The downturn in human nutrition began long before Ray Kroc brought Big Macs to the masses, Coca Cola conned developing countries into buying their addictive sugary concoctions and Nestlé weaseled its way into babies’ bellies with formula milk. Long, long before. Archeologists call it the Neolithic Revolution, the series of events that started in the […]
Barry Evans
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Measuring the Meter
We’re spatial creatures. We live in a three-dimensional world, with our fourth “dimension” — time — conceptualized in terms of space. That is, we refer to time as if it were space: We turn clocks “forward” or “back” twice a year; we agree to “move up” a meeting; we wonder “where the time went.” In […]
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No Celtic? Blame the Volcano
Celtic is virtually absent in the English language, despite the fact that almost everyone in what is now England spoke a branch of Celtic before Germanic speakers invaded the country following the departure of Roman legions in 410 A.D., as I discussed in “The Weirdness of English, Part 2” (March 16, 2017). The exception is […]
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Delusion is My (and Your) Middle Name
Quick quiz: Would you rather receive $100 right now or $120 a month from now? Most people take the $100 right now, despite the extraordinary offer of 20 percent per month interest. Let’s do that again. Would you take $100 a year from now or $120 13 months from now? Most people choose $120, even […]
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James Dyson’s Electric Car
“Anyone who can convince people to part with $400 for a hair dryer knows a thing or two about marketing.” — Steve Hanley, CleanTechnica James Dyson built 5,127 prototypes before releasing his innovative “say goodbye to the bag” cyclone vacuum cleaner onto the market in 1983. Since then, you’ve no doubt dried your hands on […]
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Cancer, Part 2: Turtles, Birds and Rabbits
Last week, we looked at some of the many reasons why the diagnosis and treatment of cancer are so difficult and controversial. A common way of illustrating the problem is the “turtle-bird-rabbit” analogy. Although it can equally well apply to breast cancer (the most common cancer in women), here I’ll discuss it in relation to […]
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Cancer, Part 1: The Unwinnable War
Like the War on Drugs, the $500 million War on Cancer was doomed from the get-go. In the case of drugs, you’re fighting human nature. With cancer, the opponent is an even more implacable force: evolution, which, according to British chemist Leslie Orgel, “is cleverer than you are.” We all know about the ravages of […]
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Looking for Aliens
Seems we’re hearing a lot about aliens these days. They’re humans supposedly swarming over the border, snails invading our lakes, plants taking over the dunes. Even cancer cells, those utterly homegrown products of their hosts, are deemed “alien.” The word itself derives from its Proto-Indo-European root *al- (1) = “beyond” via Latin alienus “of or […]
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Eight Tree Myths
I recently — and rashly — accepted an invitation to co-teach a class on trees, bowing to the old saw about learning by teaching. Fortunately, my co-teachers kept me honest and I was able to capitalize on my ignorance. Turned out some of my “facts” weren’t. Like the following: Wood from “hardwood” trees is always […]
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Physics’ Beautiful Crisis
Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ — that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” — John Keats, from “Ode on a Grecian Urn” What works for old pots doesn’t necessarily work for physics. In fact, the search for “beauty” has stymied progress in physics for the past 40 years, according to […]
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The Bear Harbor Railroad, 1892-1905
Last week, we followed the saga of the Bear Harbor Railroad from the delivery in 1892 of a “Gypsy” locomotive — what would become Bear Harbor Lumber Company No. 1 — to the early 1900s, when the grandiose plans of lumberman Neff Anderson began to be fulfilled with construction of the mill town of Andersonia, […]
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The Bear Harbor Railroad, 1892-1905
From May to September on the third Saturday of each month, visitors to Fort Humboldt State Park enjoy free rides behind a couple of veteran steam logging locomotives, courtesy of the Timber Heritage Association. The Falk operated for 40 years from 1884 on, including serving Noah Falk’s eponymous town. The other announces her heritage in […]