How Could 'Sterile' Surgical Equipment Cause A Fatal Brain Disease?
Last week, we learned that 13 patients treated in hospitals in New Hampshire and Cape Cod may have been exposed to the protein that causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal brain disease similar to...
View ArticleMassachusetts' Quest For Renewable Energy
Hundreds of people marched outside Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset on Sunday.The protest was organized by 350MA in an effort to convince Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to shut down New...
View ArticleWhat the Autism-Vaccines Controversy Teaches Us About Scientific Process
It’s been more than a week since ABC announced that actress and model Jenny McCarthy would join their mid-day talk show, The View, but backlash against the decision continues. At the heart of the...
View ArticleFive Ways to Get Involved in Citizen Science
One couldn't dream up a more perfect topic for citizen science than biodiversity. It happens anywhere and everywhere, scientists need more data points than they could ever possibly gather on their own,...
View ArticleHow Acoustic Monitoring Could Help Protect Cod Stocks
Here's your science factoid of the day: male Atlantic cod grunt during spawning season. It may sound like useless trivia, but that behavior could help fishery managers better protect cod...
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Art-science collaborative to debut at Museum of Science
Conversation about Synergy exhibitBack in June, I spoke with Whitney Bernstein and Michael McMahon about their nascent artist-scientist collaborative, Synergy. The project has now reached fruition;...
View ArticleThe Science of Fisheries
There’s nothing new about tension between New England’s fishermen and the scientists and regulators who oversee their industry. But the situation has reached fever pitch in the past two years, in large...
View ArticleEmpowering Everyone to Explore Life's Diversity
I feel like I'm becoming a broken record. Each week, my guests wow me with just how little we know about their chosen field. Today, it was the diversity of life on Earth. Earlier this year,...
View ArticleToxic Chemicals Found in Household Dust
Dust is unsightly, a sign of poor housekeeping, perhaps. But toxic? Unfortunately, yes.In 2003, researchers from Massachusetts-based Silent Spring Institute sampled dust from 120 homes on Cape Cod...
View ArticleWhy Deep Sea Volcanoes Matter
Oceans cover three quarters of the Earth’s surface, so it’s no surprise that three quarters of volcanic activity happens on the sea floor. Understanding those volcanoes has ramifications for everything...
View ArticleUnderstanding Your Carbon Food-print
While conversations about climate change typically focus on cars or power plants, the food we eat is a major factor that often flies under the radar. Food - it's production, processing, and transport -...
View ArticleThe Pteropod Project: Sea Butterflies, Climate Change, and Art
You've no doubt heard of the butterfly effect. Well, Gareth Lawson of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has his own version: the sea butterfly effect. As carbon dioxide emissions build up in the...
View ArticleThe Art of Telling Science Stories
Among those who make a living communicating science to the public, there are two main groups. There are those who began as writers, journalists, film makers, what have you, and somewhere along the way...
View ArticleOn the Cape, Sandy Beaches ... or Not
Hurricane Sandy couldn't have been more appropriately named. With storm surges of 3-6 feet around the Cape and Islands, and up to 12 feet along the Jersey Shore, coastal erosion is one after-effect...
View ArticleRealizing the Potential of Ocean Energy
Oceans cover three quarters of the Earth's surface. Those vast waters provide food, enable global shipping and drive the global climate. They could also provide much of the world's electricity needs....
View ArticleThe Politics of Science Funding
While it may not be the issue that decides elections, funding for scientific research is a fundamentally political beast. Take, for example, President George W. Bush's 2004 manned space exploration...
View ArticlePhotosynthesis for Children of All Ages
Plants and photosynthetic bacteria sustain much of life on Earth. They form the base of food chains both on land and in the ocean, and they produce the oxygen we breathe. Indeed, when the first...
View ArticleGoing to Extremes for Science
I've read my fair share of science books and field blogs and talked to more than a few scientists. In most cases, I hear their stories and think "Cool! I want to do that!" In a few other cases, I think...
View Article30 Issues: Why You Should Care About ... Climate Change
It’s been said so many times, it’s hard to even find an original source. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but not her own facts.When it comes to climate change, though, there seem to be...
View ArticleLiving Off a Love of the Natural World
When I first met Ari Daniel Shapiro, he was a college student spending a summer doing research here in Woods Hole. He subsequently returned and earned a Ph.D. from the M.I.T.-Woods Hole Oceanographic...
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