What's New Robert L. Park 30 JuL 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 30 Jul 2010   Washington, DC

1. THE QUESTION: "CAN SCIENCE FEED THE WORLD?"
This question was on the cover of yesterday's Nature.  It was asked in th=
e=20
context of an estimate by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization that t=
o=20
accommodate a projected population of 9 billion in 2050 world food=20
production must increase 70%.   Will they use the same calculus in 2050 t=
o=20
plan for a projected population of 12 billion in 2090?  This is the=20
catastrophe that the unfairly maligned Thomas Robert Malthus foresaw in h=
is=20
1798 Essay on the Principle of Population: Species have far more offsprin=
g=20
than are needed to maintain their numbers.  It=92s an observation that Da=
rwin=20
would cite as one of the keys to natural selection. When the numbers exce=
ed=20
the available food supply there is massive suffering.  Bob Malthus called=
=20
for abstention from sex.  It's 100% effective, but strongly selected=20
against.  Although a lot of people starved, remarkable advances in=20
agriculture and transportation bought us a couple of hundred years to loo=
k=20
for a better solution.  It came in 1960 in the form of the Pill, the=20
combined oral contraceptive.  It offers an effective, if not quite perfec=
t,=20
technological solution to the population problem.  Malthusian catastrophe=
=20
had been averted - well sort of. =20

THE EDITORIAL: "FEEDING A HUNGRY WORLD."
Responding to the question on its cover, "Feeding a hungry world" says th=
e=20
real challenge in the coming decades is to "expand agricultural output=20
massively without increasing by much the amount of land used."  How can=20
this be done?  "What is needed is a second green revolution =97 an approa=
ch=20
that Britain=92s Royal Society aptly describes as the "sustainable=20
intensification of global agriculture."  In his acceptance speech for the=
=20
Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 Norman Borlaug, father of the Green  Revolution=
,=20
said: "There can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger=20
until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those tha=
t=20
fight for population control unite in a common effort. Fighting alone, th=
ey=20
may win temporary skirmishes, but united they can win a decisive and=20
lasting victory to provide food and other amenities of a progressive=20
civilization for the benefit of all mankind."  Which leaves me deeply=20
puzzled about why, in a special dealing with population, Nature left out=20
any mention of population control?

PHYTOPLANKTON: BIG TROUBLE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FOOD CHAIN?=20
Researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia say=20
phytoplankton are disappearing from the ocean. Strictly speaking it's not=
=20
really a science story -- yet. There=92s no independent confirmation, and=
=20
until that happens scientists don't get too excited. But Dalhousie is a=20
respected school, and you can bet a lot of scientists are looking at sea=20
water today. Phytoplankton are tiny plants that don't bother any other=20
living creature. Using energy from sunlight, they take inorganic stuff,=20
like water and carbon dioxide, to make new molecules as well as new=20
phytoplankton. They scarf up CO2, which is good, and dump oxygen, which i=
s=20
also good. Their problem may be global warming,=20

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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