By Dr. Robert Thorson Last year gave me my first chance to live between the tidal cycle and the disaster cycle. Though I’ve had personal encounters with both throughout my life, I had not lived through the rhythms involved, and therefore did not truly understand. Now I do. Last fall, my wife and I leased […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Albert Einstein’s 100th year is being celebrated in science departments throughout the world. This centennial is neither of his birth in 1879 nor of his death in 1955, but of a single year of astonishing scientific productivity. In 1905, Einstein published five articles that opened the floodgates of modern physical science. […]

Dr. Robert Thorson ‘Life will find a way.” This is one of the corniest lines in “Jurassic Park,” and also one of the most hopeful. Perhaps dwelling on this upbeat thought will help us overcome the fact that children are being swept into super tornadoes, U.S. soldiers are being murdered by their Afghan allies, 20-somethings […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Mark Twain once quipped, “I believe that our Heavenly Father invented man because he was disappointed in the monkey.” To me, this is a great joke about evolution. To many conservative Christians, however, it isn’t the slightest bit funny because it suggests a fallible, trial-and-error god inconsistent with the theory of […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson June seems to be the month for biological invasions. Last year it was the roadkill cougar in Milford. This year a black bear fell out of a tree in New Britain, and a moose was tranquilized in Plainville. These bits of newsworthy fun are ecologically trivial compared with what happened on […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson I’m not much of a bird-watcher. But I’m a devoted and appreciative observer of the common loon. Every time I see its black-and-white beauty, hear its eerie wail or watch its deep-water diving is a blessing. Each cry of the loon is precious to me. So news that they’re being poisoned […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson This past week, people all across America drove miles to see “The Day after Tomorrow,” Roland Emmerich’s new blockbuster disaster movie about global climate change. I didn’t go, mostly because I don’t like crowds, but also because I know that driving to the movie theater would have dumped many pounds of […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Darwinian evolution comes straight from the head. Biblical creationism comes straight from the heart. Intelligent design also comes from the heart, but is routed through the head. That’s what makes it more dangerous. It’s belief masquerading as thought. A sequel to the famous Scopes “monkey trial” is now underway in Dover, […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The mop-up after mid-August’s Hurricane Charley took place on many fronts. There was grieving for lives lost. There were homeowners returning to personal disaster. There was an influx of insurance adjusters, health officials, scam artists, hazard investigators and so on. Finally, there were journalists shifting the blame for the destruction to […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson In late December, I resolved to read Michael Crichton’s new novel, “State of Fear,” which suggests that global warming is little more than hot air. By mid-January, I skipped my resolution, having leafed through the book, read a few reviews and monitored www.realclimate.org for scientific reactions. Crichton is correct about many […]