I take a perverse delight in my Luddite Lite view, but it's really as simple this. Anything that distances me from the natural world, from my connection to the stuff that comes in (and leaves) my body, from the delicious sensuous (even sensual) symphony of particles and light dancing on and in my body, this body, the one with a beating heart, ...

Teaching matters.We owe it to our children to get it right.  What do you care to know about the world? There's a place for what used to be called boredom, for empty spaces to slide into your mind. It's not particularly unpleasant, but it lacks the dopamine we've programmed our children, ourselves, to crave. If you sit still long enough ...

Yesterday we fooled a few bacteria into taking in some jellyfish DNA, and now they fluoresce green. Tomorrow I will take a few colonies of these and give them what we all need--food, shelter, and a little security, and I'll get a few million more by Thursday. This has become old hat in high school biology classes, but it still blows my mind, as ...

There's seems to be some confusion about my role. I am, of course, an agent of the government, of the public, of my town. I am a science teacher, which should mean I teach science. Arne says it means I am the linchpin of our economy. Einstein said I have the power to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. Governor Christie says it ...

A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a turtle to carry him on his back across a river. ''Are you mad?'' exclaimed the turtle. ''You'll sting me while I'm swimming and I'll drown.''  ''My dear turtle,'' laughed the scorpion, ''if I were to sting you, you would drown and I would go down with you. Now where is the logic in that?''  ''You're ...

I wandered into school despite our Hallowe'en snow day, to prep for lab. I brought in some pond water I foolishly (and joyously) collected in the middle of the storm. I took a drop, put it on a slide. I never know what I expect to see, and I'm never disappointed. I saw some critters I had not seen before--first a few translucent ''turtles'' ...

I used to be a doctor, the kind with a stethoscope, the kind licensed to hurt you for you own good. It puzzles children to learn that a physician would walk away from medicine in order to teach, and there are days I am baffled myself. I liked medicine. I love teaching. I did not know that this would be true when I left medicine, so while it is ...

I haven't worn shoes since the graduation on June 21st, which means I've gotten through the summer without a wake or a wedding. My feet share the story of summer--they're currently encrusted with the oozy remains of an ill-advised tromp through poison ivy.The tops are brown from melanin, the bottoms brown from dirt. You could make a decent ...

Salman Khan makes educational videos, lots of educational videos, using a simple technique--he draws out his thoughts on a ''blackboard,'' while he thinks aloud. Much like someone unwrapping a problem on a napkin or on an old slate blackboard. Bill Gates has practically adopted him, and the ed reformerati love him. He's an MIT grad, he's ...

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,None but ourselves can free our minds.Bob Marley We're at that point now.We were at it once before in my lifetime.  I know what fresh bread baked from wheat ground by my hands tastes like. I know what blueberries off an early August bush taste like. I know what wild dolphins sound like while I lie ...