NewsTrust - Biology - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Spiderman on Broadway? ‘Been There, Done That,’ Say Ants

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By Michael Todd - Jan. 24 (Interview) - Insect biologist Rob Dunn has uncovered a hot spot of insect biodiversity.

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Seth Shostak: Life, But Not As We Know It

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Seth Shostak - Dec. 06 (Opinion) - The import of the discovery of a new arsenic-based microbe is that finding life as we don't know it will give us a better shot at testing for biology on worlds that are, both by definition and in fact, truly alien.

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Monsanto, Big Brother of the New World Agricultural Order

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Mickey Z. - Jun. 27 (Interview) - In a review of these two projects, Leslie Thatcher writes: "What Marie-Monique Robin most effectively documents are the perverse effects - the moral, social, technological, economic and market failures - of Western society's economic organization, most specifically with respect to science and the products of science and, ultimately, with respect to the preservation of the public commons and human life on the planet."

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Does the Internet Make Us Smarter or Dumber? Yes.

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

GigaOM - By Mathew Ingram - Jun. 06 (Opinion) - Is the Internet making us smarter or dumber? The Wall Street Journal put together a couple of provocative essays this weekend looking at that question: one from Nick Carr, whose most recent book “The Shallows” argues that the Internet is making us less attentive and in general less intelligent (Wired has an excerpt here), and the other from Clay Shirky, whose latest book “Cognitive Surplus” argues that the Internet is on balance a good thing for both individuals and society. So who wins this debate? Arguably only the reader, who might find something worthwhile in both viewpoints. Certainly neither one wins by a landslide — primarily because both of them are right.

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Bolivian Conservationist Calls For Preservation of Madidi Region - One of Most Biodiverse Areas of World

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Rosa Maria Ruiz, Amy Goodman - Apr. 22 (Interview) - As Bolivian president Evo Morales is being celebrated internationally for hosting the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth, some Bolivian environmentalists and conservationists have questioned Morales' domestic policies. In northern Bolivia, Morales has supported oil exploration and other development inside the Madidi National Park. The region is considered one of the most biodiverse areas on Earth. On Thursday I spoke with Rosa Maria Ruiz who has worked in the Madidi region for decades and led efforts for the region to be protected.

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A high-fructose corn syrup researcher answers his critics

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Tom Laskawy - Apr. 13 (Interview) - I have to admit that I was fascinated to watch the fallout over the Princeton HFCS study. What I thought would generate a "oh, look, another great reason to avoid HFCS!" reaction swiftly turned into "that study doesn't prove a thing!!" -- a sentiment that nutritionists, food business columnists and the Corn Refiners Association all, remarkably, shared.

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Why 'Ida' Inspires Navel-Gazing at Our Ancestry

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

LiveScience - May. 20 (Opinion) - One long line of evidence that supports evolution is the ongoing discovery of "transitional" fossils that bridge the gap between one obvious kind of species and another. Nowhere are these transitional animals more interesting than when looking backwards through time at the human lineage. This week, scientists from the University of Oslo announced the discovery (or re-discovery since the fossil was dug up in 1983) of a 47-million-year-old female primate known as Ida. This almost complete female animal appears to represent the transition between what are often called "primitive" primates, such as lemurs and lorises (known as prosimians), and the more "lofty" monkey, apes and humans. And even more interesting, this transition was in place long before anyone realized.

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Survival of the Kindest

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Psychology Today - By Dacher Keltner - Feb. 11 (Review) - Two hundred years ago on February 12, Adam Gopnik writes in Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life, two pebbles -- Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln -- were dropped into the sea of life. Their ideas and forms of eloquence have redirected the currents of humanity. One current of Darwin's thought is well-known. His theory of evolution by natural selection would require new genesis stories about the origins of life forms, less arrogant notions about man's place in the great chain of being, and a rethinking of our species as one in flux—and with rather hairy relatives. Less well-known is a second current of Darwin's thought -- his conception of human nature. Think of Darwin and "survival of the fittest" leaps to mind, as do images of competitive individuals -- collections of selfish genes -- going at one another bloody in tooth and claw. "Survival of the fittest" was not Darwin's phrase, but Herbert Spencer's and that of Social Darwinists who used Darwin to justify their wished-for superiority of different classes and races. "Survival of the kindest" better captures Darwin's thinking about his own kind.

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How Congress Trumps Darwin

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Real Clear Politics - By George Will - Feb. 08 (Opinion) - "Descended from the apes!" exclaimed the wife of the bishop of Worcester. "Let us hope that it is not true, but if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known." An American majority resists such an annoying notion, endorsing the proposition that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years." Still, evolution is a fact and its mechanism is natural selection: Creatures with variations especially suited to their environmental situation have more descendants than do less well-adapted creatures.

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Soil Not Oil: Why We Need to Kick Petroleum Out of Our Farms

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Vandana Shiva - Dec. 04 (Opinion) - The following is an excerpt from Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis by Vandana Shiva (South End Press, 2008). The industrialized, globalized food system is based on oil. It is under threat because of the inevitability of "peak oil." It is also under threat because it is more vulnerable than traditional agriculture to climate change, to which it has contributed. Industrial agriculture is based on monocultures. Monocultures are highly vulnerable to changes in climate, and to diseases and pests.

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We are heading for a global environmental credit crunch

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Straight.com - By Charlotte Argue - Sep. 29 (Opinion) - Although this credit crunch may pose a legitimate threat to many livelihoods and pensions, there is another crunch we have much greater reason to fear. We are in the midst of a credit crunch that threatens not only the economy of every country, but also the fate of thousands, if not millions of species, including our own. Our actions, largely driven by the capitalist market, are depleting Earth's resource bank at unprecedented rates, causing a shrinking supply of Earth's resource capital: a global environmental credit crunch.

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Sarah Palin's Creationism Will Rape the Environment

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Chip Ward - Sep. 23 (Opinion) - Evolution is largely about connection and interaction -- the linear connection of one species evolving into another (speciation), but also how species fill niches created by one another, how they interact, exchanging energy and information, how they compete as well as cooperate, and how all of them -- from microbial soils to migrating birds -- form dynamic communities that, in turn, are also woven together, web within web within web. Pull one thread of that living tapestry and you tug at so many others, which is why precaution is so wise.

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Sarah Palin and Global Warming

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Rick Steiner, Amy Goodman - Sep. 17 (Interview) - here you have the state's marine mammal experts, three or four of them, very reputable scientists, agreeing with the federal proposed rule to list polar bears and with the USGS studies showing that polar bears are in serious trouble, yet the governor maintaining her political position that polar bears are not threatened by anything, and they're opposing the listing. So what you had, essentially, was a situation where the governor made a political decision, not a scientific-based one, to oppose the listing. Secondly, she misrepresented the basis of her decision to the public, saying it was based on science, when indeed it really wasn't, and then, thirdly, tried to conceal all of that, when I was simply asking for that scientific review to be released.

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Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Wins 2008 Rubber Dodo Award

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Sep. 17 (Press Release) - "Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee."

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The Regeneration Gap

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Kos - Aug. 10 (Opinion) - If you glance over to the right hand margin, you'll see a diary written by a group of staunch, progressive allies from the Americans for Cures Foundation. They are one of many science advocacy groups operating on a shoestring budget who take on massive anti-science think tanks with limitless financial resources. These talented scientists, proven entrepreneurs, and visionary leaders could sit back and make a lucrative living working for corporate America. They've chosen instead to dedicate their professional careers opposing the forces of ignorance and greed for the mere possibility of helping millions of injured and sick Americans with shattered dreams and broken bodies become whole again.

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The kindness of strangers

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Prospect - By Mark Pagel - Jun. 10 (Review) - So we are a species with a short but intense history of living in relatively isolated groups. We are also a species that invented a new and powerful way of life--called co-operation. Or, more to the point, it is what evolutionary biologists call "indirect reciprocity": the ability to behave co-operatively towards people unrelated to you and with no expectation of immediate "repayment." We help people in distress, we return items of value, we may even put our wellbeing or lives at risk for others, and we have a sense of fairness that we and others ought to behave this way. Our co-operation allows us to have a division of labour and exchange--someone mends the fishing nets while another collects coconuts--and the specialisation this allows is almost certainly responsible for our rapid spread around the world.

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Peace Among Primates

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Sharp Brains - By Robert Sapolsky - Apr. 06 (Opinion) - It used to be thought that humans were the only savagely violent primate. "We are the only species that kills its own," narrators intoned portentously in nature films several decades ago. That view fell by the wayside in the 1960s as it became clear that some other primates kill their fellows aplenty. Males kill; females kill. Some use their toolmaking skills to fashion bigger and better cudgels. Other primates even engage in what can only be called warfare--organized, proactive group violence directed at other populations.

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Crazy U.S. Thinking: Rampant Sexually Spread Diseases and No Talk About Sex!

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lara Riscol - Mar. 28 (Opinion) - Fueling the myth that sexual health education causes promiscuity is blood sport in traditionalists' sex-driven culture war. "In our abstinence-only world today, people sometimes confuse providing sexual education with promoting sexual activity for young people," says Deb Levine. Debra Hauser, executive vice president for Advocates for Youth, agrees. "Even enlightened educators fear that parents and administrators will react negatively to a curriculum that promotes healthy sexuality -- that the perception will be that they are condoning or promoting sex," says Hauser, whose group lobbies for the stalled REAL Act to provide unprecedented funding for sex ed that goes beyond today's disease-prevention model. "The perception of many is that [sex ed] needs a heavy-handed message that teaches sex is likely to lead to negative outcomes. Thirty years of public health research shows that teaching young people about healthy sexuality does not promote sex."

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Who's bad? Chimps figure it out by observation

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Science & Consciousness Review - Mar. 27 (Review) - Chimpanzees make judgments about the actions and dispositions of strangers by observing others' behavior and interactions in different situations. Specifically, chimpanzees show an ability to recognize certain behavioral traits and make assumptions about the presence or absence of these traits in strangers in similar situations thereafter. These findings, by Dr. Francys Subiaul - from the George Washington University in Washington DC - and his team, have just been published online in Animal Cognition, a Springer journal.

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Early Bird Doesn't Always Get The Worm

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ScienceDaily - Mar. 16 (Review) - Competing against older brothers and sisters can be tough work, as any youngest child will tell you. But new research from a biologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that when it comes to some birds, you should reserve any underdog sympathies for the first born -- or rather, first laid -- siblings as well.

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'Power Napping' In Pigeons

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

ScienceDaily - Mar. 07 (Review) - In humans, as in all mammals, sleep consists of two phases: deep, dreamless slow-wave-sleep (SWS) alternates with dream phases, called Rapid Eye Movement (REM)-sleep. Although several studies suggest that information is processed and memories are consolidated during sleep, this remains a hotly debated topic in neurobiology. Comparative studies in birds may help to clarify the function of sleep by revealing overriding principles that would otherwise remain obscure if we only studied mammals. This is because birds are the only taxonomic group other than mammals to show both SWS and REM sleep.

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'Frankenfoods' Giant Monsanto Plays Bully Over Consumer Labeling

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Scott Thill - Mar. 06 (Opinion) - Since 1901, Monsanto has brought us Agent Orange, PCBs, Terminator seeds and recombined milk, among other infamous products. But it's currently obsessed with the milk, or, more importantly, the milk labels, particularly those that read "rBST-free" or "rBGH-free." It's not the "BST" or "BGH" that bothers them so much; after all, bovine somatrophin, also known as bovine growth hormone, isn't exactly what the company is known for. Which is to say, it's naturally occurring. No, the problem is the "r" denoting "recombined." There's nothing natural about it. In fact, the science is increasingly pointing to the possibility that recombined milk is -- surprise! -- not as good for you as the real thing.

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Gene variants may increase risk of anxiety disorders

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Science & Consciousness Review - By Thomas ZoÃ«ga RamsÃ¸y - Mar. 05 (Opinion) - Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers - in collaboration with scientists at the University of California at San Diego and Yale University - have discovered perhaps the strongest evidence yet linking variation in a particular gene with anxiety-related traits. In the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the team describes finding that particular versions of a gene that affects the activity of important neurotransmitter receptors were more common in both children and adults assessed as being inhibited or introverted and also were associated with increased activity of brain regions involved in emotional processing.

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Being social may help your heart

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Greater Good - Mar. 03 (Opinion) - A new study lends some scientific support to the idea that humans are social creatures. -- The study, led by researchers at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health and published in the February issue of the journal Social Science & Medicine, suggests that social health and heart health are linked. The researchers found that low-income participants with a history of heart problems were less likely to have recurring heart attacks or chest pain if they lived in a county with high "social capital, " which means that trust, cooperation, and social networks are pervasive there.

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Flying spaghetti monster defeats anti-evolution FL school board

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Kos - By davidkc - Dec. 26 (Opinion) - Enter the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If you aren't familiar with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it asserts that an omnipotent, airborne clump of spaghetti intelligently designed all life with the touch of its "noodly appendage," and that He appears in "full pirate regalia." The Pastafarians, as the Church's believers call themselves, first came to national attention in 2005, when the Church's leader, twentysomething Bobby Henderson, wrote an open letter to the Kansas Board of Education when the evolution flap was going on there, insisting that students also be taught about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (You can read more about the Church in this recent Wired Magazine article). The Pastafarians appear to have grown in numbers quite a bit since 2005, and soon after the Ledger story appeared, Polk school board members were deluged with e-mails demanding that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism's version of intelligent design be taught in the classrooms alongside evolution and the "alternative" ID theory.

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