Tag: science
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Impacts of biodiversity loss rival those of climate change and pollution
Current estimates suggest we are now, or soon will be, in the grip of earth’s sixth mass extinction of species. This is of course a tragedy in many ways—but will it really affect us in any substantial way? With the thundering hooves of all the other apocalyptic horsemen bearing down on us—global warming heating, hypoxic…
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Going with the flow – on a planetary scale
We tend to think of ocean currents – when we think of them at all — as stately, slow-moving rivers in the sea, as I believe Ben Franklin himself first referred to the Gulf Stream. But in reality the patterns of water movement across the earth’s surface are extraordinarily complex. Nothing gives you a more…
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Smackdown 2012: Where’s the science?
When was the last time you heard aspirants to the post of leader of the free world holding a reasoned debate about the role of science in American society or the future of the country? Umm, I mean not counting foaming at the mouth about moving to moon colonies after slashing and burning the planet…
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Money and the root of all climate change denial
[I started writing this as an addition to a string of interesting and thoughtful comments on John’s excellent post, which questions whether it is really the incompetence of scientists that’s responsible for the failure of this country to recognize climate change. But decided to post it up here instead.] There are a host of factors…
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Fish, Sustainability, and Used Cars: Guest post by Dr. Martin Smith
[Editor’s preface: Yesterday, we opened our discussion of seafood eco-labeling with a guest post by Dr. Tim Essington of the University of Washington. Today we present the second perspective on the Marine Seafood Council’s report on environmental certification of seafood products. Dr. Marty Smith is the Dan and Bunny Gabel Associate Professor of Environmental Economics…
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Is seafood certification the answer to sustainability? SeaMonster asks Dr. Tim Essington
[Editor’s preface: How should the conscientious piscivore forage in the complex ecosystem of the modern market? Those of us who love seafood but want to do the right thing are confronted with a blizzard of information and advice — often conflicting — on the status of marine fish populations and the various management measures intended…
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Occupy Jamaica, Part 2: The lay of the reef
Discovery Bay, Jamaica. 8:23 PM. End of my second full (long) day since arriving Friday afternoon. Kristin, James, and Solomon had arrived Tuesday — three days ahead of me – and made good progress reconnoitering and sampling at the sites we’d worked in 2008. By this evening we had collected and processed over 100 samples…
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Occupy Jamaica, Part 1: Prelude
[Part 1 in the SeaMonster Expedition series: Jamaica. the team finalizes preparations for a 10-day research trip to Jamaica to solve the mystery of large, cooperative societies in lowly shrimp.] As ice skins over Timberneck Creek among the bare trees of Virginia, we are eagerly staging gear and making preparations for our first expedition of…
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On this day in 1642 . . .
. . . the great physicist, applied mathematician, and astronomer Galileo Galilei passed from this world into the annals of history, having spent the last ten of his 77 years on Earth under house arrest for the crime of telling the truth. More specifically, for asserting that the movements of heavenly bodies he had deduced…
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The blogging professor manifesto: A morning-after perspective
Have social media seeded a communications renaissance in science and if so, what is limiting its growth? My colleagues Kevin Zelnio of SciAm’s EvoEcoLab (and Deep-Sea News), and John Bruno right here at SeaMonster, recently started a fascinating conversation on these topics. Kevin’s excellent essay noted that scientists have many reasons for going online, but…