The Sky Above, The Earth Below
Spring 2009 | Volume VIII, Number 3
Table of Contents
Editor’s Letter →
by June Carolyn Erlick
Legacy of Charles Darwin
Teaching Evolution
English + Español
During the 19th century, philosophers, doctors, botanists, and zoologists in Mexico engaged in lively debate over Darwin’s ideas about evolution of the species. The Catholic Church hierarchy …
Darwin and Digital Code
During World War II, Bell Telephone Laboratories worked on the problem of secure voice communications for the United States Army. In 1943, they launched the SIGSALY system…
Darwin, Lizards, and Evolution
Much has been said about the life of Charles Darwin on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth and 150th anniversary of publication of his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species by…
The Voyages of Charles Darwin
We often forget that the most creative years of Charles Darwin’s life were passed in South America. For three years in the early 1830s, Darwin traveled extensively in Uruguay, Argentina…
The Legacy of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin made six major expeditions in South America, and in doing so, changed the way human beings think about their world. In this section…
The Galápagos
Modern Day Problems
On September 17, 1835, the HMS Beagle swung on her anchor and came to rest off Chatham Island in the Galápagos Islands. Charles Darwin later rowed ashore and, as he walked across the…
Conservation Finance
In early 2003, tourism in the Galápagos Islands was booming, one of the few bright spots in Ecuador’s sputtering economy. Yet small tour boat operators like Rocio Martínez de Malo and…
Are We Loving the Galápagos to Death?
Whenever I tell people that I was born in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, they always say, “I didn’t know there were any people on the Galápagos. I thought only strange animals lived there…
Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Charles Darwin wrote these words one hundred and fifty years ago. On the Origin of Species exploded upon the scientific and academic world in 1859, and its unorthodox…
Voyages of Discovery
Fungi at the Ends of the Earth
The southern reaches of South America, the uttermost part of the earth, have held special fascination and navigational importance for explorers since Magellan’s time. The names—Port…
Travels and Science in Brazil
English + Español
The Year of Darwin is barely under way, and among the avalanche of events and publications commemorating this great scientist’s life and works, a recent book has established…
In Dire Straits
In early 1968, while traveling as a Peace Corps Volunteer to the Galapagos Islands aboard the Ecuadoran navy supply boat B.A.E Calicuchima, I first read Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle…
Cosmic Visions
Parallel Worlds of Mexican Cosmology
You could call it a treasure map, a time machine or a 16th century painted labyrinth. For me it became a magical board game filled with pictures of characters whose personalities and…
Astronomers in Mexico
Why astronomy? And why in Mexico? Science is an international effort. Newton’s law of gravitation does not have nationality, says the philosopher. In actuality, however, nationality does…
The Sky Within Reach
In 2009 we celebrate the international year of astronomy and commemorate the work of Galileo Galilei, theorizing that the earth and the planets orbited around our sun. And now…
The International Year of Astronomy 2009
I think that astronomy is important for Latin America. By means of astronomy, people can come closer to science. The International Year of Astronomy 2009 will be beneficial by stimulating…
Views from Chile
An Astronomical Scene
Where can you find an Italian professor teaching an American student in Spanish using lecture slides written in English? In the astronomy course I took at Chile’s Pontifícia Universidad Católica (PUC)…
Observing Under the Splendor of the Chilean Sky
I look at the sky. The stunning Chilean nighttime sky. Walking outside from the cozy control room of the telescope, from where I control the instrument and make my observations, I let my…
Heaven Above
Lasers, silicon-based light detectors, supercomputers, and giant glass disks all contribute to new techniques for astronomers to discover the properties of our universe. But one of the most…
Making a Difference
Making a Difference: The Cartonera Comes to Mexico
Chalco is one of Mexico City’s poorest neighborhoods, far enough away from the center along the traffic-clogged highway to Puebla to feel isolated as well as arid. There, migrants from…
Book Talk
Other Cities, Other Worlds
Author of a marvelous book that excavates the palimpsests of memories encrypted in the image-filled voids of Berlin, Andreas Huyssen extends his investigation of the urban imaginary in…
Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: The Exile of Editor Robert J. Cox
t may be argued that Dirty Secrets, Dirty War: The Exile of Editor Robert J. Cox should have been written three decades ago, most likely in 1981, when Cox was enjoying, as I do now, a Nieman fellowship…
Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity
n September 2004, Hurricanes Jeanne and Ivan struck the Caribbean and southern United States in rapid succession. Damage to Haiti in the West Indies was particularly severe. High…