes, and the like. Continue reading
by James Morris
Photograph by Randy Phillis
Great fleas have little fleas,
Upon their backs to bite ‘em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas,
and so, ad infinitum.
~ Augustus De Morgan, A Budget of Paradoxes
You are not alone. Certainly, you have family and friends to help, support, and encourage you. But you have even more intimate partnerships.
by James Morris
In light of recent events, I think it’s important to remind ourselves how similar we are to each other, not how different.
by James Morris
When I was a teenager and young adult, I always looked forward to reading Chet Raymo’s column called “Science Musings” in The Boston Globe. Chet Raymo is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, and a well-known science writer. His short essays are reflections on science, education, and the natural world.
One of these essays, from the mid-1990s, made such an impression on me that I clipped it out and filed it in my “Science Education” folder, where I keep articles related to science and teaching. The essay is titled “Teaching a Sense of Wonder.” Here, Raymo makes a plea to 6th-grade science teachers, asking them not to emphasize terms and facts, but instead to stand back and think about what every middle school student should learn in a science class.
He boils it down to five important concepts, one of which is the history of life on Earth.
by James Morris
Ads for medicines or cosmetics often make the claim that a result is “clinically proven.” Proof, however, isn’t possible in science and medicine. That can be a strength, and it requires frequent reminding so we understand how science and medicine really work.
by James Morris
Vegetables from Russo’s in Watertown, Massachusetts
What do cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi all have in common?
by James Morris
Illustrations by Talia Niederman
What’s a vertebrate? That’s easy – A vertebrate is an animal with a backbone.
Not so fast. It turns out that not all vertebrates have a backbone. That is, they don’t have the bones that make up the backbone, called vertebrae. Hagfish, for example, don’t have vertebrae, but are classified as vertebrates.
That doesn’t make sense. How can a vertebrate not have vertebrae? Continue reading
by James Morris
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about aging. Everything ages. This may sound obvious, but have you ever considered why this is so? Why do organisms age? Why is it nearly universal among living organisms? And what can we do about it?
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