The first substantial update to national science teaching standards in roughly 15 years — and the first including the science of human-driven climate change — is open for public comment through this month. Here’s a short video description:The effort has been directed by Achieve, an organization created by states and corporate backers eager to boost student performance and prospects as science and technology increasingly drive economies. The final (optional) standards will help guide states in shaping science curricula and requirements.The foundation for the standards was laid in a National Academy of Sciences report. Other groups involved in the effort are the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Teachers Association and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which has provided much of ... Continue reading →
By Keith Kloor, a freelance journalist whose stories have appeared in a range of publications, from Science to Smithsonian. Since 2004, he’s been an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University. You can find him on Twitter here. Greens are often mocked as self-righteous, hybrid-driving, politically correct foodies these days (see this episode of South Park and this scene from Portlandia.) But it wasn’t that long ago—when Earth First and Earth Liberation were in the headlines—that greens were perceived as militant activists. They camped out in trees to stop clear-cutting and intercepted whaling ships and oil and gas rigs on the high seas. In recent years, a new forceful brand of green activism has come back into vogue. One action (carried out with Monkey ... Continue reading →
Via @CarlZimmer Loom Jr., saw NASA's great variant on Adam Nieman method of conveying resource size in comprehensible way. Here's Nieman's 2003 image of Earth's liquid water and atmosphere (relevant post here): Continue reading →
Via @CarlZimmer Loom Jr., saw NASA's great variant on Adam Nieman method of conveying resource size in comprehensible way. Here's Nieman's 2003 image of Earth's liquid water and atmosphere (relevant post here): Continue reading →
Large Pelagics Research Center.The oceanographer Molly Lutcavage inserting a tag into a bluefin tuna.Atlantic bluefin tuna aren’t much of a mystery when they’re dead. Sushi chefs roaming the Tokyo fish market can appraise a bluefin steak with a cursory glance. Multitudes of people are intimate with the distinct texture and flavor of bluefin meat.But much about the lifetimes of these high-profile fish is unknown, and what is known is often misunderstood. “The bluefin tuna is an extremely complicated animal,” said Molly Lutcavage, the director of the Large Pelagics Research Center of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.Dr. Lutcavage has been tagging bluefin for 15 years in an effort to shed light on the travels of these long-lived oceanic wanderers. A study published this week in ... Continue reading →
How One Man's Flaming Water Fired Up a Battle Between Texas and the EPA Steve Lipsky's epic battle and what it means for the future of fracking. By Brantley Hargrove published: April 26, 2012 Steve Lipsky gripped a garden hose and held it at arm's length, staring as a guttering tongue of fire poured from its end and grew another foot before his eyes. "Look at that," he said in awe as the flame, liquid and sinuous, licked the rural darkness outside his home in Parker County. "It's getting bigger. Holy cow! Look at that. We're up to five feet. That's not even, what, 25 minutes? We could do this a lot bigger." As the fire blazed and was recorded on a video camera during ... Continue reading →
If researchers want to make progress with genetically modified crops, they must join their opponents in examining regulation CONTROVERSY over genetically modified wheat is building to what seems likely to be confrontation in the UK on 27 May. On that day, the anti-GM group Take Back the Flour has called for protesters to gather 30 minutes from London at the site of field trials, and to "decontaminate" the area by destroying the crop. Researchers involved with the trials have responded with an open letter and video appeal to the protesters, urging restraint. But as this case and emerging food-biotech conflicts in the US show, an easy, communication-based fix is elusive. If scientists want to ensure they can do such research, they need to join activists ... Continue reading →
