My Response to Seed's 'Universe in 2008' Questions

tags: SEED magazine, sciencebloggers, Universe in 2008

Have you read your February 2008 copy of SEED magazine yet? I have received my copy and discovered that I have finally been published in a magazine after years of rejection letters (yippee) because the editor included a few of my responses to two questions they asked that were included in their "Universe in 2008" piece (p 69). The questions;

What would you like to be blogging about in 2008?
What do you fear you'll be blogging about in 2008?

My responses (only a very very few of which appeared in SEED) are below the fold;

In 2008, I would like to write about on my blog;

1. the organism(s) causing honeybee colony collapse disorder has/have been successfully identified and can be treated
2. a simple and easy-to-administer cure has been discovered that will save the world's rapidly declining frog species
3. the beginning of the recovery of west coast seabird and shorebird populations following their years of sudden and often dramatic declines
4. speaking of shorebirds, I'd like to write about the reversal of the breathtaking population crash that the migratory red knot (on the east coast of America) has experienced due to the astonishing and short-sighted overexploitation of horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay for, of all things, fish bait
5. at least a few major American cities have followed San Francisco's brilliant example by banning the use of plastic shopping bags
6. at least 40% of all new cars sold in America consist of hybrid cars
7. embryonic stem cells have been successfully used to cure a major human disease (Parkinson's disease? This one seems to show the most promise for early success)
8. DNA/stem cells have been used to resurrect a formerly extinct species
9. a blood test has been developed that accurately identifies breast cancer in its early stages, before it is detectable by mammogram
10. a humane, rational and science-friendly president is in the White House -- one that was actually voted into the office by the majority of the citizenry

In 2008, I fear that I will be writing about on my blog;

1. the migratory red knot population (shorebirds on the east coast of America) has passed beyond their "tipping point" and are on the road to extinction
2. global warming has advanced beyond its "tipping point" and the world's environmental decline has accelerated alarmingly
3. a water crisis is occurring on America's west coast (especially in lush Washington state)
4. the global collapse and economic extinction of the bluefin tuna fishery
5. the increasing unemployment rate among American science postdocs
6. biology teachers are forced to teach creationism in addition to evolution in at least one American public school
7. Roe v Wade has been repealed or restricted, and that most forms of birth control are severely curtailed
8. America has launched yet another undeclared and senseless war -- this time, on Iran