There is a crisis of legitimacy in modern science, as government funding has chased out most private funding.
Government-funded science invariably sticks close to a narrative that global catastrophes are impending–and government must be empowered to fix or arrest such catastrophes.
A recent issue of National Geographic was dedicated to one such imminent catastrophe: the coming extinction of bugs and insects. Soon thereafter, the issue leads us to believe, all life on earth will follow. All caused by–. . . wait for it–. . . human pesticides, herbicides, and fossil fuels, of course.
And its settled. So settled that the entire issue didn’t bother mentioning any countervailing thoughts or perspectives.
Now Matthew D. Moran, Professor of Biology at Hendrix College, is out with a study suggesting insect populations are actually quite stable. While some may be declining, others appear to be growing. Most appear to be mostly unchanged.
