Mind-Blowing Miscellany

All of these are quite interesting, but I'm damned if I can figure out how to work them into a single discussion. So it's Intellectual Salad Bar time at Science Made Cool!

First, here's an interesting press release from Texas A&M University. It describes how a group of researchers in the chemical engineering department used color-marked yeast cells to actually observe evolution going on in realtime. I hope someone develops this into a classroom aid -- being able to watch how evolution works would clear up a lot of misunderstandings and ignorance on the topic.

Second, I ran across this New Scientist interview with James Lovelock. Lovelock, of course, is the originator of the much-misunderstood "Gaia" hypothesis concerning planetary self-regulation. (Perhaps that's why New Scientist assigned a writer named "Gaia" to interview him.) In the piece he has some harsh words about current efforts to control carbon emissions. It's interesting to note that he's at least open to the usefulness of nuclear power, and he suggests burying large amounts of carbon waste to remove it from the atmosphere. (Isn't that what we did before recycling?)

Finally, a paper by Nick Bostrom which almost defies classification. His ostensible topic is how to make philosophy more useful -- which sounds like a little faculty-lounge power play to me -- but along the way touches on topics like the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and the potential end states of civilization.