Category Archives: politics and science

politics, politics and science

An Inconvenient Truth

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Kind of interesting today to read that some brain cells in humpback whales have previously been found only in humans, apes, and dolphins. Also kind of interesting to read lately that the effects of global warming are being felt in lakes in Africa as well as glaciers at the poles. So, I was also somewhat piqued to read that the United States National Science Teachers Foundation turned down an offer of free copies of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” movie because (as they claimed) they were afraid that other groups would want to give them “propaganda” as well.

It turns out that what they may be afraid of is losing the monetary support of Exxon Mobil Corp, which supplies millions of dollars and lesson plans giving their side of the global warming debate to teachers. As an editorial writer in the Washington Post wrote on Sunday, “It’s bad enough when a company tries to sell junk science to a bunch of grown-ups. But, like a tobacco company using cartoons to peddle cigarettes, Exxon Mobil is going after our kids, too.”

Exxon isn’t the only corporate donor to get in on the bandwagon of directing science teacher attention away from some inconvenient truths. Shell Oil and the American Petroleum Institute have virtually unfettered access to teachers and students (our children), yet a movie that could give some badly needed balance to teachers as they try to explain the global warming issues to students is turned down. An inconvenient truth, indeed.

You know, the universe isn’t stupid. It runs by the numbers. Those numbers say that for every action there is a consequence. If you bring together a cloud of gas and dust and stir it up, all things being equal, in a few millions or billions of years there’ll be a star and maybe some planets form in the cloud. If conditions are right, chemicals may combine to form life on a planet. And, if things don’t go wrong, that life may evolve to understand its surroundings and maybe even explore the stars. It’s kind of elegant if you sit and think about it for a while.

During the lifespan of a star like the Sun, the existence of life on our planet is a mere blip of time. In the life of a galaxy, the birth and evolution of life on Earth isn’t even an eyeblink, not even a nanosecond of galactic time. Life is precious for that very rarity of its existence in time and space. There may be other planets with life, but like the time span of our existence, those life forms also exist in the blink of the cosmic eye.

Still, we live in the here and now, on a planet that we are changing by our very existence—a planet we still barely understand. We’re just now developing the tools of science to help us understand the changes we’re bringing to our world. Now we need to get rid of the very human trait of hubris and face what we’re doing with open eyes and minds. The universe doesn’t care if we live or die, but WE do. And for now, Earth is the only planet we’ve got and the diversity of life on its surface and under its ocean waves is precious.

Which brings me back to whales. We’ve been killing them for centuries. Turns out they’re more closely related to us than we thought. Maybe we’re killing our cousins. Now that we’re fouling our Earthly nest and pretending that global warming doesn’t exist, we may well be dooming humanity in a not so distant future to live on a planet that isn’t so pleasant to be on. Just as we’ve made the oceans a deathtrap for whales and overfishing the doom of fish species. I think that’s a darned sight more important to worry about than whether or not exposing ALL sides of a complex science issue to students will somehow harm an oil company that is now on record as trying to buy out science teachers in the United States.

Science is about looking at ALL evidence, studying all aspects of a physical situation, and making some decisions based on that evidence. It’s not about buying opinion or directing research and education to a pre-ordained end based on economic or political interests. Shame on the NSTA and shame on the sponsors who try to direct science education and open inquiry into directions that are, well, un-open, unscientific and verging on looking dishonest.

Astronomy outreach, hubble space telescope, politics, politics and science

HST and Time’s Passage

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Hubble Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope is one of those icons of modern civilization that sparks curiosity in all of us about exploring the cosmos. I have always found it pretty interesting that, in a time when many of us who are “into” space cut our teeth watching Star Trek and Star Wars, our imaginations are fired by a telescope that does deep-space exploration for us.

It has been a privilege to watch this telescope do its work, even as public perception of it has changed from “Oh, it’s the great HST!” to “It’s a techno-turkey” (after the discovery of spherical aberration) to “It’s doing science” to “Save the HST!” I did my master’s thesis in science journalism on the media treatment of the Hubble Space Telescope, and so I traced its up and down public perception over the course of five years. It’s amazing to think back to the bad old days, when I was about to start graduate school and had just joined an HST instrument team as a graduate research associate. Right after launch we were elated that it was up and seemed to be functioning. Then came the spherical aberration diagnosis and the dark days when all our hallway conversations focused on the burning question, “How could this happen?”

Gradually, as the technicians figured out how to eke good science from the aberrated data, public perception shifted. Each great new image cemented in people’s minds the fact that with ingenuity, we could get good science. Perhaps that’s a valuable lesson to keep in mind in a “I want mine, NOW” culture — that sometimes you have to work harder and longer and be smarter to achieve the really meaningful bling.

Long time readers of this blog know that I never talk politics here. But there comes a time when all of us should think critically about the choices that face us as a nation, especially when it comes to national and international assets like the Hubble Space Telescope. And, these days we find ourselves faced with a number of problems that demand that we actually ask questions of our governments and do a lot of critical thinking about the answers we get. It’s up to us to be THAT responsible, and that’s a fact of life for any citizen in a democracy. We HAVE to ask questions, even of people we might agree with, and act as citizens should when we get the answers. So, forgive me if I get political here: it’s for a good cause.

These days, the fate of the HST hangs in the balance. It CAN be serviced, but the political will to take the risks to do so is not there. We KNOW what the risks are in a shuttle mission, and we can work around them. We can’t say the same for rushing into a war over what now appear to be nonexistent weapons of mass destruction.

And so, it’s up to citizens to make it known that we value the space telescope and other aspects of our science and space programs. They’re part of the GOOD stuff about our country, an integral piece of the learning and technology assets we jointly own as citizens. So, we have to do what our citizenship requires: we tell our representatives or our president that we don’t want to lose this asset due to political inaction or fear. We ask the tough questions about the decisions being made in our name. It’s not easy, and it is just as simple to sit back and “let somebody else do it.” But it’s not that simple.

HSTs view of the Ring Nebula: An HST Gift From Across Space and Time
HST's view of the Ring Nebula: An HST Gift From Across Space and Time

HST represents the hard work of friends and neighbors, famous folks and not-so-famous folks. When I wrote my first book about HST with Jack Brandt, we spent a lot of time talking with the scientists who helped make it possible. They aren’t eggheads or enemies of the state or people to be wary of—they’re people anyone would be proud to know, to call as friend or neighbor. And collectively, they’ve brought us incredible insights into the universe. I think we owe it to them and their hard work to defend HST against the shortsightedness of budgeteers who can’t see past the next election cycle.

The telescope’s done an incredible job; it still has a useful lifetime ahead of it. And I, for one, will miss it when it’s gone. It’s been a huge part of my life, and whether or not everyone else realizes it, it’s been a large part of yours as well. Please let your representative and president know that we want HST to stay up and working as long as possible, and that a well-managed servicing mission is not impossible; it’s a risk worth taking.