As a boy, I remember being awed by the ability of some species to regenerate damaged body parts. Cut a starfish in half and both halves can recover to produce two starfish. Cut off a newt’s leg and it can grow a new, fully functional limb in its place. Why can’t people do that? Even more important, why can’t we regenerate tissue to repair damaged organs like our heart or lungs?

Continue reading “Grow a heart”

Six years ago, scientists found that herring gulls living near steel mills around the harbour in Hamilton, Ontario tended to have high DNA mutation rates. These mutations were then transferred to the next generation of gulls, increasing the offspring’s chances of developing genetic diseases like cancer and birth defects. Researchers suspected at the time that air pollution was causing the mutations, but they couldn’t eliminate other factors, such as polluted water or contaminated fish, that also could have been responsible.

Continue reading “Air pollution can cause mutations”

January 13, 2006
Recently, I wrote about a sea change I feel I’ve seen in our understanding of humanity’s relationship to the environment. I said I thought society might have turned a corner. That we’re beginning to understand how critical our relationship is to the natural world because we are a part of that world and very much dependent on its resources.
Perhaps I spoke too soon.

Continue reading “Fish need time to recover”