E.O. Wilson: Bugs essential to civilization!

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Mike B in OKlahoma
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E.O. Wilson: Bugs essential to civilization!

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... eheadlines

You may have to do a free registration to view the above (interesting!) article.

As an aside, the article mentions that this is the 250th anniversary of Linnaeus (spell?) inventing the species classification system we still use today.
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

Sven Bernert
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Post by Sven Bernert »

Well, I can relate to this, somehow. If I have to bury a fish (from my garden pond) in our garden, it takes about 2 or 3 weeks after the funeral until everything - really everything – is gone. Not even the smallest fishbone is left. This shows me how active this “hidden” life is.

Sven
If you are out there shooting, things will happen for you. If you're not out there, you'll only hear about it. - Jay Maisel

DaveW
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Post by DaveW »

Carl von Linné (latinized to Linnaeus, as was usual in science in those days) invented the binomial system of classification which simplified botany that previously had much longer supposedly descriptive but cumbersome latin names:-

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html

In fact he published his binomial system in 1753, so 2003 was the 250th anniversary of his system. This year is in fact the 300th anniversary of his birth and next year will be the 230th anniversary of his death.

DaveW

Mike B in OKlahoma
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Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:32 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

DaveW wrote: In fact he published his binomial system in 1753, so 2003 was the 250th anniversary of his system. This year is in fact the 300th anniversary of his birth and next year will be the 230th anniversary of his death.
:oops: Teach me to depend on what the article says! :oops: :roll:
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

DaveW
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Post by DaveW »

Next year will be the 250th aniversary of Linnaeus use of binomial nomenclature for fauna, so that is perhaps where the confusion arose? Binomial nomenclature for flora started 5 years earlier.

DaveW

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

If you would want to hear what E.O. Wilson has to say on this, watch this TED Prize winning lecture given by E.O.Wilson on TED Talks :o

E. O. Wison, TED Talks

This is really good, I am sure those of you who watch and listen to it will enjoy. :D

Mike B in OKlahoma
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Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:32 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

Thanks, Ken, I'll give it a listen.
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

Planapo
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Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:33 am
Location: Germany, in the United States of Europe

Post by Planapo »

Thanks for providing these links to material on E. O. Wilson. Thanks in particular for this footage I didn´t know, Ken!

Edward O. Wilson is a great man, very likeable and an excellent scientist, one of the greatest living biologists. Once I had the pleasure to see him and listen to him when he was in Germany a couple of years ago. I will never forget this event. After his speech during the reception he stood aside a bit, and accidentally I almost bumped into him on my way to the toilet :smt095 :shock: 8-[ :oops:.
He seemed to recognize my embarrassment and smiled.:D
I still regret that I didn´t have one of his books with me which I could have asked him to sign. :smt089

I very much recommend reading Prof. Wilson´s books!

Here is another, more personal interview:
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/1 ... ideo_p.php

Hope you enjoy!

Best wishes,
Betty

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

An excellent interview -- thanks for posting the link, Betty!

--Rik

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