By Dr. Robert Thorson One of President Donald Trump’s primary initiatives is to put workers back to work on public infrastructure. Though transportation is usually the highest priority, I suggest we pay more attention to the tens of thousands of aging dams spread across the country. As I write, the communities below California’s Oroville Dam […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson I have a secret love affair to confess. It’s rekindled each spring at about the time college students shed their winter clothing and begin to study half-naked in the sun. My secret spring love is not with damsels or daffodils, but with dust. Good old-fashioned silicate grit. As students spread out […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson We scientists can be terrible movie critics, especially for science fiction sagas such as “Star Wars.” Though we can appreciate the power of myth, sensory arousal, dramatic chase scenes and buttered popcorn as much as the next guy, our day jobs require we be on guard for natural phenomenon that just […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson `Splendor In The Grass.” That line, borrowed from the English romantic poet William Wordsworth, was the title of an Oscar-winning 1961 film by Elia Kazan about passionate young love in summertime Kansas. “Splendor In The Leaves.” Were I a writer of romance novels (which is pretty hard for a Norwegian male […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Cry me a river. That’s what I say to the animal rights activists protesting blood on the snow in northwestern New Jersey, where nearly 300 black bears were killed during a six-day season ending last weekend. A shot of adrenaline. That’s what I say to the 7 percent of the 4,400 […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson ‘Twas the day after Christmas, When all through the house The muse of this columnist Was as dead as a trapped mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, The polar bear, tin soldier and bear … Wait a minute! What in winter wonderland is a penguin doing there […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson One trillion dollars. That’s what President Donald Trump proposes for rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, much of it concrete. The American Society of Civil Engineers suggests $4.6 trillion is a better number, based on its benchmark report from last week. That profession has spent more time studying concrete than any other. […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The Galapagos Islands off the west coast of Ecuador are a very special place. Yet some of that specialness is allegedly being chopped down and shipped around the world, in the name of athleticshoe marketing at shopping malls. This is worse than sad. It’s a profanity. It’s an obscenity when a […]

SENSE OF PLACE: PART 1: MAKING CONNECTICUT The Primal State of Architecture Hartford Courant, Sunday June 8, 2003, page. C4. Architecture hasn’t changed that much. The Roman architect Vitruvius defined this most complex of disciplines as the union of “firmness, commodity and delight.” Using more familiar language, architecture strives to produce buildings and spaces that […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Warning: This column is not for the squeamish. Those with weak stomachs are advised to stop eating before reading. When it comes to invasive species, my least favorite is the Canada goose (Branta canadensis). Their raucous flocks used to be a powerful symbol of seasonal rhythms and wildlife migration. Now they’re […]