By Daniel Hohler •
October 30, 2009
When I first read the news that NASA was going to start experimenting on monkeys with radiation to study the effects of deep space travel, my heart sunk. As an anthropologist who has studied non-human primates I have seen up close the emotions, the feelings, and the physical qualities we share with our evolutionary cousins. My mind went back to shooting chimps into space, not caring if they lived or died. To cruel (and now illegal) experiments of all kinds performed on our closest living relative.
Now NASA is planing to irradiate squirrel monkeys. Scientists are particularly interested in studying how the radiation impacts the monkeys’ central nervous systems and behaviors over time. Messing with the monkeys brains. Oh great!
By Josh Thomas •
January 16, 2009
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been interviewing wilderness/outdoors educators on their best practices for bringing teenagers into natural environments. In fact, I’m leaving today for a wild Wyoming weekend and another round of interviews.
As I was preparing for the upcoming trip, I’ve been reviewing footage of the previous interviews and reflecting on what I’ve heard. One quote in particular continues to circle back to the front of my mind. It goes something like this:
When you’re talking about experiential learning, .. the nature of experience is that it’s a kind of a trial, a testing, an experiment, in a sense. So you are experimenting with things. You are attempting things, and the whole concept of an experiment is that you’re not quite sure of the outcome. You can’t guarantee it, or it wouldn’t be an experience you are having.
