MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'AIBS BioScience Editorials' source. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:31:53 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5656306&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FA2jy1LrApo4%2Feditorial_2012_02.html Although the US public remains for the most part favorably disposed to scientists, politically inspired efforts to discredit some kinds of science continue and could gain traction during what is likely to be an angry election year. Researchers, especially those working in fields that do not seem to offer the near-term promise of profitable products, have good reason to be apprehensive about their funding. Budget anxieties are driving up pressure on legislators to enact substantial cuts, and the brinksmanship on Capitol Hill suggests that ill-considered measures could be enacted through political grandstanding. Researchers worried about the future of the research enterprise should make efforts to stay informed and be ready to argue for its importance whenever the opportunity arises. The Un... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5656306 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:27:54 +0100 5656306 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5592855&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2F0JpBsr5_33g%2Feditorial_2012_01.html AIBS is at a defining moment. Although the organization's constitution, drafted in 1947, still declares that "the Institute will assist societies, other organizations, and biologists in such matters of common concern as can be dealt with more effectively by united action," 65 years later, the organizational and governance structure of AIBS is different. Those differences will enable AIBS to better adapt to the changing landscape for modern professional societies and to reinforce the vision of AIBS as a "forum for integrating the life sciences," a goal that is evinced by the new tagline above and on the cover of BioScience. The single biggest adjustment is the realization that the primary constituency of AIBS is its member societies and organizations (MSOs). This conclusion was reached aft... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5592855 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:33:39 +0100 5592855 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5492478&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2Ffciqne-QHgE%2Feditorial_2011_12.html Scientific societies have long held an important place in the history of science. The first scientific academy, or what we would now call a scientific society, dates from Italy in the mid-1600s. Exciting, creative research was being done within the emerging societies of this period even more so than in many universities of the time. Today's universities and scientific societies have only a passing resemblance to those of the late Renaissance; most notably, the locus of the process of discovery has traded positions between the two. Rather than serving as a place where research is conducted, the average scientific society today plays a supporting role by publishing journals; sponsoring meetings; acting as a center for professional networks; mentoring young scholars; and, in the United State... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5492478 Sun, 11 Dec 2011 08:54:58 +0100 5492478 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5375015&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2Fhb8Ndaj9hFA%2Feditorial_2011_11.html It will strike most readers of BioScience as obvious that the political debate surrounding environmental issues is often sadly misinformed about pertinent facts. On one hand, the disconnect might result from an innocent inability of the participants to learn about relevant information because it is hidden in technical journals or is undiscovered. On the other hand, particularly among nonprofessionals, it might be the result of deliberate misdirection by parties with an interest in the debate's outcome. In either case, a wider appreciation of the available facts seems likely to be beneficial. Biologists and others concerned about the environment will therefore heartily endorse the National Science Foundation's funding of the new National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). The c... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5375015 Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:15:35 +0100 5375015 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5301699&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FHSsGIq9AF3o%2Feditorial_2011_10.html As Americans witnessed this year, partisan bickering and deep ideological policy differences nearly shut down the federal government and forced the nation into default. Elements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were shuttered over the summer as the House of Representatives and the Senate failed to reauthorize the agency. As a result, thousands of FAA employees and construction workers laboring on airport projects were furloughed, and the federal government ceased collecting millions of dollars a day in taxes. Amazingly, Congress was unable to resolve this issue at the same time it was struggling to identify billions of dollars in cuts to federal programs. Why, you might ask, is AIBS's public policy director talking about this particular episode of political dysfunction? Becaus... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5301699 Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:46:30 +0100 5301699 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5204028&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2Fe_MsuLT_sIg%2Feditorial_2011_09.html A commentary paper from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) neatly puts a finger on a commonly ignored disconnect between law and science. This disconnect has stymied not only US government regulation of genetically modified animals proposed for use as food—the subject of the CAST paper—but also, in some European and African countries, regulation of genetically modified crops. Considering that malnutrition kills more people than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined and that the world population is still growing, this disconnect deserves to be more widely understood by scientists, policymakers, and the public. The CAST paper (available from www.cast-science.org/publications), written by a group chaired by Alison L. Van Eenennaam of the University of C... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5204028 Sun, 11 Sep 2011 03:37:00 +0100 5204028 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5085174&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FPJ2dXrwYQAo%2Feditorial_2011_08.html A bold call for a new assessment system for professional productivity in biology appears on p. 619 of this issue. Lucinda A. McDade of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University, together with colleagues at eight other institutions, describes a plan to create evaluation systems that are more easily applied to nontraditional forms of scholarly creation than the timehonored evaluation measure, citation in peer-reviewed journals with high impact factors. The nontraditional creations that the authors consider include collecting; curatorial work on specimens; and contributions to online resources, such as knowledge compendia, images, software, and data sets. Such works are becoming increasingly important to science, the authors plausibly maintain. Because such works are ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5085174 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:07:52 +0100 5085174 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5006242&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FgVwmkQ-kuf4%2Feditorial_2011_07.html The inscription reputedly once engraved on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi remains good advice, including for biology instructors. Programs designed to help biology faculty expand their use of inquiry-based, "learner-centered" teaching methods may be having less of an effect on classroom practice than the participating faculty believe, judging from the article by Diane Ebert-May and colleagues that starts on p. 550 of this issue. The universal human penchant for self-deception was fully engaged in two professional development programs' participating faculty, who later judged themselves to be providing more learner-centered teaching and less lecture-style instruction. Yet independent ratings of video recordings of their classes by trained assessors showed that most of the participating instr... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5006242 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:26:13 +0100 5006242 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4891469&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FPAKskxZxHEI%2Feditorial_2011_06.html An article in this issue by Walter H. Adey and colleagues, which begins on p. 434, provides a fascinating look at the early stages in the commercial development of a potentially important biotechnology: algal turf scrubbing. These pulsed-flow systems are now being built and operated on a hectare scale in Florida to extract nutrients from streams, canals, and lakes polluted by agricultural runoff. Not only can algal turf scrubbers efficiently produce a nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich fertilizer, they restore oxygen levels in polluted waters. The algae generated, which are washed off screens weekly, can also be used to produce biofuel: The authors favor a fermentation process that produces alcohols rather than extraction of oils from the diatoms that largely populate the devices. A potentially... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4891469 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:48:25 +0100 4891469 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4788078&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FRzqWX5AGtno%2Feditorial_2011_05.html It seems worthwhile occasionally to redescribe for the benefit of readers and potential authors the sort of articles that we hope to publish in BioScience, and how this aspiration relates to AIBS's broader mission to advance biological research and education for the welfare of society. Certainly, as BioScience's tag line, "Organisms from Molecules to the Environment," indicates, the subfield of biology that is relevant to a BioScience article can vary over a very broad range. So an Overview that has something to say about molecular evolution might be as welcome as one that treats river evolution. Moreover, we see a particular role for BioScience in publishing articles that span disciplinary boundaries, since AIBS has long supported efforts to bring biologists together. Yet this catholic a... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4788078 Fri, 06 May 2011 03:49:59 +0100 4788078 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4669245&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FVTZMr2qLQLo%2Feditorial_2011_04.html The annual fights in Congress over research funding may be unusually tough in 2011, given the new strength of fiscal conservatives and widespread concern about the deficit. Efforts such as those of Representative Adrian Smith (R–NE), who encourages the public to weigh in on what he deems "wasteful" research grants funded by the National Science Foundation (see www.aibs.org/public-policy/news/action_alert_help_to_defend_peer_review.html#029868), add to the importance of making a strong case for biological research to elected representatives (the AIBS Legislative Action Center, at http://capwiz.com/aibs/home, is a good place to start). It would be easy but unproductive for scientists to feel dismay over such seemingly antiscientific attitudes. Yet almost nobody admits to opposing scie... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4669245 Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:29:42 +0100 4669245 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535409&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2F46PDw8MSSpk%2Feditorial_2010_04.html Readers energized by Fred Powledge's Feature about hunger and global food insecurity (p. 260) would do well to digest the January report from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), Agricultural Productivity Strategies for the Future: Addressing U.S. and Global Challenges (available at www.cast-science.org/). The report bleakly warns against complacency and identifies converging factors bringing about a "perfect storm" in global agriculture: chiefly, the still rapidly growing world population, increasing demands on agriculture for fuel and ecosystem services in rich countries, and climate change. The medium projection of global population growth by the United Nations will require "a near doubling of agricultural output from 2000 to 2050"; moreover, the "demand for biop... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535409 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535409 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535408&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FROUHLXEIhVI%2Feditorial_2010_05.html The discussion by Norman C. Ellstrand and his coauthors (p. 384) of the difficulties surrounding the regulation of hybrids serves as a reminder of how problematic biology becomes when it intersects with policy. Predicting how a biological system—ecosystem, organism, or something else—will behave is much harder than doing the same for a nonliving system, mainly because there are so many exceptions to generalizations about biology. Hybrids can have enhanced vigor and be persistent, or they can be weak, sterile, or both. Their occurrence can hasten the decline of a critically endangered species, or it can save a species. Genotype interacts with the environment to produce phenotype—but poorly understood epigenetic inheritance can substantially intervene. We understand the str... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535408 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535408 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535407&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2Fu1heQ5VD0Sk%2Feditorial_2010_06.html Two articles in this issue of BioScience address a perennial question in ecosystem management: how to trade off competing goals against one another. The article by Patricia A. Soranno and colleagues (p. 440) discusses new, hierarchical, predictive techniques for classifying&#8212and ultimately managing&#8212lakes, whereas Bruce E. Rieman and colleagues (p. 460) propose a framework to identify convergent solutions for the dilemmas that arise when attempting to simultaneously manage forests and fish populations. Undeniably, some core management questions lie outside the scope of science, in the realm of politics. But it is unrealistic to expect political agreement on general, one-size-fits-all solutions to conservation or sustainable development decisions. For sure, ecological economists ar... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535407 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535407 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535406&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FhRztQljAkdw%2Feditorial_2010_07.html Scientists worldwide were doubtless relieved earlier this year to learn the results of inquiries into the integrity of controversial research on climate history at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and at Penn State University. Various panels reported finding no credible evidence that the principal researchers whose conduct had been questioned, Philip Jones of UEA and Michael Mann of Penn State, had engaged in the suppression of data or any other deliberate scientific malpractice. The findings came despite some troubling comments and requests in the thousands of e-mails to and from UEA's Climatic Research Unit that persons unknown hacked and made public last November. (As this article was written, additional inquiries were ongoing.) Yet it would be a mistake to suppose that this damaging... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535406 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535406 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535405&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FxQOKbhcWlGA%2Feditorial_2010_09.html Average human well-being is improving globally, despite resource depletion and degradation of ecosystems. Why? So ask Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne and her coauthors in their article "Untangling the Environmentalist's Paradox," which begins on p. 576. Studies including the influential Millennium Ecosystem Assessment have concluded that the capacity of ecosystems to produce many ecosystem services is now low. Depletion of ecosystem services is expected to mean fewer benefits to humans, thus decreasing human well-being. Yet the composite Human Development Index, a widely used metric that incorporates measures of literacy, life expectancy, and income, has improved markedly since the mid-1970s in both rich and poor nations. The index correlates strongly with other measures of prosperousness. Some mea... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535405 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535405 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535404&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FbvaBEiJh7w0%2Feditorial_2010_10.html The eminent mathematical physicist and writer Freeman Dyson is known for his optimism about technology and bold thinking. Dyson recognizes global warming caused by human activity as a challenge, but maintains that within a few decades we will be able to control it. Dyson has long argued, most recently in The New York Review of Books, that genetically engineered trees might, as well as producing biofuel, combat climate change. He notes that about 8 percent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is temporarily converted into vegetation each year by photosynthesis. Capturing some of this with trees designed and harvested for the purpose could, he suggests, reduce the amount of that gas in the air rather quickly, and so ameliorate greenhouse warming. Ecologists are apt to see enormous proble... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535404 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535404 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535403&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FLPNHlkKMXm0%2Feditorial_2010_11.html Does the rapid pace of extinctions put a moral obligation on conservation scientists not just to analyze and write papers but to get involved in real-world conservation projects? The question underlies a challenging article by Raphaël Arlettaz and his colleagues that starts on page 835 of this issue of BioScience. Arlettaz, a professor of conservation biology at the University of Bern, Switzerland, led an apparently successful project to rescue a critical population of endangered hoopoes in the canton of Valais. But Arlettaz is not resting on his laurels: He calls for the academic community "to adopt new rules that at least tolerate (and at most promote) the commitment of conservation scientists to practice." Conservation scientists, Arlettaz and his coauthors complain, are evaluated sol... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535403 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535403 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535402&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FjCyRsRgzz5o%2Feditorial_2010_12.html Scientists love dynamic environments. After all, the goal of the scientific enterprise is to constantly improve how we understand and describe our world; we thrive on new insights, and most of us would be bored to tears were we denied the thrill of discovery and change. Nonetheless, we often struggle to keep up with some changes, from the pace of discovery in fields other than our own to the ever-developing methods for teaching new generations of students. Some of the most striking changes we encounter occur in the institutions that have traditionally nurtured and supported science. Decreasing budgets and increasing expectations are driving rapid and far-reaching changes in universities, institutes, funding agencies, and publishers. The goals of the scientific enterprise aren't changing, ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535402 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535402 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535401&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2F0B40j38nMgQ%2Feditorial_2011_01.html Discoveries in the life sciences, along with biology's integration into engineering and the physical and social sciences, make it clear that the 21st century is and will continue to be the "century of biology." Any institution's welfare and effectiveness depend on its values, and four in particular should characterize AIBS: (1) integration of research and education; (2) broadening participation in our discipline and science in general; (3) fostering science as an international activity; and (4) since AIBS is already the center of a network of member organizations, we should value integrating with the agendas of other societies in the sciences, engineering, and humanities to the benefit of all. Rather than an emphasis on the parts of biology—our respective subdisciplines, the organi... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535401 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535401 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535400&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2Fkn3c7-POva0%2Feditorial_2011_02.html Just as we were facing up to peak oil—the maximum in the rate of global oil production that is imminent or (by some estimates) has just passed—we have another peak to worry about. Peak phosphorus has not yet happened, but ecologists see it looming in coming decades. Phosphate-rich rocks are becoming harder to find, a development likely to benefit Morocco and a handful of other countries that have significant deposits. Peak phosphorus is, in different ways, both more and less alarming than peak oil, though the shortages predicted by each peak together threaten a double whammy. Peak phosphorus is scarier than peak oil in that there are no possible substitutes for the element. As any biologist knows, phosphorus is an essential component of all living cells, and a lack of phosphor... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535400 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535400 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4535399&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FxNjuKiUN6ow%2Feditorial_2011_03.html Scientists are a cerebral lot, for the most part, and that trait certainly helps in trying to understand the natural world. But their cultivated habit of logical thought can also lead them astray when they unconsciously assume that the broader public is used to thinking in the disinterested style of scientific inference. Psychologists have established that people's beliefs are hugely influenced by the beliefs' emotional valence, by social pressures, and by other irrelevant and generally unconscious factors. The explanations that people offer for their beliefs are, to an upsetting degree, spurious rationalizations of convictions held for other reasons. (Sam Harris discusses some of the evidence in his new book The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values; Free Press, 2010.) S... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4535399 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:36:38 +0100 4535399 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4432643&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2011_02.html Just as we were facing up to peak oil—the maximum in the rate of global oil production that is imminent or (by some estimates) has just passed—we have another peak to worry about. Peak phosphorus has not yet happened, but ecologists see it looming in coming decades. Phosphate-rich rocks are becoming harder to find, a development likely to benefit Morocco and a handful of other countries that have significant deposits. Peak phosphorus is, in different ways, both more and less alarming than peak oil, though the shortages predicted by each peak together threaten a double whammy. Peak phosphorus is scarier than peak oil in that there are no possible substitutes for the element. As any biologist knows, phosphorus is an essential component of all living cells, and a lack of phosphor... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4432643 Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:14:38 +0100 4432643 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4322025&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2011_01.html Discoveries in the life sciences, along with biology's integration into engineering and the physical and social sciences, make it clear that the 21st century is and will continue to be the "century of biology." Any institution's welfare and effectiveness depend on its values, and four in particular should characterize AIBS: (1) integration of research and education; (2) broadening participation in our discipline and science in general; (3) fostering science as an international activity; and (4) since AIBS is already the center of a network of member organizations, we should value integrating with the agendas of other societies in the sciences, engineering, and humanities to the benefit of all. Rather than an emphasis on the parts of biology—our respective subdisciplines, the organi... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4322025 Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:38:57 +0100 4322025 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4232646&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_12.html Scientists love dynamic environments. After all, the goal of the scientific enterprise is to constantly improve how we understand and describe our world; we thrive on new insights, and most of us would be bored to tears were we denied the thrill of discovery and change. Nonetheless, we often struggle to keep up with some changes, from the pace of discovery in fields other than our own to the ever-developing methods for teaching new generations of students. Some of the most striking changes we encounter occur in the institutions that have traditionally nurtured and supported science. Decreasing budgets and increasing expectations are driving rapid and far-reaching changes in universities, institutes, funding agencies, and publishers. The goals of the scientific enterprise aren't changing, ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4232646 Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:35:23 +0100 4232646 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4124334&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_11.html Does the rapid pace of extinctions put a moral obligation on conservation scientists not just to analyze and write papers but to get involved in real-world conservation projects? The question underlies a challenging article by Raphaël Arlettaz and his colleagues that starts on page 835 of this issue of BioScience. Arlettaz, a professor of conservation biology at the University of Bern, Switzerland, led an apparently successful project to rescue a critical population of endangered hoopoes in the canton of Valais. But Arlettaz is not resting on his laurels: He calls for the academic community "to adopt new rules that at least tolerate (and at most promote) the commitment of conservation scientists to practice." Conservation scientists, Arlettaz and his coauthors complain, are evaluated sol... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4124334 Mon, 01 Nov 2010 23:29:46 +0100 4124334 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4022023&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_10.html The eminent mathematical physicist and writer Freeman Dyson is known for his optimism about technology and bold thinking. Dyson recognizes global warming caused by human activity as a challenge, but maintains that within a few decades we will be able to control it. Dyson has long argued, most recently in The New York Review of Books, that genetically engineered trees might, as well as producing biofuel, combat climate change. He notes that about 8 percent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is temporarily converted into vegetation each year by photosynthesis. Capturing some of this with trees designed and harvested for the purpose could, he suggests, reduce the amount of that gas in the air rather quickly, and so ameliorate greenhouse warming. Ecologists are apt to see enormous proble... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4022023 Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:12:33 +0100 4022023 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3924215&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_09.html Average human well-being is improving globally, despite resource depletion and degradation of ecosystems. Why? So ask Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne and her coauthors in their article "Untangling the Environmentalist's Paradox," which begins on p. 576. Studies including the influential Millennium Ecosystem Assessment have concluded that the capacity of ecosystems to produce many ecosystem services is now low. Depletion of ecosystem services is expected to mean fewer benefits to humans, thus decreasing human well-being. Yet the composite Human Development Index, a widely used metric that incorporates measures of literacy, life expectancy, and income, has improved markedly since the mid-1970s in both rich and poor nations. The index correlates strongly with other measures of prosperousness. Some mea... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3924215 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:52:18 +0100 3924215 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3717911&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_07.html Scientists worldwide were doubtless relieved earlier this year to learn the results of inquiries into the integrity of controversial research on climate history at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and at Penn State University. Various panels reported finding no credible evidence that the principal researchers whose conduct had been questioned, Philip Jones of UEA and Michael Mann of Penn State, had engaged in the suppression of data or any other deliberate scientific malpractice. The findings came despite some troubling comments and requests in the thousands of e-mails to and from UEA's Climatic Research Unit that persons unknown hacked and made public last November. (As this article was written, additional inquiries were ongoing.) Yet it would be a mistake to suppose that this damaging... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3717911 Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:26:47 +0100 3717911 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3620967&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_06.html Two articles in this issue of BioScience address a perennial question in ecosystem management: how to trade off competing goals against one another. The article by Patricia A. Soranno and colleagues (p. 440) discusses new, hierarchical, predictive techniques for classifying&#8212and ultimately managing&#8212lakes, whereas Bruce E. Rieman and colleagues (p. 460) propose a framework to identify convergent solutions for the dilemmas that arise when attempting to simultaneously manage forests and fish populations. Undeniably, some core management questions lie outside the scope of science, in the realm of politics. But it is unrealistic to expect political agreement on general, one-size-fits-all solutions to conservation or sustainable development decisions. For sure, ecological economists ar... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3620967 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:59:44 +0100 3620967 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3526233&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_05.html The discussion by Norman C. Ellstrand and his coauthors (p. 384) of the difficulties surrounding the regulation of hybrids serves as a reminder of how problematic biology becomes when it intersects with policy. Predicting how a biological system—ecosystem, organism, or something else—will behave is much harder than doing the same for a nonliving system, mainly because there are so many exceptions to generalizations about biology. Hybrids can have enhanced vigor and be persistent, or they can be weak, sterile, or both. Their occurrence can hasten the decline of a critically endangered species, or it can save a species. Genotype interacts with the environment to produce phenotype—but poorly understood epigenetic inheritance can substantially intervene. We understand the str... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3526233 Mon, 03 May 2010 15:20:32 +0100 3526233 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3443178&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_04.html Readers energized by Fred Powledge's Feature about hunger and global food insecurity (p. 260) would do well to digest the January report from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), Agricultural Productivity Strategies for the Future: Addressing U.S. and Global Challenges (available at www.cast-science.org/). The report bleakly warns against complacency and identifies converging factors bringing about a "perfect storm" in global agriculture: chiefly, the still rapidly growing world population, increasing demands on agriculture for fuel and ecosystem services in rich countries, and climate change. The medium projection of global population growth by the United Nations will require "a near doubling of agricultural output from 2000 to 2050"; moreover, the "demand for biop... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3443178 Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:47:22 +0100 3443178 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3353737&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FesfXfOHiVTs%2Feditorial_2010_03.html As some of the broader impacts of the cultivation of biofuel feedstocks have become more apparent--not just the direct effects on greenhouse gas emissions but also indirect effects triggered by changes in the supply of agricultural commodities--so has the need to accurately estimate them. The assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions expected to flow from such induced land-use change (e.g., when farmers in Central America cut down forests to grow crops to replace the reduction in maize availability) has become a policy battleground. The stakes are high: The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act mandates a steep increase in the production of biofuels over the next dozen years, and requires estimates of life-cycle emissions of greenhouse gases from biofuels to be considered when establ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3353737 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:42:47 +0100 3353737 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3290476&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_02.html Those of us who once learned that genes are entities that propagate and manifest themselves within species may find their conceptual categories stretched beyond the breaking point if they dare read the overview of progress in metagenomics on page 102 by W. Ford Doolittle and Olga Zhaxybayeva. Together with the similarly challenging Feature by Karen Hopkin published in December (BioScience 59: 928-931), their article reminds us, if reminding were needed, that there is still a great deal still to be understood about how and where, exactly, natural selection acts on DNA. Critical analysis of new data makes clear that, among the bacteria and archaea that are Doolittle and Zhaxybayeva's focus, the concept of species may hamper the appreciation of more fundamental categories: communities of inte... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3290476 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:20:11 +0100 3290476 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3207828&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2010_01.html While the biological sciences cover a broad terrain of ideas and subjects, we who explore that terrain have always defined ourselves as biologists. We might include an adjective that clarifies the level at which we study (e.g., molecular biologist) or the methods with which we're most comfortable (e.g., mathematical biologist), but the noun has always been "biologist." Over the years, the number of adjectives has grown—we now have, among others, computational biologists, structural biologists, and systems biologists—and the definition of "biologist" has become ever broader, as has the range of background and expertise applied to research in biology. This dynamism and the progress it has catalyzed have inspired a new report from the National Research Council titled A New Biolo... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3207828 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:21:44 +0100 3207828 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3088694&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_11.html Biologists of all stripes may be grateful for the powerful support the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academies, has recently given to a new interagency biological research program. In its study A New Biology for the 21st Century (www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12764), the council concludes that biology has reached an inflection point that could allow rapid progress in multiple biological fields. The program it envisages would involve better coordination and integration of research, as well as substantial new financial support. The "New Biology," the report says, has the potential to deliver "remarkable and far-reaching" benefits addressing critical challenges—notably, food production, protection of the environment, renewable energy, and improvement... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3088694 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:58:34 +0100 3088694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3088693&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_12.html Sometimes scientists despair at the challenge of expanding the public's under­standing of science. Progress, however, is tangible, and one telling example last summer revolved around arthropods. In July, at the request of the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS), the National Research Council (NRC), the operating arm of the National Academies, convened a committee charged with evaluating APHIS's response to two petitions filed by groups of citizens in California. The petitions opposed the agency's decision to classify the light brown apple moth (LBAM; Epiphyas postvittana), a species native to Australia, as a quarantine-significant pest. The moth's presence in California was confirmed in 2007. In view of its reportedly broad host range&#8... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3088693 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:58:34 +0100 3088693 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2938661&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2F4kx7yTgm-AQ%2Feditorial_2009_11.html Biologists of all stripes may be grateful for the powerful support the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academies, has recently given to a new interagency biological research program. In its study A New Biology for the 21st Century (www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12764), the council concludes that biology has reached an inflection point that could allow rapid progress in multiple biological fields. The program it envisages would involve better coordination and integration of research, as well as substantial new financial support. The "New Biology," the report says, has the potential to deliver "remarkable and far-reaching" benefits addressing critical challenges—notably, food production, protection of the environment, renewable energy, and improvement... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2938661 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:54:16 +0100 2938661 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2908079&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_10.html Two articles in this issue of BioScience illustrate the power of new molecular techniques to give wings to very different types of biology. Both articles discuss, in part, how information from genetic sequences might guide urgently needed planetary ecological management. In the article that begins on page 745, Christopher W. Dick and W. John Kress describe how DNA diagnostic tools can be used to achieve insights into the dynamics of tropical forests. The extraordinary biological diversity of tropical forests has become recognized in recent decades as one of the wonders of the world. The importance of the gargantuan amounts of carbon stored in these forests has also become more widely appreciated. Yet detailed scientific characterization of tropical forests has yet to be accomplished, lar... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2908079 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:14:28 +0100 2908079 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2774318&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_09.html In the Forum article that begins on page 699, Stephen R. Carpenter and 18 distinguished coauthors argue for a national program focusing on synthesis in environmental sciences. This influential group, representing an array of specialties, argues that ecologists and scientists in closely connected disciplines—the biological, computational, atmospheric, hydrological, geological, oceanic, and social sciences—can, by working together better, accelerate discovery and research in basic and applied environmental science. The article urges spreading the culture of synthesis more extensively to undergraduate and postgraduate education and toward management and governance. BioScience is a hybrid biology magazine and journal that publishes mainly synthetic overview articles, so it should ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2774318 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:00:04 +0100 2774318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597620&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2008_09.html In 1974, Thomas Nagel famously grabbed the attention of philosophers by asking, “What is it like to be a bat?” In the article starting on p. 737, Gerald Kerth finally provides some answers. The answers are probably more complicated than Nagel envisaged. Nagel was pondering whether we could ever provide an objective account of a subjective experience. The question still resonates, but biologists as well as philosophers have clarified some relevant matters over the past three-and-a-half decades. In particular, biologists have revealed previously uncharted complexity in the social relationships of many animals, especially mammals. The challenge of managing these fraught interdependencies is now widely thought to have been a key driver of the evolution of the mammalian neocortex. Homo sap... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597620 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597619&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2008_10.html Charismatic they are not, but fungi have a vastly larger impact on the flow of essential elements through ecosystems than do most more appealing organisms. Gaining an understanding of their diversity and spatial variability, and the implications of these for fundamental ecological processes such as decomposition, has to be a high priority if biologists are to predict the consequences of habitat and climate change. Only in recent years have techniques existed to allow the systematic exploration of patterns of fungal diversity, as Kabir Peay, Peter Kennedy, and Thomas Bruns explain in the 21st Century Directions in Biology article that starts on p. 799. The often micro­scopic size and the generally cryptic nature of fungi have typically made it necessary to use biochemical techniques to di... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597619 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597619 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597618&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2008_11.html The idea of a state license that allows an inventor to prevent others from copying an invention for a fixed period—otherwise known as a patent—has seemed a sensible one to enlightened governments since the 15th century. The public benefits by having the details of the invention disclosed, and the inventor’s right to profit from the invention is preserved. But times have changed since the rulers of Venice issued the first such documents. Today the international patent system is a nightmarish mire of broad yet uncertain rights. Wealthy corporations purchase patent rights they have little intention of exploiting to impress investors and discourage competitors. The main business of some patent “trolls” is threatening purported patent infringers with legal actions, which can be huge... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597618 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597618 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597617&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2008_12.html The economy took a nose-dive in the fall of 2008, with all indicators showing a free fall: inflation at nearly 6 percent—its highest level in 17 years—unemployment at 6 percent, no net job growth in the private sector for most of 2008, plummeting housing prices, and record losses in the banking industry. Public investments in technology, a major component of which is the Internet, have reaped huge benefits for the economy in the past. Remember, however, that it is science that supports the technology we need to keep America great in the 21st century. Within a few short years, an estimated seven billion people will populate the planet, and all of them will need food, shelter, and water. Natural resources are dwindling, and the challenges of achieving energy security, assuring ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597617 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597617 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597616&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_01.html The year 2009 has been designated the Year of Science (www.yearofscience2009.org). The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) and AIBS, together with the Geological Society of America, the National Science Teachers Association, and the University of California Museum of Paleontology (home of the new Understanding Science Web site; see p. 91)—are fully engaged in the effort to attain the goal of the Year of Science: to empower Americans "to appreciate the pragmatic outcomes of science, to distinguish science from non-science, and to participate in social discourse that provides insight into the nature of science" (COPUS, www.copusproject.org/rationale.php). The celebration is timed to coincide with many seminal scientific anniversaries, most notably the 200th annive... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597616 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597616 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597615&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_02.html When I first studied—if that is the word—biology, in high school in the 1970s, it seemed uncompelling: the lab demonstrations could not compare for spectacle or danger with more vivid offerings in chemistry and physics. Only an encounter with The Ecologist magazine persuaded me that biology had gravity. Today's biology teachers have at hand not only better demonstrations of biology's power but also more convincing arguments for its importance. As Thomas Lovejoy, biodiversity chair of the Heinz Center, remarked recently, humanity has finally come to the point where daunting rates of species loss and the challenges of sustainably meeting energy and food needs are "all one big crunch." Individuals' decisions are important, but national and international policies will govern how o... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597615 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597615 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597614&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_03.html It may be cold comfort to struggling alternative-energy entrepreneurs, but it is now close to a done deal that investment in wind and solar energy will increase dramatically in coming years. Although many sectors are clamoring for federal financial assistance in these troubled economic times, the administration and Congress seem agreed that low-carbon energy sources need boosts. Not only will these energy alternatives reduce US dependence on foreign oil, but they also promise to provide new jobs. Moreover, pressure for a federal carbon tax, or some similar measure, is likely to be ultimately successful in Congress, which points to a rosy long-term competitive outlook. For these reasons, planning for high-voltage transmission lines, wind farms, and solar power stations is moving ahead apac... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597614 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597614 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597613&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_04.html The 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, widely and properly celebrated last 12 February, was a gratifying event for biologists. The founding father of modern biology was feted in articles, broadcasts, and gatherings, and evolution was even a pictorial motif on Google's home page. The public recognition was a notable plus for biology's image, especially as 12 February was also the 200th birthday of another great benefactor of human freedom, Abraham Lincoln. Charles Darwin a benefactor of freedom? Yes. Even aside from the case argued by Adrian Desmond and James Moore in Darwin's Sacred Cause (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009)—that hatred of slavery inspired the great man to argue for a single human origin—understanding natural selection in itself opens paths to freedom. ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597613 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597613 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597612&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_05.html The century of biology is almost a tenth complete, and its first decade seems to have delivered more pain than progress. Yet in March, biologists of all stripes were relieved when two scientists with impeccable credentials and broad experience in energy and marine policy—John P. Holdren and Jane Lubchenco—were confirmed as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Despite the national preoccupation with the country's economic woes, the Senate finally recognized the pettiness of further delay in approving these crucial appointments. Holdren and Lubchenco, together with Steven Chu, the previously sworn-in secretary of energy, should have excellent opportunities to effectively inform US ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597612 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597612 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597611&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_06.html Biologists are familiar with studies that estimate the range of temperatures that must prevail for a species to survive and then examine where those temperatures might be found under various scenarios for the future climate. The approach, which allows a rough estimate of how a species' geographic range might change with global warming, has provided important insights: the expected shifts in the ranges of many organisms, animals and plants, seem drastic. In many cases, ranges seem likely to be smaller in the future as biota move toward the poles and higher up mountains (where that option exists). Bioclimatic envelope modeling can be more sophisticated than this simplistic account suggests; precipitation and other variables may be included, for example. But organismal biologists know that t... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597611 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597611 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2597610&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aibs.org%2Fbioscience-editorials%2Feditorial_2009_07.html One talk at the AIBS meeting in May on sustainable agriculture stood out both for its immediacy and for the challenge it represents to established wisdom. Pedro A. Sanchez, recipient of the 2002 World Food Prize and director of the Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program at Columbia University's Earth Institute, told rapt attendees about the latest results from an initiative that is being called the "Malawi miracle." Malawi, a landlocked country of poor farmers, faced a food crisis in 2005, the result of drought, floods, and a disastrous maize harvest. Huge amounts of food aid, costing more than $100 million, barely averted widespread starvation. President Bingu wa Mutharika, whom Sanchez advises, decided to ignore the consensus advice of the World Bank, the US Agency for I... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2597610 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:04:45 +0100 2597610 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462740&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2F-g4lCS2DJa8%2Feditorial_2008_07.html Global circulation models have long predicted that greenhouse warming would be greatest in polar regions, and abundant data confirm strong warming there. Not surprisingly, in recent decades there have been pronounced effects on wildlife in polar regions. The plight of the polar bear, the Arctic wildlife poster species facing the disappearance of its habitat, was officially recognized in May when the US Department of the Interior designated the animal “threatened” (a designation challenged, however, by the State of Alaska). Penguins, which play a similarly iconic role for the Antarctic (though they are found throughout the Southern Hemi­sphere), are facing more varied challenges, as P. Dee Boersma describes in the article that starts on p. 597. Climate change again underlies may of t... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462740 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462740 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462739&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FL8Ne701hDvo%2Feditorial_2008_09.html In 1974, Thomas Nagel famously grabbed the attention of philosophers by asking, “What is it like to be a bat?” In the article starting on p. 737, Gerald Kerth finally provides some answers. The answers are probably more complicated than Nagel envisaged. Nagel was pondering whether we could ever provide an objective account of a subjective experience. The question still resonates, but biologists as well as philosophers have clarified some relevant matters over the past three-and-a-half decades. In particular, biologists have revealed previously uncharted complexity in the social relationships of many animals, especially mammals. The challenge of managing these fraught interdependencies is now widely thought to have been a key driver of the evolution of the mammalian neocortex. Homo sap... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462739 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462739 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462738&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2F54W3GDvMPvE%2Feditorial_2008_10.html Charismatic they are not, but fungi have a vastly larger impact on the flow of essential elements through ecosystems than do most more appealing organisms. Gaining an understanding of their diversity and spatial variability, and the implications of these for fundamental ecological processes such as decomposition, has to be a high priority if biologists are to predict the consequences of habitat and climate change. Only in recent years have techniques existed to allow the systematic exploration of patterns of fungal diversity, as Kabir Peay, Peter Kennedy, and Thomas Bruns explain in the 21st Century Directions in Biology article that starts on p. 799. The often micro­scopic size and the generally cryptic nature of fungi have typically made it necessary to use biochemical techniques to di... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462738 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462738 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462737&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FCSjuPKnYN-U%2Feditorial_2008_11.html The idea of a state license that allows an inventor to prevent others from copying an invention for a fixed period—otherwise known as a patent—has seemed a sensible one to enlightened governments since the 15th century. The public benefits by having the details of the invention disclosed, and the inventor’s right to profit from the invention is preserved. But times have changed since the rulers of Venice issued the first such documents. Today the international patent system is a nightmarish mire of broad yet uncertain rights. Wealthy corporations purchase patent rights they have little intention of exploiting to impress investors and discourage competitors. The main business of some patent “trolls” is threatening purported patent infringers with legal actions, which can be huge... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462737 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462737 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462736&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FAEBMBeBd5uo%2Feditorial_2008_12.html The economy took a nose-dive in the fall of 2008, with all indicators showing a free fall: inflation at nearly 6 percent—its highest level in 17 years—unemployment at 6 percent, no net job growth in the private sector for most of 2008, plummeting housing prices, and record losses in the banking industry. Public investments in technology, a major component of which is the Internet, have reaped huge benefits for the economy in the past. Remember, however, that it is science that supports the technology we need to keep America great in the 21st century. Within a few short years, an estimated seven billion people will populate the planet, and all of them will need food, shelter, and water. Natural resources are dwindling, and the challenges of achieving energy security, assuring ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462736 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462736 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462735&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FhQvTH6H68zc%2Feditorial_2009_01.html The year 2009 has been designated the Year of Science (www.yearofscience2009.org). The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) and AIBS, together with the Geological Society of America, the National Science Teachers Association, and the University of California Museum of Paleontology (home of the new Understanding Science Web site; see p. 91)—are fully engaged in the effort to attain the goal of the Year of Science: to empower Americans "to appreciate the pragmatic outcomes of science, to distinguish science from non-science, and to participate in social discourse that provides insight into the nature of science" (COPUS, www.copusproject.org/rationale.php). The celebration is timed to coincide with many seminal scientific anniversaries, most notably the 200th annive... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462735 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462735 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462734&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FAeeQF_GAV8Q%2Feditorial_2009_02.html When I first studied—if that is the word—biology, in high school in the 1970s, it seemed uncompelling: the lab demonstrations could not compare for spectacle or danger with more vivid offerings in chemistry and physics. Only an encounter with The Ecologist magazine persuaded me that biology had gravity. Today's biology teachers have at hand not only better demonstrations of biology's power but also more convincing arguments for its importance. As Thomas Lovejoy, biodiversity chair of the Heinz Center, remarked recently, humanity has finally come to the point where daunting rates of species loss and the challenges of sustainably meeting energy and food needs are "all one big crunch." Individuals' decisions are important, but national and international policies will govern how o... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462734 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462734 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462733&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FJaipEJgmT14%2Feditorial_2009_03.html It may be cold comfort to struggling alternative-energy entrepreneurs, but it is now close to a done deal that investment in wind and solar energy will increase dramatically in coming years. Although many sectors are clamoring for federal financial assistance in these troubled economic times, the administration and Congress seem agreed that low-carbon energy sources need boosts. Not only will these energy alternatives reduce US dependence on foreign oil, but they also promise to provide new jobs. Moreover, pressure for a federal carbon tax, or some similar measure, is likely to be ultimately successful in Congress, which points to a rosy long-term competitive outlook. For these reasons, planning for high-voltage transmission lines, wind farms, and solar power stations is moving ahead apac... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462733 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462733 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462732&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2FNl0eIG4FTZg%2Feditorial_2009_04.html The 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, widely and properly celebrated last 12 February, was a gratifying event for biologists. The founding father of modern biology was feted in articles, broadcasts, and gatherings, and evolution was even a pictorial motif on Google's home page. The public recognition was a notable plus for biology's image, especially as 12 February was also the 200th birthday of another great benefactor of human freedom, Abraham Lincoln. Charles Darwin a benefactor of freedom? Yes. Even aside from the case argued by Adrian Desmond and James Moore in Darwin's Sacred Cause (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009)—that hatred of slavery inspired the great man to argue for a single human origin—understanding natural selection in itself opens paths to freedom. ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462732 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462732 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462731&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2Fh2aZmBRFSGA%2Feditorial_2009_05.html The century of biology is almost a tenth complete, and its first decade seems to have delivered more pain than progress. Yet in March, biologists of all stripes were relieved when two scientists with impeccable credentials and broad experience in energy and marine policy—John P. Holdren and Jane Lubchenco—were confirmed as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Despite the national preoccupation with the country's economic woes, the Senate finally recognized the pettiness of further delay in approving these crucial appointments. Holdren and Lubchenco, together with Steven Chu, the previously sworn-in secretary of energy, should have excellent opportunities to effectively inform US ... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462731 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462731 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2462730&cid=s_38588_62_f&fid=38588&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBioScienceEditorials%2F%7E3%2F31hagzOm3DI%2Feditorial_2009_06.html Biologists are familiar with studies that estimate the range of temperatures that must prevail for a species to survive and then examine where those temperatures might be found under various scenarios for the future climate. The approach, which allows a rough estimate of how a species' geographic range might change with global warming, has provided important insights: the expected shifts in the ranges of many organisms, animals and plants, seem drastic. In many cases, ranges seem likely to be smaller in the future as biota move toward the poles and higher up mountains (where that option exists). Bioclimatic envelope modeling can be more sophisticated than this simplistic account suggests; precipitation and other variables may be included, for example. But organismal biologists know that t... AIBS BioScience Editorials news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2462730 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:56:47 +0100 2462730