I talked with Bob Flaherty on WHMP about water, crumbling water infrastructure nationwide, and the responsibility of large companies like Coca Cola – which operates a large plant in Northampton MA – regarding payment to towns for their water use. An in depth look at Northampton’s new water sewer rate – WHMP Morning News The …
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photo by Stephen Petegorsky NORTHAMPTON — The Meadows are one of my favorite places to walk, daydream, write, and watch nature change in its numberless daily ways. A swath of agricultural land between Northampton’s downtown and the Connecticut River, they’re within easy walking distance of my home. Wandering the Meadows, I regularly see red-tailed hawks, …
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NORTHAMPTON — About a year ago, I saw three deer running across the Connecticut River. They weren’t walking on water: the river had frozen, thick enough to support their lightly tripping hooves. Last winter, Bostonians got so much snow they called it the Snowpocalypse. This December, I saw a deer again, but it stood on …
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Today the corn is new, no higher than my knee, and at this height it has a special color: luminous green under the overcast sky. The clouds are thick and dark, like a stew. For some, this place might seem always the same: the corn growing, the looming mountain, the lone trees far off across …
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image courtesy of The Common Online We were tipsy and in a good mood, Paul and I, coming home from our favorite bar in the whirlings of this season’s first “historic snowstorm,” when I noticed the figure floundering in the snow. He was a dark clot of winter coat and baggy pants, on his knees, …
I have an article out in Science News for Students this week, on the immune system, and how computers are allowing us to create simulated immune-cell interactions that mimic the human body and healing: Virtual Wounds: Computers probe healing It’s written for young people age 8 to 18. When the body needs to deliver immune …
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I have a profile out today in Smith College’s Insight magazine, on Smith College Lyman Conservatory manager Rob Nicholson. It describes his adventures in plant-collecting expeditions around the globe: An Aztec curse seemed like a minor obstacle as Rob Nicholson, manager for the Lyman Conservatory of the Botanic Garden of Smith College, climbed a monkey-hand …
Health monitors to measure heart rate and steps per day are getting smaller and smaller, and cheaper and cheaper. Soon, researchers say, they’ll be the size of a band-aid, flexible, and disposable. Plus, they’ll measure chemicals in sweat that could detect stress, fatigue, or even heart or liver failure. My latest article, on new nanotechnology …
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Latest essay at The Common Online – art and solitude in company: * Vignettes from Western Massachusetts Two men scrape blue paint from the wall of the building across the street. They sit cross-legged, each plying his scraper with energy. The one on the right is thickset, wearing a gray t-shirt stained with sweat. The …
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This is the most intense congregation of animals I’ve ever seen. I have a piece out about these salmon today in The Common Online: Alaskan Baselines.