By Dr. Robert Thorson Dude. Go with the wave, not against it. Ignore the best-laid plans of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build an enormous bulwark of boulders in front of the Montauk Point lighthouse, arguably Long Island’s most distinctive landmark. Instead, move it back to safer ground, brick by brick if necessary. […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Here’s my list of momentous events for 2004, ranging in topic from hard science to paternal pride, and in scale from outer space to home and hearth. For each category, I offer a widely reported news story, followed by an underreported story that was equally important to me. Solar system. Two […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson I’ve got Lyme disease. This makes me hopping mad at whoever’s in charge of letting this “important public health concern” run wild when we know how to tame it. Connecticut’s Department of Public Health, source of the quote above, writes that we have the “highest number of cases relative to the […]

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 […]