George Johnson, as many long time readers of the NYTimes know, is a Santa Fe-based writer of grace and deep curiosity about the natural as well as the made world. He provides, on p. 1 but below the section’s fold a fine display of his relaxed but punctilious approach to story. But one infers, while speculating, that it ought to be read while keeping in mind a common dilemma of reporting. Which is, just because one’s protagonist is the most charming, engaging, imaginative person one has recently met does not mean he or she has the facts straight. It is a Scientist At Work piece, about an archeologist with a maverick, not quite outre, unifying hypothesis tying together pre-Columbian ruins from Mexico to Colorado that happen to be nearly on a straight north-south line. It is engaging but, as Johnson keeps saying, while most in the field read of it avidly, they aren’t buying it. Yet its author is so bold and confident that … well, one can almost feel the conflicts caroming like scattershot in Johnson’s cranium as he balances what is enjoyably stimulating with what is persuasive.
The lead story, with a big picture of two fireflies backed up against one another real friendly-like, is a detailed piece by the exuberant Carl Zimmer on the scintillating love and evolution puzzles to be found among these insects. The Tracker had absolutely no idea that half a dozen different species might be blinking in one American meadow simultaneously, or that there are thousands of kinds of them around the world. This also is largely a scientist-at-work profile, of a woman transfixed by glow bugs since grad school. One thing confused: Exactly how can it be simultaneously true that adult fire flies never eat, and yet (as we’re told three paragaphs later) one species eats other fireflies? An answer to do with defensive toxins is implied but it threw me for awhile.
Other notable headlines:
- Amy Lee: Tibetan Monks and Nuns Turn Their Minds Toward Science ; Terrific account, not of any specific science, but of science as a way of thinking. Plus, it seems that Tibetan monks usually get all the ink. Nice to read about the nuns.
- Kenneth Chang – Paleontology and Creationism Meet but Don’t Mesh ; So imagine you’re at this big meeting of bona fide fossil scientists and they decide to take a field trip to a Biblically-inspired museum of deep time, where the staff meets them with agreat friendly hello. You’d go along, right? So did Chang. Nice story, with no surprises except perhaps that it stayed rather friendly.
- Donald G. McNeil: New Flu Vaccine Approved – for Dogs ; An unusual context for describing some flu basics. Also, another reason why it is cruel that dog breeders came up with pug-nosed varieties.
- Abigail Zuker MD – BOOKS/ The Puzzle Of Spaces That Soothe ; Conversation fodder. Almost fringe medicine, too. Why do some environments – just by their color and composition, settle the mind, maybe ease healing?
Plenty more. Whole Section ;
Leave a Reply