Over the past month I've been spending one evening a week learning more about forest ecology here in the Northwest. I'm not going back to school - would that my health were good enough for that - or planning some new career, but I am becoming a forest steward in a terrific program sponsored by the Cooperative Extension of Washington State University in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources. The course is designed to help independent owners of small forests develop short and long term plans for their land.
My partner and I own five acres of northwest coastal forest filled with conifers like Douglas Firs, Western Hemlocks and Western Pines and deciduous tress such as Red Alders. Our primary goal is to maintain a healthy, sustainable forest where we, and our friends and family - and those who come after us - can walk, listen and learn from nature.
Putting myself back into a classroom on the other side of the desk brought back memories of my own school days, of favorite professors and classes, and most especially of the nature hikes I used to go on with my closest graduate school friends and a very special mentor, Dr. Alice Brues. During my last few years as a graduate student in Boulder, Dr. Brues would invite us to drive her somewhere up into the foothills where she knew of trails, or lakes, or special forests. I don't recall ever having to be pursuaded (or have my arm twisted) to go along, or even to be the designated driver. As Alice clambered over the rocky hills, binoculars firmly in hands, we'd watch her, watching and calling to birds, admiring wildflowers, and identifying trees. I'd never before been in the presence of someone who knew so much about nature and talked about it with such passion and authority. It was possible to imagine Alice completely comfortable walking through the woods with Charles Darwin and the two of them having an animated conversation about birds and beetles, a scampering mammal or an outcropping of basalt.
Within the first few minutes of my forestry class I knew that I was home again, in the woods. Themes that I've heard all of my life as a physical anthropologist were applied to species of trees, mammals and invertebrates found in forest ecosystems. As one teacher reviewed some basic species of tree identification in northwest forests I heard a familiar admonitition, "Watch for variation, though, when you're beginning to learn to identify trees...Even in the same species you'll see variation in height or width or even in the dimensions of leaves."
I heard in my mind a well-known quotation - actually the title of an essay, by a famous geneticist, Theodosius G. Dobzhansky, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution." I thought about my walks over the rolling pine-needle strewn trails of the forest surrounding our home. As I sit under on a stump under a new grove of Red Alder, I sometimes imagine the mighty glacier that helped form these rocks, soils and hills as it retreated. I think of what has become a truism in science that, indeed, nothing makes sense in biology except in light of evolution.
This evening at dusk I came within three feet of a woodpecker, as I strained to see her markings and the length of her beak to determine her species. Was I was looking at a large downy or small hairy woodpecker? Careful to move slowly, so as not to startle her, I was so close to her I could hear her beak each time she struck the suet and seed brick. Suddenly she flew away, leaving me behind to make up my mind about her identification as I paused to examine the hole she'd chisled into the seed brick. While it's true that evolution helps us make sense of what we see, what are the clues we focus on to gain insight about the evolutionary process? Those clues - the observations that we can make around us in our own backyards - and in the privacy of our own homes - revolve around this phenomenon: variation in populations. And that - particularly when it comes to our own species - is the domain of the physical anthropologist.
Over the next few blogs I'll be talking about the importance of variation in populations and the study of variation by anthropologists - and a few naturalists or so. For now, consider that physical anthropology is actually organised around the investigation of a central paradigm - that we humans are all the same, and that we humans are also all different. The exploration and interpretation of this paradigm is a central task of physical anthropologists, whether we are considering human beings in the present or our ancestors in the past. And it is essentially the same paradigm that naturalists apply when they endeavor to tell a female downy from a female hairy woodpecker or, to ask themselves, in turn, why does this variation among and between species exist in the first place. Variation is an exciting and sometimes controversial subject, but it's absolutely essential to evolutionary processes and therefore to our understanding of nature and of ourselves.
I look forward to picking up here next time. In the meantime, learn this name: Ernst Mayr. That's it for now. Class dismissed.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
A Very Good Day for Science: President Obama and Stem Cell Research
During his inauguration, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, pledged to restore science to its rightful place in society. Specifically, he stated
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."
Today, he took key steps in that direction. In the presence of a mixed audience comprised of patients, caregivers, family members, health care workers, scientists, policy advocates, government officials he issued an Executive Order, REMOVING BARRIERS TO RESPONSIBLE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN STEM CELLS. By taking this action, scientists who use embryonic stem cells to conduct research will once again be able to apply for and receive government funded research - something that is essential to run costly scientific projects at the molecular/cellular level. Treatments and possible cures for conditions including diabetes,heart disease, Parkinsons, and others, will be furthered by this line of scientific inquiry. It is a great day for science indeed.
At the same time, President Obama took another action to put scientific research back on track in this country. He issued an official Memorandum charging the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to draw up recommendations relating to scientific integrity and transparency. Noting that the public must be able to trust the results of scientific inquiry and, further, that the government should not supress the results of scientific studies, he made it abundantly clear that his administration would rely upon scientific studies in developing policies relating to such areas as the environment, health and national security. He further outlined guiding principles for how the recommendations relating to scientific integrity should be implemented by the various departments and agencies of the Executive branch of our government. I encourage everyone to read his entire memorandum posted on the White House web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Memorandum-for-the-Heads-of-Executive-Departments-and-Agencies-3-9-09/.
It's essential that all of us - scientists and general public alike - commit to becoming (and remaining) engaged in our government. During George W. Bush's administration, serious blows to science, scientific integrity and policies related to climate change, wildlife conservation, birth control and diseases, were incurred in ways that may have, in at least some instances, cause irreparable harm. I am especially grateful to the work of the Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/ for their efforts to expose the egregious actions taken to cover up or - in some instances - rewrite scientific investigations by members of the Bush administration. The Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit organisation, has developed standards relating to scientific integrity that are readily available on its web site.
We must stay involved and informed; for the sake of our country and indeed, the rest of the world, we must never again allow an anti-science agenda to control our government and its policies. It is incumbant on all of us to work to educate others about science and how scientific findings can inform the policies of our society and help us in working toward the greatest good for all.
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."
Today, he took key steps in that direction. In the presence of a mixed audience comprised of patients, caregivers, family members, health care workers, scientists, policy advocates, government officials he issued an Executive Order, REMOVING BARRIERS TO RESPONSIBLE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN STEM CELLS. By taking this action, scientists who use embryonic stem cells to conduct research will once again be able to apply for and receive government funded research - something that is essential to run costly scientific projects at the molecular/cellular level. Treatments and possible cures for conditions including diabetes,heart disease, Parkinsons, and others, will be furthered by this line of scientific inquiry. It is a great day for science indeed.
At the same time, President Obama took another action to put scientific research back on track in this country. He issued an official Memorandum charging the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to draw up recommendations relating to scientific integrity and transparency. Noting that the public must be able to trust the results of scientific inquiry and, further, that the government should not supress the results of scientific studies, he made it abundantly clear that his administration would rely upon scientific studies in developing policies relating to such areas as the environment, health and national security. He further outlined guiding principles for how the recommendations relating to scientific integrity should be implemented by the various departments and agencies of the Executive branch of our government. I encourage everyone to read his entire memorandum posted on the White House web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Memorandum-for-the-Heads-of-Executive-Departments-and-Agencies-3-9-09/.
It's essential that all of us - scientists and general public alike - commit to becoming (and remaining) engaged in our government. During George W. Bush's administration, serious blows to science, scientific integrity and policies related to climate change, wildlife conservation, birth control and diseases, were incurred in ways that may have, in at least some instances, cause irreparable harm. I am especially grateful to the work of the Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/ for their efforts to expose the egregious actions taken to cover up or - in some instances - rewrite scientific investigations by members of the Bush administration. The Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit organisation, has developed standards relating to scientific integrity that are readily available on its web site.
We must stay involved and informed; for the sake of our country and indeed, the rest of the world, we must never again allow an anti-science agenda to control our government and its policies. It is incumbant on all of us to work to educate others about science and how scientific findings can inform the policies of our society and help us in working toward the greatest good for all.
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