Nigel Hey's Blog, page 2

Spirit Messengers from Dawn Lake: Shalako Dancers to Visit Indian Village

Late 18th century Zuni kachina doll  of the
handsome clown Paiyatemu. 
Photo: Wikimedia/Brooklyn MuseumMy mind wandered today to thoughts of the people of Zuni Pueblo, who all year will be putting together the intricate details of one of Indian America’s most thrilling traditional festivals, Shalako, to be held at the 2016 winter solstice. I knew I should be spending my time writing a long article on sustainability, but told myself it would be okay to break off on this tangent be...

Spirit Messengers from Dawn Lake: Shalako Dancers Visit Indian Village

My mind wandered today to thoughts of the people of Zuni Pueblo, who since the beginning of this year have been preparing for the 2016 winter solstice and one of Indian America’s most thrilling traditional festivals, Shalako. I knew I should be spending my time writing an article on sustainability, but stayed mentally with this large isolated community of American Indian folk. I told myself it would be okay to break off on this tangent because a central cultural goal of the Zuni (and generall...

Spirit Messengers from Dawn Lake: Shalako Dancers to Visit Indian Village

Late 18th century Zuni kachina doll of the handsome clown Paiyatemu.
Photo: Wikimedia/Brooklyn Museum

My mind wandered today to thoughts of the people of Zuni Pueblo, who all year will be putting together the intricate details of one of Indian America’s most thrilling traditional festivals, Shalako, to be heldat the 2016 winter solstice. I knew I should be spending my time writing a long article on sustainability, but told myself it would be okay to break off on this tangent because a central...

'CRISPR' wows a world that also balks at the idea of gene-edited babies

CRISPR-Cas9 cover, Nature magazine, emphasizes
therapeutic uses of gene editingThis month at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, your blogger joined a huge, attentive, jam-packed crowd that was listening for the latest information on something called CRISPR, pronounced “crisper.” Their big reason for being there was to learn more about a technology that may change human life forever. For many of the meeting’s attendees this lecture was without do...

'CRISPR' wows the world, but do we really want gene-edited babies?

This month at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, your blogger joined a huge, attentive, jam-packed crowd that was listening for the latest information on something called CRISPR, pronounced “crisper.” Their big reason for being there was to learn more about a technology that may change human life forever. For many of the meeting’s attendees this lecture was without doubt the pièce de resistance, the reason to be in Washington, D.C., on a very c...

‘CRISPR’ wows the world, but do we really want gene-edited babies?

Early this yearat the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, your blogger joined a huge, attentive, jam-packed crowd that was listening for the latest information on something called CRISPR, pronounced “crisper.” Their big reason for being there was to learn more about a technology that may change human life forever. For many of the meeting’s attendees this lecture was without doubt the pièce de resistance, the reason to be in Washington, D.C., on a v...

A resolution for the world: Like people, Dare to think positive!

Charles Dickens, 1812-1870

I had an unexpected treat this Christmas. The BBC has produced a 20-part TV series that features some of the most vivid characters to be found in Charles Dickens’ writings. Appropriately, the Beeb chose to launch the new offering, “Dickensian” on January 26 – Boxing Day, which Londonershave adopted to celebrate the life of the great novelist. I imagine BBC is arranging worldwide distribution of this unusual series, in which memorable characters from Bill Sykes to Mi...

A resolution for the world: Like people, Dare to think positive!

Charles Dickens, 1812-1870I had an unexpected treat this Christmas. The BBC has produced a 20-part TV series that features some of the most vivid characters to be found in Charles Dickens’ writings. Appropriately, the Beeb chose to launch the new offering, “Dickensian” on July 26 – Boxing Day, which Londoners have adopted to celebrate the life of the great novelist. I imagine BBC is arranging worldwide distribution of this unusual production, in which memorable characters from Bill Sykes...

Who will be the Real ‘Future People’?

In this illustration, the supermassive black hole at the center is surrounded by matterflowing onto theblack hole in what is termed an accretion disk. This disk formsas the dust and gas in the galaxy falls onto the hole, attracted by its gravity. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Someone came up with the idea, a short time back, that some people have “time horizons” of different lengths, and that these are strong influences upon individual behavior patterns. People with short time horizons, the argume...

Who will be the Real 'Future People'?

In this illustration, the supermassive black hole at the center is surrounded by matter flowing onto the black hole in what is termed an accretion disk. This disk forms as the dust and gas in the galaxy falls onto the hole, attracted by its gravity. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 
Someone came up with the idea, a short time back, that some people have “time horizons” of different lengths, and that these are strong influences upon individual behavior patterns. People with short ti...