By Dr. Robert Thorson Why do we lock young minds into traditional school disciplines? Why does the teacher move from one subject to another in elementary school, and the student from one room to another in middle school? Regardless of who or what moves, it’s still a parade of subjects: history, math, reading, science and […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The top science priorities of President George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry — at least those reported in a recent issue of Science — have one thing in common. Both sidestep socially volatile issues such as cloning, abortion and climate change. Apart from that similarity, however, the candidates’ science […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson There’s a phoenix rising from the coal-tar residues, demolition debris and parking-lot asphalt on the Connecticut River floodplain at Adriaen’s Landing: It’s named the Connecticut Science Center. This name is a phoenix as well, rising from its cumbersome former name, the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration. All by itself, the […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Rhubarb is everything a vegetable should be. It’s zesty, easy to grow, uses only solar energy, seldom requires irrigation and can be socially meaningful. Celery sold in groceries, on the other hand, is bland, environmentally destructive, exploitative of farm labor and spiritually bland. The other night, I attended a potluck supper. […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Homeland security involves more than the threat of terrorism. It also involves the environmental threat posed by the temporary storage of high-level radioactive waste at sites throughout the United States, several of which are near New England rivers. The sooner we get our high-level waste into permanent storage the better. On […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Last week, my vacation travel took me through Franconia Notch, N.H. This smooth-sided glacial valley struck me as more beautiful than ever, now that the “Old Man of the Mountain” is gone and the scar left from where he fell has been healed by the tarnish of time. Ten years. That’s […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Big Y’s corporate officers should be ashamed of themselves. By naming their new Tolland superstore Fieldstone Commons they are turning two of our favorite words into a double-edged marketing gimmick designed to convince us to drop money in their pockets. By using the words “fieldstone” and “commons” they are exploiting our […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The management of Connecticut’s coyotes has literally become a dog-eat-dog issue. These wild canids (Canis latrans) have begun to eat our small domesticated canids (Canis lupus), along with an unknown number of house cats. Figuratively, coyote management pits the freedom we want for these sentient beings against the tameness we require […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson The deadly landslide in La Conchita, Calif., was a study in contrast to the Indian Ocean tsunami. Though many of the scenes were familiar — broken homes (literally), body bags, human grief and explicit television coverage — there was one important difference. Either most tsunami victims were ignorant of what was […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Can playing golf be considered an agricultural activity? If my grandfather Anderson — a strapping, weather-beaten man who earned his living behind a plow — were asked that question when he was alive, he probably would have laughed for a week. Then he would have asked who on God’s great green […]