Thoughts on Aging

Current thoughts on the role of mitochondria and free radicals in the biology of aging.

Boatbuilding on the Aspetuck: an artist’s thoughts about art, aging, and anxiety.

For the readers of this learned journal, please note: I’m not a practicing psychologist; I don’t have a degree in psychiatry; and I’m not an expert in gerontology; but having been up the creek without a paddle a few times, I can draw some conclusions about art, aging, anxiety, and how the Aspetuck figures into this mélange. Let’s start at the start, as my Aunt Minnie used to say. The Aspetuck R...

Thoughts on Social Design

Thoughts on the Bulletin.

Because daguerreotype photographs are usually reversed laterally from actuality, images of W.T.G. Morton falsely suggest that he sometimes changed the side of the part in his hair. Because of daguerreotype image reversal, a statue of Apollo in the Ether Dome at the Massachusetts General Hospital appears to have been moved for the 50th anniversary of Ether Day. Ether anesthesia was announced in ...

Thoughts on scale

I begin with a metaphor to characterize the challenges that authors and readers face when confronting issues of scale. Consider the ways that map makers use insets—devices that allow for a focus on particular areas, while situating those areas within the larger whole. The use of insets allows for characterizations at two orders of grain size. Now imagine a map of the world containing four inset...