Hang in there, the solstice is coming. You might not notice it at first, but around December 22 we have our shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, although not usually the coldest. Those come in January for most of us. And then the days mercifully begin to last a little longer and a little longer, lifting depression and signaling the coming of Spring.

If you’re a scientist like me, and I assume most of you are at least hobbyists, you want the truth, up front, bad news or good. You value that science and knowledge sets us apart from the ignorant, superstitious, unnatural world view for which we’ve lived with most of our evolutionary days, which, depending on when you decide to call our species ‘human’ is, somewhere between a million and a hundred thousand years ago.

We are forcing humans into unnatural selection these days. If you’d like to read about it in depth, I recommend a book by Juan Enriquez, “Evolving Ourselves”, available in the customary locations worldwide.

We have pigeonholed ourselves away from even the smallest resemblances of our original existence. Babies are born by C-section, antibiotics kill every microbe we want to destroy, and the toxins of pollution are starting to express their effects in the newest generations, such as autism, allergies, and shorter life spans. Our immune systems are coddled, our drudgery’s solved, artificial daylight rules, and our food is wrapped in plastic.

I am still hopeful in this new age of corporate control that science will last, because it doesn’t change except to uncover a deeper truth. If it’s found incorrect, its duty and obligation is to correct itself. Facts remain despite any objections, propaganda, denial, or wishful thinking. When you make decisions in your life, inform yourself from reliable sources, be skeptical of wild claims and extraordinary declarations. Look for the facts, the proof, the evidence. In this way, you promote the brain over the brawn, the science over fiction, the future over the past.

Wishing you peace and warmth as the sunlight returns to generate life on Earth. (For those of you on the other side of the equator, read this again in June when it applies on your half of the planet.)