Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings from Saint Paul, MN. It is the 2l3th day of 2020--30 weeks and 30 days are in our past. On a percentage scale this reckons to 58.20%. Sunrise is at 5:57 am and sunset at 8:39 pm giving us 14h 42m 09s of precious sunlight. A good day to celebrate a berry: National Avocado Day.

And if you wonder just what berries are, Wiki has a useful entry. There are more berries than you think although the definition is not the same as a botanical definition,

Quote: "Every 8–15 days, we have what I call ‘confessions’, where each student and postdoc tells me what they have been up to. I’m not so interested in the positive results – negative results are more important because they are about solving problems. You can ping-pong ideas back and forth during the discussion."-Janine Cossy, Organic Chemist, ESPCI, Paris (Chemistry World)

If you wonder what the preceding acronym stands for see here. It is quite a place.

Today's poem is by Robert Haas.

"Campfres" Dance on the Sun's Surface

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Solar System
Astronomy
Edward Hessler

Man, it's a hot one
Like seven inches from the midday sun
--Smooth, Lyrics by Rob Thomas & Itaal Shur

The NASA and European Space Agency joint mission, the Solar Orbiter, was launched in February.

In a press conference July 16, the European Space Agency released the first images (taken May 30) when the solar orbiter was 77 million kilometers (~47,845,581 miles) from the sun. The distance of Earth from the sun is ~152 million kilometers (~94,448,421 miles). These are the closest ever taken. It is on its way to an orbit inside the orbit of the planet Mercury (my emphasis). Mercury is ~36 million miles (~58 million kilometers) from the sun

 In this short article from the British scientific journal Nature by Elizabeth Gibney, David Berghmans, principal investigator for the orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager instrument comments that“When the first images came in, my first thought was this is not possible, it can’t be that good.It was much better than we dared to hope for. The Sun might look quiet at the first glance, but when we look in detail, we can see those miniature flares everywhere we look."

Gibney notes that "The fires are just millionths or billionths of the size of the solar flares visible from Earth, which are energetic eruptions thought to be caused by interactions in the Sun’s magnetic fields. The mission team has yet to work out whether the two phenomena are driven by the same process, but the researchers speculate that the combined effect of the many campfires could contribute to the searing heat of the corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere. The corona is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun’s surface, but the reason is a long-standing mystery."

"To be clear," according to BBC reporter Jonathan Amos, "while the new images have been taken from the closest ever vantage point, they are not the highest resolution ever acquired. The largest solar telescopes on Earth will always beat SoIO on that measure.

"But the probe's holistic approach, using the combination of six remote sensing instruments and four in-situ instruments, puts it on a different level." Amos' reporting includes a variety of images that give you an idea of what scientists are seeing and the significance of this mission.

National Public Radio's reporter Rachel Treisman quotes Holly Gilbert, NASA project scientist for the mission at the Goddard Space Flight Center on some of what will be learned. "These unprecedented pictures of the Sun are the closest we have ever obtained. These amazing images will help scientists piece together the Sun's atmospheric layers, which is important for understanding how it drives space weather near the Earth and throughout the solar system."

According to Treisman, "Scientists involved in the mission said that while the first images from a spacecraft typically only serve to confirm that its instruments are working, these photographs reveal an unprecedented level of detail."

Both reports include links to more photographs (Treisman includes a film and also a Facebook page) as well as what is ahead, e.g., fine-tuning the orbit, use of the full array of cameras and instruments to take temperatures. 

 According to Treisman the primary phase of he mission begins November 2021 and it is not until 2022 that it will reach its closest pass-by "'about a third the distance" from the sun to the earth. At this time it will be  inside the orbit of the planet Mercury (my emphasis). "Man, it's a hot one," will take on a new meaning.

Dr. Gilbert was a cello major at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Academy--entering her junior year of high school. She notes in the Academy's Crescendo Magazine that “I really was academically driven—I've always been very interested in math and science. So when I got here and found out that the academics were taken as seriously as the art, that was a perfect combination. It probably academically was the best school I attended."

It's a Bird-Like Dinosaur. No It was a Lizard

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature of Science
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Edward Hessler

A while ago I posted an entry about a bird-like skull less than 2 cm king with a beak packed with teeth that was found trapped in amber. It was thought to be the remains of he smallest-known bird-like dinosaur.

Strong doubts were raised on this interpretation almost immediately after it was published in the British journal Nature. 

A retraction notice was published in Nature on July 22. In a brief article describing the retraction Giuliana Vigilione notes that "Andrea Cau, a vertebrate palaeontologist in Parma, Italy, was among the scientists who were sceptical of the original classification. The fossil has several characteristics typical of lizards that have never before been seen in a bird-like fossil from that era, Cau says. And because so many of the specimen’s features are lizard-like — about ten, by his estimate — “the idea that it was instead a lizard could not be excluded”. Cau says he is not surprised by the retraction and notes that re-classifications, especially of incomplete fossil specimens from unknown groups, are not uncommon in the field."

This is the way science works; it changes. New evidence based on new data often is put forward and corrections are made. This doesn't mean that this fossil if no longer interesting to scientists. It is. Just that the interpretation has changed from dinosaur to lizard. An important correction.

More on Photograph 51 and Rosalind Franklin

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

British scientist Matthew Cobb posts occasionally on Why Evolution is True. I always look forward to reading any post by him, today's especially. It hit me between the eyes.

On July 25 Professor Cobb wished Rosalind Franklin a Happy Birthday and then sets the record straight about Photograph 51, how science works, the importance of her data, a key to understanding the structure of DNA, not Photograph 51 alone, her contributions to X-ray crystallography, and includes links, and photographs.

I was wrong, dead wrong in my earlier post about Photograph 51 but am far from alone. (my emphasis) I take no solace in this. My view was badly distorted, couldn't have been worse. Alas, it is a perception we are not likely to shake for the the account by James Watson exerts a powerful hold. This correction is important.

Below are some of Dr. Cobb's comments but please read his post if you are interested in her remarkable, short career. There are some photographs and links, too.

"Franklin’s decisive and unwitting contribution to Watson and Crick’s discovery was not a single photo. Indeed, she did not even take photograph 51; it was taken by her PhD student, Raymond Gosling, who had initially been a student of Wilkins. By the end of 1952, Gosling was again supervised by Wilkins, which is why Wilkins had the photo and had every right to show it to Watson. Whether that was wise is another matter.

"Instead it was something much more significant: a set of values, established by Franklin on the basis of her detailed studies of these photos, and which were contained in a report by the King’s lab to the Medical Research Council, which provided Watson and above all Crick with the key. This report, including Franklin’s data, was handed to Watson and Crick by members of the Cambridge lab where they worked at the end of 1952.

"Franklin was not consulted, but the data were not secret, or private. Indeed, she had presented similar data 15 months earlier at a talk Watson attended, but he did not take notes, and by his own account spent his time musing about her dress sense. But the Cambridge crew could and should have asked her, and were wrong not to. Given her previous (and understandable) complaint to members of Wilkins’ group that they should not interpret her data for her, it is perhaps no surprise that she wasn’t asked – it seems very likely her answer would have been ‘no’.

"Once Crick saw the data, he understood their significance in a way that Franklin initially did not do – he had been working on the way that helical molecules diffracted X-rays, so his mind was prepared to understand them in an instant. That encounter of a prepared mind with Franklin’s values, not Watson glancing at photograph 51, was the decisive moment."

I'm very grateful that Cobb wrote this essay.

The Bilby's Return

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature
Wildlife
Threatened Species
Edward Hessler

Australian bilby or rabbit-bandicoot (Macrotis lagotis) populations have been devastated over the past 20 years after being hunted by cats and foxes.

A conservation program designed to allow them to be successful in the wild is the subject of this short BBC film (2m 15s).

They are cuties.

Masking Up Minnesota--For One For All

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Society
Edward Hessler

Minnesota Masks

As you know Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced a statewide masking mandate on July 22 to take effect July 25. The rule applies to most indoor spaces except in people's homes and to outdoor spaces where physical/social distancing cannot be maintained. For full details on requirements, exceptions, etc., see here.

Masks: Difference Makers

On July 23 NPR correspondent Nurith Aizenman whose beat includes global health and international development, reviews the latest science (evidence) and includes a graphic which I urge you to look at. It shows what happens over seven five-day cycles when masks reduce transmission by 30%. Masks make a difference. The impact adds up cycle after cycle of infections. She writes "Essentially, instead of exponential growth you've triggered what's called exponential decay."

Aizenman's reporting includes comments from Ashish Jha, the Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. I include some of this below, including direct quotes from Jha and Aizenman's original reporting but emphasize that it doesn't fully summarize the story.

"'I think if you're wearing masks, you probably can get some number of people back into offices. You probably can't go back to the original level of office occupancy. But you can start getting some people back in, especially if you can improve ventilation.' The same applies to nonessential retail businesses and even, he says, schools--especially middle and high schools, where not just teachers but students could likely wear masks.

Finally, this statement by Jha puts the power of masking into sharp perspective.. "'There is no single thing that gets us every thing we want, but universal masking is a really critical part of letting us get, like 80% of our lives back.'" (my emphasis)

Hand-washing, maintaining social-/physical distancing AND mask-wearing (covering mouth AND nose) are proven COVID-19 interventions. Assiduously practiced by everyone we manage COVID19 rather than allowing the virus to play the role of manager.

Masks: Effectiveness of Different Masks, Tips on Making DIY Masks

NPR's Maria Godoy did a review June 21 of one of these: masks, how they help and why. 

Godoy emphasized again--a point worth repeating--that "Researchers emphasize there are two main reasons to wear masks. There's some evidence of protection for the wearer, but the stronger evidence is that masks protect others from catching an infection from the person wearing the mask. And infected people can spread the virus just by talking."

Godoy cited Linsey Marr (Virginia Tech) on the power of addition during this pandemic. "'I think we need a combination of [masks,] distancing, avoiding crowds, avoiding poorly ventilated spaces.'" Godoy continues that "Even if each of those individual measures is only partially effective," according to Marr, "'by the time you add them all on top of each other, you can achieve better numbers for reduction of transmission.'"

Here is a brief summary on the effectiveness of the various masks.
 
--N95 masks protect both the wearer and other people, BUT are in short supply and should be reserved for health workers and emergency responders.

--Surgical masks protect people from the wearer. In laboratory tests they block out 75% of respiratory-droplet particles. However even loose-fitting surgical masks block out droplets, more contagious than infectious aerosols, the particles that linger.

--Masks with front valves should be avoided. They let unfiltered air out.

--Cloth masks vary and the protection depends on the materials and how well they fit. They can be made to offer protection to the wearer in the 30% to 50% range.

--Masks must cover both nose and mouth.

We wear masks primarily to protect others but they help us, too. Remember when you talk and breathe, stuff--tiny droplets--are coming out of your mouth and nose.

Godoy's reporting includes the details includes a video (3m 30s) with tips for improving the design of DIY masks.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Hello from St.Paul, MN this 206th day of the year. The percent of the year in the past continues its upward march and is now at 56.28 %. Sunrise is at 5:50 am and sunset at 8:48 pm giving us 14h 57m 51s of daylight. It is National Cousins Day.

Today's quote. In response to a 2015 National Poetry Month Request from the Academy of American Poetry for his favorite lines of poetry, Congressman John Lewis chose these.

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, --that is all
Ye know on eath, and all ye need to know."
--John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn.


Today's poem is by Faith Shearin.

Ideas for a Coronavirus Commission Investigation

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Society
Edward Hessler

It was only on December 31, 2019, that Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization of an outbreak of a "pneumonia of unknown causes" in the city of Wuhan, China. Oh, that it had been that simple. The disease COVID-19 caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 is one that has resulted in many medical and scientific questions that must still be answered.

One of the questions is found in the borderland between science and public policy. It is about public health. How prepared was the United States--we claim to have the finest health care system in the world--to respond to COVID-19? Our leadership can be found in two numbers: confirmed cases and deaths.

This question is worthy of a bipartisan review commission.  Several writers for STAT have developed an outline starting with 10 issues such a commission should and would "undoubtedly investigate." I list them below, making a few comments but for more details see the original essay in which these are briefly expanded.

You may have other questions or differ with these but in the end, we must learn something from our response which we can use in looking ahead to the next viral outbreak as well as dealing with the current one in the future. It doesn't appear finished with us yet.

--The sidelining of the Center for Disease Control (CDC).  This includes the running of the response and also in communicating to the public. You will recall that the were not gramted clearance to hold press briefings.

--The politicization of evidence-based decision-making. We were told repeatedly that COVID-19 would "just go away."

--Airport screening and restrictions on foreign travel. The president has thrumped the drum that travel from China on January 31 and from Europe in March were decisive and quick. While they bought some time more than 40,000 entered the U. S. from China. The screening and follow-up of those who entered once in the U. S. was "inconsistent and spotty,"  relying on self-quarantine for 14 days.


--Guidance for Americans traveling overseas and boarding cruise ships.The alerts included caution, then reconsideration of travel plans, then do not travel but posting the highest level--avoidance--was delayed.

--The testing debacle. This is probably the most botched--prevalence of unreliable results, supply constraints, delays in test approvals, rationing, no contact tracing.

--The FDA’s decision to green-light an unproven drug.


--Oversight of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE). N95 respirators in the SNS were mostly expired and had not been replenished, including ventilators (fortunately this feared shortage did not become reality). There was an adminsitrative struggle for control of the ENS, eventually shifting from the CDC to an assistant health secretary where it functioned no better.

--The chaotic rollout of the first drug approved to treat COVID-19.

--The decision to reopen non-essential business.This occurred before there was a sign of the successful containment  of COVID-19.

--The reversal on guidance on whether to wear masks. "[The] decision-making process sowed distrust and confusion along the way, and questions remain about whether the turnabout happened as quickly as it should have."

Follow-Up on Rosalind Franklin

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
History of Science
Society
Edward Hessler

This is a follow-up to today's post (7.22.2020) about the commemorative 50p coin issued by the Bank of England to honor Rosalind Franklin.

When I posted it, I didn't know that the journal Nature will publish an editorial July 23, 2020 about her legacy which goes well beyond Photograph 51. If you don't know much about her, particularly her scientific career and contributions, the editorial is a a good place to start.

I include two quotes:

"She (Franklin) was a tireless investigator of Nature's secrets and worked across chemistry, biology, physics with a focus on research that mattered to society."

And the closing paragraph. "It is a travesty that Franklin is mostly remembered for not receiving full credit for her contributions to the discovery of DNA’s structure. That part of Franklin’s life story must never be forgotten, but she was so much more than the “wronged heroine”, and it’s time to recognize her for the full breadth and depth of her research career."

Here is the PDF, short and packed with details.

A New 50p Coomemorative Coin Honors Roalind Frankln

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

July 20 was what would have been the 100th birthday of Roasalind Franklin. She took what is arguably the most important image ever taken: Photograph 51.

Dr. Franklin is best known for her research into the structure of DNA, research she did while she was at King's College. She died from ovarian cancer aged 37. This cancer was likely caused by her constant exposure to x-rays which were tools in her research.

The Royal Mint in collaboration with King's College released a commemorative 50p coin (63.77 US dollars). The coin is part of the Royal Mint's "Innovation in Science " series.

 "President and Principal of King’s, Professor Ed Bryne said: “As a pioneering scientist at King's College London in 1952, Rosalind Franklin captured 'Photo 51' - the world's most important photograph revealing the secret structure of the DNA molecule which governs heredity. I am delighted that today she has been formally recognised for her ground breaking and wide-ranging work which has allowed and inspired generations of students, scientists and physicists at King's and beyond to delve deeper into biophysics, human heredity and to develop treatments for genetic diseases. This coin represents the broader societal recognition she so richly deserves.”"

The coin was designed by David Knapton, Royal Mint. The press release includes more information, including remarks by Knapton on how he chose the design.  It is lovely and fitting.

To Mars or Bust

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Solar System
Geology
Earth Science
Earth Systems
Edward Hessler

"OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.”--Dr. Seuss

Akexandra Witze, Smriti Mallapaty and Elizabeth Gibney begin their essay in the British scientific journal Nature on three space launches to Mars in the next few weeks by noting that each one is " pioneer in its own right. Three different missions. Three different nations. Three different aims. Each is ambitious and, of course, risky.  

"Three times in the coming month or so, rockets will light their engines and set course for Mars. A trio of nations — the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — will be sending robotic emissaries to the red planet, hoping to start new chapters of exploration there.

"Each mission is a pioneer in its own right. The United States is sending its fifth rover, NASA’s most capable ever, in the hope of finding evidence of past life on Mars and collecting a set of rocks that will one day be the first samples flown back to Earth. China aims to build on its lunar-exploration successes by taking one of its rovers to Mars for the first time. And the UAE will be launching an orbiter — the first interplanetary mission by any Arab nation — as a test of its young but ambitious space agency.

"It is far from a given that all these missions will make it; Mars is notorious as a graveyard for failed spacecraft. But if they do, they will substantially rewrite scientific understanding of the planet. The two rovers are heading for parts of Mars that have never been explored( see ‘Landing sites’), and the UAE’s orbiter will track the changing Martian atmosphere."

Each mission is discussed and richly illustrated with diagrams, including details of how they work once there. The article is described as an 11-minute read. Each mission is discussed separately.


Perseverance is the U. S. mission. It's aim is to collect rock samples to be returned to Earth in a future mission. "It will also study the planet's weather and geology, hunt for water, produce oxygen from carbon dioxide, record sounds for the first time and test a solar-power helicopter.

Tianwen-1, "quest for heavenly truth," will be China's deepest probe into the solar system. It is the first mission to carry an orbiter, rover and lander. The orbiter has instruments and the rover five. "The subsurface radar on the orbiter can peer 100 metres deep to map geological structures and search for water and ice. Medium- and high-resolution cameras will collect images of features such as dunes, glaciers and volcanoes, providing clues to how they formed. Both the orbiter and rover will carry spectrometers to study the composition of soil and rocks, looking especially for evidence of how water has altered geological features. The team also plans to collect atmospheric data on temperature, air pressure, wind speed and direction, as well as study the magnetic and gravitational fields on Mars."

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) chose the name Hope, for their orbiter. This will be the UAE's first probe to beyond Earth orbit. It aims to produce the first global weather map of Mars.--the entire planet.

If successful, the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) will not only mark the first interplanetary venture of any Arab nation, but also produce the first global weather map of Mars. It is to be placed into a large elliptical orbit so that almost the entire planet can be covered and data recorded in each 55-hour orbit. It includes a visible-light camera, an infrared spectrometer (cloud and dust storm study), and an ultraviolet spectrometer to monitor upper atmosphere gases.

"Unusually for an interplanetary project, the idea for the mission came not from scientists but from the government itself — and with a non-negotiable deadline of 2 December 2021, the country’s 50th anniversary. Picking such an audacious task was designed not only to inspire young people in the region but also to kick-start the UAE’s move to a knowledge-based economy, says Omran Sharaf, project director for the EMM."

UPDATE: Good news. The United Arab Emirates'  Hope orbiter launched successfully from the Tanegashima Space Center, near Minamitane, Japan July 20. Now the wait--7 months. 

Elizabeth Gibney notes that "Without experience of its own in interplanetary missions, the UAE Space Agency hired US collaborators — mainly from the University of Colorado, Boulder — to guide it through the process and build up science and engineering capacity within the UAE.

Gibney also quotes one of the UC-Boulder engineers, “This marks a historic moment for the United Arab Emirates and the entire Arab world and I could not be more honoured to be a part of this incredible day,” says Brett Landin, an engineer at the University of Colorado Boulder, who leads the mission’s spacecraft team. “As much as I’d like for our team to be able to celebrate and take a well-deserved break, the difficult work of operating the spacecraft has now just begun.” 

 Seventy-five Emirati scientists and engineers were deeply involved.

 

Quiz Time: What Bird Personality Are You Like?

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Society
Culture
Biodiversity
Early Childhood
Children.
Edward Hessler

Hard to resist a quiz like this, one framed by birds, 15 simple questions, too.

Take it and the quiz makers will tell you what kind of bird you are most like as well as give you a brief summary of you--things you like, personality, etc.

I want to take it in a month but wonder whether I'll remember, to see whether I'm the same bird. One of my characteristics the bird apparently displays is not me so perhaps I answered a couple of questions too quickly. Or perhaps it was aspirational.

And don't forget to share it with friends and family--the old and the younger.

The quiz is a companion to AM I LIKE YOU? (Cornell Lab Publishing Group), a children's book by Laura Erickson and Brian Sockin, illustrated by Anna Rettber Take a peek.


From the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

Larnin' At Home During the Pandemic: British Children Comment

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Schooling
Schools
Children
Early Childhood
Society
Health

In this 3m 97s video from the BBC British children give their verdict on learning at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was wonderful to hear one of them talk about two things he missed: playing with friends AND learning maths. The two are not mutually incompatible.

Images for June Chosen by Nature's Photo Team

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

My goodness it is July which is quickly disappearing.

Time for science journal Nature to show "the sharpest science shots, selected by Nature's photo team.

Includes the usual brief explanations, too.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings from St. Paul on the 195th day of year. Time flies: 54.37% of the year is now in the 2020 ledger. Sunrise is at 5:42 am and sunset at 8:56 pm giving us 15 hours 15 minutes 10 seconds of day length.

On Tuesday this week the highest official temperature ever recorded for the Twin Cities was 108 degrees (14 July 1936). This was during a record North American heat wave. People slept outside to avoid the indoor heat. A/C what although there were electric fans?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was born on this day in 1954 who also happens to have a Ph.D. in quantum chemistry. What a remarkable career and life. Happy Birthday! Today is National Peach Ice Cream Day, not a bad way at all and good excuse if you need one to celebrate her day.

Today's quote is from Michael Osterholm, Director of the UMN's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy on the components of the Covid-19 infection threshold. He has convened a group to develop a consensus statement that could help evaluate the effectiveness of the measures being used to control and contain the spread of the virus. Knowing what it takes to become infected--more than a mere touch or someone passing by--will have many uses. (Christopher Snowbeck ,Star Tribune July 12 but probably behind a paywall)

"Clearly an infectious dose is a function of the concentration of virus in the air that you breathe and the particle size...the virus is in--what you are inhaling. Third is the duration of that exposure in time."

Today's poem is by Nils Peterson.

DEY Presentaton on Why People Are Protesting + Survey

Environmental & Science Education
Early Childhood
Children
Education
Society
Edward Hessler

In this presentation from Defending the Early Years (DEY), Audrey Duck asks Dr. Susan Linn and Dr. Denisha Jones: "Why Are People Protesting?"

DEY suggests that parents view the video (8m 16s) first before sharing it with their young children.

DEY also invites all parents and teachers of young children from birth to third grade to help them understand the impact of COVID-19 on young children, their families, and their teachers, including remote instruction by completing a short DEY survey. If you are a parent and teacher you are requested to complete both sections.

Needed Course Correction: Reopening Schools Statement

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Education
Schools
Edward Hessler

This is in the It's About Time Department.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the American Association of School Superintendents, which originally urged schools to reopen in the fall, noting in particular the value of physical presence, has released a new statement. The previous statement was a one-size-fits-all solution and free of evidence.

You may read it here. While noting the benefits of physical presence (no one denies this) the revised statement relies on using evidence before schools make a decision to re-open. Two money quotes: "Science should drive decision-making on safely reopening schools," and that, "Public health agencies must make recommendations based on evidence, not politics." 

If you are involved in schools as educator, administrator, parent/guardian, staff it is worth reading.-- short and to the point.

I was very pleased to see the "e" word: evidence, an idea central to educating.

The Nature of Science Discovery: Case Study of mRNA

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

In the summary to "Who Discovered messenger RNA" (Current Biology 29 June 2020),
Matthew Cobb writes about the nature of most scientific discoveries. While we like the idea of priority, of the simple story that someone, a person, discovered X, this is seldom the case, making the history of science and the discovery all the more interesting.

"The announcement of the discovery of messenger RNA (mRNA) and the cracking of the genetic code took place within weeks of each other in a climax of scientific excitement during the summer of 1961. Although mRNA is of decisive importance to our understanding of gene function, no Nobel Prize was awarded for its discovery. The large number of people involved, the complex nature of the results, and the tortuous path that was taken over half a century ago, all show that simple claims of priority may not reflect how science works." (my emphasis)

You can read the paper as well as download a PDF here (public access) for the details of developments but the conclusion provides the take home message: many groups have some claim on a part of the full story. Cobb provides these in bullet points summarizing the contribution made by each team. Cobb also includes discussion of why there was no Nobel even though it is of Nobel Prize acknowledgement.

Scanning the paper is worth the time for you will find some comments made by an angry, well "furious," James Watson that he and his team had been "scooped" on an experiment and that a paper from another group was on the way to publication.  It was accompanied by an act of generosity from the competitors who "agreed to Watson's request, and the two articles finally appeared back-to-back...."  

Made me wonder that had this been reversed would Watson have been as generous? I doubt it.

Brick Works

Environmental & Science Education
Art and Environment
Society
Culture
Edward Hessler

The neighborhoods and areas I walk have very few brick walls using the bricks themselves to add texture in ways that catch sun and shadow to reveal patterns and provide relief from sameness. Some of the brick building that do--often low apartment buildings are constructed so that some of the bricks protrude, ends and lengths--none recede--providing what I find interest to the walls. Decorations I like.

Two doors from one such apartment building is a modest house with brick plant box pedestals about a meter high. The bricks gradually and gracefully emerge from the wall as they go upward, becoming wider with each course to create the planter platforms. The only other exterior decorative touch I can see is the placement of vertical bricks just above the basement windows. I like these details although both the top courses of bricks and planters are in a state of serious disrepair.

So, just what can be done with brick walls? More than I ever guessed or imagined. Brickwork in the old city of Tozeur (Tunisia) shows what is possible and writer/photographer Jeff Koehler provides a tour as well as describes the history of these walls. Koehler notes that nearby "guide tours to the nearby Star Wars sets of Tatooine, the fictional original home...of Luke Skywalker." You may recall Luke's words: ‘But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!’

An advantage of bricks include a"low density that allows them to absorb and expel water" and as engineer Nidhal Hedfi notes "'(A brick's) low expansion rate allows it to withstand large thermal amplitudes.'" The decorations add "another level of protection from heat" (it has the highest average temperature of the nation). As Hedfel explains: "'The sets of recesses which characterize the arrangement of bricks allow the creation of minimal fractions of shadow on the entire facade, which minimizes the surface directly exposed to the sun's rays  and consequently reduces the heat that penetrates the wall." The decorative arrangements result in "shifting patches of shade (generating) convections currents, lowering the surface temperature by creating a naturally ventilated wall."

Additionally, these bricks were made by hand--all the steps from the clay and sand mix to the kiln which uses fronds from their famed date orchards to construction. "It can be said," notes eighth generation Tozeur brickmaker Anton Charbor “ that brickwork is the waste disposal industry created by the date industry," a result of the annual trimming of the date palms. Chorba, an eighth-generation Tozeur brickmaker makes some 600 bricks a day.

Here is the story from Aramco World about the patterned brick walls of Tozeur's historic Ouled el-Hadef Quarter (Tunisia).

It has been said that variety is the spice of life. Cultures around the world are one of the main ingredients. Koehler's essay is an example of how people world wide took advantage of what was there, the place they decided to live, and make a society and civilization from it. What masterful chefs!

Shapes and Surfaces: Geology

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Earth Science
Geology
Earth Systems
Nature
Edward Hessler

How can the geologist fail to be continually delighted by the shapes and surfaces he comes across?--David Leveson, 1972

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD), July 7 2020 is an image of a type geological formation unknown to me--lacy sandstone formations in Navajo sandstone.

The area is known as Edmaiers Secret (see link in text for explanation of name), Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area.

Friday Poem

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Greetings from St. Paul on day 191 of 2020. Six months and 9 days have passed or 52.46% of the year. Sunrise is at 5:36 am and sunset at 8:59 pm. The streak of days in which the sun set at 9:00 pm or later is over (25 days starting June 14 and ending July 9).  It is National Kitten Day.

Another quote from George Will''s Washington Post column  on missing baseball (Star Tribune 6.25.2020).  Vin Scully, the Dodgers announcer for 67 years once said, "Andre Dawson has a bruised knee and is listed as day-today. Aren't we all?" 

The poem for this friday is by Bruce Guernsey.

The poem's title references a famous photograph taken by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, "V-J Day in Times Square."

CSSE at Johns Hopkins University Covid-19 Dashboard

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Edward Hessler

The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) hosts the COVID-19 Dashboard.

The dashboard is updated constantly during the day, sometimes right in front of you. The updates depend on when data are on confirmed cases and global deaths for a country/region/sovereignty. It also  includes an interactive world map.

The dashboard also includes US State Level Deaths and Recovered.

Check it out.

New Zealand's Different Approach to Covid-19

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
Society
Edward Hessler

I start with the money quote.

On 28 February 2020, New Zealand recorded its first case of Covid-19.  

The government's Covid-19 advisory panel first thought the best response was to gradually tighten control measures but member Dr. Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago thought this was the wrong approach. “I thought we should do it in the reverse order and throw everything at the pandemic at the start.” 

New Zealand's government made the decision to follow his advice--while the reason is not known he has an excellent track record, and "implemented one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, only permitting people to leave their homes for essential reasons like buying food and going to the doctor. This followed the closure of New Zealand’s borders to non-nationals on 19 March."

The country has recorded 1515 Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths with no "new locally acquired cases since 22 May. The current active cases (2) are all citizens in supervised quarantine after returning from overseas."  All restrictions "except for its border control control restrictions," have been lifted.

And for the nation, its government and especially Dr. Baker a sense of relief but he still thinks "masks should be worn on public transport, aircraft and at border control and quarantine facilities."


 Alice Klein reports this story in the NewScientist (23 June 2020).