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(05/06/10 6:40pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I’ve seen many faces during my four years at IU. Most of these have washed quickly out of my memory in the sea of thousands.However, some belong to people with whom I am very familiar: my friends, professors, students, coworkers and supervisors. I know a few of the stories behind these faces quite well. Maybe I know the story of their childhood. Or perhaps, at different times, I have seen how they react both to winning a game of euchre and to feeling cornered by life.I realize how important these people are to me because I know I will miss them when they are gone. I hope they don’t disappear from my life entirely.Then there are the faces that have become familiar out of sheer repetition.They belong to people with whom I cross paths several times a week. Although we may have never spoken, we see each other often enough that when I look in their eyes and they look back, there is always a hint of recognition. Maybe we nod or smile at each other each time; maybe we don’t.Neither of us has much effect on the other’s life, but that simply adds to a sense of familiarity within our community.And finally, there are the faces of the nameless legends. Though I recognize them well, they have probably never even noticed me.They are, above all else, mysterious and magnificent.There is a young Asian man, perhaps a few years older than me, whom I only see when getting coffee late at night.I recognize him by his black jeans and cowboy boots that match his long, black hair, all accompanied by the build of an NFL strong safety.Although he always wears a friendly smile when talking with people he knows, his appearance is undeniably intimidating. I imagine he is some form of government secret agent, as he reminds me of the kind of guy who is just about to finally defeat James Bond, until he manages to come up with some clever technological way to escape death once again.Overall, he gives me an impression of tremendous vitality and confidence.There is a middle-aged woman who works in the Indiana Memorial Union Marketplace whom I will describe simply as “the lady who always wears the hats.” I don’t know why she always wears those silly hats, but I assume her reason is a good one.I find her upbeat attitude and its effect of always making me smile unique for someone her age; I can’t help but be inspired.There is an old white gentleman whom I often see walking somewhere between Willkie Quad and the Musical Arts Center. Dressed exquisitely with a long thick coat and a fedora-style hat, he uses a cane in each hand and walks incredibly slowly.Each step seems to cause him pain. However, his determined stroll with head up and eyes forward projects unmistakable pride and wisdom. In these faces, nameless to me, I see myself in the years to come. I don’t know their stories, so I superimpose my own and wonder how I will appear to some young college graduate at such later times in my life.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(04/28/10 10:05pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I’ve seen many faces during my four years at IU. Most of these have washed quickly out of my memory in the sea of thousands.However, some belong to people with whom I am very familiar: my friends, professors, students, coworkers and supervisors. I know a few of the stories behind these faces quite well. Maybe I know the story of their childhood. Or perhaps, at different times, I have seen how they react both to winning a game of euchre and to feeling cornered by life.I realize how important these people are to me from how much I know I will miss them when they are gone. I hope they don’t disappear from my life entirely.Then there are the faces that have become familiar out of sheer repetition.They belong to people with whom I cross paths several times a week. Although we may have never spoken, we see each other often enough that when I look in their eyes and they look back, there is always a hint of recognition. Maybe we nod or smile at each other each time, maybe we don’t.Neither of us has much effect on the other’s life, but that simply adds to a sense of familiarity within our community.And finally, there are the faces of the nameless legends. Though I recognize them well, they have probably never even noticed me.They are, above all else, mysterious and magnificent.There is a young Asian man, perhaps a few years older than me, whom I only see when getting coffee late at night.I recognize him by his black jeans and cowboy boots that match his long, black hair, all accompanied by the build of an NFL strong safety.Although he always wears a friendly smile when talking with people he knows, his appearance is undeniably intimidating. I imagine he is some form of government secret agent, as he reminds me of the kind of guy who is just about to finally defeat James Bond, until he manages to come up with some clever technological way to escape death once again.Overall, he gives me an impression of tremendous vitality and confidence.There is a middle-aged woman who works in the Indiana Memorial Union Marketplace whom I will describe simply as “the lady who always wears the hats.” I don’t know why she always wears those silly hats, but I assume her reason is a good one.I find her upbeat attitude and its effect of always making me smile unique for someone her age; I can’t help but be inspired.There is an old white gentleman whom I often see walking somewhere between Willkie Quad and the Musical Arts Center. Dressed exquisitely with a long thick coat and a fedora-style hat, he uses a cane in each hand and walks incredibly slowly.Each step seems to cause him pain. However, his determined stroll with head up and eyes forward projects unmistakable pride and wisdom. In these faces, nameless to me, I see myself in the years to come. I don’t know their stories, so I superimpose my own and wonder how I will appear to some young college graduate at such later times in my life.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(04/22/10 11:38pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I have had both good and bad professors here at IU. However, I recently had an experience with one professor that I find truly unacceptable, especially at a liberal arts school.I will tell you it’s a sociology class, but I will refrain from giving the name of the professor. I have already put in my formal complaint through the proper channels, but I still feel others should be aware that such professors exist.The issue arose when we started our group research projects, which take about four weeks and account for 35 percent of the course grade. For the majority of the class, we use a standard textbook; however, the professor decided to use a different book as a guide for this project.It is an extremely old book (i.e. older than this University) that doesn’t even have an author’s name on it, though it is presumed to have been written by some Ivy League professor. My instructor tells me it is “the bible” for sociologists, as its Author laid down all of the groundwork for the entire field.I have actually had a chance to look through the Book in office hours. Indeed, it was an interesting book, full of good ideas that I have encountered many times in my life without ever knowing where they came from. But there was, at the very least, one glaring problem I found.The Book did not advocate use of the scientific method.Instead, according to the Writer, He did all of his research and experiments knowing exactly what the results would be ahead of time. Consequently, he simply found straightforward examples to “prove” his various ideas.As a biology and chemistry major who is well-versed in the scientific method, I was very frustrated with my professor for believing this is how research should still be done today.I tried to explain to him that with our class projects we must first form a “disprovable” hypothesis about some question, and then design an experiment that could prove this hypothesis wrong, possibly using some sort of variable/control setup.This is how nearly all science is done today, and much of our current technology would never have evolved without developing this system. Without such empirical work, we would be like the ancient Greek philosophers, and our ideas would be nothing but just that: lofty ideas.My professor argued that the Book is so accurate with all of its information that we must simply trust the writer and that understanding can be achieved without the scientific method.He feels that if we claim the Book is even partially wrong, then we will be reducing the integrity of all of the ideas therein.He then went into some incoherent explanation using other scientifically accepted ideas to suggest how the scientific method is invalid. At that point I completely lost confidence in him as an academic and a professor.I ultimately chose to do the project adhering to the scientific method but am still waiting to see how he chooses to grade it.I would have thought that the evolution of science would have naturally selected against such delusional ideas. I am sure Charles Darwin is rolling in his grave.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.eduEditor’s Note: This column is intended to be an allegory for the debate about teaching evolution in public schools. The sociology professor and situation described above are fictional.
(04/15/10 9:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Have you ever noticed how dumb most people are?Certainly you have.All you need to do is take a ride on a crowded campus bus and watch how slow the pack is to make room for those getting on, even while the bus driver keeps asking everyone to move back.I am sure you can think of many other examples of people’s mindless behavior.It is astonishing how few people seem to use their brains on a daily basis.But, rest assured, you are not one of these people. Instead, you are one of the people, like me, who is wise enough to recognize such dim-wittedness, without engaging in it.But that doesn’t make much sense, because if by “you,” I am talking to everyone who is reading this column, which I am, then who is left to make up the group of dumb people?Do I think that only some special group of wise people read my column?No.What I think is not that there is only a handful of intelligent people in the world, but rather that, occasionally, everyone chooses to be observant and notice how ridiculous people can be in their routine interactions with the world.We all have done something at one time or another that has made someone else think, “People are so dumb!”But we are not all dumb. We simply don’t use all of our reasoning and focus with each daily action as will a few people who are in a hurry at any given time. That alone doesn’t make us dull-minded.It all comes down to perspective.On a similar note, we often criticize others for not being concerned with the specific things that each of us is so passionate about. It can be annoying to see how “shallow” people are when they are only interested in pop culture issues or all wear the same fad-ridden clothing.But there are just far too many things in the world to care about for everyone to each have a slice of every pie. Consequently, some people are exceptionally well-educated in particular interests and entirely ignorant of others.We each have our own passions that set us apart. However, since these specific passions are not common to all, we are not always able to connect deeply to each person.Instead, we tend to default to rather simple opinions regarding the ideas outside of our focus. In this way, the popular things in our society, like network TV or Facebook, give us common ground for conversation.I like to think we are all like soap bubbles floating in a pool of water. We frequently slide into each other but only make a small amount of surface contact without ever sharing the volume within. While we know of our own depth, we only get to experience the superficial surface of others.However, with a positive attitude and a watchful eye, we can catch glimpses of the depth in each person. It is these depths that set us apart.And ultimately, we have a lot to gain from the passions and perspectives of each other if we don’t simply write everyone off as inherently shallow and/or dim-witted based on our routine encounters.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(04/08/10 10:36pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I ended my column last week with an intense cliffhanger, of sorts, by posing a question: How does a star work?The answer is gravity and nuclear fusion. In short, the extreme mass of a star produces crushing gravity that creates pressures high enough to collide hydrogen atoms hard enough to form helium (nuclear fusion). When each helium atom is formed, a little bit of mass is lost as it transforms into a large amount of radiant energy (E=mc2).Even if you don’t find this information personally relevant, you should know that thousands of brilliant scientists dedicate their entire working lives to the pursuit of these ideas.Furthermore, they have convinced their governments to supply millions and millions of tax dollars to finance their work.Consequently, there are massive research centers around the world dedicated solely to goals such as detecting gravity waves or solar neutrinos, both of which are far smaller even than atoms.One example from the Indiana Daily Student last week is the Large Hadron Collider in Europe. This project has spent billions of dollars just so that it might further explain concepts such as the fundamental nature of mass.When scientists are asked to justify such work, they dutifully list specific technological discoveries, but what they really want to say is “just for the sake of curiosity.”However, another article in the IDS last week was an Associated Press story regarding the murder of 321 civilians in the Congo by a radical rebel army.Even as a full-blown science nerd, when confronted with such stories, I often ask myself: Is it right for our society to commit so much effort and money to these grand scientific endeavors while mankind continues to display such a heart of darkness?Why not invest all those funds toward stabilizing our civilization, and once this is accomplished, then move on to the scientific ambitions?How bizarre it is to live in a world in which we have mapped the entire human genome but have not yet fully abolished genocide.I believe such scientific undertakings are the best candidates for modern “wonders of the world.” Instead of the Great Pyramid of Giza, we have the Hubble Space Telescope. Rather than being structures that are the project of one empire — often at the command of one egotistical ruler — these new scientific marvels are the product of many people cooperating across many nations.While the ancient wonders demonstrate an ability to create immense works of art, these current wonders are working machines that seek to answer our deepest “how” and “why” questions about the universe.Both of these motivations, I notice, manifest in early childhood.How fulfilling it is to realize the greatest accomplishments of our civilization are nothing more than the dreams of a child taken to the technological limit of society.I view such curiosity, ambition and cooperation as undeniably positive signs of our progress.Even if they are not directly combating the ever-present horrors in our world, they are setting the stage for a better society that understands how to cooperate when faced with great challenges.Such endeavors are candles in the dark that cast their light into all corners of humanity. E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(04/01/10 10:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For thousands of years, people have worshiped the sun. It is often depicted in ancient art and even deified in many cultures. What a natural human idea, as the sun holds back the coldness of night and provides us both light and warmth.In our present, technologically advanced society, we are beginning to look at the sun in a different way. With the continued development of solar power, our local star will likely be a large piece of the solution to our energy needs.We have discovered our ability to harvest the power of the sun.How thrilling an accomplishment.But wait. If this is all you know about the energy of the sun, you are missing out on the true grandeur of how the world works.Your brain is spending calories of energy at this very moment to read the word “sun.” Therefore, it would be a shame if you did not know that this very energy has in fact come from the sun. Every tiny movement your body makes requires the energy stored in biochemical fuels just like a car requires gasoline. We cannot create this energy ourselves, as we must get it from the food we eat. All of the calories you take in each day are nothing more than units of energy your food is providing you.Ultimately, this energy comes from plants. Even if you are eating a steak, the energy stored in the meat was gathered from the plants on which the cow munched all day long.Then, following the energy trail, the plants get it from the sun. They do this as they manufacture carbohydrates out of the carbon dioxide in the air only by soaking up the energy beaming down in sunlight.This light energy is stored in the chemical bonds of the carbohydrate. The carbs are then “burnt” as if in a controlled fire inside your cells, using the oxygen you breathe much like a candle flame needs air to burn. This “chemical furnace” inside your body is releasing stored sun. Each of us is a solar-powered being.In truth, it is difficult to find a source of energy that doesn’t come from the sun.For example, take my previous comparison of food to gasoline. Both oil and coal are chemical compounds made of ancient decayed plants, which, of course, got their energy from the sun. These fuels are just long-term energy storage.Even renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity and wind power are reliant on the sun. With hydroelectricity, we are simply collecting water’s gravitational energy that was created when it rose to the sky through evaporation by the sun.Similarly, wind blows due to pressure differences caused by the sun’s heating of our atmosphere.I actually find it more impressive that we have found a source of energy not dependent on the sun: nuclear power. But then again, that energy comes from other stars extinguished billions of years ago.But, I must stop here and leave it up to you to discover how the stars, our sun included, manage to create such an abundance of energy.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(03/25/10 11:20pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I grew up in an all-white school system.There were a few minority students, but they added very little to my school’s cultural diversity. Apart from the color of their skin, these individuals were not very different from me. So, it seemed all I had to do in order to not be racist was avoid singling people out based on how they look.This was pretty simple. Why would I ever dislike someone just because his or her skin was a different color than mine?Based on this childish view, I felt I would never have to think much about race because I was not a racist.Enter my college freshman year. IU is not the most diverse school in the country, but the difference from my high school was immediately clear to me. I noticed large groups of minority students hanging out together. I discovered all sorts of culture centers across campus. And, I found there are even entire living communities, fraternities, etc. that are home to distinct minority groups. Altogether, my realization was that many of these students do not like to ignore their racial diversity, choosing instead to embrace it. Furthermore, the differences are not just physical — they are cultural and behavioral. These connections within races seem to help people identify with each other and promote their sticking together.My views on race had now become much more complicated. Choosing to be colorblind would mean choosing to ignore an important part of a person’s identity.I have never had a problem getting along with someone simply because he was of a different race than me. However, I find that when people try to openly talk about real racial differences or assign certain cultural identities to other groups of people, it only causes trouble. Such actions are quickly labeled racism, or, more accurately, racial stereotyping.This creates a situation in which I am simply not supposed to discuss the things that make people different. I understand that race is a sensitive thing; centuries of oppression and racism can’t be forgotten. But isn’t a high level of comfort with recognizing differences a central requirement for cooperation and respect?My education in regards to race has been mostly focused on the histories of different people and how we are all very similar. Even when I have learned about the differences, nothing has been said about how to address these differences without evoking racial tension. IU puts a lot of effort into “diversity.” Most of the work seems centered on creating a sense of diversity on campus and providing a comfortable environment for all kinds of people. However, I have not encountered any situations that were focused on how to respectfully recognize one another’s differences.I realize that the issues associated with race are more complex than I have suggested here, but any efforts by the University’s diversity-focused faculty and staff addressing my concerns would be energy well spent. Having to avoid certain topics of discussion because they are about sensitive issues will never allow for progress toward a desirable state of informed and respectful diversity. E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(03/11/10 10:33pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Do you get enough sleep? Well, I don’t, and I am not alone among college students. This shouldn’t sound like a big surprise though, right? Because college students do crazy things like stay up all night partying or playing video games. We are rarely recognized for having sensibility when it comes to setting responsible schedules for ourselves. During busy weeks, I try this “scheduling” thing in order to make sure I plan my time accordingly. The outcome from this activity, however, is somewhat surprising.Did you know that there are 168 hours in a week? That is a lot, right? Well, of course we are supposed to be getting approximately 8 hours of sleep a night, so that cuts it down a bit. And then we must consider our classes and study time. Say you have a large class load, say 17 credit hours (which becomes more like 21 if you are taking any lab-like courses). Let’s also imagine that you follow the “good student” rule of thumb: three hours of work outside of class for each hour in class.Those hours add up pretty quick. But we are college students; it is essentially our full-time job. So it seems fair that we spend the majority of our time in class or studying.If you happen to be one of those people who eats, practices personal hygiene and travels around campus each day, then that is at least another three hours a day.Don’t forget to consider your weekly exercise needs; the Career Development Center said we need the equivalent of 2.5 hours of moderate to intense aerobic activity each week.Being a cause-oriented young adult, you should also find time to volunteer with a worthwhile organization; perhaps two hours per week will do.School is pretty expensive, so you might have also taken a part-time job somewhere on or around campus; maybe five hours a week, maybe more. Have you been following the math? How many of the 168 hours in your week are left?At this point, all you have left is a little more than an hour for each day. One hour to do everything else that has not been mentioned: talk with friends or family, watch “Family Guy,” read “Twilight,” cruise Facebook ... er ... Internet, attend a local sporting event or concert, or do anything else you find worth doing. That is lot to squeeze in to one hour of free time each day.Ultimately, we end up sacrificing one or more of these “recommended daily values,” such as studying or sleeping. If you are taking challenging courses, the latter is the most likely.So, perhaps our sleep deficit is due to more than just our own shortcomings.I believe it is good policy to try to offer a solution when identifying a problem. My suggestion? We need to switch to a 36-hour day. Of course, if we managed to slow the earth’s rotation and revolution around the sun (in order to maintain a 365 day year) I am sure the only thing that would be expected out of us to compensate would be more productivity than ever. And we would all be back to not getting enough sleep.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(03/05/10 12:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As a college student, some days are more trying than others. One single day can frequently deliver a whole week’s worth of academic and personal struggles. On such occasions, we must bear down and find the motivation to keep our heads up.I recently discovered a powerful source of such inspiration.A few weeks ago, after I had been kicked out of the Education Library at closing time, I was finishing up some work in a nearby lounge before heading home.It was just after 10 p.m., and I was reveling in my own perseverance, when a group of uniformed individuals started to invade my workspace. These people were members of the IU support staff. I wasn’t too bothered, as I knew the building was closing and was just finishing my last homework problem.As I was packing up, I asked one gentleman how late into the evening he would be working. “We’ll be here until 7 a.m.,” he said.I was stunned.All night long while I slept, these people would be cleaning and preparing the building so that the students and faculty could all have a pleasant working environment the following day.Furthermore, this gentleman did not have even a hint of bitterness in his voice, but instead added, “Make sure you keep working hard so you don’t have to do this job someday.”This outlook is much removed from the latent resentment that I assumed such workers to have for the often careless and pretentious students such as myself.I have always tried to show my respect to the support staff around campus with a quick nod or smile. Although it may be polite, such a passing gesture does little to convey my genuine appreciation.How could one not be humbled by the thought that thousands of individuals are working hard just to maintain the school at which he or she studies?Perhaps some capitalistically minded individual might argue that he doesn’t owe anyone anything, because he is paying for his education and the workers are earning money for their trouble. The “invisible hand” of capitalism works well at the economic roots of this country, but it says nothing about how we should treat each other.The most valuable currency in this world is respect. As the “richest” nation in the world, shouldn’t we have an overabundance of this currency?If our support staff can pride themselves in working at a University that is educating the potential leaders of our society, then we must honor their efforts with our own. This does not require any “full measure of devotion,” but it does call for the widening of your ambitions to more than the sole pursuit of financial security. My appeal to this connection between opportunity and responsibility is by no means a new idea: “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”I have neither the authority nor the wisdom to consider how much compensation is deserved by the support staff for their work. However, it is my place to say, “thank you.”Not only do your efforts directly support this University, but they help at least one student to hold his head up throughout the mental and personal challenges that he has taken upon himself.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(02/25/10 11:17pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last week, I watched the 1979 film “Apocalypse Now” for the first time. The movie stuck with me in a way only great works of art can. I began to wonder, what makes this movie so good, and why can’t I get it off my mind?I am not a movie critic, so I won’t try to analyze the score or cinematography. However, I would like to share what I believe allows certain movies to affect me so powerfully.We are creatures of habit, or so the saying goes. This seems reasonable to me, as the world is a very big place with far too much going on to grasp it all at once. It is most comfortable to carve out a “groove” in our daily lives that allows us to feel like we understand our surroundings. This groove encompasses the places we go, the people we talk to, the shows we watch and the thoughts we normally think.By creating familiarity within our environment, we are able to gain a sense of control in an uncontrollable world. What happens then, when we encounter something that is outside our groove? Most likely, we pass over it altogether without much appreciation for its significance. Perhaps this is part of the reason why some people can be so passionate about something others really don’t care about. For a clear example, notice the amount of recyclables placed in regular trash cans, and watch as a few individuals are willing to reach in and move them to the conveniently adjacent recycling bin.However, this idea of a static “groove” might seem too restrictive because people do change. But, they tend to change at a very slow pace, at which they barely recognize the difference from one day to the next. Only occasionally are we presented with a situation in which we cannot avoid engaging a new point of view. When this happens, we are taken out of our groove and put into a completely different one. It is uncomfortable, and even a little confusing. We work to define the experience we are having in familiar terms, but we can’t quite do it. Once the experience is done, and we are allowed back into our comfort zone, the damage has already been done. Our mind is rattled, and we can’t stop thinking about this peculiar experience. This is the situation in which I found myself after watching “Apocalypse Now.” I was helplessly replaying various scenes and quotes in my head. It is not that I was necessarily trying to figure things out, but just that the emotions of the film had truly stuck with me.Then it occurred to me: The unbalanced feeling I was left with was my brain trying to rapidly adapt to these distinctly new perspectives. It was as if I could actually feel my mind growing. It felt good. I can’t help but think the sensation is similar to a watered down version of either a religious awakening or a near-death experience.Maybe this effect is what director Francis Coppola was aiming for. Such mental stimulation, however, I could never tolerate every day. So I find myself thankful that such powerful films are only a minority.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(02/19/10 12:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In an effort to provide “genuine literacy” and quantitative reasoning skills to students, the College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) has created firm English and math requirements. Although many students grumble over these required classes, ultimately, proficiency in these areas is an obvious “must have” for the well educated individual.I strongly believe there is another educational necessity in our world today. As Carl Sagan stated, “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”We have noticeably welcomed the products of science into our lives, particularly in the realms of transportation, communication and medicine. Furthermore, science has a central position in much of the world’s present controversial concerns (e.g. global warming, the energy crisis and stem cell research). However, many of the important decisions are made by people who have far too little understanding of the basic science behind these ideas.Although we are usually informed by the experts on the crucial scientific issues, the lack of understanding of general scientific reasoning among the population and public leaders is great enough that we are often either overly disbelieving of well established ideas or too accepting of poor ones.The COAS attempts to address these concerns by having students fulfill Natural and Mathematical Sciences requirements. However, these can be met by taking highly specific classes (e.g. Basic Physics of Sound or Disease and the Human Body) that do not provide students a complete picture of science. This process is somewhat like taking a class on the Vietnam War and then assuming competency in American history.I propose that a required course be created that is targeted at soundly instructing students on the crucial aspects of science. I envision a course with a title such as, “The Modern Scientific World.” The course objectives would include: showing how historic systems of reasoning have evolved to our present trust in scientific philosophy, learning of the major discoveries and discoverers that provided our current picture of the world, discussion of past and present controversies and investigation of the key issues science is expected to confront in our lives today. Ideally the class size would be small, with a discussion-based approach that would ensure students are actively thinking about the ideas.Furthermore, I do not think anyone should be able to “test out” of such a course. Although many of these issues were touched on in middle and/or high school, a new level of maturity and depth in the material is absolutely necessary. I also believe even science majors should not be exempt from the class, as many of these students have not been properly taught the true foundations of their discipline; you can memorize the biochemical pathways of photosynthesis or formulas for gravitational acceleration without any understanding of the big picture.The influence of scientific thinking and the information it has presented to our world is too significant to set aside for the discretion of a few highly educated people who must desperately attempt to explain themselves to the politicians. The crucial points of scientific understanding must become as much a cornerstone in the mind of all educated Americans as have literacy and mathematical reasoning.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(02/12/10 12:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Do you consider yourself an observant person?By taking a careful look at the world around us, it is easy to feel we have a decent grasp on things. We can: observe people with their unique, or not so unique, styles; pay close attention to our professors during a lecture and smirk at the people we see falling asleep; and perhaps amuse ourselves with the odd behavior of the local wildlife.True enough, the most common way we experience our world is by sight. As a consequence, it is easy for us to become “vision chauvinists” by believing the world exists solely as it looks.But as we have known since elementary school, we have four other senses. What we didn’t learn is what actually makes up the physical, but unseen, reality that our senses are detecting.Sound, for instance, is the way our ears interpret rapid and tiny vibrations moving through the air. This is similar to how we can feel the floor tremble when someone drops a heavy object. Our senses of smell and taste are due to the ability to recognize and distinguish between individual molecules, as if our nose and tongue were portable CSI labs.While considering things unseen, we must also not forget about atoms. As was recently pointed out in an Indiana Daily Student column by Kate Slabosky, there are about 10 quintillion water molecules in just a single snowflake, making each one its own tiny universe.And on the other side of the spectrum, some of the “stars” that we see at night are in fact galaxies. Compared to the size of a galaxy, a person would be even smaller than one of those single water molecules is compared to a snowflake. But to us, a galaxy is just an insignificant point of light. So the world we perceive around us is much more complicated than it initially appears. But are there still other things that none of our senses can even begin to understand?If you lock yourself in a soundproof room and turn off the lights, the world is still interacting with you in ways you are unable to see, hear or feel. For instance, the radio waves that carry cell phone signals are constantly travelling through your body at the speed of light.Additionally, as the sun performs constant nuclear fusion, it emits an endless stream of tiny particles called neutrinos which will pass harmlessly through the entire earth. About 1 trillion of these neutrinos will be passing through your body every second; they are doing so even now as you read this column.Beyond our sun, explosions of distant and ancient stars produce things known as cosmic rays, which behave much like neutrinos, as they constantly pass through your unknowing body. Cosmic rays are much larger however, so they occasionally interact with matter.You can see just about how often they do this at Bloomington’s own Wonderlab science museum with an exhibit promoted by IU physics professor Rick Van Kooten.No matter how closely you pay attention, there are things about our world you can never directly observe. Such things can only be discovered and understood through our wonderfully developed scientific understanding of the world.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(02/05/10 12:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I believe that the average individual wants to be a good person and occasionally considers whether or not they are one.Perhaps they think about it enough to rationalize that whatever they currently do already makes them better than most people. Others might decide they don’t really care, and this apathy is satisfying to them.There are others still who figure they would be unable to put in enough effort to make any worthwhile difference in the world or to other people. Making a difference to just one person seems to be enough to me, but that argument is for another day.And of course, there are those who work very hard to do what they believe is the right thing.I don’t want to try to qualify specifically what makes a person decent, but I do want to consider the overall subject.There are a lot of Americans – roughly 300 million. Lately, U.S. economics has been presenting us with numbers so large that words like “million” and “billion” have lost their punch. And that was hard enough to think about even before we started hearing the word “trillion.”I find that it helps if I compare such numbers to more common-sense values. So let us try to grasp what 300 million Americans would look like.If we all packed in together as tight as possible for a John Mellencamp concert, the stadium would need to cover an area of some 15 square miles, or about the size of Bloomington.Or if back when you were in fourth grade, your teacher had started a fast-paced roll call of one American per second, they would have just finished this year (assuming you are about 20 years old).OK, so there are a lot of us. What could we manage to accomplish if all of us doubled our efforts to be “good” people? That is asking a lot, so let’s go for just a meager 5 percent more effort. In fact, let us say that only half of all Americans chose to do this. What then could be accomplished in one year? Let us quantify the possibilities by using some standard ideas about what are “good” things to do.If 5 percent more effort meant recycling just one more sheet of computer paper each year, this would add up to over 1 million pounds of recycled paper and over 7,000 trees saved.If 5 percent equated to climbing one more flight of stairs in a whole year, this would add up to 22,500 total pounds of American fat lost per year, enough volume to fill up 5,700 two-liter bottles.And if 5 percent was one more hour of volunteering a year, the work accomplished would be equivalent to 75,000 people working full-time jobs during that year.But is this actually asking for 5 percent or more like a fraction of a percent? Either way, as a result of the sheer number of people in this one country, an astronomical amount of good could be accomplished by a very slight increase in effort among the majority of us. The smallest effort is never too little to make a difference.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(01/28/10 11:57pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There is no undertaking that is more important and farseeing than education. The troubled people of our world are not going to wake up one day and decide to stop hurting one another and help make the world a better place for all.However, such a civilization is in our future, and the time it takes to get there depends most on how much we emphasize education.The “issue” of education is often thrown in with others such as health care, climate crisis and economic instability. The proposed governmental solutions that reach my ears include better funding of schools, higher compensation for teachers and more effective testing.These are reasonable and more or less standard ideas about how to improve the troubling statistics that we often hear of associated with struggling educational systems.This approach, however, is far too simplified to reveal the true scope and power of education. Such a realization will only be possible by means of a more active mind-set in essentially everyone. By this, I do not mean that you all must become involved in fundraisers for underprivileged schools. What I am suggesting is much easier: Learn to appreciate the joy and satisfaction available in your own education.Much of the potential pleasure in education is lost in our quest to earn a degree and secure a good career. There is nothing dishonorable about such a goal. However, the opportunity to earn any degree is a chance to learn how a particular part of our world works and, in doing so, satisfy our natural curiosity. If we can sincerely approach our education with the same fascination as we did when we were young kids, unapologetically asking “why?” and “how?” we will gain something far greater than good grades. If we are lucky, we might even ask one of these questions in a situation in which there is either not yet an answer, or there is one, but we are unwilling to accept it as given.And if we are motivated, we can then work to be the first to find a good answer. In doing so, we will have engaged in one of the greatest aspects of human nature: satisfying curiosity by discovery. This is a common goal of good teachers and second-nature for great ones.You may rightfully be asking, “How will becoming a nerd help the world?” In order to fully understand education’s potential to combat global problems, you must first appreciate the deep satisfaction education offers. At this point, solving the problems of our schools will not seem like some herculean task. Instead, improvement will become an opportunity to share your joy in knowledge and discovery.Many of our world’s greatest changes have resulted from small shifts accumulating in the minds of many. Unlike foreign relations in the Middle East, the education “issue” is not so much in the hands of our leaders as in the mind of the individual.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu
(01/22/10 12:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With so many dramatic political and economical issues facing IU students every day, there is one question that is on everyone’s mind: “What is up with the squirrels at IU?”These bushy-tailed rodents have long been a diversion on my walks across campus. They make me wonder if the squirrels back home suffer from some form of terrible malnutrition, as they are half the size of those I find at IU. Not only that, but every time I open my back door, these critters scurry up the trees as if I were a hawk swooping in for the kill; whereas at IU, I sometimes think I could get close enough to pet one.My curiosity led me to discover that our local squirrels are fox squirrels, or Sciurus niger (first word pronounced like “science,” not “scurry”). They are omnivorous (meat and plant eating), diurnal (opposite of nocturnal) rodents who do not hibernate because they build up a winter store of food by burying nuts and acorns in the ground. And they are considered “tree squirrels” based on where they build their nests, which are large and easy to identify.But what I really wanted to know was their average weight, which turns out to be a little less than two pounds, thus leading me to believe we may have some local contenders for a world record. As a disclaimer, I do not condone anyone trying to catch one in order to find out. However, I recall once witnessing a group of clever students at Wright Quad attempting the old piece-of-food-under-a-box trick, with a long string attached to a stick which propped the box up.The plumpness of the local squirrels, along with their apparent fearlessness of humans (I once witnessed people actually moving out of the way of squirrels that were lounging on a sidewalk next to the Union), has made me wonder, have the IU squirrels possibly evolved such traits?Studies on ground squirrels (a close relative to tree squirrels) have suggested that they are not born with innate fear of predators, but instead undergo a period of great plasticity in which they learn how much fear is appropriate while still being able to carry out the essential daily functions (i.e. stuffing their faces all day long).The microhabitat of the IU campus seems to be mostly devoid of natural predators for the squirrels; it is very rare that I see any birds of prey on campus. We mature college students also tend to leave them well alone, except for, I am sure, the occasional feeding. This leaves little reason to fear spending time on the ground, or getting close to people, who tend to have food anyway.This suggests to me that it is the leisurely lifestyles of our local squirrel population alone, not natural selection, that allows them to do their Jabba the Hutt impersonation. Which can make it very entertaining to watch them panic and waddle up a tree when the no-leash dog walkers cross through campus.E-mail: tylatkin@indiana.edu