I dunno, but it seems kind of extreme, not to mention risky, to bio-engineer a mass mosquito die-off. So Steve Paulson tracked down the world’s greatest living entomologist to see what he has to say. E. O Wilson is sometimes called “the ant man” – that’s the insect he studied most – but he’s best known as the evolutionary biologist and a champion of biodiversity. He’s 86 years old now, and has just finished what is probably his last book – called “Half Earth”. It’s a passionate plea to save humanity by dedicating half the planet to nature. You’d assume that Wilson would be happy to let mosquitos live in that half… but that’s not what he told Steve.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
After all the debates about the Muslim world, it’s refreshing to look back at one of the world’s great mystics - the Sufi poet Rumi.
Not all cavemen are in the past. The Modern Caveman Movement involves men in urban gyms, grunting and sprinting on all fours, lifting heavy stones, and running barefoot.
Bill Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, which set off a series of bombs around the country in protest against the Vietnam War. Ayers insists he was not a terrorist, since his objective was never to kill people. He believes his own actions showed restraint in comparison with the enormity of the harm he believed the Vietnam War was causing.
More than 100 million people have Twitter accounts. Every moment, across the globe, they are posting thousands of short digital messages; that’s a lot of data.
Maybe it can help us keep an eye out for cultural change?
Brent Silby teaches philosophy in Christchurch, New Zealand and is the author of an article in "Philosophy Now" magazine called "The Simulated Universe."
David Greenberger transforms the words of elderly people in his series of "Duplex Planet" zines, comic books, spoken-word performances and radio plays.
Emily Rapp had her foot amputated when she was 4, and the rest of the leg at age 8.
Pages
