29 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Reality Teaches Us
At birth one may stand at the cross-roads for only a few lal. The adjustments are peremptory. The human mechanism must adjust itself to the new world. If it does,—then life. Sometimes it is necessary to "slap" it. That is "science" giving a first lesson in adjustment. An adequate supply of oxygen for the cells of the body is the first problem man faces when he comes into this world. Every pink pill is not a piece of candy. Science goes to the rescue and re-establishes adjustments. Man tires...We start out trying to figure out the world, and science teaches us the lessons, but when we overbelieve--go beyond empirical evidence--we "may spoil the garden."
18 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Call for Nitrogen Fixation
England and all civilised nations stand in deadly peril of not having enough to eat. As mouths multiply, food resources dwindle. Land is a limited quantity, and the land that will grow wheat is absolutely dependent on difficult and capricious natural phenomena... I hope to point a way out of the colossal dilemma. It is the chemist who must come to the rescue of the threatened communities. It is through the laboratory that starvation may ultimately be turned into plenty... The fixation of atmo...Crookes predicts the failure of farming to support a growing population and calls on chemists to work on improving production.