essays on science for the common good
n a recent essay (XIV) we looked at the effects of global warming on glaciers and ice sheets and the resulting effect on ocean levels and coastal cities. Now let’s broaden our scope and include the ripple effect of climate warming on the inhabitants of not only frigid climates but also warmer areas as well. …
Continue reading “Part XVI: Polar Bears Coral Reefs and Tropical Rainforest”
I now include a little known but conflicting argument for (temporary at least) global cooling. Everyone knows that there have been several ice ages in our planet’s past. The earth is now on the brink of entering another ice age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence that could last for the next …
Scientists have been concerned about climate change for decades. As early as 1965 a science advisory panel to then President Johnson warned that “increasing atmospheric CO2 could lead to marked changes in climate by the year 2000.” The United Nations formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1988 which relies on input from hundreds of …
Continue reading “Part XIV: Climate Change and Glacial Melt”
Al Gore in his book “an inconvenient truth” begins his book with this picture and the statement “This is the first picture most of us ever saw of the Earth from space. It was taken on Christmas Eve, 1968 by one of the astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 spacecraft.” Thus, this is the way I begin …
The next several essays will focus on the general topic of pollution (various types) and their effect on the environment that we usually interpret as climate change. As the reader will soon discover (I hope), my plan is to state facts as accurately as possible whenever factual data is available and let you, the reader, …
In this essay we will focus on biological classification. I will approach it first from an historical perspective, discuss the rationale for classifying things, both biological and physical, and we will learn some of the details of biological classification. If we stop and think for a moment, classifying things is a normal and natural thing …
In the last essay (Part IX: Organic Molecules), we left off with the question “Did RNA predate DNA. . .?” The problem with an RNA first scenario is that protein enzymes are required for RNA to be copied from DNA. These proteins should not have been present in an RNA world by itself. For a long time …
Carbohydrates are composed entirely of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. All four of these classes of molecules are composed of basic units of structure. The basic unit of structure of carbohydrates is the monosaccharide or simple sugar. Simple sugars combine in a condensation reaction to produce a disaccharide or double sugar. Since one water molecule is extracted …
For the more scientifically motivated reader I now submit an interesting corollary to the essay on photosynthesis and respiration. Most everyone knows that our bodies (all living organisms) are made up of one or more discrete units called cells and that inside these cells reside the working parts (cell organelles). I will focus on just …
Continue reading “PART VIII: Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration A Closer Look”
Two of the most important chemical reactions on earth are photosynthesis and respiration (cellular respiration, not just breathing). During photosynthesis plants take CO2(from the atmosphere) and water from the soil and make food (i.e. simple sugars) and convert them into more complex molecules while also releasing free oxygen. In the process energy is stored in food molecules …
Continue reading “PART VII: Photosynthesis & Respiration: (An overview)”