Cribsheet #11: Plate Tectonics
September 10, 2007
Scientific issues and innovations are figuring into everyday conversation more than ever before. Recognizing that we could all use some brushing up, Seed offers its Cribsheet.
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Plate Tectonics
The theory of plate tectonics posits that the Earth's surface is profoundly altered by rigid slabs of rock called "plates" sliding across a hotter, deeper layer. This Cribsheet covers the basics of plate tectonics: why plates move, what causes earthquakes and volcanoes, and how oceanic trenches form. In addition, we tell you how old the oceanic crust is in different parts of the world and why knowledge of plate tectonics will help us accommodate a growing global population.
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Illustrator: Cybu Richli — www.cybu.ch; Writer: Lee Billings; Map data adapted from NOAA and USGS; Consultant: William B. F. Ryan, Doherty Senior Scholar, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
The Meaning of Life
September 5, 2007
Generative art by Jared Tarbell
It's hard to think of a word more charged with meaning—or meanings—than "life." Some of the most passionate debates of our day, over stem cells or the right to die, genetically modified food, or wartime conduct, revolve around it. Whether we're talking about when life begins or when it ends, the sanctity of life, or the danger of playing God, we all have an idea of what we mean when we talk about life. Yet, it often turns out, we actually mean different things. Scientists, despite their intimacy with the subject, aren't exempt from this confusion.
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