Slide

The New York Times website has an interactive graphic to let you see the Oso, Washington area before and after the recent tragic mudslide.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/26/us/houses-in-the-path-of-the-washington-mudslide.html

Click on the label to show the area before and after.

Frog Crossing

Last night we had the first real rainstorm of the Spring season.  

That means that under the drifts of leaves and the remaining drifts of snow the frogs and salamanders were waking up from their winter's sleep and heading to the nearest water.  Driving the back roads on rainy nights in early Spring is the best way to see them.

A wood frogsicle

Wood frogs in particular respond to that first rain.  Wood frogs spend the winter frozen solid.  Really.

When the warmish rains of early spring soak into the leaves where the frogs are buried, they thaw out, start breathing again, and make their way to ponds to breed.

A wood frog with his black mask

Wood frogs are easy to recognize by their masks.  Their call is also distinctive.  No 'jug-o-rum' for these guys.  A pond with a few wood frogs sounds like a flock of ducks all quacking at once.  A pond with a lot of wood frogs sounds like heavy machinery clanking through the woods.

On this morning's walk I went by the old mill raceway.  The streams were full of snowmelt and were thundering down the gorge.  The air was full of bird song as pairs of crows and robins and chickadees flew by.  It seemed like every male bird in town was screaming the bird equivalent of 'hey, bay-bee!'

Wood frog eggs from my frog pond
last year.  Soon they will be there again.

The raceway was full of water.  There were lots of ripples as the wood frogs moved about.  Soon there will be masses of eggs.

Most of the eggs will never become frogs.  Ducks will fly in and eat some of them.  Then the raceway, which is no longer connected to the brook, will dry up.  Only a few will survive to return to the raceway next year.

Spring At Last

Robins are no longer the first sign of spring.  They used to show up in early March.  Now they hang around all winter.

However, robin song is a true sing of spring, and I heard it for the first time today!  The lengthening days have worked their wonder on the brain chemistry of the male robins (they have darker heads).

And while about 80% of my yard is till covered with snow, in a few places it has melted and is covered with crocuses.

What Will Happen On Wednesday?

For West Hartford to get the most snow, a storm must pass over the 40/70 benchmark.  That is, it must pass right over a spot that is at 40 degrees north latitude and 70 degrees west longitude.

That would send cold, wet winds over us from the northeast.

As of right now the upcoming storm will go too far to the south and east to really affect us. Rhode Island and Cape Cod will be buried.

I am predicting a regular school day on Wednesday, with increasing chances of a late opening the further east you go.

I will update this Monday night.

Darwin's Orchid

Part 1:

Evolution is not random.  (Take that, anti-reality people!)

Lady with pocket-rat.

People have turned one species of dog into hundreds of different breeds depending on their wants.  Want a larger dog?  Take advantage of natural differences in individual dogs.  Breed only larger dogs until you get a Wolfhound or a Great Dane.  Want a little yap-dog?  Breed only the smaller dogs until there are people walking around with dogs in their handbags (yuck).

Hamburgers, not milk from this breed

People have turned one species of cow into many different breeds.  Some produce more meat, some more milk.  The process is the same.  Take advantage of natural differences in individual cows, and breed the ones that have what you want.

Unless you hunt for meat or wild plants, everything that you eat every day has been modified over thousands of years by farmers.

Charles Darwin at the time
he traveled around the world

In the early 19th century, many scientists were puzzling over how evolution works.  There were several hypotheses (a hypothesis is an educated guess, based on observations).  Charles Darwin and many others came up with the theory (an explanation of facts based on testing) of natural selection - that nature chooses among individual differences.

In other words, nature does the same thing as any farmer or dog breeder.   Nature chooses among differences in individuals, based on their ability to survive and breed.

The faster antelope escapes the lion and lives to breed.  The sneakier lion gets the antelope and lives to breed.  The plant that can spread its seeds further has more babies.

The reason why Darwin gets credit for this explanation is that he had both the wealth (no need to work) to devote his life to research and the influential friends to make sure that his voice was heard above the others.

Part 2:

Conservatory at the NYBG

Yesterday I visited the orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden.  

Snowdrops, not snow!

There was no snow there, and spring flowers were blooming.

Orchids are fascinating.  There are an uncountable number of species, and they do some very kinky things.  Many orchids are shaped like and smell like female insects.  

What species of insect could love this "female"? 

Frustrated male insects fly from flower to flower, spreading pollen as they try to mate.

Most of the orchids at the show are hybrids, man-made versions of wild orchids (choose among the individuals that show some trait you want, and keep doing that over many generations until you get something you like).

But then there was Darwin's Orchid.

A scientific theory must not only explain what we have observed, it must also be able to predict what we will see in the future.  

For instance, Darwin would not be surprised that as we add antibiotics into the environment we get more and more bacteria that are resistant.

Darwin's Orchid, with a foot-long nectar spur

Some plants use sweet nectar to bribe insects into landing on them to spread pollen.  The nectary is where the nectar is kept and is usually at the back of the flower so that the insect has to crawl all over the pollen to get fed.

When someone showed Darwin an orchid with a very long nectary (that long green tube behind the flower in the photo), he predicted that there was an undiscovered moth out there with a foot-long tongue that could pollinate this orchid.

A moth with a foot-long tongue.  Photo from
Houston Museum of Natural Science

Darwin was right, and now we have Xanthopan morgani or the Morgan’s sphinx moth. This moth was not discovered until 1903, but proved Darwin’s theory and was originally named Xanthopan morgani praedicta in honor of his prediction. The moth has an unbelievably long tongue which can reach down into the flower to retrieve the nectar. In doing so, the moth rubs its head against the pollen producing organ of the plant and transfers the pollen to the next flower it drinks from.

That's what science does.

Spring?

The low winter's Sun

December 20, 2013.  The Winter Solstice.  The northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, the sunlight comes in at a low angle, and in Connecticut we get only 9 hours and 8 minutes of light.

What we expect to see on March 20

March 20, 2014.  The Spring Equinox.  The hemispheres get an equal amount of daylight as the Sun shines directly done on the Equator at noon.  We have gained 3 hours of daylight since December.

June 20, 2014.  The Summer Solstice.  The northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun and we have gained another 3 hours of light.  Then the light recedes.

So on March 20, we are halfway between the shortest and the longest day in Connecticut.  

The talking heads on television and radio will be screaming about the first day of Spring.  You already know what I think of that.

Mr. Opossum is looking for love

Spring is a season, not an astronomical event.  Seasons depend on weather and the response of living things to the changing amount of light.

It is halfway between December and March that the amount of daylight increases enough for nature to take notice - that's February 2.

That is when maple sap runs, the skunks and

Who can pay attention to traffic 

when you are in love?

woodchucks wake up to mate, the hawks make their nests, and things start stirring underground.  The birds that live here all year have been singing for almost a month and the first of the migrants appeared a week ago.

So, despite being buried in snow during an extremely cold spring, it is the middle of spring now, not winter, and March 20 marks the middle of the season.  Only 6 more weeks until things start to bloom all over, marking the beginning of nature's summer.

Happy To Think For You

The original goal of the Republican Party (still given lip-service today) is that government should not be any larger than it need be.  Not a bad idea, really.  Provide those things that the average individual can’t, like roads and fire departments and defense against invaders and criminals and cheats (from muggers to corporate vice presidents) and then leave us alone. 

So why does it now want to control what we think (education), our personal lives (women’s health, gay rights, equal opportunity for all) and science (understanding reality as it is, not as it is portrayed on television), while not protecting us from people who want to take advantage of us?  

The answer is, as always, "follow the money".

Not surprisingly, a state that derives a large proportion of its income from coal does not want students to learn about such things as climate change.

An amendment to the Wyoming state budget proposed by state legislator Matt Teeters (R-Lingle) makes sure the new science standards (which the Grumpy Old Scientist, a former teacher, thinks are just fine) won’t get adopted:

“… neither the state board of education nor the department shall expend any amount appropriated under this section for any review or revision of the student content and performance standards for science. This footnote is effective immediately.”

While many states are adopting new national science education standards—a set of benchmarks outlining students’ science understanding in schools—the Wyoming Legislature has taken steps to specifically prevent the adoption of the new science standards outlined.

These new standards include stating as facts such scientifically testable things as evolution and climate change.   Apparently, in Wyoming, the new science standards are so contrary to what the religious fundamentalists and fossil fuel lobbists want us to think that the legislators don't even want those in charge of education to look at them.

State legislator Matt Teeters (R-Lingle) apparently wants to change the state slogan to "Wyoming: Forever Stupid."

More information about this anti-intelligence movement in Wyoming has been posted by Phil Plait here.