Einstein sits and thinks under the dark trees surrounding a white cottage — where no war came, even during the years when young men flooded out from this campus, cold from tap like the beer they’d drunk at the Tiger- town Inn just before their first induction. He stirs, but no amount of induction can help him explain how these knotty trees survived pen-knives, like claws of a tiger, incising the names of loves pre-war. A stick falls to the ground — a muffled tap returns his thoughts from trees to absent men. The ones who carved their names were…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From October, 2005
GRIZZLY BEARS TAKE NORTHERN VACATION
(photographs by Mark Furze) A paw print, a hair, and a photograph are all clues that Canada’s grizzly bears are on the move. Recently, Canadian scientists genetically confirmed the sighting of a grizzly bear more than 1000 kilometers north of the species’ known range, proving that Canadians still have a lot to learn about our northern-most animals. Grizzlies seem to be encroaching on the territory of polar bears, a species already threatened by global warming. The two species previously met only on the sea ice near mainland Canada, where they both hunt seals. Though polar bears are generally larger, grizzlies…
HOW I GOT OUT OF WRITING AN ESSAY ON H.G. WELL’S THE TIME MACHINE.
January 17, 2005 I received the syllabus for my Humanities course. A humanities course should not be required for my B.Sc degree in Physics. To add insult to injury, we are supposed to do an analysis of Well’s The Time Machine. We are to focus on the historical context when the topic is time travel? Who reads a book on a time machine for social insights? I would do anything to get out of this essay. At dinner, my friends complained about this assignment. I tell them a way out: I will build a time machine. They mocked me, but…
HOW I GOT OUT OF WRITING AN ESSAY ON H.G. WELL’S THE TIME MACHINE.
January 17, 2005 I received the syllabus for my Humanities course. A humanities course should not be required for my B.Sc degree in Physics. To add insult to injury, we are supposed to do an analysis of Well’s The Time Machine. We are to focus on the historical context when the topic is time travel? Who reads a book on a time machine for social insights? I would do anything to get out of this essay. At dinner, my friends complained about this assignment. I tell them a way out: I will build a time machine. They mocked me, but…
JOURNAL CLUB FIND: NAPOLEON’S PANTS
“Check out the pictures of the dude measuring Napoleon’s pants!” REFERENCE: Napoleon’s autopsy: New perspectives. (2005) A. Lugli MD, A. Kopp Lugli, M. Horcic. Human Pathology (2005) 36, 320-324 ABSTRACT: In 1821 Napoleon died in exile on the Island of St. Helena. Although the autopsy had suggested stomach cancer as the cause of death, in 1961 an elevated arsenic concentration was found in Napoleon’s hair. This finding elicited numerous theories of conspiracy, treachery, and poisoning. Most recent reports even suggested inappropriate medical treatment may have contributed to the exiled Emperor’s death. Napoleon’s apparent obesity at the time of his demise…
JOURNAL CLUB FIND: NAPOLEON’S PANTS
“Check out the pictures of the dude measuring Napoleon’s pants!” REFERENCE: Napoleon’s autopsy: New perspectives. (2005) A. Lugli MD, A. Kopp Lugli, M. Horcic. Human Pathology (2005) 36, 320-324 ABSTRACT: In 1821 Napoleon died in exile on the Island of St. Helena. Although the autopsy had suggested stomach cancer as the cause of death, in 1961 an elevated arsenic concentration was found in Napoleon’s hair. This finding elicited numerous theories of conspiracy, treachery, and poisoning. Most recent reports even suggested inappropriate medical treatment may have contributed to the exiled Emperor’s death. Napoleon’s apparent obesity at the time of his demise…
A COLLECTION OF POEMS
Untitled (ice cap) If you went to a polar ice cap as an explorer or whatever and found a woman encased in ice looking up, mouth open, yellow robe maybe she even has a shield would you, tired and itchy, think of her as an Ideal, fall to fighting your companions to the death over the hard cool promise of fidelity, or, sticking to your guns, circle the ice shard watch her staid lips and say it’s only science? — Untitled (humans) When humans are a simple glance in a museum they shine — Untitled (whalebone) Slices of whalebone gently…
HOW THE SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS ELUCIDATED IN SCIENCE MAGAZINE WILL AFFECT MY LIFE (VOLUME 2)
Papers Discussed: 1.Ira M. Longini Jr. et al., Containing Pandemic Influenza at the Source, Science, 2005, 309:5737, pp1083-1087. 2. Marcel Cardillo et al., Multiple Causes of High Extinction Risk in Large Mammal Species, Science, 2005, 309:5738, pp 1239-1241 3. Andreas Olsson et al., The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear, Science, 2005, 309:5735, pp 785-787 4. Brad Allenby and Jonathan Fink, Toward Inherently Secure and Resilient Societies, Science, 2005, 309:5737, pp 1034-1036 * * * Generally speaking, I am cowardly. Even a partial list of things I fear is a lengthy one and includes (among other…
HOW THE SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS ELUCIDATED IN SCIENCE MAGAZINE WILL AFFECT MY LIFE (VOLUME 2)
Papers Discussed: 1.Ira M. Longini Jr. et al., Containing Pandemic Influenza at the Source, Science, 2005, 309:5737, pp1083-1087. 2. Marcel Cardillo et al., Multiple Causes of High Extinction Risk in Large Mammal Species, Science, 2005, 309:5738, pp 1239-1241 3. Andreas Olsson et al., The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear, Science, 2005, 309:5735, pp 785-787 4. Brad Allenby and Jonathan Fink, Toward Inherently Secure and Resilient Societies, Science, 2005, 309:5737, pp 1034-1036 * * * Generally speaking, I am cowardly. Even a partial list of things I fear is a lengthy one and includes (among other…