Troubling drop in whale population
It's still far too early to tie what may or may not be going on with the minke to global warming.Posted on June 1, 2008 3:08 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Island of Doubt
An irregular exploration of the struggle between the power of rational discourse and the scientific method on one hand, and the forces of superstition and dogma on the other.
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Profile
James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
Recent Posts
- Climate cartoons
- The right to idiocy
- Drilling down for doubt: The latest Pew suvery on religion
- The clean energy technology gap: An urban legend?
- In God Who Trusts?
- It's like flipping a switch
- Heads stuck in the sands
- Too cheap to meter! Did they really say that?
- Amtrak: The 2008 election linchpin
- Earth: The Sequel
Recent Comments
- S2 on Climate cartoons
- Survival Acres on The clean energy technology gap: An urban legend?
- llewelly on Why economics is the "dismal science"
- bodydetox on Drilling down for doubt: The latest Pew suvery on religion
- kartuş, toner, fax, fotokopi on Essential reading on carbon emissions targets
- Rainah on Why economics is the "dismal science"
- Lance on The right to idiocy
- Joseph Brenner on The right to idiocy
- Thomas M. on The right to idiocy
- Daryl McCullough on The right to idiocy
for 9 July 2007
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Other Doubtful Blogs
- Panda's Thumb
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Inspiration
The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle
in the Dark,
by Carl Sagan
(A
review)
The Doubter's Companion:
by John Ralston Saul (Excerpts)
Skeptic Magazine: www.skeptic.com
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: www.csicop.org
A poem by Yehuda Amichai:
The
Place
Where We Are Right
The Meaning of the
Island of Doubt
Author's site: cyamid.net
--- H. L. Mencken
By doubting we come to inquiry; and through inquiry we perceive truth.
--- Peter Abelard
Undisguised clarity is easily mistaken for arrogance.
-- Richard Dawkins
As for evolution, it happened. Deal with it.
-- Michael Shermer.
cetacea:
Dick Cheney hates the whales
Funny, I didn't know one needed a marine biology degree to work in the White House.Posted on May 1, 2008 6:53 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
How do whales really hear?
Whales hear through their jaws, right? Maybe not, if a new study is correct......Posted on February 7, 2008 10:11 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Nuke the whales
There still a lot we don't understand about how whales react to the noise equivalent of a jumbo jet landing on the street in front of your house.Posted on January 17, 2008 8:57 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Score one for the whales
So nice to start the year off the right note for a change.Posted on January 4, 2008 11:35 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The military industrial complex vs. the planet
Only die-hard deep ecologists would argue that environmental concerns, whether the topic is whales or climate change, should always be given priority over national security.Posted on January 3, 2008 9:33 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Gray whales doing worse than we thought
Monday we heard that a group of rogue Makah Indians killed a gray whale without going through the red tape that they're supposed to (or bothering to land it). Tuesday comes a new study that shows the eastern Pacific gray...Posted on September 11, 2007 3:18 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Another reason to stop burning oil
Actually, burning it would probably be better than this. A barge overturned and dumped a loaded diesel truck in waters just metres from Robson Bight, one of those areas where the term "ecologically sensitive" just doesn't do seem to do...Posted on August 21, 2007 8:32 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Whale-watching: bad news and good
First, the bad news: the current issue of Biology Letters reports the extinction of the baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin, in what amounts to the official publication of an earlier announcement that the species could no longer be found in...Posted on August 9, 2007 9:32 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Oh those poor whales
The plight of just two humpback whales that got themselves lost up the Sacramento River has got the nation transfixed. This sort of thing happens every few years. Back in 1988, it was three gray whales trapped in the ice...Posted on May 26, 2007 7:31 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One tall man, two lucky dolphins and some sad news
From the annals of the weird and wonderful comes this tale of a pair of lucky dolphins: The world's tallest man helped save two dolphins in China by reaching into their stomachs and pulling out harmful plastic they had swallowed,...Posted on December 14, 2006 9:47 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Dolphin-hugging scientists
I was talking yesterday with a friend of mine who works at the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre, which has long been at the forefront of research into the scope of the decline of fish species around the world....Posted on November 20, 2006 7:36 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Iceland's whaling obsession
So Iceland is back at it, joining Norway and Japan in the atavistic habit of killing whales. I find it interesting that this subject is so often framed as a scientific one, evidenced by the number of posts on the...Posted on October 26, 2006 7:34 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Dolphins dolphins dolphins
I'm a little late to this particular debate, but it's long been one of my favorite subjects, ever since I had a most intriguing encounter with a wild member of the species Tursiops truncatus, in Australia 16 years ago. More...Posted on September 5, 2006 1:50 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
How not to save the whales
It's that time of year, when the International Whaling Commission gets together and pretends its decisions will be based on the best available science. In addition to poorly serving the planet's cetaceans, these annual gatherings are embarrassments for both the...Posted on June 12, 2006 3:14 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
High definition, deep water
Had enough of the coke-and-mentos display? Time for a more mellow viral video fix, perhaps. This week's New York Times offers some soothing underwater footage of humpback whales. The accompaying story promises even better visuals soon, thanks to the advent...Posted on June 12, 2006 6:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
