Friday, September 28, 2012
The Western Australian government will kill sharks on sight. Boats and helicopters will aid the attack on sharks. After attacks on people this year, this is the official response.
The edict is ill-timed for sharks. Sharks are already hammered by multiple human forces including the deadly shark fin soup, which scientists estimate accounted for millions of shark deaths last year.
In the nearby western Indian Ocean, the French government there went one step farther to ensure sharks were killed. They put a price -- a backward bounty -- on sharks so that tourists could bathe freely.
Meanwhile, great whites, the targeted species in Australia, are considered protected in some parts of Australia. In the US, the Pacific great white may be listed as endangered.
What's more, targeting sharks does not even work. Christopher Neff, a shark-attack researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia, said that statistics and an ineffective decade long cull in Hawaii prove that 'shark hunts just don't work to reduce the number of attacks,'" according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The good news is that most people consider the death-to-sharks approach the wrong one.
According to the real-time poll on the NBC news site, 60% of respondents do not agree with pre-killing great whites Down Under saying "we're the ones entering their habitat; we should assume there will always be a risk."
George Burgess, curator of the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File, used the words "archaic" and "sad", according to NBC News.
Conquering and fighting nature brought us to where we are now, and most people agree, we have messed up nature pretty badly. We won, but spoiled the spoils.
How about connecting with nature rather than conquering it? Sharks are important top predators that are key to healthy oceans, and healthy oceans mean healthy people. There must be another way.
image: universal studios
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
The flat water reflected the scene almost perfectly.
A giant mirror doubling the panorama of cloudless, bright silver-blue horizon over wide pads of green spartina marsh grass, squat pines, and dark underbrush edging the water. My kayak appeared to be plying the sky.
I was visiting the far inland extent of a tidal preserve. The inlet to a greater bay at the other end of this body of brackish water was a good half hour paddle away. The wide bay on the other side of that inlet was known for little neck clams and at times, thousands of migratory birds, and at one time, oysters.
Sea turtles know it, too, for a youthful feast. They visit the shallow bay once in their lives, only when they are about five years old, on some juvenile right of passage the details about which biologists are uncertain.
Biologists do know marine turtles of many types (and degrees of perilously-close-to-extinction), including loggerheads, Kemp's ridley, and green swim thousands of miles through the nearby mighty grey-blue mid-Atlantic ocean and into the bay. They come to gorge themselves on spider crabs and jellyfish. Then they're off, back to not sure where, but never to return to the big, wide bay.
If one of those turtles made a few wrong turns and ended way up through the narrow inlet and swam up into this back wetlands where I paddled, it would be unbelievable, especially since marine turtles are navigators extraordinaire.
I knew I would not see a sea turtle but I was hoping to see some fish in the shallows or breaching the surface. Maybe an osprey, a muskrat, a water moccasin, a heron or two, or a few odd jellyfish. I am always more than willing to be surprised by nature.
The little tidal preserve had somehow been spared development unlike almost all other swatches of land in the area. On one side, homes glowered on the banks, boxy and inelegant. I gave them my back and paddled toward the giant mirror of greenery.
As I entered the marsh proper, I scanned the water. Any wrinkle on the smooth water was something, and I investigated as stealthy as possible. It was so calm, I tried to paddle as softly as a whisper.
I attempted a stroke my canoeist friend once taught me that he said some Native Americans mastered as they were often experts in quiet paddling. Their next meal depended on it. Basically the oar stays in the water the entire time, and basically, I am not good at it.
I explored every small cut into the marsh until the grasses closed in and the water became shallower and shallower. The slight smell of sulfur and rich organic matter occasionally wafted by my nose.
The bow of my kayak bumped against the strong peat topped with cord grass as if it was the hairy scalp of the marsh. The grass was discolored at the base and halfway up the stalks where the water level had reached more than once. But today the water was low and I had to back the kayak out of some of the small marsh cuts, pushing my paddle along the muddy bottom like a Venetian gondolier.
Some of these little cuts looped around and some came to dead ends at pools calmer than even the calm main body.
Black mussel shells and pink and blue crab carapaces littered the bottom. The remnants of some creature's feast.
I floated over clumps of live mussels half buried in the silt sipping the water with their shells open just so, like drowsy eyes. Snails were abundant along the bottom, scattered about and all about the size of a pinky nail, jet black.
When the kayak brushed against the grasses, hundreds of tiny white bugs filled the air like confetti. They came to rest, speckling the boat, the paddle, and me in white dots. On closer inspection they looked like grasshopper runts especially when they moved. A little breeze of my hot mammalian breath and they jumped out of sight.
Near one natural beach of small pebbles and a spot of sand cut into the grass, the surface of the water roiled and small ripples spread out. Something was going on.
I thought maybe it was a few larger fish chasing minnows. I paddled closer, mindfully muffling my excitement, and came upon two creatures doing what the spark of life has fueled all creatures to do forever -- mate.
They were horseshoe crabs, known as living fossils and they are aptly named. Their shells like some kind of souped-up dinosaur shield that would make a rhino or tortoise envious.
When you pick up a horseshoe crab, as I did many times as a kid, rows of legs and claws under the shield dance as if to say, "Put me down, I'm 450 million years old!" One of nature's designs that needed little enhancing, at least not in millions of years.
I remember holding them aloft by their one distinguishing spike in my young fingers. I felt the stout and ancient tug of life.
The long tail looks like a menacing spike but it is as docile as the whole crab. It's a rudder as the living fossil travels underwater, and if the crab flips over, the tail flips it back.
Horseshoe crabs are co-stars in a gorgeous story about nature's balance and synchronicity. Every spring in North America thousands of birds stop over on mid Atlantic beaches, in places people call Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
The birds are on their way north after wintering in the warm Caribbean. Some of the birds like red knots are going very far, all the way to the Arctic to -- you guessed it -- reproduce.
By the time they land in the mid-Atlantic, they're tired and famished. So what do they eat? Millions of horseshoe crab eggs, because also in the spring along that same coast, horseshoe crabs mate. They lay enough protein packed eggs to feed the birds and get them to their nesting destination with enough eggs left over to carry on future generations of the living fossils.
Enter humans. People heavily harvest horseshoe crabs. Seems the chopped up crabs serve as great bait for whelk, and people like to eat whelk. Scientists are worried about the future of the red knots and the horseshoe crabs. They say that killing fewer horseshoe crabs each year will help.
The last thing I thought about was bait when I saw the two crabs doing the ancient dance in the tidal preserve.
It's not much of dance, actually, with one crab, the male, half on top of the female, with all the action happening under their submerged shells. But I thought it was odd they were mating in August, pretty far from spring. Plus it was not night, close to sunset sure but not late night, when the crabs often do their thing.
Then I took another look at the carapace of the female. Not only was it massive, probably the biggest a horseshoe crab can get, but it was also dark and dented and mottled with a few blemishes, and even small barnacles clung to it. Badges of honor of a long life lived by this living fossil.
Horseshoe crabs can live up to twenty years or more and I think she was pushing that envelope. The other crab, the male, was smaller and looked younger, its shell spotless and lighter in color. So this old matron was still at it, this studly female of power, mating with young bucks in this small preserve.
The clever girl has probably been hiding out back here for years, far from the inlet, far from the fishermen, far from her roots in the coastal ocean carrying on like the queen of a small band of survivors. A mother keeping Mother Nature's prehistoric flame lit.
Maybe she's figured out a new strategy for the survival of her genes. Maybe this lone crab will be the last crab left one day but will carry on her kind like one of nature's heroes.
On my paddle out of the tidal marsh, the sun was low enough to blaze the purplish tips of all the surrounding swaths of grass. I plied the water toward the houses, my car, and all that civilization.
I thought again about the old horseshoe crab, though, and smiled in a solitary little moment of hope.
Image: Creative hammer
Friday, September 21, 2012
The fossil fuel industry has co-opted the English language. Maybe they're just zealous.
“President Obama has placed a de facto embargo on energy production on American lands and shores. It’s irresponsible and overzealous,” said Benjamin Cole, a spokesman for the fossil fuel lobby called American Energy Alliance, according to a recent New York Times article.
The two words are kind of astonishing: irresponsible and overzealous. They're almost perfectly applicable to the fossil fuel industry. I sometimes marvel how people say these things with a straight face.
What British Petroleum did to the Gulf of Mexico seems hugely irresponsible and overzealous.
Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to spread doubt about climate change to ensure that nothing gets done also seems enormously irresponsible and overzealous.
It is actually a classic technique the fossil fuel lobbyist is employing -- use the language of the opposition, in this case anyone in favor of clean energy, against them. An obvious attempt to neutralize the message and cloud the facts.
Here I thought it was an attempt at humor.
Probably no time to laugh with all the checks they're fervently writing. The fossil fuel industry is fanatically spending $153 million on pro-fossil fuel industry television advertisements in the 2012 Presidential Campaign as we speak, according to New York Times research.
The clean energy industry and people in support of a healthier planet concede that they just can't compete.
Ok, that's not funny.
Posted by Mike Misner at 4:48 PM
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
This is one of the best arguments I've seen for applying the precautionary principle and supporting sustainable fisheries for the sake of fishermen (not to mention the fish): Northeast fisheries have been declared an economic disaster.
This releases funds that will hopefully help but it's not quite clear where the money will go.
"If funds are appropriated, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would work with federal lawmakers and state officials to develop plans to preserve coastal communities from Maine to New York," according to MSNBC.
Also, three regions in Alaska were declared disasters.
"The numbers indicate a sudden, stunning decline in recent years, about which scientists have not settled on an explanation. On the Yukon, for example, 1,488 pounds of salmon were harvested in 2011, down from more than 859,000 pounds in 2006, a state study found," according to NYT and the Alaska Dispatch.
Not exactly happy news!
Posted by Mike Misner at 12:01 AM
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
What do sharks and elephants have in common?
Sharks are killed in the millions in nearly every ocean and now we learn African elephants in the thousands. For what? Shark fins go to make shark fin soup, a thin broth posing as a status symbol, and elephant tusks are made into pricey ivory trinkets.
To paraphrase a Princeton biologist in a New York Times article: "Do you want your kids to grow up in a world without sharks and elephants?"
There's also some of the last white rhinos killed for their horns. The horns, made of the same stuff as hair and fingernails, go to make traditional medicines -- meaning over 400 years ago a medicine man said ground up rhino horns can cure people's ills. One modern scientist looked into this and concluded that people would be just as well off biting their fingernails.
On the East Coast US, horse shoe crabs are steadily being over harvested because they make good whelk bait, and people pay up to eat whelk.
So what do sharks and elephants and these other natural gems have in common? China -- a major market, and sometimes the market, for all of these products plundered from nature.
Posted by Mike Misner at 3:38 PM
Friday, September 7, 2012
On Labor Day, the mood was blue under crisp blue skies near Montauk, NY.
The waves were nice low riders, you could spend an afternoon in them.
Stand in waist deep water, see the swell rise up, shout it out, jump in, feel the exhilarating push of the wave and then you're riding it. You're riding it! Short ones, seconds of joy at most, but you ride all the way to the far edge to end belly on the sand, surely smiling. Get up and do it all over again.
You could sit in a chair on the sand and watch a few kids wild with excitement building something, a castle, a fort, or just digging and digging. One auburn-haired kid requests to be buried up to his neck.
You could look out and see the clean, bright light shimmering on the waves. Just stare at it, and maybe not think anything.
You knew it was the last official beach day, and for most people, the last beach day until next year.
Some people had their cars already packed to the windows, bikes stacked on the back rack, boogie boards slid in at the end, in the beach parking lot. They were going straight home from the sand.
Near the end of the day, pink light on the tips of vibrant green dune grasses, I heard one young boy bawling, we all heard him, up and down the beach.
He was completely distraught. His painful sobs pounded over the surf.
"No! No! No, Mommy no!"
His mother had his hand, her arm stiff but sympathetic, and was almost literally dragging his collapsed body off the sand. He just didn't want to it to end.
One of my friends said, "It's ok kid, we're all crying inside."
Posted by Mike Misner at 8:23 PM
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Here's a provocative quote from a former oil executive:
"Socialism collapsed because it did not allow prices to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow prices to tell the ecological truth," said Oystein Dahle, retired VP of Esso Norway.
At first blush it seems doubtful that something so touchy feely as ecology can impact something as powerful and manly as capitalism. But it's not about those adjectives.
It's about failing to include the cost of fouling nature in the price of fossil fuels to run our vehicles and to produce our electricity.
It's the value of nature lost. That's trillions of dollars in countless benefits including bountiful clean air, water, land, and oceans. And losing money -- any money but especially that much money -- is the enemy of the for-profit system we call capitalism.
So maybe Oystein is right. But not yet. We can avoid his dire prediction about the collapse of capitalism by including the true costs of fossil fuel pollution in the prices we pay at the pump and meter. If and when that happens, capitalism will make sure that the market for clean energy thrives.
Why support clean energy businesses? Do it for capitalism! It makes good sense, wallet sense, anyway.
Read the whole True Cost of Fossil Fuels piece by Peter Lynch in Renewable Energy World. It's familiar stuff, especially in this blog, but he spells it out in a fresh way.
Posted by Mike Misner at 12:30 PM


Physician burnout has become a primary concern among some doctors working in hospitals and other healthcare institutions. With more patients needing quality medical services each day and other administrative tasks, doctors must stay in their offices for long hours. Moreover, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has even increased their need to keep their medical practices afloat, not just for themselves but to save the lives of others.
Unfortunately, these circumstances have contributed to the higher rate of physician burnout in the country. This condition has become a primary concern among doctors working in the hospital and other healthcare institutions.
Keep reading this article to learn more about physician burnout, its causes, consequences, and solutions.
What Is Physician Burnout?
Physician burnout refers to a stress reaction characterized by some interrelated symptoms caused by a constantly depleted energy and negative balance. It occurs when the doctor’s workload affects their ability to recharge, causing them to function in low energy mode. In other words, they serve and work more, but they achieve fewer results.
On the other hand, to better understand physician burnout, it’s essential to be familiar with its three interrelated components. These are:
- Emotional exhaustion: It occurs when the physician starts to distance themselves from work cognitively, emotionally, and physically. When they’re exhausted, they show symptoms of irritability and unresponsiveness to their patients’ needs.
- Depersonalization: Commonly known as compassion fatigue, it happens when the physician demonstrates symptoms of emotional numbness and indifference toward their patients. They find themselves not emotionally available for their patients.
- Lack of efficacy: It occurs when the physician has constant feelings of incompetence and lack of control over their work. It makes them doubt their efficiency and effectiveness in helping patients with their medical conditions.
What Are The Causes Of Physician Burnout?
Now that you’re aware of what physician burnout is, it’s time to learn its causes. These can include:
- Stresses of Patient Care
Simply being a physician who engages in medical practice may cause burnout. Because physicians deal with scared, sick, and dying people regularly, they’re more likely to experience high stress combined with little control over their work.
- Specific Job
Another cause of physician burnout is the nature of their specific job. Aside from the generic stress associated with patient care, dealing with their particular job may also become highly stressful due to many reasons. These include the hassles of call rotation, personality clashes in their department and personal work team, local healthcare politics, and many more.
Indeed, the specific jobs involved in a modern healthcare environment have made it a difficult place to work for physicians, causing a high rate of burnout among them.
- Leadership Of The Immediate Supervisors
Sometimes, the physician’s stress levels and work satisfaction may be influenced by the leadership skills of their immediate supervisors. For example, having an unskilled or absent supervisor at work may be a significant source of stress for many doctors.
- Personal life
Although personal life allows physicians to recharge their energy account after an exhaustive day at work, there are multiple situations at home that may interfere with their ability to do that. These can include simple conflicts with the spouse, illness in a child or family member, financial pressures, and many more.
What Are The Consequences Of Physician Burnout?
Generally, physician burnout comes with consequences. It may harm multiple parties, including the physician’s patients, their medical practice, their family, and the physician themselves. Below are the common consequences of physician burnout:
- Compromised Patient Care
When doctors experience burnout, they lack empathy, proper physician-patient communication, and decision-making skills. These situations may compromise quality patient care in various ways, such as reduced patient satisfaction, poor patient outcomes, failed interpersonal relationships, increased medical errors, and many more.
- Negative Impact On Physician’s Health And Well-Being
Physician burnout may also have a negative impact on the professional’s overall health and well-being. For instance, a physician who experiences symptoms of burnout may be battling with anxiety, depression, lack of self-confidence, disruptive behaviors, mood disorders, and alcohol/drug abuse.
Moreover, physician burnout may also increase the person’s risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and many more.
- Expensive Costs For The Healthcare Industry
Physician burnout may also result in expensive costs for the healthcare industry. Typically, healthcare facilities with a high rate of physician burnout are more likely to experience low productivity and high resignation rates. When this happens, they may become understaffed, leading to the reassignment of too many workloads to other medical professionals, which in the end, increases medical errors and mistreatment of patients.
Also, due to the increasing demand for physicians in the healthcare industry, the healthcare facilities may spend more money in replacing a physician, depending on their specialty and expertise level.
What Are The Solutions For Physician Burnout?
Due to the significant impacts of physician burnout, it’s crucial to know how to resolve this stress-related condition. Below are a few solutions for physician burnout:
- Promote Self-Care
One of the effective ways to reduce the risk of physician burnout is to promote self-care. They can do this by maintaining good sleep hygiene, doing mindfulness exercises, and joining peer support groups. Also, they can use a wearable device to beat stress and empower them to take control of their health. Remember, the more doctors practice self-care, the more they can mitigate the risk of burnout.
- Participate In Resilience Training
To reduce burnout among physicians, conducting resilience training can be an excellent option. It teaches physicians some coping techniques to handle occupational stress more effectively. It also helps them develop the skills necessary for adequately navigating the dynamics of medical malpractice. When doctors participate in resilience training, they’ll learn to meet the current demands of their jobs to maintain fulfilling lives.
- Maximize Engagement
Sometimes, burnout occurs when a physician doesn’t feel like they have autonomy or purpose. Because of this, maximizing engagement can be an excellent way to prevent or minimize the risk of burnout. They can do this by seeking professional development opportunities, increasing collaboration among team members, and creating an environment of teamwork.
- Use Of Healthcare Technologies
Another solution for physician burnout is using healthcare technologies. This means that healthcare facilities should integrate artificial intelligence and robots to boost operation flow and maximize the relationship between physician and patient.
Physician burnout is a problem affecting the entire healthcare industry. It has a negative effect on the professional’s well-being, patient care, and many more. So, keep the information mentioned above in mind to have an in-depth understanding of what burnout is for physicians. That way, they’ll be empowered with solutions necessary to have fulfilling personal and professional lives.


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Have you ever looked up and found a twinkling star-like object traveling in a straight line across the night sky? How about a train of lights trailing in one direction? Well, they were probably satellites.
According to the USC Satellite Database, as of January 1st, 2022, our planet is orbited by 4,852 active manmade satellites. If you stare into the night sky long enough, you’re bound to see one.
We’ve made a list of 10 interesting facts about satellites to help you learn more about things like Sputnik 1, Elon Musk’s Starlink program, and how cannonballs relate to satellites.
Newton’s cannonball is the name given to a thought experiment by scientist Issac Newton, in which he visualized how an object could be thrown into orbit.
Here is a simplified version of his hypothesis:
If you were to stand on a mountain and throw an object, such as a stone or a cannonball, up into the air, and there was no gravity or resistance, then the object would simply keep going in the direction you threw it.
When you factor the Earth’s gravity, then depending on the velocity in which you threw the object, it could follow a different path.
If the speed at which the object is thrown or fired is not great, then the object will simply fall back down to earth.
If the velocity was too great, then the object might escape Earth’s gravity, and float off into space.
If the speed of the hypothetical cannonball or stone was to match the orbital speed at that altitude, then the object will be caught in Earth’s orbit, because its momentum and Earth’s gravity would constantly balance each other out.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into Earth’s orbit.
Sputnik 1 was an aluminum ball. It was a small satellite, measuring just 23 inches in diameter, and weighing just above 184 lbs. It used a radio transmitter to send back electromagnetic waves, and it was designed by a scientist named Sergei Korolev.
The launch of Sputnik 1, and the subsequent launch a month later of Sputnik 2, surprised the western world. Soon after, NASA was created and there was an overhaul in education across the US, with American schools putting more emphasis on maths and science.
We use satellites so often in our daily lives, that we might not even realize how much we, as humans, depend on them.
The purpose of each satellite will dictate which orbit would be best for it, but there are 4 common orbit types:
Most modern satellites are equipped with big solar panels that look a little bit like wings. They convert light from the sun into an electric current that’s used to power the satellite. Satellites are also equipped with a battery to store any excess power that they harness.
When the satellite is traveling over the dark side of the earth, it will use the power from its batteries instead.
In order to remain in low earth orbit, a satellite must travel at 17,450 miles per hour. However, the farther the orbit from the earth, the slower the satellite will need to travel. A geostationary satellite only travels at a speed of 6,858 miles per hour.
To understand the relation, we refer to Newton’s cannonball theory. Objects which are in space are constantly falling because of Earth’s gravity. The closer the object is to Earth, the stronger that gravity becomes. For this reason, satellites that are closer to Earth must maintain a higher momentum, or risk falling!
Though some satellites now have incredibly long lifetimes, they are still man-made objects of metal and electronics, and at some point, whether it’s through old age or malfunctions, satellites will become non-operational.
When this happens, the satellites are disposed of in one of two ways. Low orbit satellites decrease in speed, at which point they begin to fall towards Earth, and burn up in the atmosphere. For very high-altitude satellites, it’s easier to point them farther away from Earth, so they fall out of orbit and float into space.
However, not all low earth satellites burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, and so when it comes to larger satellites or spacecraft, operators plan for the descent and entry of any left-over debris to fall over the most remote place on Earth, as possible. This area is in the south Pacific Ocean, and it’s known as Spacecraft Cemetery.
Unfortunately, the satellites we send further away from Earth contribute to a growing space junk problem, which may need to be addressed in the future.
Starlink is the ambitious project by Elon Musk, to create a constellation of satellites around the Earth, to provide fast, global internet access, even in remote areas.
The company had initially planned to send 12,000 satellites into space, but in 2019 it appeared they hoped to send up to another 30,000.
Starlink satellites appear in the night sky like a train of tiny stars, moving at a relatively fast speed.
On the one hand, satellites really are helping us to advance in many ways. But some scientists and astronomers fear that the sheer number of satellites that are orbiting our planet will negatively impact our ability to observe the sky, and space, from the earth.
Many options have been discussed on how to minimize this impact, ranging from suggestions of darkening satellites or using sunshades to darken their reflective surfaces, to making more accurate orbital data and information available, so that astronomers on Earth can avoid pointing telescopes at them.
Satellites provide us with incredible pictures and information about our planet, but there are also Mars orbiters and the Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn. These orbiters take images and provide us with information and data about other planets in our solar system.
Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been used for over 16 years to scan the planet for weather data, capture images of the red planet, and scout possible future landing locations.
Satellites play important roles in our everyday lives, and currently, there are so many in Earth’s orbit, that you should be able to spot them easily in the night sky. There are even satellite tracker apps on the market that you can use on your smartphone to track, spot, and identify man-made satellites as they fly overhead.
But there are problems that need to be solved when it comes to satellites, such as finding ways to reduce the light that they reflect toward Earth and coming up with new ways to reduce the growing contribution of disused satellites to an already massive space junk issue.
Featured Image Credit: PIRO4D, Pixabay
Table of Contents
Cheryl is a freelance content and copywriter from the United Kingdom. Her interests include hiking and amateur astronomy but focuses her writing on gardening and photography. If she isn't writing she can be found curled up with a coffee and her pet cat.
What Is an Asteroid?
Why Is Neptune Blue? The Surprising Answer!
When Was Venus Discovered? Exploring the History of Venus
How Long Is a Day on Saturn? How Long Is a Year?
What Is the Asteroid Belt? Where Is It?
How Cold Is Neptune? Is It The Coldest Planet?
How Did Uranus Get Its Name? What You Need to Know!
How Hot Is Venus? Is it the Hottest Planet?


What is rationing? Definition and meaning
The definition and meaning of rationing usually refers to a fixed allowance of foods or any provisions, usually in countries or regions where there is a shortage, or demand significantly outweighs supply. It is the process of a governing body – an authority – controlling the issuance of products and services to consumers. In times of war, economic crisis, or following natural disasters, governments may impose rationing of certain goods that are in short supply. In communist economies today and in the past, rationing is/was common.
If goods are rationed for a long time, invariably black markets emerge to supply consumers with the controlled products or services. The black marketeers either get their goods from local citizens who sell them their rations, from corrupt public officials, or from abroad. In some cases, the corrupt public officials themselves are the black marketeers.
In the 1973 energy crisis, there was rationing of gasoline (UK: petrol) in many countries. The authorities as well as filling stations took the measure to try to prevent gasoline prices from going through the roof, and attempted to make sure that the scarce resource was as evenly distributed as possible.
During the 1973 energy crisis, gasoline was rationed in the United States and several other countries.
Civilian rationing has been around for thousands of years, either because the country is at war, a serious disease has decimated crops or livestock, or a natural disaster such as a fire, earthquake, prolonged drought, hurricane or volcanic eruption occurred. Rationing may also be necessary after a terrorist attack.
During civilian rationing, each individual is issued with either a ration book or coupons, which allow them to buy a specific amount of a product each week or month.
Rationing typically includes food, fuel, materials for clothing (leather), items of clothing, and other materials required for the war or emergency effort.
When replacements for certain goods and services are not available, FEMA (the US Federal Emergency Management Agency) has established a set of guidelines for civilians on rationing water and food supplies.
FEMA states that in times of crisis or emergency, each person should have – per day – a minimum of 1 US quart (95% of one liter) of water; sick people, nursing mothers and children should be allocated more.
Germans waiting patiently in line for their food. The Allied naval blockade meant that food imports were scarce. All foodstuffs grown at home went first to Germany’s soldiers, while the rest was rationed to the civilian population. In 1917, when the entire potato crop failed, the food situation worsened significantly. (Image: historyplace.com)
Food rationing – WWI
During WWI (World War One), suffering the devastating effects of the British blockade, a rationing system was introduced in Germany in 1914. As the situation worsened over the years, Germany’s rationing system gradually expanded until it included every corner of the country and contained a comprehensive list of food and materials.
The United Kingdom did not suffer food shortages during WWI, because the sea lanes were maintained open for the importation of food. However, panic buying in 1918 prompted the rationing of sugar and later meat. Ironically, limiting how much sugar and red meat Britons were allowed to consume actually improved the overall physical health of the population.
On July 15th, 1918, ration books were introduced for sugar, meat, lard, margarine and butter. The average calorie-intake per adult in Britain during WWI only declined by 3%, but protein consumption went down by six percent.
Rationing during WWII
Rationing during WWII (World War Two) was much more common than in the previous World War. Most European countries used redeemable coupons or stamps. Each family was issued a set number of each type of stamp based on the size of the household, income, and the ages of the children.
In the 1940s, the British Ministry of Food refined the rationing process to make sure that the population did not starve when food imports declined considerably and local production suffered because a large number of male workers had been called up to fight.
A typical ration in the UK during WWII for one adult per week was: butter: 50g (2oz); eggs: 1 fresh egg a week; dried eggs: 1 packet every month; jam: 450g (1lb) every 4 months; bacon and ham: 100g (4oz); margarine: 100g (4oz);sugar: 225g (8oz); sweets: 350g (12oz) every 4 weeks; cheese: 50g (2oz); meat: to the value of 1 shilling 6 pence (about £2 today); milk: 3 pints (1,800ml), occasionally dropping to 2 pints (1,200ml); tea: 50g (2oz). (Images & Data: history.parkfieldict.co.uk)
Widdowson and McCance
Chemist-dietitian Elsie Widdowson (1906-2000), from the Department of Experimental Medicine, and Robert Alexander McCance (1898-1993), Professor of Experimental Medicine at the University of Cambridge, co-authored The Chemical Composition of Foods, which was first published in 1940 by the Medical Research Council. They had worked on the human body’s chemical composition and the nutritional value of various flours used to make bread.
Widdowson and McCance studied the different effects from deficiencies of water and salt, and produced the world’s first tables to compare different foods according to their nutritional content before and after cooking. They also studied the impact of a baby’s diet on human growth.
Widdowson’s and McCance’s book became the Dietician’s Bible and formed the basis for current nutritional thinking.
In 1939, Widdowson and McCance tested whether the British population could survive just on food produced at home, in case German U-boats managed one day to cut off all imports.
Using production data for 1938, they fed themselves and other volunteer-participants a diet limited just on foods grown at home, while at the same time simulating the physically-demanding wartime manual work that most adults would have to perform.
The researchers found that their and their fellow volunteers’ health and performance held out surprisingly well after three months.
The scientists also led the first-ever mandated addition of minerals and vitamins to food, starting with bread – which had calcium added to it. Their research became the basis for Minister of Food Lord Woolton’s wartime austerity diet.
Left: An official US government propaganda urging citizens to accept the system of war rationing. Right: A war poster encouraging Americans to take their waste fats to their local meat dealer – the image poster was drawn by Henry Koerner in 1943 for the Office of War Information. (Images and Data: oll.libertyfund.org)
Rationing and people’s health
Fortunately, US imports of foods managed to successfully avoid the U-boats, so Briton’s wartime diet never needed to be as austere as in the Cambridge study. However, there was rationing, and the health of country’s population improved considerably – while life expectancy rose, infant mortality went down (without including deaths deaths from fighting in the war or enemy attacks).
Even today, media outlets and healthcare professionals often quote Britain in WWII, saying that rationing led to the country’s best-ever period of physical health.
During WWII, gasoline was the first commodity to be hit by rationing. Sugar, butter and bacon were added in January, 1940. Not long afterwards, dried fruit, canned fruit, milk lard, eggs, cheese, breakfast cereals, biscuits, jam, tea, and meat were added to the rationing list.
The Digging for Victory campaign led to millions of people growing their own vegetables.
Rationing did not include bread, however, until after the war was over. There was an outcry by housewives when the traditional white loaf was replaced with the national loaf of wholemeal bread.
Rationing never included fish in Briton during WWII, but its price increased considerably.
In Venezuela, whose economy has collapsed due to a combination of government mismanagement, corruption and the nationalization of many sectors, rationing and standing in line for basic household items has become part of daily life. (Image: govtslaves.info)
Rationing in the USA – WWII
The US Office of Price Administration warned Americans of potential critical supplies, adding that rationing would be needed if the country entered the war.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, a rationing system was established. In June 1942, the Combined Food Board was established to coordinate the global supply of food to all the allies, with special attention on the flows from the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom.
Americans’ first experience of rationing occurred on May 4th, 1942, when the War Ration Book Number One, commonly known as the Sugar Book, was distributed through over 100,000 school teachers, PTA groups and other volunteer associations.
Sugar was rationed first – ice-cream makers, bakeries and other commercial users of sugar received rationed supplies of approximately 70% of normal usage.
There is one thing the Soviet Union and its satellite communist nations had in common, as well as Cuba and North Korea today – their citizens have to endure continuous shortages, conserve food and long lines when they go out shopping. (Image: Wikipedia)
On November 27th, 1942, coffee was rationed to 1 lb (0.45 kg) per person once every five weeks. By November 1943, the list had grown considerably and also included: fruit butter, jellies, jams, coal, firewood, canned milk, dried fruits, margarine, processed foods, cheese, shortening and oils, lard, meat, stoves, fuel oil, nylon, silk, footwear, bicycles, gasoline, and typewriters.
Approximately 5,500 local ration boards were in charge of issuing ration books and exchanging used stamps for certificates – most of their employees were volunteers. The rationing of gasoline meant that all types of car racing, including the Indianapolis 500, were prohibited.
Rationing in the United States ended in 1946.
Video – Rationing in Britain – Definition and Meaning
This Imperial War Museums video explains how British shopping habits changed when a system of rations was introduced during WWII.
Before the war, the country had been importing two-thirds of all its food. When war broke out, things changed considerably.


Jodhpur is a popular tourist destination, featuring many palaces, forts and temples, set in the stark landscape of the Thar Desert. Jodhpur is also widely known as “Blue City” for the blue color on the houses in the old city area.
There are no historical mentions providing reason why the color is blue. There are many reasons as defined by the ancestors and tour guides. Many of the houses in Jodhpur’s older neighborhoods are colored in striking blue, a sharp contrast from the neighboring Thar Desert. Some say the color is associated with the Brahmins, India’s priestly caste and the blue houses of the old city belong to families of that caste.
The reason behind blue painted homes could be in an effort to get rid of termites in the houses, copper sulphate was added to the paint, thus, resulting in the color.
Another theory claims that the color helps to keep the houses cool in the heat. Because the city is known as the “Sun City” for the bright, sunny weather it enjoys all the year round.
Here a sneak peak into Jodhpur’s Blue City Houses. See Pictures:


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Results 121 - 130 of 580
Development of a Fault-Rupture Environment in 3D: A Numerical Tool for Examining the Mechanical Impact of a Fault on Underground Excavations2/1/2019 - Peer reviewed journal articlesAn article assessing whether a numerical tool might be useful or practical in forecasting bump potential associated with a strike-slip fault for a typical structural geologic setting.
1/24/2019 - Peer reviewed journal articlesAn article examining rear abutment extent and loading, along with how well current modeling procedures calculate those values.
A Comparison of Respirable Crystalline Silica Concentration Measurements Using a Direct-on-filter Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Transmission Method vs. a Traditional Laboratory X-ray Diffraction Method1/10/2019 - Peer reviewed journal articlesA study comparing respirable crystalline silica concentration measurements using an end-of-shift Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry method versus a traditional laboratory X-ray diffraction analysis.
1/1/2019 - Peer reviewed journal articlesA study demonstrating the potential of using a portable FTIR for estimation of crystalline silica in respirable dust samples for in-field exposure monitoring.
A Method for Estimating the Low Frequency Coupling Characteristics of a Ferrite-Cored Rod Antenna to a Long Conductor12/28/2018 - Peer reviewed journal articlesAn article introducing a NIOSH-developed method to measure coupling characteristics for a ferrite-cored antenna to a straight wire.
Intrinsically Safe Systems: Equivalency of International Standards Compared to U.S. Mining Approval Criteria12/3/2018 - Peer reviewed journal articlesAn article demonstrating that international equipment evaluation standards for electrical/electronic equipment will provide at least the same level of protection for miners as the MSHA requirements.
Development of Ergonomics Audits for Bagging, Haul Truck and Maintenance and Repair Operations in MiningAn article describing the development and testing of ergonomics and safety audits for small and bulk bag filling, haul truck and maintenance and repair operations in coal preparation and mineral processing plants found at surface mine sites.
Empirical Engineering Models for Airborne Respirable Dust Capture from Water Sprays and Wet ScrubbersAn article presenting a dimensionless empirical model developed for predicting airborne dust capture efficiency of water sprays and wet scrubbers.
An article comparing three performance evaluations of the GK4.162 high flow rate respirable size-selective sampler.
11/30/2018 - Peer reviewed journal articlesAn article describing a study at an underground limestone mine crusher booth that evaluated a filtration and pressurization system, two experimental prototype filters, and three cab pressure monitoring devices.


People with degrees in sociology may enter many careers, and the options are increasing. What is common to all of these careers? Underlying sociological training is the commitment to understand human relationships in every kind of social group.
However, sociologists develop their interests in different ways. They pursue diverse specialty subjects within the field as a whole. Thus, sociologists may specialize in families, adolescence, or children; the urban community; education; health and medicine; aging and the life course; work and occupations; the environment, science, and technology; economics, social inequality, and social class; race relations, ethnicity, and minorities; sex and gender; sports; culture and the arts; politics, the military, peace, and war; crime, delinquency, law, and justice; social change and social movements; and any other area of human organization. College and university courses reflect these interests, as well as research methods and theory building.
Some of the most fascinating subjects explored by sociologists include:
Sex and gender: Do men and women have different hiring, employment, and promotion experiences? This would be a research question for a sociologist specializing in how sex and gender affect the workplace.
Medical sociology: How is AIDS transmitted (and thus prevented) in different subgroups of the population? How has public opinion about AIDS shifted? These are the concerns of medical sociologists.
Organizations and occupations: Which management styles increase productivity and worker satisfaction would engage the attention of an organizational sociologist.
Racial and ethnic minorities: Do minority children get "tracked" within the public schools? Do minority parents get "cooled out" from participating in and knowing about the informal power structure within schools? Someone specializing in minority relations would explore these questions.
Family: Are children of divorced parents more likely to divorce, or to reject marriage themselves? What factors predict whether abused children would fare better in foster care or reunited with their birth family? These would be possible subjects for a family sociologist.
Any social phenomenon can be examined through the lens of different sociological standpoints. Indeed, a hallmark of sociological analysis is that it utilizes a variety of interconnected perspectives. Most sociological research and theory seeks to explain prevailing social behavior patterns and how they change over time.
Given the breadth, adaptability and utility of sociology, employment opportunities abound for BA graduates. You can secure entry level positions in many of the areas previously mentioned in defining the scope of sociology. The following list of possibilities is only illustrative--many other paths may be open to you. Employment sectors include: social services
--in rehabilitation, case management, group work with youth or the elderly, recreation, or administration. community work
--in fund-raising for social service organizations, nonprofits, child-care or community development agencies, or environmental groups. corrections
--in probation, parole, or other criminal justice work. business
--in advertising, marketing and consumer research, insurance, real estate, personnel work, training, or sales. college settings
--in admissions, alumni relations, or placement offices. health services
--in family planning, substance abuse, rehabilitation counseling, health planning, hospital admissions, and insurance companies. publishing, journalism, and public relations
--in writing, research, and editing. government services
--in federal, state, and local government jobs in such areas as transportation, housing, agriculture, and labor. teaching
--in elementary and secondary schools, in conjunction with appropriate teacher certification.
Staff Administrator in a Public Assistance Agency
Education: Through his undergraduate studies, William became interested in using his knowledge to serve people. William saw his BA in sociology as a tool for providing services to people in need in a large metropolitan area. With the help of his professors...Click to read more Human Resources Manager in a Small Manufacturing Firm
Current position: Carlos was drawn to the business world where he wanted to apply his sociological insights. He started as an entry-level assistant in the Human Resources Department of a small company, but after five years Carlos moved up to H.R. Manager...Click to read more Research Director in a Telecommunications Firm
Education: As an undergraduate, Jim took a few courses in business and computer science to supplement his major in sociology. He especially liked working with the computers that sociologists use extensively in their research. Jim also became fascinated...Click to read more Planning Officer in a State Department of Planning and Development
Responsibilities: Paula not only commissions research on her own, but she keeps up with the growing research literature. While she does relatively little research herself, Paula's work is particularly important since she keeps informed about relevant studies on...Click to read more Staff Member of a Research Institute
Education: While completing a BA in sociology, Mary Anne found that she especially enjoyed courses in research methods, statistics, and urban sociology. After college, Mary Anne joined a large, private research institute that conducts sociological studies for...Click to read more Staff Member of a Federal Agency
Education: After graduating from a small predominantly Black college in the South, Linda received a fellowship for graduate work at a private university in the North. She progressed quickly, choosing to specialize in the sociology of education, a subject which...Click to read more


We all have our favourites, whether it’s chocolate, custard creams, oatmeal, ginger snaps or shortbread. And we are in good company! Millions of people enjoy biscuits, and this has been the case for more years than you might have expected.
Back in 1338, when the Gilbertine monk Robert Mannyng was writing his Chronicles of Robert de Brunne (known today as Bourne), he included the sentence:
Armour þei had plente, & god besquite.
(Armour they had plenty, and good biscuit.)
This probably referred to a type of flat cake that seamen tended to use, although the word was also sometimes used for unleavened bread. As you can see, in this example of Middle English, the spelling was besquite. But this was by no means universal at that time. Besides besquite, it appears in Middle English as bisquit, bysquyte, biscute and biscocte.
But where did it come from? The answer is from Old French bescuit. This literally means “twice cooked”, and in some languages that use cognates of the word, this meaning is still obvious, such as with Italian biscotto and Modern French biscuit.
This can be traced back to Medieval Latin biscoctum, which consists of two elements: bis + coctum. The first part, bis, means “twice, in two ways”, while the second, coctum, is the past participle of coquere, which meant “cook”. And in fact, the Modern English verb cook also comes from this source.
So why were they named “twice-cooked”? Perhaps unsurprisingly, because they were cooked twice! Sometimes the obvious answer is the right one. Biscuits would have been baked first, and then placed in another oven to cook again more slowly, so that they would dry out and keep for longer without going mouldy.


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Accepted Scientific Name: Harrisia pomanensis (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Britton & Rose
Cactaceae (Britton & Rose) 2: 155, fig. 225. 1920 [9 Sep 1920] Britton & Rose
Origin and Habitat: Harrisia pomanensis occurs in Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and in Paraguay in the Alto Paraguay, Boquerón, Central, Cordillera, Paraguarí, and Presidente Hayes departments. It is naturalised in Australia and elsewhere in the tropics and subtropics.
Type locality: Poman, Catamarca, Argentina.
Altitude range: It grows at elevations between 10 and 1,000 metres above sea level.
Habitat and Ecology: This cactus occurs in the Chaco Region of Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. It also occurs in Uruguay. It grows low lying in the borders, as well as inside the Dry Chaco forest of the western region. It grows in clearings within the Chacoan province, and below shrubs, mostly "jarillas" (Larrea spp.), in the Monte province. Harrisia pomanensis is widely distributed and locally abundant throughout its range, and there are no major threats affecting it. It is favored by livestock grazing and is consumed by the Chacoan Peccary (Catagonus wagneri) in the dry season. Also Harrisia pomanensis you will find most of the night flowers are white and very fragrant to attract night flying moths for pollination.
- Harrisia pomanensis (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Britton & Rose
Harrisia pomanensis (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Britton & Rose
Cactaceae (Britton & Rose) 2: 155, fig. 225. 1920 [9 Sep 1920]
- Harrisia pomanensis (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Britton & Rose
- Cereus bonplandii var. pomanensis F.A.C.Weber
- Cereus pomanensis F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.
- Eriocereus pomanensis (F.A.C.Weber) A.Berger
- Eriocereus polyacanthus F.Ritter
- Harrisia pomanensis subs. bonplandii (J.Parm. & Pfeiff.) P.J.Braun & Esteves
- Cereus bonplandii J.Parm. ex Pfeiff.
- Eriocereus bonplandii (J.Parm. & Pfeiff.) Riccobono
- Harrisia bonplandii (J.Parm. ex Pfeiff.) Britton & Rose
- Harrisia pomanensis subs. tarijensis (F.Ritter) P.J.Braun & Esteves
- Eriocereus tarijensis F.Ritter
Harrisia pomanensis subs. regelii (Weing.) R.Kiesling
Darwiniana 34(1–4): 395 (1996)
- Harrisia pomanensis subs. regelii (Weing.) R.Kiesling
ENGLISH: Applecactus, Midnight Lady
SPANISH (Español): Ulúa
Description: Harrisia pomanensis (Eriocereus pomanensis) is a sprawling or clambering cactus to 3 m or more long, sometimes somewhat shrubby, it has arching, bluish-green, rhizome-like stems with four to six blunt, rounded ribs. Growth habit permitting this cactus to explore and asexually reproduce in its immediate habitat. The spine clusters have each one central up to 2 cm long and five to seven shorter radials. Up to 15 cm in length, the flowers are white. Harrisia pomanensis is wide-ranging and quite variable. Subspecies regelii tends to be more shrubby, with smaller stems having fewer spines; it occurs only in Argentina.
Stem: Erect at first, then arching or even prostrate, sprawling or clambering, bluish-green, or grey-green, glaucous, nearly round in cross section, jointed to 3 m (or more) long and 2-4-(rarely to 8) cm in diameter.
Ribs: 4-7(-rarely to 7) blunt, rounded, not tuberculate.
Areoles: 1.2-1.4 cm apart.
Spines: Rigid, all subulate, needle-like, white rose-coloured or red when young, later whitish or greyish, tipped blackish.
Central spine: Solitary, 10-20(-25) mm long.
Radial spines: 5 to 8 about 1 cm long.
Flowers: About 15 cm long. Flower-tube with ovate, acute scales 1 cm or more long, hairy in the axils. Outer perianth-segments linear, acute; inner perianth segments oblong, acutish, white. Stigma-lobes numerous, linear.
Blooming season: Summer.
Fruit: Spherical, slightly tuberculate, spineless, with a few scales3-5 cm in diameter red, splitting laterally to expose the spongy white funicles and black seeds.
Subspecies, varieties, forms and cultivars of plants belonging to the Harrisia pomanensis group
- Harrisia pomanensis (F.A.C.Weber ex K.Schum.) Britton & Rose: is a sprawling or clambering cactus to 3 m, sometimes somewhat shrubby. The flowers are white c. 15 cm long. Distribution: Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.
- Harrisia pomanensis subs. bonplandii (J.Parm. & Pfeiff.) P.J.Braun & Esteves: same as Harrisia pomanensis, but flowers up to 22 cm in length, with scales of the perianth-tube copiously woolly in the axils. Distribution: Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil.
- Harrisia pomanensis subs. regelii (Weing.) R.Kiesling: tends to be more shrubby, with smaller stems having fewer spines. Distribution: Argentina.
Notes: Harrisia jusbertii is considered by some to possibly be a natural intergenic hybrid betwee Harrisia pomanensis, and Echinopsis eyriesii rather than a pure species.
Bibliography: Major references and further lectures
1) Edward Anderson “The Cactus family” Timber Press, Incorporated, 2001
2) David R Hunt; Nigel P Taylor; Graham Charles; International Cactaceae Systematics Group. "The New Cactus Lexicon" dh books, 2006
3) James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey “The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification of Plants Cultivated in Europe, Both Out-of-Doors and Under Glass” Cambridge University Press, 11/Aug/2011
4) Oakley, L., Pin, A. & Duarte, W. 2013. “Harrisia pomanensis.” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 27 December 2014.
5) Karl J. Niklas “The Evolutionary Biology of Plants” University of Chicago Press, 08 giu 1997
6) N. L. Britton, J. N. Rose “The Cactaceae. Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family” volume 2 The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington f. 225 1920
7) Thomas H. Everett “The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture” Volume 4 Courier Corporation, 01 January 1981
8) “Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication” Volume 248, Part 2 Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1920
9) Haustein, Erik “Der Kosmos-Kakteenführer” Franckh-Kosmos 1983
Cultivation and Propagation: Harrisia pomanensis (Eriocereus pomanensis) presents no problems in cultivation and will do well in a sunny spot in a cactus house.
Soil: Grow them in rich, porous, sandy soil and let their soil dry out between waterings. If potted, repot in the spring if their roots become cramped. Generally, they should be repotted every other year in order to provide fresh soil. However, this doesn't necessarily mean they'll need larger containers. Fill about a quarter of the pot with broken crocks, gravel, etc. to promote good drainage. After repotting, do not water for a week or more.
Hardiness: These plants will not tolerate extended periods of frost; they can survive to a minimum temperature of -4°C.
Traditional uses: The Lengua-Maskoy natives eat the raw fruits, as well as boiled or roasted roots of this species.
Propagation: It can be increased by seeds or cuttings. Cuttings of healthy shoots can be taken in the spring and summer, Cut the stem with a sharp, sterile knife just above a bud or shoot (a 7-10cm long tip or branch is most suitable for propagation) Leave the cutting in a warm, dry place for a week or weeks (depending on how thick the cutting is) until a callus forms over the wound. Once the callus forms, the cutting may be inserted into a container filled with firmed cactus potting mix topped with a surface layer of coarse grit. They should be placed in the coarse grit only; this prevents the cut end from becoming too wet and allows the roots to penetrate the rich compost underneath. The cuttings should root in 2 to 6 weeks.
Garden uses: Harrisia pomanensis forms long columns that are great for grafting valuable species of cacti and - differently from other common grafting stock - don’t induces plants to elongate out of character and produce weak spination. The scions on Harrisia don’t grow as fast as the ones grafted on other tender and stronger stock, but they prosper very easy and can be kept in dark and cold places in winter. It can easily endure some light frost, too.
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Tick-borne infectious diseases are an epidemic on Long Island, and Stony Brook Medicine is leading efforts to understand and treat them.
To share scientific data and educate the public, Stony Brook Medicine hosted a recent symposium about the diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases. Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, an infectious disease specialist, said insect-borne illnesses are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality around the world.
“The University has actively been engaged in combatting these illnesses,” he told a packed lecture hall filled with clinicians and researchers at Stony Brook University Hospital.
“When we think of these diseases, we tend to think of malaria, which infects millions of people and kills millions of children annually. Everyone is aware of Zika virus. And there is an outbreak of yellow fever right now in South America,” Dr. Stanley said. “But we don’t have to travel to those countries, to contract insect-borne disease. You can simply go in your backyard on Long Island and contract a tick-borne disease.”
“In fact, a disproportionate amount of tick-borne diseases in the United States and in the world takes place right here,” he said. “Thousands of our citizens on Long Island have suffered from them.”
Stony Brook Medicine has also welcomed a recent gift of $1 million dollars for research on tick-borne diseases. The gift, from the Island Outreach Foundation, established the Tick Borne Disease Fund. The Fund will enable Stony Brook scientists to study illnesses carried by ticks, and other infectious diseases, in new and expanded ways.
The gift will fund the hiring of an additional researcher, who will focus on tick-borne diseases. It will also fund the creation of an insectarium in Stony Brook Medicine’s new Laboratory for Comparative Medicine. The insectarium will enable scientists to study ticks that are live and infected, which hasn’t been possible in the University’s current facilities.
Philanthropists David and Michele Knapp are president and vice president, respectively, of Island Outreach.
In the 1980s, Stony Brook researchers pioneered efforts to create a diagnostic test for Lyme disease and other bacterial infections carried by ticks. Jorge L. Benach, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Stony Brook University, in collaboration with scientists at the National Institutes of Health, discovered and isolated the spirochete bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
As Suffolk County’s only academic medical center, Stony Brook sits at ground zero for the epidemic of tick-borne diseases. Suffolk County has the highest number of cases of tick-borne illness in New York State.
In 2016, Suffolk County led the state with 600 cases of Lyme disease, 153 cases of Babesiosis and 84 cases of Human Moncytic Ehrlichiosis. Lyme disease and Babesiosis are carried by the deer tick, and Ehrlichiosis is carried by the
Lone Star tick. It is likely many other people were infected, but their illnesses went unreported.
At the symposium, Dr. Benach recommended monitoring the spread of these diseases, calling them “a public health problem, a volcano almost, waiting to erupt underneath our own feet.”
Jorge L. Benach, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Stony Brook University
Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis and Ehrlichiosis are most frequent in the elderly and in patients who are immunosuppressed or have immune deficiencies, Dr. Benach said.
Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever are most prevalent in children, particularly in boys.
Christy Beneri, DO, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, presented data on children and adolescents treated at Stony Brook for Lyme disease. She said complications of pediatric Lyme disease include Bell’s Palsy (a temporary facial paralysis) and arthritis. Both conditions can be resolved with antibiotic treatment.
Regarding Lyme-associated arthritis, Beneri said that if a child or teen complains of knee swelling on one side that is not painful, clinicians should consider testing for Lyme disease. If the diagnosis is positive, anti-inflammatory medication should be added to the course of antibiotics.
Dr. Beneri recommended more research on post-Lyme syndrome, a condition in which patients are still symptomatic long after their infections have been treated and resolved. The syndrome, experienced by 10 percent of those who contract Lyme disease, is not well-understood, she said.
Luis Marcos, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, said it can be complex to understand and interpret diagnostic tests for tick-borne diseases. The consequence is disease that goes untreated for too long, he said, which may result in complications such as Bell’s Palsy, carditis, nerve pain, vision loss and severe ear pain, even after the patient eventually takes a course of antibiotics.
Eric D. Spitzer, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Director of Clinical Laboratories, said better diagnostic tests are needed.
“Early Lyme disease is still difficult to diagnose using standard antibody detection methods,” he said, pointing out that current laboratory screening tests sometimes produce false-negative or false-positive results due to necessary tradeoffs between the specificity and sensitivity of the tests.
“Changes in tick ecology, and recognition of additional potential pathogens in ticks, poses additional challenges to clinicians and laboratories,” Dr. Spitzer said.
David Thanassi, PhD, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, who moderated the panel discussion, said Stony Brook’s work on insect-borne diseases is “a representation of the intersection between basic science and clinical science.”
The symposium was sponsored by the Departments of Medicine, Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, Pathology and Pediatrics.


The order of the components in the vector f is chosen to help factor the matrix in (9) into two matrices as Ff = Dc where c = [ A, B, C, D ]T ,
The advantage of this factoring is that it is easy to find the expressions for F–1 and D–1 .
F–1 is found by two row reductions and D–1 by inverting the 2×2 matrices in the block diagonal. These matrices are required to find the coefficients in the next layer. If cm are the coefficients in the m-th layer, then the coefficients in the next layer is found from the matrix product,
The use of the factored matrix means four matrix multiplications instead of two are required to cross the boundary, but it avoids having to find the matrix inverse numerically.


(San Pedro Mountains Mummy discovered in Wyoming in 1932)
We spend a lot of focus on the tall people of the Americas - ancient giants and Sasquatch, but what of the "little people" of as I call them, "Littlefoots."
What? You haven't heard of the Littlefoots?
Well, let's delve into this, both in legends and archaeological digs around America (and the world).
From the book The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee by John Haywood (starting page 200 on reprint edition from Amazon):
Referred to as "pygmies," these skeletons were found buried in crypts just outside of Sparta, Tennessee in the County of White and reported in the Nashville Whig in June 1820.
These graves had many bodies, all of them quite small. Some of the crypts were as small as 18 inches by 12 inches. The first grave was 2 feet long and inside the small skeleton and its teeth had the researcher wondering if it was canine or monkey. He had them sent off to be examined.
They were buried with care in a stone crypt and had shells and urns with them. The bones were so old they crumbled quite easily. One skull the examiner held up was 5" across from side to side. Most individuals were from 18 inches to 2 feet 10 inches long. One find was a 5 foot 5 inch individual found with the smaller ones. The taller skeleton had a head that was longer, eyes much wider asunder, the forehead much higher above the eyebrows, and the under jaw measured one inch longer on each side than the smaller fellows. Atop the head of one skull had bright silver grey fine hairs.
There was great dissimilarity in skull shapes, the size and shape of the bones, and looked to belong to different tribes of people. Just 8 miles away, a 7-foot giant was found.
These finds were packaged and sent for examination in Nashville. The prevailing opinion was that they were not children. No 1 skull belonged to some carnivorous animal of the canine genus; but that the skull belonged on an adult person of small size, not much exceeding 3 feet in length. Cylindrical bones and teeth appeared canine. Others gave the same odd opinion.
Source: V.R. Pilapil, for example, asserts that the disputed Tennessee graves really did contain pygmy remains. Not only that, but he hypothesizes that the pygmies arrived in ancient times from southeast Asia, probably the Philippines, where today's diminutive Aetas live. To support his case, Pilapil recalls B. Fell's examination of the Tennessee skeletal material. Fell noted that: (1) The skull brain capacity was equivalent to only about 950 cubic centimeters, about the volume of a non-pygmy 7-yearold; (2) The teeth were completely developed and showed severe wear characteristic of mature individuals; and (3) The skulls were brachycephalic (flat-headed like dogs) with projecting jaws (like dog). Fell had, in fact, described skulls very much like those of today's adult Philippine Aetas. Another line of evidence adduced by Pilapil involved the traditions of British Columbia tribes, which recognized a tribe of very small people called the Et-nane. More significant is the oral history of the Cherokees, which mentions the existence of "little people" in eastern North America.
Note from blog author: Remember my saying "kernels of truth" found in ancient Native legends - they add magic to explain odd occurrences or things they cannot compute that actually happened or exist- kind of like what our archaeologists and anthropologists do when they find stuff they can't fit into their educational model.
Source: Anthropological Institute, Journal, 6:100, 1876:
An ancient graveyard of vast proportions has been found in Coffee county. It is similiar to those found in White County and other places in middle Tennessee, but is vastly more extensive, and shows that the race of pygmies who once inhabited this country were very numerous. The same peculiarities of position Observed in the White County graves are found in these. The writer of the letter says: "Some considerable excitement and curiousity took place a few days since, near Hillsboro, Coffee county, on James Brown's farm. A man was ploughing in a field which had been cultivated many years, and ploughed up a man's skull and other bones. After making further examination they found that there were about six acres in the graveyard. They were buried in a sitting or standing position. The bones show that they were a dwarf tribe of people, about three feet high. It is estimated that there were about 75,000 to 100,000 buried there. This shows that this country was inhabited hundreds of years ago."
Note from blog author: It would appear that in the 1800s, they had no concept of the age of these graves - as the first find the bones crumbled, showing they were thousands of years old, not hundreds
Source: The Native peoples of North America told legends of a race of "little people" who lived in the woods near sandy hills and sometimes near rocks located along large bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes. Often described as "hairy-faced dwarfs" in stories, petroglyphs illustrations show them with horns on their head and traveling in a group of 5 to 7 per canoe.
A graveyard unearthed in the 1830s in Coshocton County, Ohio was believed to contain skeletons belonging to a pygmy race. In fact that the graves, only about three feet long, were "bone burials" containing disarticulated or bent bones packed together.
The physical remains of tiny people have been reported found in various locations in the western United States, particularly Montana and Wyoming. Typically these are described as being found in caves with various details such as descriptions that they were "perfectly formed", dwarf-size.
Source: Yunwi Tsunsdi. The Little People of the Cherokee are a race of Spirits who live in rock caves on the mountain side. They are little fellows and ladies reaching almost to your knees. They are well shaped and handsome, and their hair so long it almost touches the ground. They are very helpful, kind-hearted, and great wonder workers. They love music and spend most of their time drumming, singing, and dancing. They have a very gentle nature, but do not like to be disturbed.
CROW: The little people of the Pryor Mountains. Crow folklore says the "Little People" live in the Pryor Mountains, a small mountain range in Carbon County, Montana. Petroglyphs on rocks in the mountains, the Crow said, were made by these demon-like creatures. Because the Little People live there, the mountains are sacred to the Crow. The Little People are said to be no more than 18 inches (46 cm) (or knee) high. Crow folklore differs slightly from that of other tribes in describing the Little People of the Pryor Mountains as having large, nearly round bellies; incredibly strong but short arms and legs; and little or no neck.
(San Pedro Mountains Mummy was discovered in Wyoming in 1932)
(Palau skull finds)
Source: The South Pacific Nation of Palau (just east of the Phillipines) has unearthed thousands of human bones that are rather unusual. The bones reportedly are 900 to 2500 years old and appear to be homo sapiens, but also reveal signs of archaic or primitive breeding. The bones were found in a cave. These people were 3-4 feet tall, perhaps 70 to 90 pounds (similar in size to the Homo floresiensis found in Indonesia). Some of these people lacked chins and had deep jaws, large teeth, and small eye sockets. Anthropologist, William Jungers, anthropologist, points out that the hobbit is distinguished from modern humans by jaw structures called transverse tori, which are seen in human ancestors, such as australopithecines and some Homo erectus fossils, he noted.
In the case of the homo floresiensis (Hobbit) from Indonesia; unlike the Palauan bones, the hobbit fossils include a skull with an exceptionally small braincase. Its volume is much smaller than that of small-bodied peoples living today on other Pacific islands and in the forests of Africa. It is also smaller than that of the early Palauans.
Dean Falk is an anthropologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee who received National Geographic funding to compare the Flores skull with both microcephalics and modern humans without disease. She and colleagues from the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology concluded in a study published last year that the hobbit was not microcephalic. Falk said the finding closed the microcephaly argument. The Palauan remains, she added, are just a set of small bones, representing small-bodied people."But being small does not make one comparable to Homo floresiensis," she noted. "It makes one small—period.
Tiny tribes have been reported throughout the islands of the South Pacific. Some scientists suggest that limited resources made them smaller, but that would take hundreds of thousands of years and that lack of resources would have killed them long before then. So, I will hazard a guess that they originated from Madagascar as an evolutionary offshoot of the lemur/lorises branch of the tree, whereas homo sapiens came from the primate branch.
It may seem like a wild idea, but so is man from primate! We came from the same tree as lemurs/lorises and in the isolation of Madagascar for millions of years, a race could have not only evolved long before we did, but were intelligent enough to take to other islands and look for more resources, hence populating the South Pacific, ending up in Peru finds and up into America re we ever considered leaving Africa 100,000 piddly years ago.
As you can see, there was a common ancestor and a division with one branch going to tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans and another branch that goes to lemurs and lorises. *Please take note of the lemur/lorices branch's skeleton dude with no name - down below I explain him*
Source: The discovery, in China, of some fossilized foot-bones believed to be from Eosimias, an early species already known of from fossilized jawbones, led to the announcement, in 2000 A.D., of Eosimias as a candidate for consideration as an early ancestor present in the family tree of humans / primates. (guess whose side of the tree? Mr. Lemur/lorices )
(above: New graphic that includes the Eosimias)
Source: Most of the mammals that evolved after the age of dinosaurs are known for their enormous sizes, but not so Eosimias, a tiny, Eocene primate that could easily fit in the palm of a child's hand. Judging by its scattered (and incomplete) remains, paleontologists have identified three species of Eosimias, all of which probably led a nocturnal, solitary existence (sound like anyone we know??? - more on a future post) high up in the branches of trees (where they would be beyond the reach of bigger, land-dwelling carnivorous mammals, though still presumably subject to harassment by prehistoric birds). The discovery of these "dawn monkeys" in Asia has led some experts to speculate that the human evolutionary tree had its roots in the prehistoric primates of the far east rather than Africa, though few people are convinced.
(Eosimias were the oldest primate found - but found in China, not Africa)
In summary, I'd like to say shame on archaeologists and anthropologists. They have really fed us a line of bull about the evolutionary process of man and that there was only homo sapiens in the human genus after the 29,000 year mark when they say Neanderthal ended.
There appears to be strong evidence of hairy giants in our woodlands, elongated skull people in Peru found to not be of homo sapiens or Neanderthal lines (DNA testing of elongated skulls), and there are so many variations in skull shapes, teeth, height and more that it's obvious that there were many lines of man and perhaps not all from the primate branch, maybe even the lemur/lorises branch. And, imagine the hybrid variables if the lemur branch of man and the primate branch of man were to mate?
I wish researchers would quit discarding anything that is "out of place/out of time" because these insane standards they have are arbitrary. There is much more in the ground and in caves yet to be found than has already been found and a vast majority we had no idea about like the recently discovered Denisovans. In fact, this newest find in China was just 14 years ago and it proved to be the oldest primate that they never knew about and from OUTSIDE of Africa - a notion they wouldn't entertain. So, be humble, keep your minds open, and don't think you know how everything relates, let the evidence tell you how it relates, don't tell the evidence how it relates!
Next time someone scoffs at the existence of Sasquatch, they might want to take a look at recent finds of ancient giants and elongated skull people (ones that were not flatboarded), and the Littlefoots before they dispute the notion. We honestly have missed a huge amount of variations of humans that have lived on the earth and it's time to get to the ground and make more finds, as well as poking in every cave - the places earlier men sought refuge. There is a whole world yet to be uncovered, so long as the finds come to light and aren't buried away in some warehouse or morphed into something they aren't depending on covert agendas.
Native Tribes from around the country consistently have stories of the little people. That nearly all of them have explanations of little people tells us that there was likely a universal influence around America that made the legends need to be born to explain something they encountered.
California sprites were called Akeki. Pains are tiny magical spirits in the traditions of many California Indian and Northwest Coast tribes. Pains usually take the form of miniature, fairy-like people, although in some tribes they appear as tiny animals or magically powerful inanimate objects. Pains may be summoned by medicine people or witches, or they may remain within a Native American family through generations. In some tribes, Pains are primarily positive spirits, seen as guardians and granters of magical powers (though they can also cause harm to people.) In other tribes Pains are viewed more negatively, associated with disease, curses, and witchcraft (though they can still be a source of healing power to properly trained medicine people.)
Albawitches (Pennsylvania, Chickies Rock, Lancaster County): These little people are reported even today and explained as a population that nearly went extinct in the 19th Century, but are still seen today upon occasion.
Kawi Anukasha (Choctaw): The Little People in Choctaw folklore. They have strong magic and can be very dangerous, but they sometimes also bestow powers upon people who treat them respectfully. Their name literally means "forest dwellers."
Nemirigar (Shoshone/Paiute): Although benign races of small magical creatures exist in many Native American tribes, the Little People of the Shoshone and Paiute tribes are dangerous man-eaters and enemies of humankind. "Nimerigar" is a corruption of the Shoshone and Paiute words meaning "people-eaters", and "Nunumbi" (and its many variants) means "little person."
Makiawisug (Mohegan Tribe): This Connecticut tribe described the little people as good spirits that one leaves gifts and food for. One should never look directly at them (a repeated theme in many Native legends of the little ones). If they catch you staring, they can use powers to hold you still while they take your belongings. And, you are not to speak of them.
Memegwesi (Canadian Tribes): Memegwesi are small riverbank-dwelling water spirits. They are generally benign creatures, but sometimes blow canoes astray or steal things when they are not shown proper respect. In some Ojibwe traditions, Memegwesi can only be seen by children and medicine people; in others, they can appear to anyone, and may help humans who give them tobacco and other gifts. Most often Memegwesi are described as being child-sized and hairy with a large head and a strange voice that sounds like the whine of a dragonfly. The Cree and Innu describe them as having narrow faces, and some Menominee storytellers have said that they have no noses. It is sometimes said that Memegwesi were originally created from the bark of trees. Memegwesi are said to carve symbols on rocks and sometimes carve small canoes for themselves out of stone. Some people believe that their name comes from the Ojibwe word for "hairy," memii, since Memegwesi are usually described as having hairy faces and bodies. Other people believe that their name is related to the word for butterfly, memengwaa.
Little people are reported in legends of nearly all the world's people from Australian aborigines to the Norse, the Celts to the Greeks. Just some are Tommyknockers, fairies, elves, trolls, gnomes, brownies, pixies, leprechauns.
The interesting thing is the running theme throughout - they are earth beings, mischievous, can be friendly and help you or play nasty pranks and hurt you. They accept gifts and that keeps them from causing more harm.
When people around the world report giants that want to eat them and little people within their woods, you have to wonder about those "kernels of truth." Are they reporting actual beings they shared the earth with, whom they could not seem to console their existence and so made up extraordinary and spiritual backgrounds for them?
Today, people often report seeing "little ones" and most often in the company of "big ones," or as we know them, Sasquatch. Some believe you don't speak of the little ones or even look at them, that it could cause some kind of bad or evil. Others revere them as old knowledge within the woodlands, keepers of nature of a sort. Most people today see them as mythological or mystical or even make believe, but there are those who say that the little people that once openly lived around the world, are still there, like the tall ones, only know to stay hidden....
So far as the subject of the Littlefoots, I can't stop thinking of this scene from "Trilogy of Terror." A little guy can do a lot of damage!


It’s tough to find new and exciting ways of educating children. Bringing subjects alive can make all the difference which is precisely where technology and, more precisely, the iPad can help. Courtesy of Emantras comes Frog Dissection and Cell and Cell Structure to make science that bit more interesting for middle school children.
Frog Dissection is a less messy and kinder to frogs alternative to the age old way of learning biology: dissecting a frog. The app offers vivid 3D imaging an helpful step by step instructions which help ensure that the app is an accurate simulation of the real thing. Interactive quizzes and plenty of information on the frog’s organs and an anatomical comparison with humans makes this an ideal tool for science fans.
Cell and Cell Structure continues the biology theme by teaching everything possible about cells, their structure and their functions. Attractive graphics keep things interesting and interactive flashcards and quizzes reinforce the knowledge.
They’re both out now. Frog Dissection is priced at $3.99 while Cell and Cell Structure is $1.99.
Released: 2010-06-22 :: Category: Education


The compound in lye, sodium hydroxide, is among the most easily-accessible corrosive chemicals— a wide range of products ranging from Drano to specialty batteries contain it, despite it being the sort of substance that will happily make short work of your fingertips if you are not careful.
The reason the sodium hydroxide is so unreasonably caustic is not because it is acidic, but rather because it is so anti-acidic, or basic. While acids do have their fair share of malevolent uses—most notably to melt Coke cans—they only represent half of the story. Acids corrode things like metal because they love to toss protons at things they encounter, allowing them to provoke strange reactions in a wide variety of compounds. But bases are guilty of just the opposite; they steal protons from anything they come in contact with. Different materials will be more susceptible to acids or bases depending on their properties: while a metal might readily dissolve when exposed to an acid(usually because the acid’s protons encourage the metal to oxidize extra quickly), it might remain relatively inert when a base is applied to it. Likewise, organic compounds like cellular membranes are particularly susceptible to bases, making bases the reagents of choice for products like drain cleaner, which are used to break up the greasy globs of proteins that inhabit your kitchen sink after dinner. The susceptibility of organic tissue to bases is part of the reason why bases can be so dangerous.
As demonstrated by the familiar vinegar and baking soda volcanoes that annually discolor the floors of school gymnasiums nationwide, reactions between acids and bases are particularly vigorous. This makes sense, since one reagent is eager to steal a proton and another is eager to relinquish one. The products of acid/base reactions tend to be inert gases and water, making them extremely useful in bodily metabolic processes like digesting food.
A chemistry teacher once told me that half of all chemistry is simply keeping track of electrical charges. Acid/base reactions certainly seem to fall in this half. Thus it would seem natural that there are certain types of reactions that will only occur in the presence of an electric field, as not all compounds have the proclivity to exchange protons and electrons as acids and bases. Electrolysis reactions represent those charge exchanges that will not occur spontaneously unless abetted by an external electric field. These reactions generally only occur between metals within a conducting solution(like saltwater), because metals and ionic solutions are generally the best at conducting the DC currents necessary to sustain such reactions. Electrolysis and its variants are used in industry to plate metals with other metals, to etch designs without the need for a laser, and occasionally to isolate pure elements that tend to not exist in pure forms in nature—because the electric field puts so much energy into the reaction vessel, it allows otherwise unstable elements to be isolated.
The latter usage is quite beneficial to the home chemist—there are many great tutorials out there for making pure hydrogen and oxygen gases by running a battery through salt water. The reason I mention this usage of electrolysis in the context of acid base chemistry is because, one fine day in high school, I decided that it would be a prudent idea to heat sodium hydroxide to its melting point and then perform electrolysis with a high-current power supply. I wanted to isolate pure sodium metal, which has a variety of useful properties, and for this reason I was oblivious to the risks of running high power electrical current through boiling hot caustic lye. Here is the result, complete with Hollywood production values:
Here is what was supposed to happen: By running a cheap tube from a cooler filled with dry ice, I could pipe cold carbon dioxide into the melting crucible and displace any oxygen inside the chamber. This would supposedly suppress any fires from starting and keep side reactions in check. Supposedly, if I had done this perfectly, the molten sodium hydroxide would have reacted happily with the DC current and liberated a small amount of molten elemental sodium at one of the electrodes, which would have formed a shiny metallic pool at the top of the molten base.
Sadly, I seem to have undervalued the awesome power of bases. The molten sodium hydroxide will react with almost anything it can find, and so it begins to react with the metal sides of my melting vessel to yield samples of an intricate group of molecules known as “complex ions.” These are the sickening black substances that accrue inside my crucible—the molten sodium hydroxide normally should have remained transparent. The carbon dioxide seems to have done its job, as I still have all of my fingers, but the reaction nonetheless failed to yield an appreciable amount of sodium due to the complex ions’ interloping.
You can hear some sodium metal hissing as I drop the cathode into the pool of water at the end of the video, leading me to believe that a small amount of sodium was indeed liberated (and yes, I did wait for the cathode to cool before I dropped it in). The hissing is the sound of the elemental sodium aggressively recombining with water to form sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas, the latter of which loudly deflagrates due to the heat of the reaction.


A 'space hurricane' hovered above the North Pole for about 8 hours, study says
- Until now, it was uncertain that space hurricanes even existed.
- The space hurricane spotted by the research team in Earth’s ionosphere was spinning in a counterclockwise direction.
- The findings suggest space hurricanes should be a widespread phenomena.
And now we have space hurricanes to worry about.
For the first time, scientists have spotted what they're calling a "space hurricane" spinning above the North Pole, according to a new study. The roughly 600-mile-wide swirling mass of plasma was located several hundred miles above the North Pole, and "rained" electrons instead of water, according to the study.
Until now, it was uncertain that space hurricanes even existed, "so to prove this with such a striking observation is incredible," said study co-author Mike Lockwood, a space scientist at the University of Reading in the U.K., in a statement.
The observations, made by satellites in August 2014, were only uncovered during retrospective analyses led by scientists from Shandong University in China.
The phenomenon would be an incredible sight, but it's likely no one saw this particular space hurricane. It would be visible to the naked eye, Lockwood told USA TODAY, "but because the event is over the pole you would have to be at very high latitudes (to see it)."
Authors say further study is needed, especially because geomagnetic activity can disrupt GPS satellites.
The space hurricane spotted by the research team in Earth’s ionosphere was spinning in a counterclockwise direction (like hurricanes do in the Northern Hemisphere), had multiple spiral arms and lasted almost eight hours before gradually breaking down.
In many ways, this space hurricane resembles the hurricanes we are familiar with down here in the Earth’s lower atmosphere.
The year in science:A look at all the ways science thrived in 2020
Tropical storms and hurricanes occur in Earth’s lower atmosphere over warm bodies of water such as oceans and gulfs. When warm, moist air rises, it creates an area of low pressure near the surface that sucks in the surrounding air, causing extremely strong winds and creating clouds that lead to heavy rain.
“Tropical storms are associated with huge amounts of energy, and these space hurricanes must be created by unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and charged particles into the Earth’s upper atmosphere," Lockwood said.
Hurricanes like those we have here on Earth have also been seen in the lower atmospheres of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, while enormous solar tornadoes have been seen in the atmosphere of the sun, the University of Reading said in a statement. However, the existence of space hurricanes in the upper atmosphere of planets had not been detected before.
“Plasma and magnetic fields in the atmosphere of planets exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest space hurricanes should be a widespread phenomena,” Lockwood said.
In addition, according to the study, the fact that the space hurricane occurred during a period of low geomagnetic activity suggests they could be more relatively common within our solar system and beyond. "This highlights the importance of improved monitoring of space weather, which can disrupt GPS systems," the University of Reading said in a statement.
The findings were published in the peer-reviewed British journal Nature Communications.


Scientists claim that approximately 65 million years ago the Earth was hit by a huge rock, approximately 6 miles accross, coming from space. The crater caused by the blast is supposed be over 100 miles in width and according to experts the energy it released was 100 trillion tons of TNT. This power is over 1 billion times the power of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima atom bombs. The result of the blast was the extinction of about 75% of the species inhabiting the Earth, including the dinosaurs.
When the giant rocks (asteroids) hit the earth with approximately 10-20miles per hour the kinetic energy from the asteroid became explosive energy which resulted in a layer of dust, rocks and soil not only in the atmosphere, but into space which later fall back on the top of the atmosphere. This left the earth without sunlight for several weeks which caused a disturbtion in the food chain, because a lot of plants have died.
Another theory states that when the rocks started to fall down the atmosphere they created a storm of fireballs which eventually heated the ground to boiling temps for a couple of minutes. This was more than enough to kill many animal species like dinosaurs and so on…
According to new hypotheses the huge blast may have sent large rocks from the Earth to Mars and Europa – the satellite of Jupiter. Scientists believe that rocks bigger than 3 meters have traveled all the way to Mars and Jupiter’s satellite Europa packed with various living species.
Thus, researchers suggest that any forms of life are found on other planets and their satellites we shouldn’t assume their origin is independent because they may have come from the Earth. The research and debate of such hypothesis continues.


Scarification: Soak in hot tap water, let stand in water for 24 hours, repeat process on seed that did not imbibe
Stratification: cold stratify for 90 days
Germination: sow seed 1/2" deep, tamp the soil, keep moist but not wet
Other: if boiling water treatment does not allow seed to imbibe, sulfuric acid treatment is required
Introducing the Sapindus mukorossi Chinese Soapberry, also known as the wash-nut tree, a species of tree native to India and Nepal. The fruit of the tree, commonly known as Indian Soapberry, contains saponin, a natural cleanser making it perfect for use on hair, skin, and clothes. It also has insecticidal properties and can be used to remove head lice. The soapnut has medicinal benefits, including treating migraines and removing skin impurities. The fruit from just one tree can produce 30-35 kg per year and the tree is tolerant to poor soil, making it perfect for planting around farmers’ homes. The soapnut has been found to be effective as a natural surfactant, increasing the mobility of oil from the fields. It also has potential for washing arsenic from soils rich in iron. Try the Sapindus mukorossi and embrace its natural cleansing properties.