Wednesday, January 8, 2014
American Humanist articles from January of 2014
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Humanist Network News
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Syndicate HNN
Humanist Network News, or HNN, is a weekly Internet magazine produced by the American Humanist Association (AHA). A typical edition of HNN contains news, opinion, lifestyle pieces, cartoons and humor...just like a regular newspaper except each piece addresses the nonreligious philosophy of humanism. HNN articles are written by the staff of the AHA and a variety of guest writers. HNN is published every Wednesday.
Subscribe today! Get Humanist Network News sent weekly via email.
Recent HNN Articles
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 .. 175 > >
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR: A New Year, a New HNN
Posted January 08, 2014
Happy New Year, HNN readers! Already, things are off to a great start here at the American Humanist Association. Joining us on staff is Nonbeliever Nation author and former AHA president David Niose, who will be heading up the Appignani Humanist Legal Center. We’ve added several major speakers to our AHA Conference (June 5-8, 2014 in Philadelphia) lineup, including New York Times science writer Natalie Angier, feminist author Jessica Valenti, and Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans of the Sunday Assembly (conference registration will open this week, but you can book your room now). And my San Diego Chargers are in the divisional playoffs! Okay, that’s not relevant to humanism at all, but I am really, really happy about it.
As I hinted in my last Message From the Editor, big changes are coming to Humanist Network News, and we can’t wait to share the news. In the meantime, what would you like to see HNN cover in 2014? What do you like best or least about HNN? Write to us at hnn@americanhumanist.org.
Maggie Ardiente
Editor, HNN
@MaggieArdiente
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake
Posted January 08, 2014
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and creationist Ken Ham are taking part in an evolution vs. intelligent design debate next month. Brian Magee argues why this is a bad idea.
Read More »
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing
Posted January 08, 2014
Maggie Ardiente sees several advantages to the upcoming Bill Nye-Ken Ham debate and argues why humanists and atheists should support it.
Read More »
The Puzzle of the Permian (Probably Solved)
Posted January 08, 2014
With news of potentially destructive volcanoes and exploding calderas, are we headed toward another major extinction event? Dr. Janet Asimov examines various scientific theories that may just bring about the end of the world as we know it.
Read More »
Stephen Fry, Humanism, and the Great Outdoors
Posted January 08, 2014
The great British actor and comedian Stephen Fry joins extreme outdoorsman Bear Grylls, exploring rugged terrain and sharing his humanist beliefs to television audiences.
Read More »
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism
Posted January 08, 2014
How can Unitarian Universalists and Humanists work together to create community? Maria Greene, development and communications director of the UU Humanist Association, argues the need for UU congregations and local humanist groups to join forces.
Read More »
Chapter Profile: Greater Richmond Humanists
Posted January 08, 2014
AHA Grassroots Coordinator Rachael Berman interviews the president of the Greater Richmond Humanists, Mark Reimers.
Read More »
The Ethical Dilemma: Pennies From Heaven?
Posted January 08, 2014
Lots of questions for our advice columnist Joan Reisman-Brill this week! She tackles the ethics of bank errors in your favor and expands on the continuing debate over eating animals.
Read More »
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 .. 175 > >
Recent Comments
Dan Weeks While I see what the author is saying, the sad fact its that, in the eyes of the general public, creationism occupies the elevated position of prestige and respect, and science is the evil little...
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake · 11 minutes ago
Dan Weeks Well put. Many freethinkers seem loathe to engage the Faithheads because of that fear of giving them legitimacy. But the thing is, in this country, they already have it, and they're using it to...
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing · 18 minutes ago
Randy Brill I think that such meetings can plan an important role in the life of the church and the individual and is a great idea. Without some kind of structure the meetings provide conversational outlets...
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism · 24 minutes ago
Doc Kinne As someone who is in the midst of trying to create the very object Maria is talking about at Arlington St. Meetinghouse in the Back Bay of Boston, this article was quite timely. Indeed, it has been...
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism · 33 minutes ago
Arthur Dallas Appelgren "The worst aspect of the Velikovsky affair is not that his hypotheses were wrong or in contradiction to firmly established facts, but that some who called themselves scientists attempted to...
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake · 36 minutes ago
Popular Threads
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake
20 comments · 11 minutes ago
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing
7 comments · 18 minutes ago
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism
3 comments · 24 minutes ago
Poll: Will You Watch the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate on Evolution?
2 comments · 1 hour ago
Stephen Fry, Humanism, and the Great Outdoors
1 comment · 1 hour ago
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Pastor trying out #atheism as an experiment gets an quick dose of reality.
2 days ago
Learn more about the Appignani Humanist Legal Center Learn more about the Center for Humanist Activism Learn more about the Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association Learn more about Humanist Charities Learn more about humanist leadership The Humanist Institute Learn more about applying humanism to daily life at the Humanist Society Learn more about the International Darwin Day Foundation Learn more about huamnist education at The Kochhar Humanist Education Center Support LGBTQ humanists at the LGBTQ Humanist Council
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Hnn
Share
Font Size: A A A
Humanist Network News
Home
Latest Issue
Contact Us
Syndicate HNN
Humanist Network News, or HNN, is a weekly Internet magazine produced by the American Humanist Association (AHA). A typical edition of HNN contains news, opinion, lifestyle pieces, cartoons and humor...just like a regular newspaper except each piece addresses the nonreligious philosophy of humanism. HNN articles are written by the staff of the AHA and a variety of guest writers. HNN is published every Wednesday.
Subscribe today! Get Humanist Network News sent weekly via email.
Recent HNN Articles
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 .. 175 > >
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR: A New Year, a New HNN
Posted January 08, 2014
Happy New Year, HNN readers! Already, things are off to a great start here at the American Humanist Association. Joining us on staff is Nonbeliever Nation author and former AHA president David Niose, who will be heading up the Appignani Humanist Legal Center. We’ve added several major speakers to our AHA Conference (June 5-8, 2014 in Philadelphia) lineup, including New York Times science writer Natalie Angier, feminist author Jessica Valenti, and Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans of the Sunday Assembly (conference registration will open this week, but you can book your room now). And my San Diego Chargers are in the divisional playoffs! Okay, that’s not relevant to humanism at all, but I am really, really happy about it.
As I hinted in my last Message From the Editor, big changes are coming to Humanist Network News, and we can’t wait to share the news. In the meantime, what would you like to see HNN cover in 2014? What do you like best or least about HNN? Write to us at hnn@americanhumanist.org.
Maggie Ardiente
Editor, HNN
@MaggieArdiente
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake
Posted January 08, 2014
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and creationist Ken Ham are taking part in an evolution vs. intelligent design debate next month. Brian Magee argues why this is a bad idea.
Read More »
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing
Posted January 08, 2014
Maggie Ardiente sees several advantages to the upcoming Bill Nye-Ken Ham debate and argues why humanists and atheists should support it.
Read More »
The Puzzle of the Permian (Probably Solved)
Posted January 08, 2014
With news of potentially destructive volcanoes and exploding calderas, are we headed toward another major extinction event? Dr. Janet Asimov examines various scientific theories that may just bring about the end of the world as we know it.
Read More »
Stephen Fry, Humanism, and the Great Outdoors
Posted January 08, 2014
The great British actor and comedian Stephen Fry joins extreme outdoorsman Bear Grylls, exploring rugged terrain and sharing his humanist beliefs to television audiences.
Read More »
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism
Posted January 08, 2014
How can Unitarian Universalists and Humanists work together to create community? Maria Greene, development and communications director of the UU Humanist Association, argues the need for UU congregations and local humanist groups to join forces.
Read More »
Chapter Profile: Greater Richmond Humanists
Posted January 08, 2014
AHA Grassroots Coordinator Rachael Berman interviews the president of the Greater Richmond Humanists, Mark Reimers.
Read More »
The Ethical Dilemma: Pennies From Heaven?
Posted January 08, 2014
Lots of questions for our advice columnist Joan Reisman-Brill this week! She tackles the ethics of bank errors in your favor and expands on the continuing debate over eating animals.
Read More »
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 .. 175 > >
Recent Comments
Dan Weeks While I see what the author is saying, the sad fact its that, in the eyes of the general public, creationism occupies the elevated position of prestige and respect, and science is the evil little...
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake · 11 minutes ago
Dan Weeks Well put. Many freethinkers seem loathe to engage the Faithheads because of that fear of giving them legitimacy. But the thing is, in this country, they already have it, and they're using it to...
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing · 18 minutes ago
Randy Brill I think that such meetings can plan an important role in the life of the church and the individual and is a great idea. Without some kind of structure the meetings provide conversational outlets...
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism · 24 minutes ago
Doc Kinne As someone who is in the midst of trying to create the very object Maria is talking about at Arlington St. Meetinghouse in the Back Bay of Boston, this article was quite timely. Indeed, it has been...
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism · 33 minutes ago
Arthur Dallas Appelgren "The worst aspect of the Velikovsky affair is not that his hypotheses were wrong or in contradiction to firmly established facts, but that some who called themselves scientists attempted to...
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake · 36 minutes ago
Popular Threads
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake
20 comments · 11 minutes ago
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing
7 comments · 18 minutes ago
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism
3 comments · 24 minutes ago
Poll: Will You Watch the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate on Evolution?
2 comments · 1 hour ago
Stephen Fry, Humanism, and the Great Outdoors
1 comment · 1 hour ago
Powered by Disqus
Become a Member
Strengthen the humanist voice
Donate
Support humanism
Take Action
Stand up and be heard
Get Local
Be an activist in your community
The Humanist Hour
The official podcast of the AHA
Shop Humanism
Books, stickers and more
Speak Your Mind!
Discussion board for humanists
American Humanist Association
Pulitzer Prize-winning science columnist Natalie Angier will be accepting the 20...
2 days ago
Learn more about the Appignani Humanist Legal Center Learn more about the Center for Humanist Activism Learn more about the Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association Learn more about Humanist Charities Learn more about humanist leadership The Humanist Institute Learn more about applying humanism to daily life at the Humanist Society Learn more about the International Darwin Day Foundation Learn more about huamnist education at The Kochhar Humanist Education Center Support LGBTQ humanists at the LGBTQ Humanist Council
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+ Power and Design from Boston + Liberty Concepts +
Copyright © 2014 American Humanist Association
New User? Click Here »
Log In Log Out
Search
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About the AHA »
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The Puzzle of the Permian (Probably Solved)
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With news of potentially destructive volcanoes and exploding calderas, are we headed toward another major extinction event? Dr. Janet Asimov examines various scientific theories that may just bring about the end of the world as we know it.
Twenty years ago I wrote a science article on what was, and still is, the extinction event. About 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian period in Earth’s history, 95% of life in the ocean died (including my favorite critter, the trilobite) and 70% of life on land died (including eight orders of insects—the only time insects have lost members since they evolved 390 million years ago).
Because we humans were not involved, either as perpetrators or as victims, my article then had the title, “At Least We Missed the Permian Catastrophe.”
Extinction events fascinate scientists, who have pursued much research into all of them, especially the Permian one, which has been labeled “The Great Dying.” Theories about this event touched on everything from incoming space missiles to a greenhouse effect from organic matter sinking to the bottom of the sea, reducing atmospheric CO2 and causing planetary cooling.
Oh, and also volcanoes. There are so many bad ones recorded in history—most people know about the eruption of Tambora in 1816 that caused “the year without a summer,” or the one in 1883 when Krakatoa killed 36,000 people, or the famous eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. All of them were tiny compared to what happened at the end of the Permian.
New research indicates that volcanoes are probably the answer, or certainly the main answer to the puzzle of the Permian catastrophe.
Notice that I do not say “proves.” Evidence of what happened to life 252 million years ago is not an algebraic proof. The theory for which new evidence has turned up has always been a possibility, and now it’s a probability. That’s the way science works—with words like “possibility” and “probability,” “maybe” and “seems likely.”
The extinction of all dinosaurs except birds 65 million years ago was, numerically speaking, small potatoes (“only” 50 percent of life died) compared to the Great Dying. However, we can say that it is quite probable that our favorite media stars went belly-up mainly because an asteroid landed on the Yucatan peninsula.
There’s still some argument about this, however, with various other theories claiming that their solution is perhaps an additional cause. I personally think that an asteroid as big as that one would cause a rebound effect on the other side of the planet, accounting for volcanism.
But you wanted to know about the Great Dying, didn’t you? And without having to click on Wikipedia—although it’s a very good summary, which did not exist when I first probed into the Permian. (Support Wikipedia—it’s one of the much better efforts of the electronic age.)
To begin with, the Permian period in Earth’s history owes its name to a British geologist named Sir Roderick Impey Murchison who, in 1841, studied rocks in the Russian town of Perm, near Lake Baikal. Remembering the ancient kingdom of Permia, Murchison applied “Permian” to the third geological period in the Upper Paleozoic Era, the time preceding the famous dinosaur-filled Mesozoic Era.
The entire Paleozoic Era—Upper and Lower—lasted about 352 million years, during which first the sea and then the land were colonized by a diversity of invertebrates and vertebrates. By the time of the Paleozoic’s last period, the Permian, reptiles had replaced amphibians as the rulers on land. (By the way, always keep in mind that the true conquerors and rulers of both sea and land were and are microorganisms.)
During the Permian there were remarkable developments in land vertebrates. Scientists once thought that most Permian land vertebrates were carnivorous until they discovered the fossil of a 280 million year old reptile that had pointy teeth but also stones in its stomach to help grind plant food. Twenty million years later came Suminia getmanovi, whose teeth were clearly capable of shearing and shredding tough land vegetation like conifers, ferns and cycads. As herbivores like this became bigger and more plentiful, so did the reptilian carnivores that preyed upon them with sharp teeth.
Plants did their own evolving during the Permian. While modern flowering plants (which appeared in the age of dinosaurs) have sperm that is not motile, those of the ancient (but still with us) Gingko trees reach the ovules by swimming up tubes, much the way human sperm swims up the Fallopian tubes. The Permian seed fern, Glossopteris, also had motile sperm, each bearing a spiral pattern of tiny wavy appendages called flagella that function to propel the sperm along. Lots of biological inventions are very old.
The complex ecosystems of the early Permian existed on the supercontinent of Pangea (with our familiar continents stuck together), surrounded by the ocean Panthalassa. Both the ocean and the supercontinent teemed with life. However, this balmy wonderland did keep changing, for 60 million years. By the time of the disaster at the end of the Permian, Pangea was tearing apart. This may have contributed to the volcanoes and earthquakes.
The internet site on the latest world earthquakes is addictive, especially when you look at those associated with “the ring of fire” of volcanoes in the land circling the Pacific Ocean. This land is moving, and when land moves there are numerous earthquakes and lots of volcanoes, some of them very dangerous.
There wasn’t a simple ring of fire at the end of the Permian. There was fire—immense volcanism over a huge northern area, resulting in the famous two million square kilometers of hard lava called the Siberian traps (meaning “stairs” in Swedish). Since the various continents had not separated as much as they have today, this Permian volcanism affected much more of the planet than any current volcano could.
Geologists have now succeeded in dating the Permian volcanism that caused the Siberian traps, as well as the age of fossils from the Great Dying. It seems quite probable that the volcanism came before, and not after, the extinctions.
Furthermore, computer modeling shows that when the Siberian volcanism occurred, the amount of sulfur dioxide probably injected into the atmosphere would have acidified rain to, as the article in Science magazine says, “pH 2, about that of lemon juice.” Ever squeezed lemon juice on a plant?
Further, geologists have found mercury-toxic debris in fossilized ash from the P-T boundary (that’s the time of the extinction, the end of the Permian and the beginning of the Triassic). It was altogether a nasty event.
All this better evidence produces a smoking gun effect, cheering to people who enjoy the solution of puzzles. I was thrilled, but not exactly cheered, because I tend to worry about the possibility of modern volcanism doing us in.
There are many possibilities for truly nasty volcanism. If the caldera known as Yellowstone National Park decides (excuse the anthropomorphism) to blow, it won’t cause a Permian-like extinction event, but it might contribute heavily to crushing a good deal of our civilization—although we often seem to be tinkering with that job ourselves.
The point is that planet Earth is alive, not just with living organisms, but geologically. Land masses move, hot spots of upwelling magma exist, and we are not safe.
Accepting the dangers of volcanism will make it more likely that research will go on, for right now we can’t prevent or even cope with the kind of disaster that ended the Permian. There will be other episodes of volcanism that may not be so extreme but will nevertheless endanger us. We can’t just forget about this and hope it never happens, because some day, it will.
Safety is not assured by knowledge, research, and technology, but it is more likely. We are currently helpless about extreme volcanism, but we already have the knowledge and technology for finding threatening asteroids and for pushing them out of the way. There’s no excuse for Homo sapiens going the way of the dinosaurs.
For us, some extinction events are more probable than others. Let’s hope that if a possibility of one lurks in our future, we’ll know about it and do what we can to survive. If we’re faced with something like the Permian catastrophe, won’t we be sorry we didn’t build underground homes on the moon and Mars?
Dr. Janey AsimovDr. Janet Asimov is a writer and psychiatrist in New York. She was married to the science fiction author and past American Humanist Association president Isaac Asimov.
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Humanist Network News
Home
Latest Issue
Contact Us
Syndicate HNN
Humanist Network News, or HNN, is a weekly Internet magazine produced by the American Humanist Association (AHA). A typical edition of HNN contains news, opinion, lifestyle pieces, cartoons and humor...just like a regular newspaper except each piece addresses the nonreligious philosophy of humanism. HNN articles are written by the staff of the AHA and a variety of guest writers. HNN is published every Wednesday.
Subscribe today! Get Humanist Network News sent weekly via email.
Recent HNN Articles
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 .. 175 > >
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR: A New Year, a New HNN
Posted January 08, 2014
Happy New Year, HNN readers! Already, things are off to a great start here at the American Humanist Association. Joining us on staff is Nonbeliever Nation author and former AHA president David Niose, who will be heading up the Appignani Humanist Legal Center. We’ve added several major speakers to our AHA Conference (June 5-8, 2014 in Philadelphia) lineup, including New York Times science writer Natalie Angier, feminist author Jessica Valenti, and Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans of the Sunday Assembly (conference registration will open this week, but you can book your room now). And my San Diego Chargers are in the divisional playoffs! Okay, that’s not relevant to humanism at all, but I am really, really happy about it.
As I hinted in my last Message From the Editor, big changes are coming to Humanist Network News, and we can’t wait to share the news. In the meantime, what would you like to see HNN cover in 2014? What do you like best or least about HNN? Write to us at hnn@americanhumanist.org.
Maggie Ardiente
Editor, HNN
@MaggieArdiente
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake
Posted January 08, 2014
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and creationist Ken Ham are taking part in an evolution vs. intelligent design debate next month. Brian Magee argues why this is a bad idea.
Read More »
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing
Posted January 08, 2014
Maggie Ardiente sees several advantages to the upcoming Bill Nye-Ken Ham debate and argues why humanists and atheists should support it.
Read More »
The Puzzle of the Permian (Probably Solved)
Posted January 08, 2014
With news of potentially destructive volcanoes and exploding calderas, are we headed toward another major extinction event? Dr. Janet Asimov examines various scientific theories that may just bring about the end of the world as we know it.
Read More »
Stephen Fry, Humanism, and the Great Outdoors
Posted January 08, 2014
The great British actor and comedian Stephen Fry joins extreme outdoorsman Bear Grylls, exploring rugged terrain and sharing his humanist beliefs to television audiences.
Read More »
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism
Posted January 08, 2014
How can Unitarian Universalists and Humanists work together to create community? Maria Greene, development and communications director of the UU Humanist Association, argues the need for UU congregations and local humanist groups to join forces.
Read More »
Chapter Profile: Greater Richmond Humanists
Posted January 08, 2014
AHA Grassroots Coordinator Rachael Berman interviews the president of the Greater Richmond Humanists, Mark Reimers.
Read More »
The Ethical Dilemma: Pennies From Heaven?
Posted January 08, 2014
Lots of questions for our advice columnist Joan Reisman-Brill this week! She tackles the ethics of bank errors in your favor and expands on the continuing debate over eating animals.
Read More »
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 .. 175 > >
Recent Comments
Dan Weeks While I see what the author is saying, the sad fact its that, in the eyes of the general public, creationism occupies the elevated position of prestige and respect, and science is the evil little...
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake · 16 minutes ago
Dan Weeks Well put. Many freethinkers seem loathe to engage the Faithheads because of that fear of giving them legitimacy. But the thing is, in this country, they already have it, and they're using it to...
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing · 22 minutes ago
Randy Brill I think that such meetings can plan an important role in the life of the church and the individual and is a great idea. Without some kind of structure the meetings provide conversational outlets...
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism · 29 minutes ago
Doc Kinne As someone who is in the midst of trying to create the very object Maria is talking about at Arlington St. Meetinghouse in the Back Bay of Boston, this article was quite timely. Indeed, it has been...
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism · 38 minutes ago
Arthur Dallas Appelgren "The worst aspect of the Velikovsky affair is not that his hypotheses were wrong or in contradiction to firmly established facts, but that some who called themselves scientists attempted to...
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake · 41 minutes ago
Popular Threads
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake
20 comments · 11 minutes ago
Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing
7 comments · 18 minutes ago
The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism
3 comments · 24 minutes ago
Poll: Will You Watch the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate on Evolution?
2 comments · 1 hour ago
Stephen Fry, Humanism, and the Great Outdoors
1 comment · 1 hour ago
Powered by Disqus
Become a Member
Strengthen the humanist voice
Donate
Support humanism
Take Action
Stand up and be heard
Get Local
Be an activist in your community
The Humanist Hour
The official podcast of the AHA
Shop Humanism
Books, stickers and more
Speak Your Mind!
Discussion board for humanists
American Humanist Association
In this week's Humanist Network News, we look at the pros and cons of the upcomi...
3 hours ago
Learn more about the Appignani Humanist Legal Center Learn more about the Center for Humanist Activism Learn more about the Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association Learn more about Humanist Charities Learn more about humanist leadership The Humanist Institute Learn more about applying humanism to daily life at the Humanist Society Learn more about the International Darwin Day Foundation Learn more about huamnist education at The Kochhar Humanist Education Center Support LGBTQ humanists at the LGBTQ Humanist Council
About Us
Privacy Policy
Contact Us
Shop
Community
CFC
# 19492 Best in America GuideStar Exchange Valued Partner Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Watch AHA videos on Vimeo
View AHA photos on Flickr
Watch AHA videos on YouTube
Follow us on Tumblr
+ Power and Design from Boston + Liberty Concepts +
Copyright © 2014 American Humanist Association
New User? Click Here »
Log In Log Out
Search
American Humanist Association
Advocating progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists, and freethinkers
About the AHA »
What Is Humanism »
Our Work »
AHA News »
Support Humanism »
Hnn
Share
Font Size: A A A
Humanist Network News
Home
Latest Issue
Contact Us
Syndicate HNN
Humanist Network News, or HNN, is a weekly Internet magazine produced by the American Humanist Association (AHA). A typical edition of HNN contains news, opinion, lifestyle pieces, cartoons and humor...just like a regular newspaper except each piece addresses the nonreligious philosophy of humanism. HNN articles are written by the staff of the AHA and a variety of guest writers. HNN is published every Wednesday.
Subscribe today! Get Humanist Network News sent weekly via email.
Recent HNN Articles
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 .. 175 > >
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR: A New Year, a New HNN
Posted January 08, 2014
Happy New Year, HNN readers! Already, things are off to a great start here at the American Humanist Association. Joining us on staff is Nonbeliever Nation author and former AHA president David Niose, who will be heading up the Appignani Humanist Legal Center. We’ve added several major speakers to our AHA Conference (June 5-8, 2014 in Philadelphia) lineup, including New York Times science writer Natalie Angier, feminist author Jessica Valenti, and Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans of the Sunday Assembly (conference registration will open this week, but you can book your room now). And my San Diego Chargers are in the divisional playoffs! Okay, that’s not relevant to humanism at all, but I am really, really happy about it.
As I hinted in my last Message From the Editor, big changes are coming to Humanist Network News, and we can’t wait to share the news. In the meantime, what would you like to see HNN cover in 2014? What do you like best or least about HNN? Write to us at hnn@americanhumanist.org.
Maggie Ardiente
Editor, HNN
@MaggieArdiente
Bill Nye Sharing the Stage With Ken Ham is a Mistake
Posted January 08, 2014
Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and creationist Ken Ham are taking part in an evolution vs. intelligent design debate next month. Brian Magee argues why this is a bad idea.
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Why the Bill Nye-Ken Ham Debate is a Good Thing
Posted January 08, 2014
Maggie Ardiente sees several advantages to the upcoming Bill Nye-Ken Ham debate and argues why humanists and atheists should support it.
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The Puzzle of the Permian (Probably Solved)
Posted January 08, 2014
With news of potentially destructive volcanoes and exploding calderas, are we headed toward another major extinction event? Dr. Janet Asimov examines various scientific theories that may just bring about the end of the world as we know it.
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Stephen Fry, Humanism, and the Great Outdoors
Posted January 08, 2014
The great British actor and comedian Stephen Fry joins extreme outdoorsman Bear Grylls, exploring rugged terrain and sharing his humanist beliefs to television audiences.
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The UU Congregation: A Habitat for Humanism
Posted January 08, 2014
How can Unitarian Universalists and Humanists work together to create community? Maria Greene, development and communications director of the UU Humanist Association, argues the need for UU congregations and local humanist groups to join forces.
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Chapter Profile: Greater Richmond Humanists
Posted January 08, 2014
AHA Grassroots Coordinator Rachael Berman interviews the president of the Greater Richmond Humanists, Mark Reimers.
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The Ethical Dilemma: Pennies From Heaven?
Posted January 08, 2014
Lots of questions for our advice columnist Joan Reisman-Brill this week! She tackles the ethics of bank errors in your favor and expands on the continuing debate over eating animals.
Read More »
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The Puzzle of the Permian (Probably Solved)
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With news of potentially destructive volcanoes and exploding calderas, are we headed toward another major extinction event? Dr. Janet Asimov examines various scientific theories that may just bring about the end of the world as we know it.
Twenty years ago I wrote a science article on what was, and still is, the extinction event. About 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian period in Earth’s history, 95% of life in the ocean died (including my favorite critter, the trilobite) and 70% of life on land died (including eight orders of insects—the only time insects have lost members since they evolved 390 million years ago).
Because we humans were not involved, either as perpetrators or as victims, my article then had the title, “At Least We Missed the Permian Catastrophe.”
Extinction events fascinate scientists, who have pursued much research into all of them, especially the Permian one, which has been labeled “The Great Dying.” Theories about this event touched on everything from incoming space missiles to a greenhouse effect from organic matter sinking to the bottom of the sea, reducing atmospheric CO2 and causing planetary cooling.
Oh, and also volcanoes. There are so many bad ones recorded in history—most people know about the eruption of Tambora in 1816 that caused “the year without a summer,” or the one in 1883 when Krakatoa killed 36,000 people, or the famous eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. All of them were tiny compared to what happened at the end of the Permian.
New research indicates that volcanoes are probably the answer, or certainly the main answer to the puzzle of the Permian catastrophe.
Notice that I do not say “proves.” Evidence of what happened to life 252 million years ago is not an algebraic proof. The theory for which new evidence has turned up has always been a possibility, and now it’s a probability. That’s the way science works—with words like “possibility” and “probability,” “maybe” and “seems likely.”
The extinction of all dinosaurs except birds 65 million years ago was, numerically speaking, small potatoes (“only” 50 percent of life died) compared to the Great Dying. However, we can say that it is quite probable that our favorite media stars went belly-up mainly because an asteroid landed on the Yucatan peninsula.
There’s still some argument about this, however, with various other theories claiming that their solution is perhaps an additional cause. I personally think that an asteroid as big as that one would cause a rebound effect on the other side of the planet, accounting for volcanism.
But you wanted to know about the Great Dying, didn’t you? And without having to click on Wikipedia—although it’s a very good summary, which did not exist when I first probed into the Permian. (Support Wikipedia—it’s one of the much better efforts of the electronic age.)
To begin with, the Permian period in Earth’s history owes its name to a British geologist named Sir Roderick Impey Murchison who, in 1841, studied rocks in the Russian town of Perm, near Lake Baikal. Remembering the ancient kingdom of Permia, Murchison applied “Permian” to the third geological period in the Upper Paleozoic Era, the time preceding the famous dinosaur-filled Mesozoic Era.
The entire Paleozoic Era—Upper and Lower—lasted about 352 million years, during which first the sea and then the land were colonized by a diversity of invertebrates and vertebrates. By the time of the Paleozoic’s last period, the Permian, reptiles had replaced amphibians as the rulers on land. (By the way, always keep in mind that the true conquerors and rulers of both sea and land were and are microorganisms.)
During the Permian there were remarkable developments in land vertebrates. Scientists once thought that most Permian land vertebrates were carnivorous until they discovered the fossil of a 280 million year old reptile that had pointy teeth but also stones in its stomach to help grind plant food. Twenty million years later came Suminia getmanovi, whose teeth were clearly capable of shearing and shredding tough land vegetation like conifers, ferns and cycads. As herbivores like this became bigger and more plentiful, so did the reptilian carnivores that preyed upon them with sharp teeth.
Plants did their own evolving during the Permian. While modern flowering plants (which appeared in the age of dinosaurs) have sperm that is not motile, those of the ancient (but still with us) Gingko trees reach the ovules by swimming up tubes, much the way human sperm swims up the Fallopian tubes. The Permian seed fern, Glossopteris, also had motile sperm, each bearing a spiral pattern of tiny wavy appendages called flagella that function to propel the sperm along. Lots of biological inventions are very old.
The complex ecosystems of the early Permian existed on the supercontinent of Pangea (with our familiar continents stuck together), surrounded by the ocean Panthalassa. Both the ocean and the supercontinent teemed with life. However, this balmy wonderland did keep changing, for 60 million years. By the time of the disaster at the end of the Permian, Pangea was tearing apart. This may have contributed to the volcanoes and earthquakes.
The internet site on the latest world earthquakes is addictive, especially when you look at those associated with “the ring of fire” of volcanoes in the land circling the Pacific Ocean. This land is moving, and when land moves there are numerous earthquakes and lots of volcanoes, some of them very dangerous.
There wasn’t a simple ring of fire at the end of the Permian. There was fire—immense volcanism over a huge northern area, resulting in the famous two million square kilometers of hard lava called the Siberian traps (meaning “stairs” in Swedish). Since the various continents had not separated as much as they have today, this Permian volcanism affected much more of the planet than any current volcano could.
Geologists have now succeeded in dating the Permian volcanism that caused the Siberian traps, as well as the age of fossils from the Great Dying. It seems quite probable that the volcanism came before, and not after, the extinctions.
Furthermore, computer modeling shows that when the Siberian volcanism occurred, the amount of sulfur dioxide probably injected into the atmosphere would have acidified rain to, as the article in Science magazine says, “pH 2, about that of lemon juice.” Ever squeezed lemon juice on a plant?
Further, geologists have found mercury-toxic debris in fossilized ash from the P-T boundary (that’s the time of the extinction, the end of the Permian and the beginning of the Triassic). It was altogether a nasty event.
All this better evidence produces a smoking gun effect, cheering to people who enjoy the solution of puzzles. I was thrilled, but not exactly cheered, because I tend to worry about the possibility of modern volcanism doing us in.
There are many possibilities for truly nasty volcanism. If the caldera known as Yellowstone National Park decides (excuse the anthropomorphism) to blow, it won’t cause a Permian-like extinction event, but it might contribute heavily to crushing a good deal of our civilization—although we often seem to be tinkering with that job ourselves.
The point is that planet Earth is alive, not just with living organisms, but geologically. Land masses move, hot spots of upwelling magma exist, and we are not safe.
Accepting the dangers of volcanism will make it more likely that research will go on, for right now we can’t prevent or even cope with the kind of disaster that ended the Permian. There will be other episodes of volcanism that may not be so extreme but will nevertheless endanger us. We can’t just forget about this and hope it never happens, because some day, it will.
Safety is not assured by knowledge, research, and technology, but it is more likely. We are currently helpless about extreme volcanism, but we already have the knowledge and technology for finding threatening asteroids and for pushing them out of the way. There’s no excuse for Homo sapiens going the way of the dinosaurs.
For us, some extinction events are more probable than others. Let’s hope that if a possibility of one lurks in our future, we’ll know about it and do what we can to survive. If we’re faced with something like the Permian catastrophe, won’t we be sorry we didn’t build underground homes on the moon and Mars?
Dr. Janey AsimovDr. Janet Asimov is a writer and psychiatrist in New York. She was married to the science fiction author and past American Humanist Association president Isaac Asimov.
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In this week's Humanist Network News, we look at the pros and cons of the upcomi...
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Learn more about the Appignani Humanist Legal Center Learn more about the Center for Humanist Activism Learn more about the Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association Learn more about Humanist Charities Learn more about humanist leadership The Humanist Institute Learn more about applying humanism to daily life at the Humanist Society Learn more about the International Darwin Day Foundation Learn more about huamnist education at The Kochhar Humanist Education Center Support LGBTQ humanists at the LGBTQ Humanist Council
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