Fred Pearce writes about our exploration of whether humanity is nearing peak use of stuff in this article in Anthropocene magazine: Are We Approaching Peak Stuff? Almost imperceptibly, we are stepping off the consumption treadmill
News
CoML Huff Post
The Census of Marine Life appears in a vivid 29 Sept 2018 article in the Huffington Post by Ilana Straus about estimating the number of species.
The Strange Story Behind The Animals We Know We Haven’t Yet Discovered
“The more we look, the more species we find.”
Passing of John Fisher of Fisher-Pry substitution model
We note with sadness learning of the passing of John C. Fisher on 2 May 2018 at age 98. With Robert Pry, John Fisher developed the classic A simple substitution model of technological change JC Fisher, RH Pry – Technological Forecasting and Social Change 3, pp76-88, 1971. Much of our work (especially by Perrin Meyer, Jason Yung, and David Burg) has built on the Fisher-Pry model, culminating in the software package Loglet Lab 4.
The interesting account of John’s life and career by his family would have been more complete if it included discussion of the substitution model. The General Electric Corporation research labs have made extraordinary contributions.
Paul Gaffney article on Ocean Observations
The fall issue of the quarterly magazine of the National Academy of Engineering, The Bridge, reports on Ocean Exploration and its Engineering Challenges Sept 2018 Vol 48(3).
The issue contains several excellent articles, including America’s Ocean Observations: A Perspective, by Paul Gaffney, our partner in the Monmouth University-Rockefeller University Marine Science and Policy Initiative. The article helpfully discusses Mark Stoeckle’s work on eDNA.
Also especially notable are Mapping the World’s Oceans by our frequent collaborator Larry A. Mayer, and Using Noise to Image the Ocean by William A. Kuperman.
These and the other articles relate strongly to our interests in ocean exploration (e.g., the 2016 National Ocean Exploration Forum), The International Quiet Ocean Experiment, and more generally human progress in ocean observation.
MURU Symposium November 2018
The Monmouth University-Rockefeller University Marine Science and Policy Initiative (MURU) will be hosting the ‘National Conference on Marine and Environmental eDNA‘ to help accelerate marine environmental DNA science and applications by bringing together researchers, government agencies, and private foundations. Major themes will include Technology development, Bioinformatics, and eDNA biology.
The conference will held Thursday-Friday, November 29-30, 2018 at The Rockefeller University, New York, NY
Annual meeting of Quiet Ocean strategy group
The USA Strategy Group for the International Quiet Ocean Experiment held its 4th annual meeting 28-30 August at the Marine Policy Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where Jesse Ausubel works each July-August. We focused on opportunities to speed learning with passive acoustics in the Gulf of Mexico. Attendees were Dave Bradley, Paul Gaffney, Cynthia Pyc, Jennifer Miksis-Olds, Kelly Oskvig, Ruth Perry, Jon White, George Frisk, Peter Tyack, Jesse Ausubel, Ed Urban, and Alan Curry, as well as Dick Pittenger (not in photo). We enjoyed a tour of Ray Dalio’s Exploration Vessel Alucia which was docked at WHOI.
passing of Rodney Nichols
Our beloved friend and colleague Rodney Nichols passed away on 30 August 2018 in New York City. Rod introduced Jesse Ausubel and Doris Manville, who have now worked together in the Program for the Human Environment for more than 25 years. Numerous interests, programs, and organizations united us, including scientific cooperation between nations in conflict and The Rockefeller University itself. Here are notices in the 2 September New York Times from Rod’s family and from The Rockefeller University. We will miss Rod greatly.
Jesse offers a Remembrance.
Article in WaPo and NYT about Mark’s eDNA work
Over 200 news outlets so far, including the Washington Post and New York Times published the Associated Press story that opens with reference to Mark Stoeckle’s East River eDNA work.
https://ktar.com/story/2194560/telltale-bits-of-dna-help-track-past-and-elusive-wildlife/
Census of Marine Life anthem
We listened again to Look to the Sea, the catchy song that Maryann Camilleri, Jerry Harrison, David Dennison, David Hardin, and others created for the Census of Marine Life in 2010. The song, video and its creators are explained at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqed3WFYDGo
also at https://vimeo.com/17662204
The recording was played at the London Grand Finale of the CoML in October 2010. The Steve Miller Band played the song several times during their 2010-2011 world tour.
eDNA and Loch Ness
Mark Stoeckle is interviewed in an AP Television segment about searching for the Loch Ness monster using eDNA. Mark’s interview and footage begins about 2 minutes 50 seconds into the 8-minute segment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5UPXmP5YE0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj8qoHoa0Vg