A Christmas Play – – – Characters: Dr. Macy: a young female scientist Dr. Terrell: the ex-chairman of the department Charles Darwin: looking a bit like Santa Dr. Fred Gimble: Macy’s boyfriend Geemo: Macy’s daughter The Recombinant DNA BioSafety Committee Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Vader, and the Invisible Man (Macy is in the lab, working.) Macy (on the phone): Yes, I know what time it is. (Pause) I’ll go home when I’m done – I mean, when she’s done. (She covers the phone and speaks to a flask full of media. ) This time it’ll work honey. I’m sure of it.…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From archive
A NOTE FROM SANTA ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING
It has come to our attention here at Pole Headquarters that something disastrous is occurring in regards to the Earth. It seems that there have been too many bad little boys and girls polluting the atmosphere with the byproducts of carbon fuels, causing world temperatures to rise. While we here at Pole Headquarters do not completely understand the science behind this, we have noted that our own workshops are beginning to sink into the ice, and that our candy striped North Pole is now leaning ominously. We can assure the world’s population that all manner of people from corporate planners…
OUR WORLD
Rise and shine, Earth Your beauty is Marvelous, Earth The pollution, Earth It has destroyed you Yes, my child I am damaged The destruction mocks my beauty My wild prairies My frost kisses, here and there My cool, spring breezes My autumn leaves My yellow daffodils, just bloomed They have no respect, Earth Not for you, Earth Not for your scenery, Your wetlands, Your rainforests, You, Earth It will end, my child When all of my human beings decide to end it.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, OR CHUCK IT IN THE GARBAGE – DO WE REALLY KNOW WHICH IS BEST?
The environmentalism movement is currently experiencing an injection of perhaps well-needed popularity. Celebrities who own multiple homes that could each comfortably house the inhabitants of small villages, and who regularly circumnavigate the globe in private jets that have a maximum capacity of seven, routinely remind us to do such environmentally responsible things as turn the lights off when leaving a room lest we become wasteful. Manufacturers of products ranging from toilet cleaners to sport utility vehicles advertise their wares as being earth- friendly by arbitrarily adding prefixes like “eco”, “bio”, or “green” to product names in hopes of capitalizing on…
BUILDING A “SUSTAINABLE” GINGERBREAD HOUSE: THE CONTEST
(image source) O.K. So the deal is that it’s the holidays – and soon the whole merriment parade will be kicking into high gear. This includes a number of things that I bet many households end up going through. Things such as: 1. the strategic maneuvering of the mistletoe locale. 2. watching the antics of nasally sounding claymation elves, 3. arguing over the relative merits of putting raisins in the stuffing, 4. real tree, fake tree, or no tree. 5. debating the necessity of the feature length Grinch movie, 6. figuring out what did “my true love give to me”…
SCIENCE FICTION VS FANTASY: AN OPINIONATED GUIDE
I Fanboy: Hey gang! Did you read The Sword of Shanara? The characters traveled hundreds of miles described in excruciating detail for hundreds of pages, until they reached the ultimate battle between good and evil! Cool huh? Scientist: Whatever. The characters in Red Planet traveled 48 million miles to Mars, while those in 2001 traveled 369 million miles to Jupiter. Characters in Asimov’s Foundation books travel millions of light-years all over the Milky Way galaxy in routine manner. Isn’t it amazing what people can accomplish when they don’t have to walk everywhere? Thank a scientist for your planes, trains, automobiles,…
FLORAL KALEIDESCOPE
White Agapanthus Some years ago I began photographing exotic tropical hibiscus blooms to catalog my collection. Part of the appeal in growing these beauties is cross pollinating to create new cultivars. I wanted a catalog of my collection so that I could keep a record of which blooms were crossed and what offspring they produced. In that way I could have an idea of whether specific colored flower parents would produce a certain color offspring. You see exotic tropical hibiscus are not true breeders. Even if you were to pollinate a bloom with its own pollen you would not get…
DISPATCH FROM THE E.R.
I sat down on the folding chair in front of the emergency room admitting nurse and explained what had happened: “I’ve had an accident in my laboratory.” I was expecting a dramatic reaction. Instead I got barely a raised eyebrow. It must take a lot to surprise an emergency room nurse but still, hadn’t she heard about all the superheroes that have emerged from lab experimentation gone awry (Did she not know about Spiderman, who was bitten by a radioactive spider, or The Incredible Hulk, who was irradiated by gamma rays?) Was she not curious as to what superhuman feats…
RISKING THE BATTERY
surge protector hook up shook up and bypassed straight to the outlet at logic’s upheaval to sacrifice security for a higher rate of retrieval, buying the power sight unseen– is it safe, is it clean? the generator gleans every cell for total objectification… warning bells drown out by praises of connection signaling perfection though a wall still subsides, separates, divides. the fuse might blow in a dignified sublimation, cremation… scattering sparks of anticipation, elation, total emancipation…