Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

Who was the first to catalog color? Hint: it wasn’t designers!

Posted 23 Sep 2017 / 0

Pantone color book image courtesy of Carlos Paes via Wikimedia Commons Allison Meier has a very illuminating short piece on where the Pantone color system came from: Hyperallergic “The Bird-Based Color System that Eventually Became Pantone“ What I find interesting about this history is the convergent need of people in vastly different areas of science Read More

A Minor Post, Art & Design, Birds, Methods, Science in Art & Design, Web

Fantastic piece on nature/nurture by Patrick F. Clarkin in TVOL

Posted 23 Sep 2017 / 0

There’s a lot that has been written about the nature/nurture dilemma, perhaps because misconceptions about the role that genes and environment play in biological development are so persistent. Patrick F. Clarkin recently published a couple of wonderful short essays on the topic: This View of Life “We Are Not Hard-Wired“ This View of Life “Evolution Read More

A Minor Post, Adaptation, Articles, Behavior, Behavioral Ecology, Cultural Evolution, Development, Epigenetics, EvoDevo, Gene by Environment Interactions, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Genetics, Human Evolution, Language Evolution, Phenotypic Plasticity, Psychological Adaptation

BK BioReactor visualizes Gowanus Canal microbial communities

Posted 23 Sep 2017 / 0

Gowanus Canal images courtesy All-Nite Images via Wikimedia Commons My colleague Romie Littrell referred me to a really interesting project of the BK BioReactor group that visualizes microbial community diversity in the Gowanus Canal: http://www.bkbioreactor.com/visualization/ For those who are not familiar with the Gowanus Canal, an historically-important Brooklyn shipping lane that is now a Superfund Read More

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Biology (general), Bogs & Wetlands, Community Ecology, Conservation Biology, DNA Barcoding, Ecological Restoration, Educational Software and Apps, Experiments (General), Freshwater Ecosystems, Genetics, Geography, Information Design, Intertidal Zones, Microbial Ecology, Web

BLUE WEEK 2017 comes to Pratt Institute

Posted 12 Sep 2017 / 0

Once again, Pratt Institute will sponsor its annual Fall celebration of everything aquatic: BLUE WEEK. Starting on Sunday, September 24th, 2017, a series of events on- and off-campus will help members of the Pratt community become more aware of their relationship to our freshwater and marine ecosystems. There’s a chance to give back by cleaning Read More

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Freshwater Ecosystems, Habitat Destruction, Marine Ecosystems, Pollution, Pratt Institute, Public Policy, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt, Water Supply