#27.    Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on  October 7, 2004, p. A11.    (Mt. St. Helens and the presidential debates).   Teaching respect for nature’s power is the most important challenge facing science educators today. This is fairly easy to achieve when volcanic eruptions offer dramatic images that outmatch even a Hollywood spectacle. […]

#39   Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on December 30, 2004, p. A9 (on the Indian Ocean tsunami). The death toll from the Sumatran tsunami will probably exceed 50,000. Regrettably, most of those drowned at sea died needlessly, either because they were not adequately warned or because they couldn’t interpret the sea’s strange behavior. […]

#200.     Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on Feb 28, 2008, p. A13,  (on global soccer matches picked up by seismometers in Africa).   Leap-frogging I understand. Leap-yearing I do not, unless it involves seismic tremors created by humans. I get the concept of adding an extra day to the calendar every four years. […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson How can I use it? Will it harm me? These two basic questions lie beneath all land-use decisions. Humans live wherever the benefits of using the land for habitat, resources or disposal outweigh the risk of being harmed by the land. This is smart. But there are three problems associated with […]

#148.     Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on February 1, 2007, p. A9 (on the importance of geothermal energy development).   There’s a change blowing in the wind of U.S. energy policy. It’s blowing up from below. Think steam. On Jan. 22, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a blockbuster report titled […]

#100.      Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on March 2, 2006, p. A11 (on deadly lahars in the Philippines).   Ignorance is bliss … until it kills you. Lahar. What is it? What does it mean? It meant death to the Philippine village of Guinsaugon, where 206 children were buried alive in their […]

#222.    Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on Jan 15, 2009, p. A15,  (on news that isn’t news and reverence for Earth).   ‘Where are we going to go when the volcano blows?” That lyric by singer Jim Croce was playing in the background when I was being introduced on WTIC radio during […]

#255.    Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on April 22, 2010, p. A11 (on Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull and the explosion process).   Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull eruption is an Earth Day salute reminding humans of their proper place in nature. “Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.” I used this quote from Will […]

#410.   Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on June 22, 2016  (Drawing a conclusions from the tragic death of Colin Scott).   Though tragic, the death of Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, provides a teaching moment about accepting responsibility and organic chemistry. He’s the man from Portland, Ore., who – with his sister watching […]

#458.  Originally published in Hartford Courant by Robert Thorson on May 10, 2018 (On Kilauea and human powerlessness.)   Kilauea is erupting on the state of Hawaii’s Big Island, reminding us that we all owe our existence to a power greater than ourselves. One of the residents who evacuated from the sputtering volcanic rift zone was, […]