Mysterious Symmetry between Destruction and Growth asked “How on earth does blowing stuff up violently constrain unrelated growth mechanisms? This is the mystery.”

Fisherfolk can be tremendous founts of information about marine animals. They know where to find different species, what sort of baits they like best, what sizes to expect, and how all these things change with the seasons. Smart marine biologists spend a lot of time talking with fishers and learning from them.

That said, fishers can sometimes draw rather curious conclusions from what they observe. Here's an excerpt from a recent article by well-known angler and fishing writer Charley Soares:

Some days I wonder if we were set up from the get-go to expect less, to hope for less, to dream of less. My son's prognosis was grim and bitter to the heart when he was a tender five. And yet here he is at 21 continually amazing us with the strides he makes.

The public perception of autism continues to be one of grim stereotypes. Certainly there is a sizable minority edging to the halfway mark of moderately to severely disabled autistic individuals; this appears to be what the general public pictures when they hear the word autism. Just as certain is that my three children aren't there; they aren't severely disabled, not now, but once upon a time, my son was much more severely impacted so that many standardized tests placed him in the first percentile.

“Auntie”, better known as the BBC, has just treated us to a two-parter, Everything and Nothing, by Jim Al-Khalili.  He thoroughly knows his history of science, rather than treating it as an add-on, and delivers the significance of what he says without spoiling it through philosophy and vain deceit” [1].

The blurb says:

Have you noticed that whenever a [natural]disaster strikes we quickly look around to find a guilty party? The first place we look is among politicians. The politicians are not to blame for the natural disaster of course, at least not the nature part of it. The dimensions of the disaster can however fairly easily be tracked back to humans, more specifically to the political leadership who are responsible for managing both natural and human resources.