* Mark Serreze may have finally gotten through to even some of the most oblivious American politicians. He simply stated that, “the Arctic is screaming.” Dr. Serreze, senior scientist at the government’s snow and ice center in Boulder, CO, could have pointed out that Greenland’s ice sheet this year lost some 19 BILLION TONS more than previous high mark, or that the Arctic sea ice at this summer’s end was half as extensive as it was just 4 years earlier (and much thinner). But statistics haven’t seemed to budge the United States (largest greenhouse gas emitter) into action. The planet continues to warm. This is nowhere more evident than in the Arctic. Many scientists now fear global warming may have already exceeded previous worst case scenarios, and we may have passed a tipping point in which this process could now speed up dramatically. It is becoming increasingly obvious that a quick change in direction is needed, if we are to have a chance to influence consequences.

* In a remote jungle in the Papua Province of New Guinea, scientists discovered several new species, but two are of particular interest, because they are mammals. A giant rat, five times larger than our city pests, was found, along with a tiny opossum. Both species are new to science. The rat, apparently has no fear of humans and wandered into the scientists’ camp several times.

* Vitamin D may save your life, not just your bones. It’s long been associated with rickets (softening of bones) in children. Now rickets is being referred to as “the tip of the iceberg.” Other maladies associated with vitamin D deficiency include cancers (colon, prostate, and breast) and tuberculosis, schizophrenia, and multiple sclerosis. It now appears this vitamin is needed for overall optimal health. The body produces vitamin D from sunlight exposure. With our increasingly indoor lifestyle, added vitamin D supplements may be recommended.

* Not quite ready to resurrect a dinosaur, but amazingly, paleontologist, Mary Schneider has isolated proteins from a 68 million year old T. Rex fossil. When the protein sequences were compared to others, the T-Rex most closely resembled the genome of today’s chickens (partly because they happened to have those proteins for comparison). This is more validation of the connections between dinosaurs and modern birds.

* Australia is suffering under what is being called the worst drought in a millennium. The intergovernmental panel on climate change warned that the water shortage will intensify there. Ross Young, executive director of the Water Services Association of Australia, states, “Australia is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the impact of climate change on water resources…. The lesson from Australia is that the shift has been very dramatic and has occurred in a very short period.”

* Several reports in 07 make the case that the Bush Administration stifles scientists and attempts to alter their research findings. An internal order by Dept. of Commerce in April, requires scientists in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to obtain permission before speaking about scientific matters “of official importance.” Undoubtedly this pertains to climate change. All employee utterance is subject to “official review.” This chilling of the free flow of ideas damages the scientific process itself. According to Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Scientific Integrity Program, “Science works by building on research results and discussion of what’s working or not working. It’s part of this administration’s reluctance to base decisions on information.”

* Medical workers who had been accused of intentionally giving AIDS to children in Libya, and who had been sentenced to death by firing squad, were freed this past July, based largely upon evidence from viral DNA. They had been under arrest since 1999. Using genetic data from the virus in the children’s blood as a molecular clock, biologists from the University of Oxford proved the outbreak had occurred long before the accused medics even started working at the Libyan hospital.

* Bees have been disappearing for no apparent reason in the U.S. Referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a mysterious affliction has had many in the food industry very concerned, and has wiped out over 50 percent of colonies in 35 states. Bees, after all, pollinate a third of our food crops. In September entomologists came closer to tracking down the culprit. They’ve found a link to Israeli acute paralysis virus. Whether this might be a cause or a symptom of CCD isn’t known. The stress on colonies, for example, of moving over vast distances by semi truck for pollination purposes, might actually trigger the disorder.

* New genetic evidence indicates recent evolution in the human genome. In fact, as much as ten percent of the human genome has continued to change over the past hundred thousand years. Evidence shows recent selection, including genes that affect muscle tissue, hair, hearing, immune-system function, skin pigmentation, sense of smell, and response to heat stress. Some changes seem obvious. A change that provides an immune advantage would likely spread throughout a population. Some forces of change, however, such as hair follicle genes, are more difficult to explain.

* The appendix may not be as useless as had been assumed. In September surgeons and immunologists at Duke University offered a reason for this strange structure located near the beginning of the large intestine. Biochemist, William Parker had been looking at closely bound communities of bacteria called biofilms. In the gut, biofilms aid digestion, produce nutrients, and crowd out harmful invaders. In humans the greatest concentration of these occurs in the appendix. It’s been suggested that when diarrheal illnesses like cholera deplete the microflora of the intestine, the appendix may play an important role in restoring protective bacterial populations back into the large intestine. This would convey a survival advantage.

* A three hundred million year old forest has been indentified in Illinois. All told the fossilized forest floor covers some four square miles. The leafy layer is held up by columns of coal, affording a vole’s eye view from beneath. Because sediment had slowly crept in over these plants over several months, tiny plants, including mosses and ferns, have been preserved in detail.

* For many years the disappearance of some thirty five genera of animals from North America had been blamed on Native American hunters. Now it appears there is an alternate explanation. A team of scientists announced in May that about thirteen thousand years ago, a miles-wide comet seems to have exploded just north of the Great Lakes, triggering wide spread fires, immense clouds of debris, and a thousand year cold spell. The result was the disappearance of numerous animals along with many of the human inhabitants.

The New Year, 2008, will see an election. Usually there are some implications for science in America. Keep this in mind in November.

The sound was awful. After all these years I can still remember it. “Ka-CHOOK…” and suddenly there was a very damaged and very dead baby bunny. The nest had been so well concealed I had no idea I was about to run the lawnmower over it. Fortunately for the others, I was able to somewhat repair the damage… carefully putting the nest back as it was. This was the proverbial ‘unintended consequence;’ yard maintenance momentarily morphing into mayhem. We’ve all had the opportunity to cause something we didn’t foresee. Life is full of unintended consequences (some of us are living examples). Technology produces a plethora of them. A classic example is DDT. Here was a miraculous chemical that got rid of mosquitoes, lice, crop pests, etc. Who would have thought it could be implicated in bird extinctions and breast cancer? Our magic potions have a way of getting into the food chain and yielding unexpected results. Robins and red winged blackbirds, both carnivorous, can be victims of herbicide or fungicide poisoning, resulting from our attempts to green up the lawn. For their sake alone, raggy lawns are desirable.

The Navy, in testing sophisticated high powered sonar, is doing such damage to the sensitive ears of whales and dolphins, they are literally being driven onto beaches, where they die. The Natural Resources Defense Council is currently spearheading a campaign to get the military to help us protect whales and other sea life, by curtailing the use of such sonar where it can impact sea life. Go here and you can add your name to the growing list of concerned citizens:

Melting ice caps, and the deaths of Arctic wildlife, are unintended consequences of our oil, coal, and gas consumption. Intended or not, these consequences can be devastating. Only in America is human caused global warming considered controversial. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent here in an effort to discredit the science that puts the blame squarely on us. Why? The regulations that would result in an honest effort to clear the air, imply huge expense. But as everyone knows, it’s nothing, compared with the eventual expense associated with our failure to act. It may still be possible to ease human caused global warming, despite the Bush administration’s failure to lead in this vital area. The fact is, it won’t happen without the U.S. and China committed to the project. Make your opinion on this known to your Senators and Representatives.

During the Vietnam era, the military coined a word for unintended consequences, “collateral damage.” This could be casualties caused by “friendly fire,” the accidental killing of non combatants, and/or the destruction of their property. It can make the winning of hearts and minds quite difficult. In Iraq, the term ‘collateral damage’ applies to civilian casualties that occur when smart bombs aren’t so smart.

As 2007 draws to a close, there are other examples of unintended consequences of our activities, which could be thought of as collateral damage. In November, a ship “bumped” a bridge in San Francisco Bay and tore a 90 foot gash, opening its fuel tank. Tens of thousands of gallons of fuel spilled out into the bay, leading to the deaths of numerous birds. Also in November, a storm in the Black Sea resulted in the spilling of millions of gallons of oil, killing tens of thousands of sea birds and other animals. Russian officials have stated that the damage is so huge that it can hardly be evaluated. It’s been called an ecological catastrophe. They’ve estimated 30,000 dead birds, but don’t know how many other animals have been killed. It’s impossible to quantify the loss of fish. What makes it still worse is that the spill is located in the middle of a major bird migration route.

Transporting oil and fuel isn’t meant to kill off wildlife and foul beaches. But we are constantly reminded of this impending hazard. Today the battle is ongoing over reparations owed by Exxon for an oil spill resulting from the accident with the Exxon Valdez. It occurred on my daughter, Sarah’s, fifth birthday; March 24, 1989. She is now in graduate school. Hopefully these settlements can be completed before she retires from the workplace. Meanwhile, Exxon gave their retiring CEO a three hundred million dollar severance package.

Several Republicans, VP Dick Cheney in particular, continue calling for the ‘development’ of fossil ‘fuels’ from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to help with energy independence (as well as revenue flow). Cheney goes so far as to downplay the role of conservation as not appropriate to national energy policy. Think about that for a moment. Twenty-five miles per gallon average fuel economy in the U.S. would result in an Arctic Wildlife Refuge size oil savings each year. Truth is, exploitation of that oil would only meet about 2 percent of our demand. The real goal is to exploit protected land, providing a precedent. This could actually make Yellowstone National Park an ‘exploitable’ resource, rather than a sacred piece of Americana.

Far from protecting our environment, the Bush administration’s energy plan is a testament to corporate clout. To be sure, they have no intention of harming migratory birds or marine mammals or Arctic wildlife. Then again, neither did any of the other petroleum transporters.

But there’s another unintended consequence of our enthusiastic consumption of oil. It isn’t just a “fuel” per se. It is sequestered carbon. It’s currently being held out of Earth’s atmosphere in a large pool tucked away in Earth’s crust. Burning it releases an immense amount of carbon (which has been there for millions of years) back into the atmosphere. It then contributes to global warming, which is real, and which has catastrophic potential of Biblical proportion. Imagine going to see the Statue of Liberty in glass bottom boat…

A less dangerous alternative is to use atmospheric carbon. This is what biofuels are all about. An example was explained to me by Irene Cull, a botanist many years ago at the USDA Lab. She was a proponent of raising milkweed and converting it to diesel fuel. Not sure how practical this might be, but it has several up sides. It’s a perennial and hence there’s no need for yearly plowing and planting. It takes carbon from the atmosphere and makes it available as fuel. According to Irene, milkweed is a very efficient producer of ‘stuff’ that can be used for fuel. The point is we need to invest in practical alternative energy and get over our addiction to oil, regardless of who makes, or doesn’t make profit.

There’s another problem with burning fossils for our energy needs. Producing electricity by burning coal in power plants was intended to make life easier, not to enhance mental illness among children. Evidence is beginning to show, however, that pollutants such as mercury, produced by coal-fired power plants, get into the food chain, possibly contributing to various types of autism. We seem to be caught up in a Faustian bargain where we gain convenience at an increasingly costly and harmful expense.

Ironically the term, collateral, means security. Damaging this is really our unintended consequence. Look at biodiversity as ecological infrastructure. We all know that a diverse environment is fundamental to long-term stability. When our behaviors as a society endanger various species, do we simply accept that as collateral damage and go about our business? Or do we have the wisdom, the humility, and the common sense to do the appropriate thing and take care of our broader responsibilities? In the case of DDT, we did something about it, and in the process, saved the bald eagle from certain extinction. An unintended benefit had to do with our own health.

Now we are faced with another huge challenge. The United States releases some twenty five percent of the total carbon dioxide pollution to the atmosphere. China is the next biggest polluter. Are we going to work with the United Nations and participate in such projects as the Kyoto accords? Or should we take a wait and see approach, protect our own short term profits, and try to live with the unforeseen collateral damage?

n spite of the deluge, our twenty plus year old tent held up fairly well. Never mind that there were little drips of water occasionally making their way onto our sleeping bags. For the previous two days we could hardly believe how nice and warm and sunny it had been, for October. Not any more.

Breaking camp would be interesting. Rain beat down steadily and insistently, starting just before daybreak. Daybreak? The dawn could only manage to shift the leaden sky to a slightly less oppressive shade of gloomy. Breakfast and gear packing took place inside the tent. The monsoon intensified.

My wife’s Dad had served in the Army in the European theater in WW2. He used to say (with a chuckle) that since he’d spent a good part of the war sleeping in a tent, he’d pretty much had his fill of camping. I tried to explain that I never considered my military experience to be quite the same as “camping.” Her mother wasn’t quite sure what to make of it either. “What do you do out there? Do you fish?” Read the rest of this entry »

Suddenly there it was. Right where I would never have expected it. On a window frame by the kitchen, like a little piece of jade jewelry, a chrysalis had mysteriously appeared, just hanging there, out of place, on the side of our house. Appropriately it was positioned below a model of a monarch butterfly, which sits just above that very window, inside the house.

It was September. By mid month, the chrysalis opened and the adult monarch butterfly emerged, stretched out its striking orange and black developing wings, clung to the chrysalis case, and sat there patiently for almost two days, the weather being cool at that time. It tolerated my forays in and out the adjacent door, wings slowly opening and closing.

Finally it flew. Around the front of the house, my wife, Mary, has propagated myriad flowers, which thankfully have long since replaced the old monotonous lawn desert. There the monarch, along with countless other insects, fed on flowers for a couple of days before departing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s just take a moment and talk about the birds and the bees. After all, these critters can teach us a good deal about the world. Remember, they share our need for clean air and water. You may have heard about the canary in the coal mine. Miners kept a caged bird nearby, the bird being slightly more sensitive to toxins in the air. The way it works is, when the critter kicks the bucket, get out! You could be next.

Earth’s climate is going through some pretty extreme changes and environmental indicators are all over the place. Animal and plant populations have been shifting away from their former ranges. Glaciers are retreating, permafrost is melting, and bird populations are declining at alarming rates. And now, even bees are disappearing.
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An adult osprey was fussing with a stick, poking it very carefully into its lofty nest near the Illinois River, as fledglings looked on. It was nearly August. This late in the season it wasn’t building the nest, but rather doing a bit of housekeeping, perhaps in preparation for next year. The nest was far enough away that it would have been nothing more than a dark spot on the horizon, but thanks to a spotting scope, it morphed into a meaningful but mundane moment in the domestic life of the ‘fish eagle.’

A pair of peregrine falcons has been regularly roosting on the McCluggage Bridge. To a casual observer, they could be mistaken for pigeons, but through a scope, their large size and distinctive dark hood stand out. I’ve even watched one of them picking a pigeon to pieces as a steady stream of traffic flowed east and west just below. The predator/ prey drama adds a whole dimension. Were it not for the peregrine, it would be ‘just another bridge.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Bonnie marched down the hall to my office beaming from ear-to-ear. Her hands were filled with gift bags and I couldn’t fathom the occasion.

“It’s July 3rd” she said. Her face tilted as she read my expression. “Did you forget? You’ve had Bootsie for a year!”

Yes, that’s right, I said. A year ago July 3 we adopted her mother’s kitty cat, Bootsie Lou.

One gift bag was stuffed with two bright pink quilts – one for Boots and one for our kitten, Tawny. Each quilt was handmade with love by one of Bonnie’s many friends. The words, ‘Meow,’ ‘Kitten,’ and ‘Cats,’ encircled animated pictures of pink cats of all shapes and attitudes. I giggled with delight at the thoughtful and totally unexpected gifts, imagining how many naps each quilt would accommodate.

The other bag contained a laser toy. Need I say how much fun was waiting in this small item?

The next day, 4th of July 2007, I was up at dawn having breakfast in our dining room and eyed the laser toy lying on the table. I picked it up and pressed the button, aiming the laser beam onto the floor in front of Tawny.

It was magic. The tiny light held our ADHD kitten completely within its grasp. With it, she followed the dance I choreographed and I cannot remember when I had laughed so hard. Bootsie tried catching the mysterious red dot a time or two but was soon stressed by her manic sister and trotted off to test out her new quilt.

As Boots drifted off into cat-land, Tawny searched in futility for the red dot that had since disappeared. This too was as hilarious as when the dot was present and I had no idea until that moment how badly I needed that laugh session.

The year’s variety of challenges has pummeled our hearts and minds with stress untold; the past few months seeming unbearable. But that morning, as I laughed my head off, it dawned on me why the Bible says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” (Proverbs 17:22 NLT)

It all made sense. Bonnie is a nurse! God sent her with Boots last year knowing the storms that were looming on our horizon: the loss of a loved one, loss of income and health issues to name a few.

Our divine feline nurses, wrapped in pretty pink quilts, daily administer the medicine we so desperately need to balance the weight of our days. Our Great Physician perfectly diagnosed our condition and prescribed pet therapy and a nurse named Bonnie.

I’ve never been known as a ‘pet person,’ but Bootsie and Tawny have filled our empty nest with the balm of joy and a shot of fun so wonderful it’s hard to imagine life without them – and Bonnie too, God’s angel, dressed in white and always being gifts.

A big black insect, two inches long, with intense red eyes, landed on my hand and brazenly buzzed as I was giving a customer her change. It was the “Return To Pimiteoui Pow-wow” and I was collecting admissions. This newly arrived critter made it appear that I was actually trying to hand him to her, along with a couple of dollars. She didn’t seem particularly surprised. “Oh, another of those locusts.” Read the rest of this entry »