13 Years Later and Still Bracing

By: | September 11, 2014

When I realized that I was scheduled to post on the 13th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, I decided I should write something about the legacy of that day. I want so badly to find a kernel of hope, but current events leave me with nothing but pessimism. Violence has begotten more violence. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. has spent more than a TRILLION dollars on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the war has cost nearly 7,000 American lives. At least 21,000 Afghan civilians and about 140,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, and the violence continues. Last night, President Obama announced that he’s sending 475 service members to Iraq. For most Americans, this news is a blip on the news cycle. For the one percent of the American public that serves in the military, it’s a message that they must continue to brace for the uncertainty of battle.

As we enter the 14th year since the 9/11 attacks, please take a moment to consider the families who serve and sacrifice for our country. Continue reading →

The Urban Ocean

By: | September 10, 2014

1200px-Turbiny_wiatrowe_w_Szwecji,_2011_ubtWhere do you fall on the issue of wind farms at sea? Tidal energy generators? Artificial reefs? Mooring fields? Glass bottles? Old piers? Shipwrecks? Are they junk to be cleared away or are they habitat to be protected? How are they to be categorized, and at what stage in their “useful” lives do they become useless, or vice versa?

A new study published in Current Biology deepens the mystery. Titled “Marine mammals trace anthropogenic structures at sea,” it describes how researchers put GPS tracking devices on North Sea harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) and gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) in Britain and the Netherlands. They wanted to see how these high-level predators interacted with offshore wind farms in the area while they were foraging.

The North Sea has vast arrays of wind farms. A list on Wikipedia shows that the earliest array was put up in 2002 and by 2013 there were roughly 802 turbines spread across the waters of the UK, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway. Some are only 1.6 km from shore while others are 32 km from the beach. Excluding the deep outlier Hywind array in Norway, they are in an average of 16 m of water (range: 0 – 45m). That’s a lot of infrastructure spread through just the kind of water in which small marine mammals love to forage.

The US doesn’t have acres of sea studded with wind turbines… yet. Continue reading →

Why Archeologists Hate Indiana Jones

By: | September 9, 2014

Indy

The jungles of the Peten are hot and sweaty. Most of the best places for archeology are. Field seasons are especially hot, since they are always during the driest time of year so that the site doesn’t get flooded. Howler monkeys boom from the parched trees, which barely twitch during the windless days. Meanwhile, pasty grad students toil away in the hot sun, quietly picking away at a stucco relief or the markings on a stone pillar.

In this heat, it’s good to wear a hat, preferably something sturdy with a wide brim. Every archeology site in the world is littered with rugged people in wide-brimmed hats talking about long dead civilizations. Tulane archeologist Marcello Canuto, for instance, prefers the khaki, floppy variety. Walking back to camp with after a long day at one Northern Guatemalan site, I can’t help but make the obvious comparison.

“Oh God,” he groans, “Don’t even go there. Indiana Jones is not an archeologist.” Continue reading →

Redux: Auditing Astronomy Class

By: | September 8, 2014

This was first published in Dec 6, 2011 — it was originally a guest post, Cameron wasn’t yet an LWONer — and was honorable-mentioned for the American Institute of Physics’ 2012 science writing prize in the New Media category. Her mom sounds like a doll.
I’m not sure exactly where this story begins, but maybe it’s here: Sometime this summer, my mom decided to take an astronomy class. She had taken drama and philosophy classes through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Berkeley  and audited a history of theater course. She’d heard that this particular astronomy class was aimed at non-science majors, and that the professor, Alex Filippenko, had won all sorts of teaching awards. She emailed him to see if it was okay for her to sit in – it was – and then convinced a few friends to join her.

Maybe what I should say next is that my mom has never been that interested in science. I actually didn’t know how much she didn’t like it until we talked about it recently.  In college, she filled her science requirement with comparative anatomy, a class that required dissecting frogs and cats. “I hated the smell of formaldehyde,” she said. “Dinner was right after that. I just hated it.”

Astronomy had also gotten on her bad list. “Whenever I saw something in the paper about a comet, a supernova—I just didn’t read it. I thought, I’m never going to understand this anyway.”

This class had no formaldehyde, just a professor who has enough astronomy-themed T-shirts to cover three afternoons a week for a whole semester without repeating a shirt.  Before each class, he played a piece of music that somehow related to the theme of the lecture—Clair de Lune, Stardust, Dark Side of the Moon, “popular stuff, like by Moby,” my mom said.

That’s how I first heard about what was going on in class. My mom called one day and asked if I knew what shepherd moons are. I didn’t (although I did know the song by Enya) so she explained. Continue reading →

Last Word

By: | September 6, 2014

QuillsBoxerFaceSeptember 1-5, 2014.

This week, Helen discovered a late summer symphony of peal bells and cicadas. Listen! 

Ann discovered an unexpected but welcome pattern in the pronouns that the astronomers are using to describe their colleagues — “she.” 

Richard introduced a new occasional LWON series — the Bad Science Poet. (Motto: “It’s not the science that’s bad—it’s the poetry!”™)

Cassie overhears a couple of insufferable doctors fat-shaming their patients, and wishes they’d better acquaint themselves with scientific evidence. Also, if stigma were an effective weight loss tool, everyone would be skinny by now.

Finally, I wondered what it would take to teach my dog that porcupines are not her friend.

Photo by Elaine Moore via Flickr.

Lessons Not Learned

By: | September 5, 2014

QuillsBoxerFaceThe dog emerged from the aspen grove with straw on her face. At least, that’s what my husband Dave first thought when he saw Molly reappear on the trail he was running with a couple of friends. But it turned out that those weren’t threads of straw. They were porcupine quills, protruding from her lips and ears. Before she could object, he grabbed her and pulled the quills out. She yipped — porcupine quills have backward-pointing barbs that grab and scratch when they’re pulled out — but there weren’t too many, and he had two running companions to help restrain my naughty dog. (Dave always refers to her as my dog when she’s misbehaving, which is often).

The first porcupine encounter was unpleasant for everyone, and I hoped that it had taught Molly Dog that porcupines are not her friend, and they’re no fun to chase either. Dave wasn’t buying it. You probably already know what happened next. Continue reading →

SHE?

By: | September 3, 2014

640px-Sandboarding_in_DubaiMy first interviews for this current astronomy story were with the astronomers I’ve known and known of for decades — whose research I’ve followed, whose talks I’ve attended, whom I’ve interviewed, as I said, for decades.  The astronomers were what they have been likely to be:  men.

Astronomer:  Werk looked at other metal lines.  She found . . .

Me (thinking): She?

Another astronomer: Rudie found extended CGM around z = 2.0.  She does. . .

Me (thinking):  She?

A third astronomer:  Martin has a similar data set.  She detects . . .

Me (thinking):  She?

A fourth astronomer:  Somerville has a good overview.  She’s worked on . . .

Me (thinking):  She?

A fifth astronomer:  When Putman looks at 21-cm lines, she . . .

Me (thinking): SHE?

A sixth astronomer:  Rubin might see a hint for some.  She. . .

Me (thinking):  SHE?   

A seventh astronomer:  Peeples finds it in the CGM.  She’d know . . .

Me (light filling brain):  Is there a pattern here? Continue reading →

Two Docs Walk Into A Bar

By: | September 2, 2014

DIGITAL CAMERAThe bar in question is inside an upscale Italian restaurant in northern Wisconsin. The men are middle-aged with graying hair and glasses. But they’re both fit. They look like they might spend their spare time sailing. One wears a blue button-down shirt and jeans. The other is dressed in a polo shirt and camouflage shorts.

Button Down arrives first with a blonde woman. They grab stools, and he orders a beer. A few minutes later Camo Shorts joins the party. He clearly knows Button Down. There are some handshakes and back slaps, and then the two men start to talk shop. They’re both doctors.

I am seated next to them, and I catch snippets of their conversation. But then they start swapping stories about patients who are overweight and refuse to slim down. These patients won’t listen to their doctorly advice to cut calories no matter how many times they give it. I am a science journalist, and also very nosy. So now I am eavesdropping in earnest. Continue reading →