How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will be his results, compared with those accumulated by Nature during whole geological periods!
—Charles Darwin, On The Origin of Species (1859)
Why them? Why is this species [the New Caledonian crow] on a small island in the Pacific able to not just use but to manufacture a variety of tools, and in a flexible rather than a rote or programmatic way? Why are they able to do at least as well as chimpanzees on experiments of cognition…?
— Russell Gray of the University of Aukland, as quoted by Natalie Angier in “Nurturing Nests Lift These Birds to a Higher Perch” (New York Times, Jan. 31, 2011)
Scientists are both feared and respected, perhaps not unlike the Aztec priests of old…57% of Mexicans interviewed agreed that “due to their knowledge, scientific researchers have ...
