Today's ScienceTimes features two similarly-constructed stories, both in first person with a tale of direct experience, and one of which is not strictly conventional journalism as it lacks extensive consultation with varied sources with their quotes buttressing the reporter's own voice and stance.
- Sean B. Carroll: As Genes Learn Tricks, Animal Lifestyles Evolve ; Carroll is of course the noted evolutionary biologist and honcho at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute who moonlights as a (talented) book and newspaper essayist. This is delightful right from the start including a playful nod of appreciation for a wife who knows her smart husband is also prone to spells of idiocy. Sound familiar? Anyway, it starts with a vignette; its meat is an explainer of how nasty snakes and the love of hot peppers by many people share a reliance on a specific family of proteins.
- Gardiner Harris: When the Mango Bites Back ; Or, how come Harris is in India now? This also has resonance with Carroll's piece aside from the first-person part: more on the idiocy of some of us husbands. Harris, being a reporter, consults (and cites) however a bunch of experts to relay what they have to say about his topic.
- Leslie Kauffman: Intriguing Habitats, and Careful Discussions of Climate Change ; Resonant, in terms of cultural dissonance, with another post today on a book review in Grist.
- John J. Geoghegan: Designers Set Sail, Turning to Wind to Help Power Cargo Ships ; This general topic has been reported before. As wind-assisted but modern freighters have not returned to the sea lanes yet in any numbers an update is in order. I have two questions. Is this not an error of editing or something, to say of one design, "the sails are hollow, designed to telescope into one another in rough weather or at anchor"?? Hollow sails makes no sense to me, and I tried. Surely it is the tapered masts that are hollow and sectioned to withdraw, perhaps the spars are as well so as to internally furl the sails? Second and entirely trivially one asks how the author pronounces his surname. Goffen. Geehan. Gehegan. Geefen. Goffegan. Geegan. Each seems possible. Maybe it's none of those.
As usual, lots more. Whole Section ;
– Charlie Petit
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