Swabs

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Technology
Edward Hessler

Swabs, pieces of cotton on a thin stick, are one of the surprising barriers in testing for COVID-19. There aren't enough of them. Additionally, standard swabs affect test outcomes. Cotton is organic and contains its own DNA.

In an article by Matthew Herper for STAT, some better swabs are described. These don't affect outcomes the way in which their counterparts, cotton swabs, may.

Herper notes that "On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would allow a broader range of swabs to be used in tests, including some made of  polyester then cotton that should be easier to manufacture.

"Experts hope the moves will make the swabs “so cheap and accessible that we can make them available to anybody as soon as they have a cold-like illness,” said Dan Wattendorf, a physician who directs innovative technology solutions at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave technical advice on the studies that led to the decision.

"The FDA on Thursday took other steps that could help speed up diagnostic testing. It now says that a sample can be collected simply by circling the swab in the nose, instead of sticking a longer swab much deeper into the throat through a nostril. That process is deeply uncomfortable and causes patients to sneeze, meaning that health care providers need to be wearing full protective gear."

Further testing remains, e.g.., can they be mailed without affecting outcomes--temperature extremes. 

Give Herper's article a read and be grateful for researchers who pursue these kinds of seemingly mundane problems.

Children Respnd to the Global Pandemic

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Children
Edward Hessler

How are children responding to the requirement that all of us practice social distancing?

These drawings presented on the BBC about the COVID-19 lockdown from around the world provide some glimpses into the lives of children during this pandemic..

They are a powerful combination of words and drawings.

Jennifer A. Clack

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Palaeontology
History of Science 
Nature of Science
Earth Science
Earth Systems
Edward Hessler

Nature Briefing announced the death of Jennifer Clack April 23, the scientist noted for her work on the origin of tetrapods. Dr. Clack died of cancer, continuing to work until the last few days of her life.

"Palaeontologist Jennifer Clack, who made groundbreaking discoveries on the emergence of vertebrates out of water and onto land, died on 26 March at age 72. Clack transformed our knowledge of the four-legged, salamander-like animals that evolved from fish and slowly adapted to surviving outside water, starting 419 million years ago. Some of her most celebrated finds came from a 1987 Greenland trip, inspired by her chance discovery of a specimen in a museum drawer in Cambridge, UK. These finds included animals that had seven or eight toes on each foot. “A happy convergence of brilliance, tenacity, opportunity, generosity and modesty enabled Clack (née Agnew) to rejuvenate an entire research field,” writes Per Ahlberg, one of Clack’s students who was part of her Greenland expedition."

You can read the full tribute in the scientific journal Nature here from which the above is quoted. Clack's work was groundbreaking. In Per Ahlberg's essay about her life he, writes" "A happy convergence of brilliance, tenacity, opportunity, generosity and modesty enabled Clack (née Agnew) to rejuvenate an entire research field." She took on hard problems one of which was "'Romer's Gap,'  a 30 million break in the fossil record...she suspected... might be a sampling artefact." 

It was.

Two Doctors Reflect on the Practice of Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Edward Hessler

Reflecting on learning experiences is a great way to turn such experiences into deeper learning. We do this when we step back from those experiences to think about, analyze, trim and prune what we have learned.

If you are interested in learning more about reflective practice in this Wiki which includes applications in education, for health professionals, environmental management and sustainability, leadership positions, and others

In their Op-Ed (Star Tribune (4.20.2020) family physicians Michael Stiffman and Patricia Adam write about a frequent question: "How are you doing?"  Below are their reflections on COVID-19. I must warn you that they are greatly abbreviated and I hope I've preserved their intent. Please, please read their short essay.

Fear: Fear that they/colleagues might contact the disease

Guilt: For colleagues who cannot work for medical reasons and who know that others are practicing medicine.

Renewal of Purpose: We have always done essential work but not always appreciated this. Now we do.

Discomfort: Our practice of medicine has changed as we are asked to do new things, one is provide care by phone. We prefer seeing patients. We operate under unusual conditions of uncertainty since this disease is new to us.

Pride in our Profession: We know the risks to ourselves but this is a profession and we are proud to be physicians, perhaps prouder than ever.

Intellectually Stimulated: This is a time of new and deep learning we find stimulating.

Innovative: This is especially true in the ways we have learned to practice, e.g., virtual medicine rather than direct visits, e.g., 80% of today's "office visits" are virtual.

Loss: The daily routines to which we've grown accustomed change almost daily and the unfamiliar is now the routine.

Excitement: This is a challenge in which we will succeed.

Boredom: There is a surge of infections in front of us and we are waiting for it.

Healing: The virus does not have a cure yet so we practice what most of us went into medicine for:  comforting patients and that helps us, too.

Gratitude: For all our colleagues and those who support and provide us with food and the materials we need to do this work. Many risk exposure to COVID-19.

Another reason, if you need one, to read this column is their closing paragraph.

From the "Scholars"

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Humor
Edward Hessler

Well I can't resist this, a wonderful spoof. It is NOT from the New England Journal of Medicine, at least as I know.

Notice the names of the authors, too. You may recognize them. Most I didn't but one certainly stood out!

By the way, please note this piece in the British paper, the Independent in which a large tick in deaths was reported from Lysol ingestion. Reporter Tom Embury-Dennis writes, "The city’s Poison Control Centre managed 30 cases from Thursday evening until Friday afternoon, a spokesperson told New York Daily News – more than double the number of cases the centre dealt with over the same period last year. (My emphasis).

h/t Molly for both links.

Land Art

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art & Environment
Edward Hessler

Scottish sculptor, photographer and environmentalist Andy Goldsworth has an eye for using both natural and urban sites to produce site specific sculptures.

Many of these are made knowing that they will collapse, succumb to time and weather and return to the land while others are designed to last.

This short film (6 m 29 s) shows one of them from first noticing of a place to a finished, lovely sculpture.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings on this 115th day of the year. It is the 17th Friday of the 17th week of the year, and the 36th day of Spring. Sunrise at St. Paulis at 6:11 am and sunset is at 8:10 pm giving us 13 h 58 m and 17 s of light. Every day the angle of the sun gets higher.

Meteorologist Paul Douglas writes a daily weather forecast for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In writing about the 1918 Spanish Flu he notes that "There were hucksters, scammers and conspiracy theorists in 1918, too. I hope that a vaccine comes quickly, and that after this is over, there's a new, deeper respect for experts, science and decisions based on facts, not fear."

Me too.

Today's poem is by the late Maxine Kumin.

Does the Corona Virus Have Meaning?

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature of Science
Edward Hessler

To satisfy our gut when we seek the meaning to draw from a high impact event, blame is often convenient. It may be a failure on our part and we are being warned, the behavior of others (HIV-AIDS, nations, provinces, cities etc.), a behavior we should change. We want to know its "meaning."

In the most recent column of The Intelligencer, Andrew Sullivan writes about the COVID19 pandemic and the search for its meaning.

"The truth, of course, is that plagues like this have no meaning. All they are is a virus perpetuating itself inside and alongside us. Period. We know this now — unlike many of our ancestors — because of science. Many epidemics will appear to target certain groups or spare others, but that is a function, in most cases, of biology, or behavior, or a relevant social structure. There is no viral intention. There are merely viral effects. And they are explicable."

Sullivan notes that men are more susceptible than woman to Covid19, more than twice as much. Smoking has been suggested but there is little if any evidence to support this. It is much more likely as Sullivan points out that "the most plausible explanation is chromosomal: Women have an extra X chromosome that adds another layer to their ability to hold off infections of various kinds."

The reason Sullivan explains, quoting Dr. Sharon Moalem: "'A specific gene on the X chromosome...is often used to recognize single-stranded RAN viruses like the novel coronavirus. Having two versions gives women an advantage in recognizing the virus.'"

Sullivan notes that "Sex is not a social construction," citing an expert quoted in The Wall Street Journal, "'There are profound sex differences in immune systems, and this pandemic is revealing them.'"

Yes, Sullivan includes behavioral factors: perhaps men are "more likely to postpone going to the hospital...or they're less hygienic...or more risk-oriented," etc. And there are differences between and within groups, e.g., Asian Americans, Latinos, Whites.  And obesity likely plays a large role in terms of behavioral factors, too.

Sullivan asks what are we to make of the largest discrepancy between groups of all: African Americans?  "The legacy of segregation, poverty, and discrimination has made African-Americans more vulnerable to many diseases — and it is sadly no huge surprise that this is true of this virus, as well. Class, which is related to but not identical to race, also looms large."

He closes this section of his column with these important lessons courtesy of the Age of Reason.  "This is not about blame; it’s about explanation, and it’s about prevention. ... " In an epidemic, we are humans first. No one is to blame. Everyone is at risk. And only relentless, pragmatic empiricism offers a sane path forward."

Mr. Sullivan's column should be read in its entirety and if you click on this link, it includes two other sections on different topic. His practice is to write a three-part column. If  you are unfamiliar with Sullivan, the Wiki entry has an informative entry. He has, by the way, an underlying condition.

A Fossil of a Miniature Bird Encased in Amber

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Paleontology
Earth Science
Geology
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Edward Hessler

Reporting in Nature, Giuliana Viglione, reports on the discovery of a fossil bird, about the size of the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae). It's skull--less than 2 cm long (ca 0.8 inch) is preserved in Burmese amber and has been dated to 99 million years years old. Viglione writes,

“'It reveals to us a whole new lineage of birds,'” says Jingmai O’Connor, a palaeontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, who co-led the study. O’Connor and her team assigned the animal a new genus and species, Oculudentavis khaungraae (Oculudentavis means "eye tooth bird") ; the genus name means ‘eye-teeth bird’. The dinosaur weighed perhaps two grams (`0.07 oz, a little less than a penny) and lived during the Mesozoic era, which lasted from about 250 million to 65 million years ago.'"

Paleontologist Roger B. J. Benson (University of Oxford) calls attention to two features of the skull in an accompanying essay. It "is dominated by two enormous eye sockets containing scleral ossicles--rings of bone that form the eye skeletons of birds. The opening at the centre...is narrow, restricting access for light into the eye. "This provides strong evidence that Oculudentavis was active in well-lit, daytime environments."

The second feature is the presence of many teeth. This is not an uncommon feature in early fossil birds. But Oculudentavis "has more teeth than other bireds of the period, and these extend unusually far back in the jaws.  These and other observations suggest that "Oculudentavis was a predator that mainly ate invertebrates."

A photograph in the research paper show the two features discussed above.

Benson discusses the difficulties of determining evolutionary relationships to other dinosaurs and birds. What is desperately needed is "knowing more about its skeleton."

Further details may be found in Viglione's essay here which includes a short video (2 m 19 s). 

Access to the original paper is restricted to subscribers but you can read the abstract and find the names of the authors here.

UPDATE 1. Jerry Coyne, at WEIT, has an update about this fossil. I quote a statement from it but urge you to read Coyne's essay. He IS an evolutionary biologist who knows much more about this than me. In it, Coyne reports important information from vertebrate paleontologist Darren Naish.

"There are two issues raised by Darren. The first is whether this really is a feathered, avian-like theropod. The second is the ethicality of using specimens from Burmese amber."  The fossil may be a lizard. The purchase of the original amber was likely illegal and it is possible that purchasing funds may have been used by the Burmese military in their fight with ethnic minorities. (Rohinga, Kashkin). Coyne has much more information about both concerns and also includes a link to a video on amber specimens.

UPDATE 2.Emeritus professor Jerry Coyne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago, has posted another review of the paper which disputes the original claims and interpretations. Neither bird nor theropod says paleontologist Andrea Cau. Professor Coyne's comments may be read here. More is likely to follow!

UPDATE 3. Hearing nothing more I think this is ready to send. 

Vapors Have Effects

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Earth Science
Earth Systems
Sustainability
Edward Hessler

I missed the following report when it was first published. It discusses a source of greenhouse gases easily overlooked.  First a few details-I thought of it as a rough recipe for what follows. A first stab.

Oktoberfest.

Six million visitors to Munich, Germany.
Two weeks.
250,000 pork sausages.
500,000 chickens.
7 million liters of beer.
Only 1.1 million liters of water and lemonade though. What a contrast!

Kai Kupferschmidt describes a negative atmospheric effect in this preview essay in the journal Science. The original research report focused on the greenhouse gas, methane, a potent greenhouse gas. And it adds to the ingredient list above.

The estimate is 1500 kg (~3306 #, 1.5 tonnes, ~15981 tons US) of methane were contributed during the festival.

Well the tendency is to think the cause is human emissions, burps and farts. However, Kupferschmidt reports "the researchers argue, (it is) most likely to come from gas-powered cooking and heating applicances. Because festivals like Oktoberfest can be significant sources of methane, they should be included in future emission inventories." The emission rate is 10 times that of the city of Boston.

So I wonder about Minnesota's big event, the Minnesota State Fair, the Great Get Together..

A link to the original study is found in Kuperschmidt. These measurements were difficult and if you want, take a look at the methods section for the research design which required considerable thinking. There are also some maps to give you an idea of factors the research team had to consider in that design. An issue is that the Octoberfest organizers would not let researchers with their equipment on the site.

Dr. June Almaeda

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Nature of Science
History of Science
Women in Science
Edward Hessler

Meet June Almeida, who was the discover of the first coronavirus (1964). Coronaviruses as you likely know have a crown-like appearance.

She left school with very little formal education. Her first real job was as a "laboratory technician in histopathology at Glasgow Royal University." Then now to London, marriage, and then to Toronto where she "developed her outstanding skills with an electron microscope." Her skills became widely known and in 1964 "she was lured back... to work at St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London."

She received her doctorate "at the Postgraduate Medical School in London," where she was also employed. Upon retirement she was certifioed as a Yoga instructor and trained in trained in China restoration, eventually becoming a consultant at St. Thomas in electron microscopy.

She died in 2007, at the age of 77.

Read Stephen Brocklelhurst's story on the BBC. The Wiki entry provides many more details about her. And here is the British Medical Journal's tribute to her.

"Homecoming"

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Nature
Biodiversity
Edward Hessler

With humans staying inside or when we venture outside further avoiding the accumulation of crowds what do wild animals think...behave? They--some of them--have started coming to us and where we live. 

.Washington Post, reporter Terence McCoy has a nice story about what is happening and to match that story includes quite a few stills and a couple of videos. He writes, 

"For centuries, humans have pushed wildlife into smaller and smaller corners of the planet. But now, with billions in isolation and city streets emptied, nature is pushing back. Wild boar have descended onto the streets of Barcelona. Mountain goats have overtaken a town in Wales. Whales are chugging into Mediterranean shipping lanes. And turtles are finally getting some peace."


Moves wildlife viewing up several notches without having to leave and go poke your nose into their daily round. In addition, for them this is a "Do Not Disturb" sign near their homes.  It also, in some cases provides some benefits.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings.Sunrise is at 6:21 am, Sunset at 1749 giving us in St. Paul, MN 11 h 22 m and 14 s of sunlight and the day has started as though we might see all of it directly.

Jim Souhan is a sportswriter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and writing recently about MLB's hemming and hawing on a season which he thinks dumb or worse, he wrote (April 14): COVOD-19 isn't just a disease. Its an intelligence test."

Dr. Fauci has weighed in on this. It might be possible IF a number of stringent provisions were in effect,strictly followed and  enforced.

Now to the poem.

I am so glad that Knopf Poetry published this during National Poetry Month. It is about Emma and Charles Darwin. He had deep concerns about her sensitivities, including belief in god, with respect to his account of how life came to be. It is one of the reasons he was paifully slow to publish that work. In addition, he wanted more supporting evidence.

Here are two poems, written by Ruth Padel, a direct descendant of Charles Darwin.

Update: The Souhan link was added after this was posted. Sorry!

Photographing the Inuit

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Culture
Society
Edward Hessler

Humans are critters, too. Animals. Part of nature. Like them products of biological evolution.

We also are culture builders and the more archeaologists and evolutionary biologists uncover, more layers of the past are revealed, driving this home.

In February, Emily Bogle of NPR did a story, one beautifully illustrated with photographs by Brian Adams. He is a professional photographer who has "spent his photography career reconnecting with his own Inuit culture."  At his home page you can find more photographs and information.

Bogle notes that Adams is half Inupiat and writes that it is "'part of an Inuit group, which includes indigenous people in northern Alaska, arctic Canada, Greenland and Russia."

Bogle's story and Adams's photographs may be found here.

Music, Synesthesia and Wolves

Environmental & Science Education

STEM

Wildlife

Nature

Art and Environment

Sustainability

Culture

Edward Hessler

In this interview, Alexis Bloom (Quick Hits) asks concert pianist Helene Grimaud about music, her synesthesia (conflation of one sense with another, Liszt, e.g., is all golden in color), and her passion and work for wolves and conservation causes generally. 

Grimaud operates a small Wolf Conservation Center in downstate New York.

The interview is 10 m 09 s long.

On Getting a Scientific Paper Published

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature of Science
History of Science
Edward Hessler

This short video is about getting a scientific paper published. The filmmaker chose to focus on two University of Paris-Saclay physicists as they experience rejection, rewriting and rewriting and most of all wating for the acceptance and publishing of their paper..

In theoretical and experimental physics, the common publishing format is what are called "Letters."  These are relatively short, quickly reviewed and published. To give you an idea of what is required the Guide for Authors from Physics Letters A provides an idea. In the end, I suppose it can depend on what is meant by quick or rapid.

Charlotte Arene's film is personal and offers the author's "surprisingly amusing accounts of their own experience" in "the process of adding a small drop to the well of scientific knowledge.

View The Researcher's Article (7 m 16 s).

h/t AEON

Egg Decorations Then

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Culture
Archaeology
Edward Hessler

Humans have been doing, making art for a long time and on a variety of surfaces, including themselves.

Here you will find a picture of two elaborately decorated eggs "found inside the tombs of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern elites who lived from about 2500 to 500 BCE."

These are not small eggs but ostrich eggs which allowed the artists to engrave, not something so easily done on eggs as we tend to think about them.

These findings are from the journal Antiquity and there you can see another photo, a fragment and read the abstract. The full journal article is hidden, protected by a subscription wall.

Michael Price explains in the accompanying essay. The research, he wrote, underlines "the intense effort and skill that went into making these ovular ornaments."

Images from the Scientific Journal Nature for March

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Health
Edward Hessler

Each month the journal Nature picks science images from the previous month to show us the world of science in pictures.

This month's picks are on the COVID-19 outbreak.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings!


The Old Farmer's Almanac says if birds use any of your hair to build a nest, you will get a headache. Especially if it's woodpeckers that set up shop up there.--Teresa Hanafin, Fast Forward, Boston Globe

Today in Saint Paul, sunrise is a 6:35 am and sunset is at 7:52 pm

By the way it is National Poetry Month. Hope you find a poem or two you like.

Friday's poem is by Marilyn Nelson who did her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota.

Update: It is day 101 of the year. I forgot to do that. 

Short Take on Germany's Coronvirus Infections

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Edward Hessler

Scientists and social scientist trying to learn why there are differences between confirmed coronavirus infections and death rates. Some countries have larger gaps than others. 

This short summary idiccusses the case of Germany and is from Nature Briefing, April 6, 2020.

Germany has the fourth-highest number of confirmed coronavirus infections — more than 100,000. But its death rate is an order of magnitude  lower than those in nearby Italy and Spain. One reason is a quirk of fate: many of the first to be infected were young, healthy people who caught the virus in Austrian and Italian ski resorts. Germany has also tested many people with few or no symptoms, lowering the death rate on paper. And the country has a robust free public-health system with lots of intensive-care beds, a trusted government whose social-distancing guidelines are widely observed and an aggressive approach to early testing and treatment.

It is based on The New York Times article and Nature Briefing suggests it is a 10 min read. It is part of the NYT's coverage of thepandemic. Click on it and you can sign up for it (no subscription required)

A Message for Canadian Children from LEGO Justin Trudeau

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Children
Young Children
Early Childhood

This post accompanies the just published post on talking with young children about COVID-19. It is powerful.

A message (1 m 30 s) presented in March during a press conference by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau onCOFID-19.

h/t Molly

Talking About the Corona Virus with Young Children.

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Children
Early Childhood
Health
Education
Edward Hessler

Defending the Early Years (DEY) posted this video (10 m 20s) on talking with young children about the Coronavirus.

It is presented by Dr. Susan Linn and Audrey Duck.Both are well known among early childhood educators.

"Lucy's Baby"

Environmental & Science Educattion
STEM
Biological Evolution
Biodiversity
Edward Hessler

Our most famous ancestor, Lucy, lived some 3.2 million years ago (mya).  She both walked upright , spent time in trees, too, and had a larger brain than chimpanzees,.

Ann Gibbons,, a contributing correspondent for the jounal Science, just published an essay on "Lucy's Baby."  In a new study, this ancient toddler was found to have brains "organized less like those of humans and more like those of chimps."

This has been a long standing question

To the paleoanthropologists doing the study their findings "suggest the brains of our ancestors expanded before they reorganized in the ways that let us engage in more complex mental behaviors such as making tools and developing language. The remains also suggest Lucy's species had a relatively long childhood--similar to modern humans--and that they would have needed parenting longer than their chimp relatives."

"The study is based on skulls of only two juveniles and five adults," so some caution is required. Gibbons explains how the scientists did the research, including how their age was determined. It includes the latest technology and old fashioned counting of growth lines in teeth to determine age (one child was 2.4 years old) and time. Gibbons notes that researcher Phillip Gunz "spent 7 years doing the 3D reconstruction of the skull of Dikkika  (a child) and six other adult and juvenile members of the species."

And of course Lucy got her name from a Beatles song.

The essay by Gibbons contains a nifty video (3m 43s) on this study.

Climate Science and COVID-19: Some Similarities

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Climate Change
Earth Systems
Earth Science
Sustainability
Edward Hessler

Benjamin Santer is an atmospheric scientist and a member of the Academy of Sciences, a select group of scientists, limited in membeaship. It is a very prestigious acknowlegment of his contributions to science.

The Wiki entry on Dr. Santer points out that, "on February 25, 2019 Santer et al. published the paper Celebrating the anniversary of three key events in climate change science in Nature Climate Change claiming to have reached the 5-sigma "gold standard level" of statistical proof of human influence in global climate change using three sets of satellite data." This is the direct quote.

Instead of "proof," I'd have used evidence but I'm not a member of NAS or a real scientist! 

Here is a short explanation of 5 sigma. 

Santer also writes a blog for Scientific American. This one, I think, is required reading. It is titled "How COVID-19 Is Like Climate Change." It is a powerful essay. You are likely to recall Swedish activist Greta Thunberg's one-liner: "Listen to the Science." And when you don't there are grim consequences. Climate science is based on well-established science as is how to respond to pandemics.


h/t Mark Seeley 

Discussion With Paleontologist Neil Shubin: A Podcast

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Biological Evolution
Biodiversity
Edward Hessler

Sean Carroll's relatively new podcast (#88) is a discussion with University of Chicago paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin.

Shubin is the co-discoverer of Tiktaalik roseae, an ancient fish midway in transition from sea to land--one of those transition fossils. Shubin wrote about this find and its significance in a book that became widely popular, Your Inner Fish. It was chosen by the National Academy of Sciences as the best science book of 2009 and was ultimately made into a PBS TV special.

Shubin and Carroll discuss Shubin's new book, Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA. The book covers a multibillion-year evolutionary history, one filled with twists and turns, trial and errot, accident and invention.

The podcast-- 1h 33m 12s-- may be heard here. It is l-o-n-g I admit but both Carroll and Shubin are not boring and good to listen to. Besides consider the period of time period being covered--"billions and billions" of years. It takes some time to cover that period.

Looking So Very Good

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Culture
Miscellaneous

Incredibly moving photographs of us, humans, in some of our wondrous diversity

It is in the immortal words of Wavy Gravy, "You are there, I am here. Far out place to meet."

The images are a sample from British photographer Jimmy Nelson's Homage to Humanity.

There are more on his web page.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings.

Today is the 94th day of the year. In the Twin Cities, the sun rose at 6:48 am and will set at 7:43 pm with 12 h 55 m 98 s of daylength, Chilly and rainy.


Today's poem is by John Koethe. It is long but a favorite.

Science Images for February from the Journal Nature

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

The photo team of the Brit scientific journal Nature pick February's sharpest science images, including a video..

Late, of course but ithis is like an old magazine to be thumbed through or....

Hope you like 'em.