TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Tuna body shies from fishing ban The body which manages Atlantic bluefin tuna decides not to suspend the fishery in response to dwindling stocks. news.bbc.co.uk |
[press release] Mysteriously warm times in Antarctica Picture GallerySlice of ice core from Berkner Island, depth 120m. Trapped air bubbles (an archive of the past atmosphere) are visible in the ice.Click the image for a higher resolution versionIce core drilling at a Berkner Island drilling site. Scientists have succeeded in drilling 1000 metre-deep ice core and reached bedrock. The core gives a continuous reco... antarctica.ac.uk |
Darwin stood on the shoulders of giants Why express surprise that this year we have been celebrating Charles Darwin and his Origin of Species, but little about Alfred Russel Wallace (Letters, 3 December)? The simple answer is that this has been Darwin's year, not Wallace's. It is Darwin's 200th birthday, and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of the Origin. There will be due celebrations of Wallace's work when his turn comes. But it is not true that Wallace has been neglected. On 1 July last year, the Linnean Society of London celebrated its original hosting of the first Darwin-Wallace joint reading in 1858 of their theory of evolution by natural selection.Moreover, 2009 has successfully provided numerous specialists with high-profile opportunities to reassess the individual contributions of both scientists as well as the (well-worn) conspiracy theory. It is also relevant that our Darwin celebrations have not been restricted to the Origin, but have also paid extended tribute to his fundamental contributions to many other aspects of biology, as well as anthropology, social science and geology – subjects for which no one has ever suggested anti-Wallace conspiracies. The root of the problem lies with our apparent obsession with identifying the role of the individual in the history of science. But as Darwin's prolific letter-writing testifies, and as Newton famously acknowledged ("on ye shoulders of giants"), science is a space-time continuum of extended collaborations and interactions embedded in the "invisible college" of the science community at large.Brian Rosen London • The Charlesworths (Letters, 7 December) are right that Darwin had formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection 20 years before Wallace. But they don't point out that Patrick Matthew had beaten Darwin to it by seven years, and there is evidence that Darwin knew about Matthew by 1838.Hugh DowerYorkCharles DarwinBiologyAnthropologySocial sciencesGeologyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Obama set to launch vision for NASA President Obama will chart a course for NASA within weeks, based on the advice of a handful of key advisers in the administration and Congress. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Russia may send spacecraft to knock away asteroid MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.... hosted.ap.org |