There are, crudely speaking, two kinds of science. One kind is all about the boundless nothing in particular. These sciences are well-funded and well-regarded. They make up the bulk of the science done on the campus of the University of California, San Diego, where I teach, talk, and think.
The other kind are sciences that focus on natural entities with return addresses. These other sciences are not so well funded, and are sometimes dismissed as busy work for amateurs – that is, until someone needs to know something.
One example is phenology, the study of seasonal change. Phenologists in the past included, among others, women raised in the east and transplanted to the prairies and the plains, where they recorded the first blossoms of flowers in their letters to friends and relatives back east.
Suddenly, within the last ten years, phenology has become important as a measure of climate change. But I’ve been interested in it for a longer time.
Natural entities with return address are of this world, and they have stories. The scientists who practice these sciences are, for the most part, modest and neighborly. I tend to like them.
