Posts filed under “Uncategorized”
Genome
I attended the very last lecture of my evolution class this semester last Friday. Like all the rest of the lectures, it was impossibly dull. This professor has made facts out of things I thought could never happen, like falling asleep during a lecture on sexual selection. Despite my professor’s best efforts, however, I’m still […]
What I’ve Noticed
Anti-vaxxers are a blast from the past – who knew whooping cough would still be killing people in developed countries in the 21st century? Important information that your intro stats professor likely didn’t mention. While cutting classes and entire programs, reducing pay for already underpaid professors, and laying people off right and left, my university […]
Berry Go Round #27
Berry Go Round #27 is up now at A Neotropical Savanna. If, like me, you’re still wearing wool coats and winter boots and looking longingly at the teeny tiny buds hoping spring will JUST HURRY UP, it might help you forget that it’s 24 degrees out right now. It could also make you even crankier […]
Pretty Things
Not enough
Oil isn’t the only thing we’re running out of. Rare earth minerals that you’ve probably never heard of but that are essential for modern technology are, well, rare. Many are located in countries we compete with and getting them out of the ground requires willingness to absolutely destroy that local environment. We’re going to have […]
Oil
Something terrible is supposed to happen on my birthday in 2012. I don’t put much stock in the predictions of the Mayan calendar, but the world oil shortfall that’s predicted to occur in 2012 probably won’t have many good consequences. We are completely unprepared to transition to a non-fossil fuel based economy, so I can […]
High density cities
If we all lived at the density people in Brooklyn do, everyone in America would fit in New Hampshire. I’m not suggesting that we all move to New Hampshire, of course. But imagine the problems we’d solve if our major cities were condensed. If places are closer together, people can walk more. This doesn’t just […]