"Why is the sky blue?" is a perennial question of young children. It is also somewhat notorious for producing incorrect or incomplete answers, even from fairly credible sources. The typical answer for why 'x' is whatever color it is has to due with the wavelengths of light it absorbs. What we see is what is not absorbed but instead reflected, so if an object absorbs light from the red end of the spectrum it will look more blue, and vice versa. The sky appears blue for a different reason, though. Some white light from … [Read more...] about Science Corner: It’s Not That Easy Being Blue
botany
Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 7-9
We're on our final week discussing the English translation of Stefano Mancuso's The Revolutionary Genius of Plants, a colorful and wide-ranging survey of recent developments in our understanding of plant biology. Mancuso is particularly interested in what sets plants apart from animals, reasoning that we can learn the most from our biggest differences. Two weeks ago we focused on the decentralized nature of plants; last week we looked at how plants have to solve problems while staying in one place. In the final chapters … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 7-9
Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 4-6
Last week I tried to rectify the dearth of botany in my blog coverage by covering the first few chapters of Stefano Mancuso's The Revolutionary Genius of Plants, and this week we'll pick up where we left off. Mancuso thinks that we can learn much from plants, not least because they have such different solutions to life's major challenges. As we discussed, one of those differences is that animals tend to have dedicated organs for various functions while plants tend to spread out functions throughout their bodies. In … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 4-6
Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 1-3
Despite being a biologist, I'll admit that I've neglected plant biology relative to some other areas. As a student of molecular and microbiology, I suppose I've not paid as much attention to macroscopic organisms in general, but one picks up a certain amount of animal biology because it is similar to human biology. And the kinds of evolutionary biology conversations that come up in Christian circles often focus on animal evolution, presumably because animals are familiar and because human evolution is the most … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: The Revolutionary Genius of Plants Ch 1-3
Science Corner: Nectar of the Plant Overlords
Last year I discovered Sue Burke's Semiosis at the library and found it an intriguing read. Human colonists arrive on a new planet and over the course of several generations develop a mutually beneficial relationship with the intelligent creatures native to that world. All of the usual first contact challenges apply. How do you communicate without a shared language? How do you establish trust when your very presence could be seen as invasive and hostile? How do you navigate cultural differences? In Semiosis, all of … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Nectar of the Plant Overlords