Would you like to learn the unvarnished story about oil sands, an often highly-touted source of fuel? The March issue of National Geographic has a detailed article on oil sands, focusing on a production facility in Alberta Canada: "Scraping Bottom." It's an already profitable environment-unfriendly carbon-irresponsible way to feed America's often-wasteful craving for fuel. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]
David Sloan Wilson has written some terrific articles on the topic of evolution. I recently ran across a 2005 article he wrote for PLoS Biology www.plosbiology.org titled "Evolution for Everyone: How to Increase Acceptance of, Interest in, and Knowledge about Evolution." The article explains the method by which Binghamton University has successfully infused its undergraduate curriculum with real-life applications of evolutionary theory. The EvoS program began in 2002. Here's the mission of EvoS:
The mission of EvoS is to advance the study of evolution in all its manifestations, including all aspects of humanity in addition to the biological sciences. Many organizations and websites promote the study of evolution, but EvoS is unique in two respects.
• EvoS is based on the realization that evolutionary theory will probably never be generally accepted--no matter how well supported by facts--unless its consequences for human affairs are fully addressed. Once evolution is seen as unthreatening, explanatory, and useful for solving life's problems, then it becomes not just acceptable but irresistable to the average person (see the tutorial for more).
• EvoS makes a connection between evolutionary theory and the unification of knowledge, which has always been the goal of a liberal arts education and contemporary efforts to integrate across disciplines. The same kind of unification that took place in the biological sciences during the 20th century is now taking places for the human behavioral sciences and humanities--but is not yet reflected in the structure of higher education. EvoS is the first program to diagnose this problem and comprehensively provide a solution at a campus-wide scale.
David Sloan Wilson explains that the Binghamton program makes use of 50 faculty members representing 15 departments. The program was created based on the following assumption: "Evolution can be made acceptable, interesting, and powerfully relevant to just about anyone in the space of a single semester."
I spent the afternoon at Dallas-Fort-Worth Airport, unsuccessfully trying to get on a standby flight, then waiting for my originally scheduled flight. While I waited, I walked about, amazed at the size of the airport. The airport stretches as far as the eye can see.
Gazing out of the terminal, you can see several control towers in the distance. A woman at the information booth told me that DFW covers more ground than Manhattan. I had a difficult time believing it, but it turns out that it's true. I learned here that DFW covers more than 29.8 square miles (18,076 acres), whereas Manhattan covers only 22.96 square miles. The airport is so big, that it is necessary to travel between terminals on an elaborate tram system ("Skylink" covers a 5-mile route at speeds of up to 35 mph).
The vast grounds of DFW are 
overwhelming, but so is the interior. It's an entire city, staffed with 60,000 employees. There must be hundreds of restaurants and stores. Including this one, called "Lone Star Attitude." I noticed this store because I sat across from it waiting for my standby flight. It was a bit creepy, looking at the cows dressed up in human clothes. I think I'll get over it, but I did wonder whether this was an effective form of marketing. Perhaps only in Texas.
[Photos by Erich Vieth]
Oxford psychologists have recently concluded that playing Tetris might serve to lessen the effects of post traumatic stress disorder.
Playing ‘Tetris’ after traumatic events could reduce the flashbacks experienced in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), preliminary research by Oxford University psychologists suggests. If this early-stage work continues to show promise, it could inform new clinical interventions for use immediately after trauma to prevent or lessen the flashbacks that are the hallmark symptom of PTSD.
If you're looking for t-shirts with Darwin images and slogans, look no further.
