In Context #18

Fall 2007

Feature Articles

“Two Moons?”
By Martin Wagenschein
One American astronaut, having returned from the moon, asked “how all those poets and composers came to say so many romantic things” about such a cold, gray world. German scientist and educator, Martin Wagenschein, finds the poetic world inseparable from the cold, gray one.

“Transformation in Adult Learning”
By Craig Holdrege
The Nature Institute’s director looks in practical detail at the kind of learning that deeply changes who we are.

Notes and Reviews

“The Poorly Targeted Gene”
By Stephen L. Talbott
While one scientist envisions the creation of do-it-yourself kits allowing hobbyists and even children to manipulate genes and spawn new creatures, others record the demise of the stable, predictable, “industrial gene” that is supposed to make such manipulations possible. Meanwhile, a progress report on The Nature Institute’s “nontarget effects of genetic engineering” project is presented.

“Toward a Participative Science”
By Arthur Zajonc
What distinguishes a participative science from mainstream science? Quantum physicist and long-time student of Goethe, Arthur Zajonc, looks at Goethe’s own approach to science for an answer. One key to this approach is cultivating the investigator’s capacities for perception.

“The Earth as Seen from the Moon”
By Henrike Holdrege
Do you think that, with a few moments’ thought, you could give a reasonable description of how the earth and the sky look to someone standing on the moon? It might not be quite as easy as you think. The exercise, however, is a good one for anyone who wants to develop an ability to see things from different points of view.