"Natural" control of pests: Three stories; one real, two fictional

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Control "natural" de pestes

Some days ago when me and the work team was returning from field work, it came up the topic of the demographic growth issue. Interesting cases were drawn, among which the most impressive were three: 

i) one real: the case I watched on Nat Geo I guess, where they reported a plague of mice or rats in Australia; a probable, terrible consequence of climate change

ii) another believed to be real: the (in)famous (unknown to me until then) case of the lemnings,

iii) and another from the science fiction literature: a vision from Issac Asimov on the demographic problem.

Anecdotal evidence "To report your observations does not qualify for research outcome"

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Evidencia anecdotal "Reportar observaciones no califica como trabajo de investigación"

On a former post, I pointed out the benefits of forests by citing the opinion of a biologist. Then, I tried to reinforce his position on the topic through by presenting a graph I used in my former work (Figure above-link to my post). About it, I said that I found out that forests have played a fundamental role as a countermeasure against global warming, because they have kept stable the temperature of the surface of a region covered by tropical forests in the Andes (upper Amazon basin). Before thinking that such snapshot provides a relevant scientific finding, I invite you to check back the blog post I mention to read that I also point out that such finding has not yet been published because the findings have not yet been "certified" through field measurements. Without such certification, my "findings" simply constitute "anecdotal evidence", which in the words of my former imply that: "To report your observations does not qualify for research outcome".

"In our modern houses, we take so much for granted"

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 "Damos por sentado mucho del equipamiento, infraestructura y servicios de nuestras casas modernas"

Education. "In our modern houses, we take so much for granted" is how Lucie Worsley, chief curator of the historic royal palace, guides us into a 800-years journey that explores the history of our homes. Her enthusiasm for history reminded me that besides being entertaining, looking back in history can be used as a didactic resource to show students and young engineers how valuable the inventive of the human being is for the advance of our civilization. To explore such inventive, I invite you to trace back the history of a simple element: the toilette paper; a very simple yet indispensable element of our modern life.

On the benefits of forests: Regulation of surface temperature

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Forest, Amazon Basin. Copyright Bolivian Ministry of Culture

Acerca de los beneficios de los bosques: Regulación de la temperatura de la superficie

...forests are fundamental to regulate surface temperatures; they should be considered to have the potential to become powerful countermeasures against the adverse potential impacts of climate change.