Wednesday, we'll laud Virginia Tech for its management of an international resource management project that won a Nobel for one of its researchers, and applaud the university's success in winning a multimillion-dollar federal grant for the university's bioinformatics institute. Both are pointed reminders of the important role research has to play in the lives of ordinary people, and the wisdom of investing in it.
As part of Virginia Tech's year-long celebration of all things Charles Darwin and the science of evolution, the school has produced a play called "Living Darwin" that premieres tonight. It's a multidisciplinary project between scientists, historians and artists on campus.
Darwin’s theories continue to profoundly impact contemporary understandings of the natural world, as well as the place of humans within it. Living Darwin brings to life his writings and thought -- as well as the popular and scientific interpretations, refutations, and expansions that have followed.
“Regardless of one’s understanding or belief in evolutionary theory, Living Darwin examines how personal identity and interactions with others are shaped by stories, concepts, and metaphors that are linked to evolutionary thought,” said [creative director Ann] Kilkelly.
If you live in the New River Valley, check it out in Squires Studio Theater at 7:30. It only runs for three nights (Oct. 7-9), so don't miss your chance to learn some more about one of the most important insights ever into the way the universe works.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species."
There is ample reason to be disappointed in, and wary of, the planned study of uranium mining safety in Virginia -- most notably the fact that the corporation wanting to do that mining is paying for the study.
But it is wrong to allege, as some critics of the study have, that Virginia Tech has a conflict of interest in its assigned role of managing the money and coordinating with the National Academy of Sciences on the study.
Walter R. Lawson
Lawson is a retired physicist living in Roanoke.
David Clark's commentary "Evolution isn't even a good theory" (Sept. 10) saddens me.
I am saddened because a supposedly educated individual like Clark uses religious arguments to disparage Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Darwin's theory is unquestioned by scientists who study life and its origins (biologists, paleontologists, etc.). Religious arguments are irrelevant to any discussion on the validity of Darwin's or any other scientific theory. The validity of any scientific theory can be established only by scientific methods.
Around the world, evolution is no big deal. In religious, anti-science America, it's a very big deal. So big, in fact, that film distributors are afraid to distribute a British film about Charles Darwin.
The film, called "Creation", is being well received and will be distributed in markets around the world, according to producers. Just not in the good old USA, where only 39 percent of Americans believe in evolution. We have a long way to go with science education in this country.
Washington is getting serious about trying to reduce greenhouse gases with tough vehicle emission standards and a serious push to implement a cap-and-trade system on carbon dioxide emissions by American manufacturers. But who's going to get the cows to cooperate with efforts to reduce heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere that are contributing to global warming?
An average cow's burps and flatulence release 200 to 400 pounds of methane a year, research indicates, and methane has 20 times the heat-trapping ability of carbon dioxide. And bovine gas doesn't lend itself, really, to cap and trade.
Dairy industry researchers are on the problem. Yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, for example, initiated an experiment in January with 15 Vermont farms to see if a change of diet will reduce the methane eruptions of the dairy cows that supply it with organic milk. The New York Times reports, "As of the last reading in mid-May, the methane output of [Guy] Choiniere’s herd had dropped 18 percent. Meanwhile, milk production has held its own."
The farmers are using feed that includes more things like alfalfa and flaxseed, "substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat."
Today's addition to the "How cool is that?" files:
Meet Matroshka, a torso stuffed with real human blood and simulated human tissues. NASA scientists plan to expose him to an artificial solar flare right here on Earth.
When humans travel in space, beyond the protection of the Earth's magnetic field, they are exposed too all sorts of nastiness, including solar flares that eject all sorts of energetic particles that bombard anything in their path. With plans in the work for a manned base on the Moon and sending humans to Mars, scientsits want to know what effects that sort of exposure will have on people's bodies.
He's already traveled on the space shuttle and to the Interntational Space Station for experiments. The nice thing is if radiation damages the blood , a quick transfusion has Matroshka as good as new.
In years past, the EPA warned the Roanoke Valley about high levels of fine particulates in the air - not the sort of thing a healthy person might notice, but a serious cause of respiratory and coronary problems. There's bad new about those particulates, as reported yesterday in The New York Times:
"A new appraisal of existing studies documenting the links between tiny soot particles and premature death from cardiovascular ailments shows that mortality rates among people exposed to the particles are twice as high as previously thought."
If you want to dig into the analysis by the Health Effects Institute, you can link to it on its home page. Look for Extended Follow-up and Spatial Analysis of the American Cancer Society Study Linking Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality.
Now take a deep breath. Or not.
We're writing an editorial that will run on Tuesday about the recent repairs made to the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble is "arguably the most important scientific instrument ever created," as astronomer John Grunsfeld put it. For two decades, it has delivered beauty, knowledge and insight to the world. We're glad to see it operational again, but it's clearly dying and will be gone in a few more years. We'll urge Congress to continue funding Hubble and its successors. It's money well spent.
One oft-repeated criticism of the theory of evolution, at least oft-repeated by those who don't know what they're talking about, is that the fossil record doesn't show any transitional species. In fact, there are many fossils of in-between species. A recent discovery may be one of the earliest human ancestors ever found. Meet Ida.
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