Archive for category Nature
What not to wear to a dinner hosted by mosquitos
Posted by mark in Nature, Uncategorized on August 2, 2024
Yesterday I stopped by Minnesota’s Metropolitan Mosquito Control District (MMCD) booth at our local county fair. They display live mosquito larvae swimming in a shallow pan of water. Visitors can pipette them on to a slide and view them with a microscope. Fascinating!
Thanks to the mosquito control services by MMCD (and/or developments reducing habitat) I’ve seen a dramatic decrease in these pests since moving into my home in Stillwater almost 30 years ago. However, there were plenty of ‘skeeters at the Anderson family get-together up north at Pine Terrace Resort last month. While packing for our getaway, my wife advised that to be less attractive to these flying insects I bring white or lightly colored clothes and none with any reds. Being a professional skeptic of such assertions, I immediately looked for any science to support her advice. As usual, she was right, as you can see in this 2022 publication by Nature on The olfactory gating of visual preferences to human skin and visible spectra in mosquitoes.
If you are put off by too much information, watch this LIVENOW interview of co-author Jeffrey A. Riffell—a biology professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. I like his heads-up that mosquitos learn not to bite people swatting them away and go for easier prey. In other words, if you are going for a hike in the woods, bring along someone who would rather get bitten up than look like a city slicker. Then diligently swat all mosquitos over to your trail-mate—better to look like a fool than be bitten-upped cool.
PS: I am a big fan of DEET repellants for deterring mosquitos and, equally important, ticks. I also wear a cap treated with permethrin, which is a real game changer as advised by Hiking Thru Life. Of course, in areas where mosquitos gather in visible clouds, covering up completely, starting with a head net, is the only way to go. Given the huge increase in mosquito-borne and tick-borne diseases in the United States and elsewhere, it’s best to “fight the bite”.
A solution for saving migrating birds from disorienting light pollution
Posted by mark in Education, Nature, science, Uncategorized on May 3, 2024
My grandson Archer and his class of sixth graders at Stillwater Middle School advanced to last week’s national Solve for Tomorrow competition in Washington, DC–an amazing accomplishment at their age. The event, sponsored by Samsung, empowers students in grades 6–12 to leverage the power of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to create innovative solutions addressing critical issues in their local communities.
Archer and his classmates focused their attention on reducing the impact of light on bird migration patterns in the St. Croix Valley. They developed a very inventive plan that featured bioluminescence; sensors to reduce unnecessary light and a flower-petaled, controllable cover for directing streetlights downward.
Being one of just 10 schools across the country to be named national finalists, they earn $50,000 in Samsung technology and supplies for their classroom. To top it off, Archer and his classmates won an additional $10,000 by winning the Community Choice award based on a popular vote.
I expect Archer and all will go far by their STEM power. Hopefully, the birds will also continue to go far by being better protected from light pollution along their way.
Being ‘bird-brained’ merits reconsideration
First off, writing this blog from my winter home in Florida, I appreciate the sensibility of snowbirds who abandon their northern climes every fall. Smart! Furthermore, studies show that avian brains, specifically crows and ravens (collectively known as “corvids”), can accommodate statistical thinking—a skill that many humans lack based on my experience as an educator. Researchers from the University of Tübingen worked this out via a clever experiment that required crows to assess the probability of getting a treat based on prior experience pecking at differing images.
“True statistical inference requires subjects use relative rather than absolute frequency of previously experienced events. Here, we show that crows can relate memorized reward probabilities to infer reward-maximizing decisions.”
Johnston, et al, Crows flexibly apply statistical inferences based on previous experience, Current Biology, Volume 33, Issue 15, 7 August 2023, Pages 3238-3243
This gives new meaning to the saying that “if the p-value is high, the null must fly.”
Hurricane season off to a hot start with great uncertainty ahead
Posted by mark in Nature, Uncategorized, Weather on June 30, 2023
After narrowly dodging Ian’s devastating blow last fall—predicted the day before landfall to hit just a few blocks from my southwest Florida winter home, I am keeping a close watch on this year’s storms.
Just prior to 2024 season on June 1, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted it would be near normal. The NOAA forecasters figure on the winds from the Pacific’s El Nino counteracting the storm inducing temperatures in the Atlantic.
A clash of the titans lies ahead as developing El Niño and notable warmth in the Tropical Atlantic go toe-to-toe.
Ryan Truchelut—the Weather Tiger’s Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook for May 2023
The Weather Tiger (quoted above) calculated Florida landfall odds this year at slightly above 50/50 for at least 1 hurricane. That was before Tropical Storm Cindy formed behind Tropical Storm Bret in June, creating the first case of two storms in the tropical Atlantic in June since record keeping began in 1851–an alarmingly aggressive start to the season.
Based on these forecasts and the history of USA hurricanes, it seems certain to me that, before 2023 is over, our home will come into harm’s way. Therefore, I keep a close watch on NOAA’s graphical forecasts that display cones showing the probable track of the center of every tropical cyclone. These cones create a great deal of consternation and confusion due to difficulties comprehending probabilities, overly high expectations in the accuracy and precision of forecasting models, and other issues.
While admiring the continuing advancements in meteorology, including this year’s extension to 7 days for hurricane forecasts, I believe (but only half seriously) that if a weather forecast one-day ahead puts me at the bullseye of an oncoming storm, then it will be a miss. This worked for Hurricane Ian. But to hedge my bets, I greatly reinforced our home over the winter to resist wind, rain and flooding—bringing it all up to current hurricane codes and beyond.
Best be safe!
Modern breeds don’t join wolves in their call of the wild
When I grew up, dogs mainly roamed free in my Saint Paul city neighborhood. They would create a terrific cacophony of howls when fire engines cruised by, and even more so during monthly testing of civil-defense sirens.
Based on my observations of our dogs and others it seemed to me that they all responded to these wolf-like sounds. So I was surprised to learn that Hungarian scientists observed only 39 of 68 breeds joining in on wolf howling.* Furthermore, they graded the vocal responses by type as follows (making me howl with laughter-ha ha):
- Howl, Bark-howl, Moan, Yelp
- Growl, Growl-howl, Woof
- Whine, Whine-howl
- Bark
The researchers then applied principal component analysis (PCA) that connected the degree of howling to the genetic distance from wolves—ancient breeds (huskies, malamutes and the like) older most likely to join in. This effect becomes more pronounced with age: Older dogs from modern breeds (for example, terriers and boxers) being least likely to howl with the wolves.
Hopefully, I interpreted this study correctly—there’s a lot to it. However, if you have a dog and remain uncertain how they howl, turn the volume up on this video.
By the way, I almost literally ran into a huge timber-wolf sitting on a remote road in northern Minnesota. After I brought our family car to a full stop, the wolf stared me down before sauntering slowly off. That gave me a healthy respect for Canis lupus and their wildness.
PS If you like dogs (as I do!), check out this briefing by Reuters, which includes a short video of the lead scientist and her Siberian husky Bizsu, whose howling precipitated this fascinating study.
Going all out to save the birds
Posted by mark in Nature, Uncategorized on February 10, 2023
Last summer a cute little bird smacked into our patio door. It stood stunned long enough for me to get this closeup.
I see lots of cardinals (my favorite!), finches, sparrows and other backyard birds all year round. Others—robins and the like—come only when the weather warms up. However, I don’t recall ever seeing one in pretty pastels of brown and yellow. This beautifully colored creature does not pop out for me as one of the 23 most common birds in Minnesota. What could it be? Google Lens provides a clue by identifying it as a warbler. Along this line, based on what’s pictured on internet (even narrowed to warblers, many appearing similar), I’m going with this being a female (juvenile?) common yellowthroat. Do you agree?
Happily, this cute little yellow-throated bird flew off soon after its stunning encounter with our house and never came back to knock on our door. However, from time to time a bright-red male cardinal takes issue with its rival staring back from our bay windows. I’ve tried to ward these aggressors off by taping CDs shiny-side-out to the middle of the glass. However, that never works. Now, thanks to a heads-up from New York Times,* I know why: This new study by College of William & Mary biologists shows that window films increase avoidance of collisions by birds but only when applied externally.
“Bird collisions with windows kill more than a billion birds per year.”
Professor John Swaddle, lead scientist of first experimental study to compare the effectiveness of window films when applied to internal versus external surfaces of double-glazed windows
The researchers randomly divided 72 zebra finches into 4 groups via a two-factor, two-level factorial that varied type of film—BirdShades (not commercially available yet) vs Haverkamp—and location on the glass surface—interior vs exterior. No worries—their ingenious flight-testing facility featured a net that prevented window-bound birds from head-on collision.
By the way, in this interview by W&M News (check out the picture of his student showing the “proper technique for holding a zebra finch”), Swaddle says that “silhouettes of animals or birds don’t tend to work in part because they’re generally too spaced out.” So, when our windows again come under attack by angry birds, I will use many CDs (putting a plentiful pile of unused and obsolete media to good use)—not just one—and duct tape them to the outside—not the inside. I just hope that the neighbors don’t complain about the blast of solar radiation going back their way.
*“Those Window Stickers to Prevent Bird Strikes? There’s a Catch.”, Catrin Einhorn, Feb. 2, 2023 (Updated Feb. 7)
See C/2022 E3 (ZTF) aka the “green comet”
Discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) nearly last March, comet C/2022 E3 features a not uncommon bright green glow caused by out-of-this world diatomic carbon (not stable on Earth). What makes E3 rare is that it last appeared 50,000 years ago when Neanderthals still roamed.
Today the comet made its closest approach; but the windchill here in Minnesota will run well below -20 F—way too cold even for an astronomy fan like me. I’m holding out for the 10th of this month when E3 will be close to Mars in the night sky and thus easy to find. However, I may settle for this amazing view provided by Portuguese astrophotographer Michael Claro taken during a spectacular disconnection event when the comet’s tail got torn away by a powerful gust of solar wind.
Will our boreal forests become a carbon bomb?
Leading up to Earth Day on Friday, last week’s CBS Mornings show featured several reports on environmental issues. One that caught my eye provided a birds-eye view of 10 giant octagonal glass chambers in northern Minnesota’s Marcell Experimental Forest operated by the U.S. Forest Service. They look very much like an alien colony!
It turns out, though, that this out-of-this-world complex is the home of the “SPRUCE” experiment, providing data on Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments. From what I saw on CBS, things do not look good for boreal trees subjected to the most extreme conditions of temperature and carbon dioxide. However, it will be best not to make any conclusions until this “largest climate change experiment on the planet” ends it’s 10-year run some years from now.
“Will deep belowground warming in future release 10,000 years of accumulated carbon from peatlands that store one-third of earth’s terrestrial carbon?”
– The ‘bombshell’ question that the SPRUCE experiment hopes to answer
Turtle-egg predators subjected to Carolina Reaper
Posted by mark in Nature, Uncategorized on December 23, 2021
Wednesday’s Venice Gondolier featured a report on an experiment by a volunteer beach patrol to deter predation of endangered sea-turtle eggs by coyotes and armadillos. With the blessing of Florida’s Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), they sprinkled varying amounts of Carolina Reaper pepper (one of the hottest known to humanity) atop four beach-nests over a range of time (with a nearby one being the control–no deterrent):
- 2 tablespoons (tbsp) every 5 days
- 4 tbsp every 5 days
- 2 tbsp every 10 days
- 4 tbsp every 10 days
This forms a full, two-level factorial. That is good thinking. However, they would have done well to replicate it to provide some statistical power for not only the main effects of amount and time-spacing, but also the possible interaction of these factors (maybe a particular combination works best). In any case, these innovative volunteers discovered that the hot pepper kept the coyotes away, but, unfortunately not the armadillos, who quickly learned how to dig under the deterrent and get at the eggs. On the brighter side, the pepper put off an inundation of fire ants—to the great relief of the experimenters going in to inspect the nests.
The FWC is now reviewing these findings to consider modifying the advice they laid out in this 2010 Sea Turtle Nest Predator Control Plan, which focuses only on raccoons and ghost crabs. The Floridian authorities do not go gentle into the night: They trap and/or shoot to kill the cravenly critters.
PS: I’ve never seen a sea turtle, but landlocked terrapins abound in the Venice area, where my wife and I winter. Earlier this month I overheard some tourists discussing what to do with a Gopher tortoise (like the one pictured below) under a beach-way boardwalk—put it directly back in the ocean or just leave by the edge. Luckily for the tortoise they finally decided to let it be, ha ha.
The perfect condiment from the Red Planet: Martian ketchup!
Astrobiologists at Florida Tech’s Aldrin Space Institute recently teamed up with Kraft Heinz to make ketchup from tomatoes grown in Mars-like conditions. Never mind Pillsbury’s Space Food Sticks or Tang—my favorite foods growing up in awe of astronauts: Bring on the Martian ketchup!
The Florida Tech News Bureau provides these fascinating facts and figures on this unearthly food-science development:
- A team of more than a dozen students, scientists, and technicians worked in a greenhouse, known as the Red House, to grow the Martian tomatoes
- Powerful LED lighting on 7,800 pounds of soil from the Mohave Desert provided Martian conditions for the 450 experimental tomato plants grown over a period of two years
- A bottle of “Marz” ketchup survived a 23-mile-altitude balloon-flight that reduced its temperature to minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
Here’s another amazing statistic cited widely on the internet: The average American eats 71 pounds of ketchup per year, which Google data supports—it being the condiment of choice in nearly half of USA’s states.*
For more details on the HEINZ Ketchup Marz Edition and a picture of a Martian-like tomato see this November 9 report by the Space Coast Daily.
“Working with the tomato masters at Heinz has allowed us to see what the possibilities are for long term food production beyond Earth.”
Andrew Palmer, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Aldrin Space Institute
*(BestLife, 4/28/21, This Is the Most Popular Condiment in Your State, According to Data)