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FOOD

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” - Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

Food. Virginia Woolf used it to defend gender equity. J.R.R.Tolkien to make a case for joy. Gandhi to synonymize the material with the spiritual. What is the least one could say about food in the modern world? In the least, it is very complex and very important. As one of the many lenses necessary to understand the complexity of food systems, food safety, and sustainability, veterinary medicine is a closing pitcher in the 9th inning of global health - against very competent batters including the likes of global warming and economic inequity. Here you can find resources that, concisely, I feel coalesce with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s motto - fiat panis. Let there be bread.

Tags: food, food security, sustainability, food economics, global health, health equity

ANIMAL HEALTH

“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That's the problem.”

— A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Animals offer some of the most compelling insights into the natural world. Wildlife species advocate innately for balanced ecosystems, and domesticated animals form pillars of human society - whether they sit in our homes as our pets, or on farms and pastures as animals raised for food and fiber. Even more interesting, the philosophy behind animal use varies from group to group, culture to culture. My bias is as a soon-to-be veterinarian and public health practitioner, but certainly other perspectives - including, but not limited to, viewpoints such as animal rights, conservation, and economics - deserve space in these conversations. True, my job deals directly with animal health, but animals aren’t just a way to earn my income or a source of curiosity- they teach me a lot about living in a world shared between 7 billion people and countless other forms of life.

Tags: animal health, veterinary medicine, public health, conservation, wildlife, human-animal bond

COMMUNICATING SCIENCE

“Not only is it important to ask questions and find the answers, as a scientist I felt obligated to communicate with the world what we were learning.”

- Stephen Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Questions

“Much of what is today called "social criticism" consists of members of the upper classes denouncing the tastes of the lower classes (bawdy entertainment, fast food, plentiful consumer goods) while considering themselves egalitarians.”

- Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

For many scientists who dedicate their life to their field, wonder and curiosity co-pilot their endeavors. For others, necessity drives new research pursuits; this explains why over 400 billion dollars flow through the global biomedical market every year. For the most part, good intentions drive the progress of scientific understanding. I think that The Evil Scientist is just about as real as the Boogeyman in the closet. However, science gets a bad name when we don’t know how to talk about it. And the “get on the bus or get ran over” sentiment, the dismissive tone underneath the “science says” mentality, makes matters worse, converting a inspiring approach to understanding our world to a combative ideology. Now, science is political, not because it is partisan in nature, but simply because it’s important and it can be used politically. This webspace explores the way science is portrayed in media and broader culture - and how popular narrative could better convey the data underneath it all.

Tags: communicating science, science communication, science writing, global warming, infectious disease