By Dr. Robert Thorson Forty years ago, on April 30, 1977, thousands of protesters converged on Seabrook, N.H., to protest nuclear power generation in the United States. My sympathies were with them. Their signs read “Split Wood Not Atoms,” and “Go Fishing, Not Fission.” Led by the Clamshell Alliance, they created a national backlash against […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Take a good look at your Christmas tree (if you have one). If it’s real and if a child can see it, smell it and touch it, then you are helping to fight against a serious emerging problem in America: Nature Deficit Disorder. That catchy phrase comes from the subtitle of […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Being drowned out by the din of politics and economics is a celebration by scientists around the world. This academic year spans Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his most famous work “The Origin of Species.” Hence, the University of Connecticut is sponsoring a yearlong series of eight talks […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Consider the sampling of biodiversity at a Thanksgiving feast. The humans, the turkey, the potatoes, the cranberries and the pumpkin. All came from a physical cradle of life, the Earth. This year, the changing Earth is getting serious respect for being the prime mover of organic evolution. For this I am […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Sometimes I just shake my head when politicians just don’t get it. Things like U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s recent denial that carbon emissions have a significant role in climate warming, and Donald Trump’s recent decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement. As a proud American, I’m doubly ashamed […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus is alleged to have played his fiddle while Rome burned to the ground. Nero did watch Rome burn on the hot night of July 18, 64 B.C. But he didn’t fiddle – – at least not with a violin — because the instrument had yet […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Over the past two weeks, the Red Sox have proved something that geologists have known for some time: New England is one large state. Boston is its capital. During this sports-besotted autumn spectacular, I discovered a one-to-one correlation between the geography of Red Sox Nation and the geology of New England. […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Each Thanksgiving I find something to be thankful for that most people miss. This year, my gratitude is for a new discovery about our beautiful blue planet. For the past few days, I’ve been reading Florence William’s new book about the medicinal value of nature. For her, “The Nature Fix” (the […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson When I began teaching at UConn in 1984, I started a file of state newspaper clippings for my earth sciencecourses. One of the first things I learned was that more than 6,000 acres of wetland on the Connecticut shore was converted to dry land prior to the 1970s by ditching, draining […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The deafening crescendo of political din is done. What a relief! Perhaps now we will be able to hear the cries from the other animal species on Earth that didn’t have a chance to vote. Assuming that you will not be moved to compassion by bug-eyed insects, slimy mollusks or slithering […]