Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
sheril
Posts by this author
January 7, 2009
Yesterday, President George W. Bush set aside 195,000 square miles of Pacific ocean habitat under executive authority granted by the Antiquities Act. He created three new national monuments which ban seafloor mining, most commercial fishing, and limit recreational and indigenous harvest.
The new…
January 6, 2009
Science Progress has just announced their most popular features of 2008:
Some of them dealt with major controversies over political interference with science at the Environmental Protection Agency, the teaching of creationism, and women's access to reproductive health services. Others tackled…
January 5, 2009
Ocean champion Leon E. Panetta will take over the Central Intelligence Agency.
In disclosing the pick, officials pointed to Mr. Panetta's sharp managerial skills, his strong bipartisan standing on Capitol Hill, his significant foreign policy experience in the White House and his service on the…
January 5, 2009
Unless you've been on a desert island for the past few months, you've likely heard about Isis The Scientist; one of ScienceBlogs best new additions. Dr. Isis a physiologist who blogs about balancing her research career with the demands of raising small children, succeeding as a woman in academia,…
January 4, 2009
Since NOAA accounts for 65% of the Commerce Department budget, I'll be paying close attention to what happens next. Details at the New York Times:
WASHINGTON -- Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, one of the country's most prominent Hispanic politicians and President-elect Barack Obama's…
January 4, 2009
When North Carolina temperatures dip, the old houses in Durham typically offer a crevice here or there for slipping in. And mice are kind of like sea cucumbers in the way they squish themselves through even the smallest vulnerability.
We discovered Gus and Jaq last month. I was up late working…
January 2, 2009
From the New York Times:
From Australia, to Asia and Europe and the United States on Wednesday, the message in the latest economic reports was clear: manufacturing continued to slump amid the worst slowdown since the Great Depression.
And yet today, the fickle Dow topped 9,000, but I can't shake…
January 1, 2009
One Year In 40 Seconds by photographer Eirik Solheim
These images were captured in Oslo, Norway as the seasons changed and audio was recorded on site.
December 31, 2008
New Year 2009 faces a troubled economy, international unrest, and a changing planet, but also ushers in the new presidential administration with opportunities to set better policies that may yet alter the path we're on...
What are readers' greatest hopes for 2009?
December 30, 2008
The latest publication of Issues In Science And Technology features an article I co-authored with ScienceDebate CEO Shawn Lawrence Otto. We discuss building the ScienceDebate2008 initiative, lessons from the election, and what's needed to create an environment where the public's understanding and…
December 30, 2008
Troy and Gabriella may tell popular stories through music, but just imagine the epic that might unfold by training more high school students in molecular biology and bioinformatics.
December 29, 2008
Every week or so, someone asks yours truly to weigh in on women in science. I have. Including a couple of times here. But like Britney's career, the subject keeps making a comeback...
How do we break through that glass ceiling, defy expectations, and succeed in a man's world?
Now more than…
December 29, 2008
Sure I'm concerned over Bush's last stand against the environment, but this piece from the Environmental News Network is, simply well... you decide:
In a few hundred thousand years, after all weather
effects of 21st century climate change have disappeared from the earth's surface, after our quietly…
December 27, 2008
About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster
Dark shapes with bright edges winging their way through dusty NGC 6188 are tens of light-years long. The emission nebula is found near the edge of…
December 26, 2008
Round the outer ring are shown the 23 chromosomes of the human genome. The lines in blue, in the third ring, show internal rearrangements, in which a stretch of DNA has been moved from one site to another within the same chromosome. The red lines, in the bull's eye, designate switches of DNA from…
December 22, 2008
Forty years ago* on December 24, 1968, Earthrise was captured by astronaut William Anders during Apollo 8--the first manned voyage to the orbit of the Moon. It is a photograph that forever changed the way many humans perceive our place in the universe.
As we celebrate the new year, take a moment…
December 22, 2008
I go away for a week, and Obama up and acts to restore the role of science advisor to cabinet-level status and does a heck of a lot of good for oceans. On the latter, I cannot imagine a better choice for head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ocean scientists everywhere…
December 15, 2008
I can't recall the last time I traveled without the laptop (not even here), but we're parting ways for about a week. In the meantime, readers are in more than capable hands as The Intersection's original flies solo once again. And who knows what's in store...
After all, remember what happened…
December 13, 2008
It's time. The December Geminid Meteor Shower is upon us--the most satisfying of all the annual meteor displays (yes, even the Perseids). For the best viewing, watch when the constellation Gemini will be rising above the east-northeast horizon.
Last night's full moon may dim this year's…
December 12, 2008
Sometimes, the overlords at Seed have good ideas. Scienceblogs for example. The energy blog. Even the new life sciences site.
And other times, they go a bit off the deep end trying to hype up traffic by scaring the bejebus out of readers. Like today. Right now on the Sb homepage related to the…
December 12, 2008
The auto bailout collapsed in the Senate, failing to pass the $14 billion stopgap measure and possibly dooming GM and Chrysler to bankruptcy.
"It's disappointing that Congress failed to act last night," said White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto. "We will evaluate our options in light of…
December 10, 2008
This time, it's personal.
There is no question fisheries are in serious trouble and Bush is hoping to loosen rules under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that govern the environmental review process surrounding catch limits. The proposed 11th hour changes would weaken the Magnuson-…
December 9, 2008
We recently penned an article together in the current issue of Mother Jones:
As the rhetoric from the campaign trail demonstrates (remember the ad with John McCain at the wind-turbine factory?), nobody is against renewable energy. But no amount of green talk can change the fact that our economy is…
December 8, 2008
Just when you thought it was safe to acknowledge the unequivocal reality of global warming.....
Just when you thought the U.S. government was ready to admit that it has a serious emissions problem, and do something about it....
Just when you thought the skeptic party was over...
No way: There has…
December 8, 2008
The Hubble Telescope captured globular cluster M13 in the northern sky:
December 5, 2008
Yesterday, many among us were aghast to learn that yet another major news outlet is eliminating its science coverage. In this case it was CNN, which decided to nix its seven-person unit on science, the environment, and technology--including six producers and veteran space correspondent Miles O'…
December 5, 2008
The National Academies is working to identify topics in science, engineering, and medicine that matter most to the public. They developed this 2-minute survey and we encourage Intersection readers to participate:
What topics in science, engineering, and medicine matter most to you? The National…