Ubuntu 6.06 (LTS) Upgrade

Last night I upgraded the operating system on my IBM Thinkpad R50e lap-top from Unbuntu 5.10 to Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Support). 

The whole process took less than an hour and was completely automatic except for one point where it asked me if I wanted it to delete some packages that were no longer maintained (I said yes as I didn't notice anything in the list that I used).  There was only one minor problem (well, more of an annoyance) in that an icon I had set up for a shortcut to Idle (the Python IDE) must have got deleted which resulted in lots of "Can't find icon" error boxes.  However, this was simply fixed by deleting the shortcut (I will set up a new one when I use Idle again). 

The only differences that I have noticed after the upgrade are that the login screen is more glossy and Firefox is now at version 1.5.0.4 instead of 1.4.2.  On the whole, I am very impressed with Ubuntu.

The Poor Quality of Most Science Reporting

I was as interested as anyone else in the reported discovery of a large impact crater in Wilkes Land, Antarctica.  However, the more I found out about the story, the more disappointed I became with the level of gullibility exhibited by the people reporting the story.  It is possible that there is a large impact crater in Wilkes Land but, from reading the initial reports, you would hardly be able to tell that:

• The idea is not new.  A simple Google search reveals: "No giant meteorite crater in Wilkes Land, Antarctica", C.R.Bentley, Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 84, Sept. 10, 1979, p. 5681-5682. In its abstract, this paper refers back to a 1962 paper by Schmidt which first proposed that the "large gravity anomaly in Wilkes Land, Antarctica, was caused by the impact of a huge meteorite".
  
• There is no evidence dating the feature to the Permian-Triassic boundary (according to a report in Nature which is unfortunately is now subscription-only).  I would have thought that at least some scrap of evidence pointing to an age of about 250 million years would be needed before suggesting that it cause the Permian Triassic extinction and the break-up of Gondwanaland.
  

It looks to me that this was a story that got out of hand:  von Freese and Potts presented their idea tentatively as a poster paper at a conference in order to solicit the opinions of other experts, but a science journalist picked up on the idea and presented it as a much more novel and much more solid than it really was.  There seems to be an almost irresistible tendency for journalists to exaggerate in this way, maybe their careers do not depend so much on getting things right as on attracting attention.  I suppose the way to cope with this is to follow the motto of the Royal Society: "Nullius in Verba" ("On the words of no one"), that is to read the reports but to retain a healthy scepticism and check for yourself when you can.  It would be nice if the reporters did this).  Also, I have found the news reports at Nature and Science are usually reliable.

A Mallard - Tufted Duck Pair?

On Saturday, Zoe and I noticed this female mallard and male tufted duck on the top lake.  They were going around together as if they were paired up for breeding: when the tufted duck walked off along the bank the mallard did the same, when he got into to the water she followed, and when she flew away, he flew after her.  I understand that tufted ducks do hybridize with pochards and scaups but I can't find any references to them doing so with mallards.  It will be interesting to see if they have any offspring and, if so, what they turn out like.

The Place of Pokemon in Science Education

A few years ago a Andrew Balmford and some colleagues from the Department of Zoology at Cambridge found that 8 year old UK primary school children were substantially better at identifying species of Pokemon than species of natural animals and plants (Science, Volume 295, No. 5564, 29 March 2002, p. 2367). They suggested that, in our modern environment, our children's in-built 'biophilia' classification skills are being transferred from natural species to artificial ones.

My daughter, Zoe, went through a Pokemon phase between the ages of 5 and 10: she watched the television programs, collected and swapped the cards, read the books, bought the cuddly toys and went to see the films. I can remember being impressed by her single-mindedness at exploring this imaginary world. However, this exploration was not being driven by in-built 'biophilia', but by peer-pressure: she was doing it because her friends were doing it and it enabled her to take part in the games they were playing.

One day, when Zoe was still 5, we were watching a nature program on television when the word 'evolution' was mentioned.  Zoe looked up at me and asked what 'evolution' was.  Now, Pokemon undergo a process that is called 'evolution' but which is really a form of metamorphosis.  I was able to explain metamorphosis to her in terms of tadpoles, frogs, caterpillars and butterflies, and how it occurs within the lifetime of one individual.  Then I explained 'real' evolution in terms of  apes, chimps and humans and how it works over the lifetimes of many individuals.  I think she understood.  I wonder how many secondary school biology teachers would welcome such interest from their teenage pupils!

The Place of Scooby Doo in Science Education

From 'The Demon-Haunted World' by Carl Sagan:

A series called 'The X Files, which pays lip-service to sceptical examination of the paranormal, is skewed heavily towards the reality of alien abductions, strange powers and government complicity in covering up just about everything interesting. Almost never does the paranormal claim turn out to be a hoax or a psychological aberration or a misunderstanding of the natural world. Much closer to reality, as well as a much greater public service, would be an adult series ('Scooby Doo' does it for children) in which paranormal claims are systematically investigated and every case is found to be explicable in prosaic terms. ...