Dear College of Science Faculty and Staff,
Hello from Toronto! Yesterday we celebrated a historic commencement, the first graduating class of our College of Science MS Biotechnology! Congratulations! and thank you! to everyone involved in this wonderful piece of history.
Speaking of history, I may have mentioned that in my all-girls high school, the choice was to study science or history, and for me science was the no-brainer. I was thrilled to stop learning history which seemed soley to encompass memorization of dates, battles and invasions. My understanding that history is in fact, both interesting and useful, involved two things I loved – science and food. The first was the book the Microbe Hunters that I read from a copy bound in red leather with black and gold trim, a school prize awarded to my mom. The stories of how some infectious diseases were deciphered were so fascinating, it did not occur to me that this was history. The book has never been out of print, and although it is a somewhat antiquated and biased view, I think the scientific history it encompasses remains worth a read.
The second has to do with the history of cheese, that for me began with the excellent book On Food and Cooking. Cheese, it turns out, has been around for more than 7,000 years, and likely was discovered more than once by accidental curdling of milk, perhaps during transportation in a natural bag made from animal organs. The discovery must have been transformative, since cheese was the only way that milk could be preserved without refrigeration. Initially cheeses were apparently like cottage cheese, with added salt to preserve them longer. Subsequently, incorporation of microbes and molds began to form the hard and soft cheese types we enjoy today. That this fascinating information was history did occur to me and made me wonder why this type of thing was not taught in school.
This week I came upon an extraordinary historical piece, relevant to understanding global warming and climate change. As you know, levels of CO2 are rising, with the consequence of global warming. There have been claims that this rise is a natural earth cycle and not due to human activity. However, in the study linked, scientists identified natural rates of CO2 rise over the past 50,000 years, after drilling 2 miles down into Antarctic ice and sampling many layers for trapped CO2. They found some time periods when CO2 levels in the ice rose quickly, but even the fastest rise was tiny relative to those seen today. “During the most recent glacial period, CO2 levels rose 14 parts per million in the span of roughly 55 years—today, a similar increase takes only 5 or 6 years.” That is frightening and important history showing unequivocally that the CO2 rises we are seeing today have no natural historical precedent and must be due to human activities.
These and of course, many examples across every topic emphasize the relevance and importance of history, that may have little to do with memorization from your k-12 days. Memorial Day is an historic observance, in honor and deep respect of people who died while serving in the US Armed Forces. Warm wishes to everyone during this Memorial Day weekend.