Mary C. Henry

Luna Lovegood joined our family on Star Wars Day! My sabbatical (or Assigned Research Leave as Miami likes to call them) officially ended when the semester did (graduation was Mother's Day weekend), but faculty are on 9-month appointments and I am not teaching this summer. So I have the summer off, right? Well, things have quieted down considerably since most of the grad students are out doing field work and have finished up with qualifying & comprehensive exams for the year. I was also asked to fill in on a PhD oral exam since a committee member is leaving the country* (need to go read the written exam ASAP!), but otherwise I don't have any formal grad student work going on right now, either. Since we're not doing a family trip to Kenya this year (too expensive!) I did volunteer to mentor a student in Miami's Ecology Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. I also have a grad student doing local field work this year. My plan is to have my REU ...

It's time to stop using the phrase "It can be seen from space!" In an era of sub-meter spatial resolution satellite sensors, it no longer makes sense to point out the vastness of something by saying that "it can be seen from space". You can see cars and trees from space now- just have a look at Google Earth (or Maps ). We can only assume that spy satellites can detect objects much smaller than that, so there are probably few things left on the Earth's surface that can't be seen from space (unless it's cloudy!) I felt compelled to write this blog post after last night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann , where he kept saying that the Gulf Oil Spill is large enough "to be seen from space". But, he is not alone . The recent discovery of a very large beaver dam in Canada drew similar responses . This is just no longer a meaningful phrase unless you qualify it with something like "the space shuttle astronauts can see it without bin...