The tour guide stood at the base of the structure and waited for people to catch up and shut up. This was a twice a day activity and it was hot. The structure was a tower 100 stories tall built more than a thousand years ago by an unknown civilization in the heart of the Amazon. The tour guide was a human about 160 cm tall built not quite 30 years ago by Ted and Irene Clark in the heart of Minnesota. An overly elongate sign stood to the tour guide’s left with a cartoonish representation of the tower and…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From archive
REVIEW OF EZRA POUND’S “ON BIOCHEMISTRY” TEXTBOOK, 6TH EDITION
The long awaited and multiply postponed 6th Edition of Ezra Pound’s “On Biochemistry” continues the tradition of the previous five editions by costing far more than one would reasonably imagine such a book should cost. This is the fourth edition of the text published since Pound’s death, and thus also continues the biochemistry publishing industry’s penchant for postmortem publishing. Although Pound’s poetry and prose are stunningly beautiful, they serve as poor conduits for the conveyance of complex biochemical concepts such as oxidative phosphorylation or the citric acid cycle. The raw emotion of the reproduced hand drawings is nice, but they…
THE UNSENT FINAL COMMUNICATION FROM THE DESK OF ALBERT EINSTEIN
To Whom I Have Chosen: If you have received this letter, I have met my untimely death. Please know that I have not died by whatever reason(s) was/were publicly given, but was assassinated by extremist religious groups. My battle with them has raged for decades and I have made preparations, knowing this to be my end. My estate’s executor has dispatched this letter to you, as you are one of the top scientists in your field – be it biology, physics, chemistry, or another discipline. You have received this because you must now know the ultimate secret that I have…
MY GREATEST FEAR REGARDING SCIENCE
GLOBAL ISSUES FOR BREAKFAST: THE BANANA INDUSTRY AND ITS PROBLEMS FAQ (COHEN MIX)
Bananas are just a fruit, how are they considered a global issue? Although bananas may only look like a fruit, they represent a wide variety of environmental, economic, social, and political problems. The banana trade symbolizes economic imperialism, injustices in the global trade market, and the globalization of the agricultural economy [1]. Bananas are also number four on the list of staple crops in the world and one of the biggest profit makers in supermarkets, making them critical for economic and global food security [2]. As one of the first tropical fruits to be exported, bananas were a cheap way…
THE DOT SONG
A curve is a dot that flew like a hawki. An icosahedron is a dot that didn’t know where to stopii. A scribble is a dot not knowing what it soughtiii. A circle is a dot that just goes round and round, A coil is a dot that keeps getting woundiv. An exclamation is a dot with an erectionv. An asterisk is a dot with hairvi. A Buckyball is a dot that was out there to shopvii. A doodle is a dot that dances a loti. A colon is a dot who found true loveviii. A knot is a dot…
WORLD TRAVEL
It is one of those forests where, if you run fast enough, barefooted and alive, you can touch off – roots and ground- shadows become branches, green acorns, and shade falling asleep until you find yourself swimming in the clouds, not kicking but push-gliding, lungs and down-soft sun breathing in and out through every pore. A bird may nibble the moss from between your toes, but other than that you’d never know you were the least bit out of place. You’ll know you have arrived when you hear my footsteps approaching from behind the ocean. They plink, maroon-gold and bronze,…
MOONRISE
I never realized the moonrise was so bloody. It hangs over the hazy lights of the city like an attacking alien planet, looking much more like Mars than Mars, which actually looks like a star, and is only slightly red if you squint really, really hard. Outside the city, on an empty access road, I get the best view I can afford, but even here in the prairies, I am resentful of all the things in my way. I’ve reaffirmed my vague ambition to drive to the desert and sleep under the stars sometime. I can imagine the huddled masses…
GENESIS OF EVOLUTION
Adam and Eve, naked and not smart, sat somewhere in the Garden of Eden. A snake slithered afoot. It said, “Tss, come gorge yourselves upon the forbidden fruit and escape from your self-incarceration in the prison of ignorance.” Adam and Eve looked at each other, shrugged, and started having sex. The snake shook its head and took a pair of quick bites from Adam’s and Eve’s ass cheeks. “Yow!” they yelled. The couple quickly grew afraid and looked upon the snake much the same way they looked upon God. The snake said, “Tss, tss, follow me.” The snake snaked its…