Author Archives: ophid

The World is Your…Sewer??

My Lead Science Cutie on staff (who I pay with milkshakes and bizarre postcards) has given me an excellent topic. Recently I chose to donate to a group looking to limit/control the dumping of human waste into the ocean from cruise ships. Science Cutie naturally wondered how big an impact this could have on a body of water as large as the ocean. My answer was “very” and “because eutrophication”.

Eutrophication is enrichment of an aquatic environment with nutrients. It’s natural in lakes and ponds over time, I’m sure most people reading have been around some stinky, algae filled ponds in their time and will have seen what I mean (even if you didn’t all know it at the time). Besides clouding the water and filling pond and lake bottoms with sediment, thereby reducing clarity (and light available underwater), eutrophication allows algal blooms to flourish and grow. Without enough light, they’ll start consuming oxygen. During particularly intense eutrophication, this can essentially suffocate other species.

This can radically change a habitat, but natural eutrophication is VERY slow, and though the build-up of sediment and nutrients may result in the lake or pond disappearing completely, local species have been adapting along with the changing water body. I mean, the fish and stuff are toast, but the lake/pond would have been supporting less and less of those things for a WHILE. But then there’s Unnatural eutrophication…That is, human-induced eutrophication.

Now we get to the cruise ships…

Human-induced eutrophication is a result of organic pollution, as with agriculture runoff or the dumping of human waste from ships or poorly managed sewers. Dee-lightful. Besides the aforementioned depletion of oxygen and light availability, toxic algae and bacteria can effectively poison local species. In the ocean, we are most familiar with this process as Red Tide. Toxins build up in the food chain as predators eat many things with a little toxin, then something bigger eats many of those and so on. This also impacts us because, considering we have found a away to eat almost everything in the sea, our big tasty fish dinner may have consumed enough toxic smaller fish to make it toxic to US. Yay. So now we have Red Tide warnings to let us know when and where we’ve totally messed everything up. If that’s not enough, you see large die-offs as the algal blooms suffocate or poison local species, thereby significantly reducing biodiversity.

Lead Science Cutie is correct that while you may not see the full effect of ocean eutrophication on a global scale, the ocean is composed of many ecosystems supporting a WIDE variety of life on which eutrophication can have a profound impact. Furthermore, if you dump enough waste in one area (as happens when many ships cover the same routes), it will spread. Even if we took the impact on our fishing industry out of the equation, the kinds of dieoffs that result from that are BAD NEWS.

Fortunately, the effects are reversible. However, we should support high water quality standards to allow such affects to reverse where eutrophication has already occurred, and to prevent it from spreading elsewhere.

Which is why I’m going to link to the fundraiser that started all this:

Protect the ocean from raw sewage

Support if you like.

Sources

Mack, Jeremy. 2015. Lake Scientist. Water Quality. “Eutrophication” April 13, 2015 < http://www.lakescientist.com/lake-facts/water-quality/&gt;

Eye-Saving Witchcraft

Time to learn about some magic folks, but first! A story.

So! Knowing me and my love of sleep, most of my friends are surprised when I tell them my favorite job was a research position that involved waking up at 4:30 am. But it was really the best: I got to stomp all over the prairie and wrangle critters (for science!) and everything. I only stumbled over a rattlesnake once. It did require some special equipment on my part, however. Namely cacti-resistant boots, cargo pants (tip: if you’re doing field work, get a pants with pockets big enough to hold a Nalgene. It’s worth it and you’ll thank me later) and sunglasses. I couldn’t get just any sunglasses, though. I was working outside for up to 11 hours, that is a LOT of sun exposure and my eye sight is bad enough without throwing sun damage into the mix. The solution for me was polarized sunglasses (also a hat).

If you’ve lived in a place with any significant amount of sun, you’ve probably seen polarized sunglasses at the store. If you grew up in a place that’s as damp, grey and dark as if it were being swallowed by a giant oyster, you probably haven’t. Or you didn’t until you moved to a place with sun and got a job that had you working outside all day (COUGH COUGH). To understand polarized lenses, you need to understand light.

Light has electric fields that move in waves and these waves acan be oriented in all different directions. Light from a lamp or the sun is like this and thus is unpolarized light. Reflective surfaces can polarize light so that it all travels in one orientation: horizontally. Besides being damn bright and annoying, this light can damage your vision. To combat this, you can get polarized lenses. Polarized lenses have a coating of polymers all aligned parallel to one another. This coating only allows light to pass through that has an electric field perpendicular to the orientation of the polymers.

ProfJoshpic

Scary diagram, but I want you all to see the important bits the official way, first. Namely, the orientation of the wave (the transmission axis of energy) and the direction it flows in.

Simplified diagram

You would think that the light would need to be oriented parallel to the polymers, but such light waves actually get absorbed by the polymers. Anyway, the result is that half of unpolarized light is blocked, while polarized light from glare is virtually eliminated.

Eye saving MAGIC.

Although polarized lenses are expensive, they are very much worth it for protecting your sight if you spend a lot of time in the sun.

Oh, FACT: lots of companies can say they sell polarized lenses even if they don’t. To tell for sure, find a highly reflective surface or a monitor screen and tilt your head to the side. Looking at it normally, it won’t be very bright, but after you tilt your head all the way to the side, the surface should be almost black.

Sources

–. 2012. “Polarization of Light.” Physics. Whitman College. Walla Walla, WA. Lecture.

Tyson, Jeff.  “How Sunglasses Work” 14 July 2000.  HowStuffWorks.com. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/sunglass.htm&gt;  02 April 2015.

Image Credits

Prof Josh (seriously cannot remember his name, someone HELP) for 1st.

Heartland Optical for 2nd.

CTS Wholesale Sunglasses for 3rd.

Superbugs Super Suck

So by “tomorrow” I would have another post, I meant “the tomorrow after I trying to learn how to poach eggs and twerk in my kitchen”. Also no, I’m not joking; I’ve never poached an egg before.

ANYWAY. Superbugs.

You know I have one of these.

Like the lice that evolved as humans and human habits changed, so have superbugs have evolved. “Superbug” is a blanket term referring to any bacteria that has evolved antibiotic resistance. Strains that were once easily susceptible to mild antibiotics, now require stronger and stronger drugs to be eradicated. So not only are the chances or prolonged illness and death increased, but more people have to deal with harsher drugs to cure an infection. Not good.

How does this happen? By frequent exposure, or infrequent, low-level exposure to antibiotics. I can explain how this works with one of my convoluted analogies (cause I haven’t done one of those in a while).

Many of you have probably heard of the businesses that will blast classical music outside in order to discourage hoodlums. The idea being that angry punks have no appreciation for Bach and Brahms and, finding the music annoying, will leave. If only one business were pumping the Baroque jams, then the kids would leave and find somewhere else to hang. Should a lot of businesses try this (whether or not angry punks are actually a problem), the kids would quickly become accustomed to the music. Similarly, if only a few businesses tried it, but not at volumes loud enough to be a proper annoyance, the kids would easily develop a tolerance and never leave. As a result, the businesses that actually have a problem with angry punks and hoodlums will have to play less and less mainstream music (like opera or free-form jazz) louder in order to clear their sidewalks. But at a certain point, they’ll alienate their own customers on top of the kids that want to smoke and curse outside. Either way, the business now has a lot of Classical Resistant Angry Punks (CRAP) to deal with.

In this scenario, the kids are the bacteria and the music is the antibiotic. When people use antibiotics unnecessarily (like when folks demand some for a viral infection), not only does it kill off your natural microbiota, but the frequent exposure ensures that only bacteria tough enough to withstand the drugs will survive. Remember, even your natural bacteria can be dangerous in the right place or population size.

Another problem occurs when patients do not finish their course of antibiotics. Many people assume that just because they feel better, they can stop taking medicine. However, this can end up only killing off the weaker bacteria, leaving resistant strains to proliferate and evolve stronger resistance. Bacteria can also pass their resistance on to or receive resistance from others. That’s how we get multiple-resistant pains in the neck like Staph.

If you have a bacterial infection that will not clear up on its own (like many ear infections), ABSOLUTELY take the antibiotics your doctor prescribes. Just make sure you finish the dose and do NOT demand antibiotics if they’re not necessary. Many people (especially parents) want to feel like they’re doing something about an infection, but antibiotics are not always the answer.

Hugs not drugs, guys.

Although hugs will not cure TB.

I strongly recommend drugs if you have TB.

The RIGHT ONES though.

Minocin will not help.

Just talk to a doctor, OK?

Ophid out.

Source

–. 2014. “Stop The Spread of Superbugs.” NIH News In Health. March 6, 2015. < http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/feb2014/feature1&gt;

Nice Lice

So I’ve discussed a bit how animals will adapt to humans using crows as an example. But there are some other examples that aren’t so fun. Really fascinating and potentially cool, but not fun, at least not for humans. Specifically, I’m talking about pathogens.

But discussing antibiotic resistant superbugs is a major downer, so to kick it all off, today I will tell y’all a tale of parasites. You know, happy stuff.

Lice, if you are not aware, is a broad term describing 4000 different species. While a number like that may be enough to make your skin itch and crawl (or not, just don’t think about little buggy foots scurrying over your arms), humans only have to worry about 3 species: head lice, body lice and pubic lice (aka crabs).

Even if you managed not to share a hairbrush with anyone in grade school, you probably encountered head lice at some point, either cause you had to smell your sibling while they underwent the “mayo cure” or missed your friends while they were quarantined at home. Head lice are small, whitish and have been around for 7 million years. They’ve evolved with and bothered humans since our common ancestor to the chimp was around to scratch at them. Pretty impressive.

Body lice, on the other hand, have been around for a lousy 107,000 years. And where did they come from? They evolved from head lice as humans began wearing clothes. Despite what the name implies, body lice begin their lives in the seams of clothing, where they will eventually lay their own eggs, with a relocation to the skin for easier feeding inbetween. If you’re wondering why such clothes crawling critter is not a bigger problem, it’s because body lice need a consistently warm environment that, in humans, is best fostered by wearing the same clothes for weeks on end without washing. Something early humans did a lot, until someone discovered laundry. As a result, in modern times, lice favor the homeless and destitute (another reason why it’s so important to donate clothing to local shelters and charities).

Now, where does everyone think pubic lice came from? If you guessed that they evolved from body lice, well…NOPE. Pubic lice can inhabit any course hair (eyebrows, facial hair, etc) on the human body, but they are most closely related to lice found on gorillas. Now, considering that their easiest mode of transmission is via skin-to-skin contact…well, let’s just say I have serious questions for the early human who first caught crabs. Probably so did their significant other. And the gorilla.

Look! I caught crabs.

So that last tidbit was mostly a bonus, but pubic lice, as have head and body lice, have evolved with humans and their habits. In the case of head lice, we deal with them enough that they are adapting and becoming resistant to our extermination methods, which will bring me to tomorrow’s topic.

Cheers!

Sources

Stewart, Amy. 2011. “Wicked Bugs”. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill, NC.

Arts and Grafts

Science Cutie strikes again! No, that’s not the title of a new sci-fi romance (although I like the sounds of it already), but instead, one exceptionally cute smarty who has been feeding me blog topics. Today it’s grafting.

By which I mean plant grafting, not animal grafting. Although imagine what you could get if you could graft a cobra to a panda?? An abomination, that’s what.

Grafting is a method of asexual propagation in which buds or shoots are “bonded” to a host, or stock, plant. There are many methods of grafting, and they are all typically used when the plant being grafted either won’t root well or possesses a poor root system. Additionally, gardeners may create Franken-plants to support a more delicate plant by grafting it onto a tougher, woodier relative (as with roses) or to ensure it doesn’t grow too tall (as with many fruit trees).

P1020053

Although interspecies grafting is possible, it’s not a perfect science. Some plants make better stock, others thrive better as scions (the bud or shoot being grafted). The less related two species are, the less likely it is that they will be compatible. Some genuses in the same family may graft well, while others fail or are only briefly successful.

It is remarkable that grafting can be so successful, though. Grafting in animals is much more complex and much more prone to failure. Animals have much more complex immune systems that can better recognize “non-self” proteins. Plants…not so much. But you can’t just watch one episode of Martha Stewart and attach buds willy nilly with painter’s tape to your mom’s mauled roses (like I did). There are a few conditions that must be met.

First, the species need to be compatible, as I have mentioned. The cambial tissues layers must also meet in order for the scion to bond with the stock plant. Cambial tissue is a layer just underneath the inner bark. This is a vascular layer that will help provide moisture and nutrients from the stock to the scion. However, the graft can still dry out, so it must be kept moist until healed.

If you want a real step-by-step, however, check out some of my sources, or some books at your local nursery.

Soon you too can graft plant-based abominations for fun and profit!

Or maybe just fun? Let me know if anyone makes a profit.

Sources

–. “Compatability/Incompatability”. Grafting. Cornell University. Feb 13, 2015. < http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/specific.grafting/compatibility.html&gt;

–. 1998. “Grafting”. Plant Propagation: Asexual Propagation. University of Arizona. Feb 13, 2015. < http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/propagation/grafting.html>

–. 2015. “Learn To Graft Your Favorite Plants”. Better Homes and Gardens. Feb 13, 2015. < http://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/garden-care/how-to-graft-plants/>

Rose photo is mine. Rose belongs to Whitman College.

Eating Duck, Duck, GOOSE

I was on a roll posting things there and then suddenly poof! I swear I wasn’t just eating bon bons…well, I’m doing that now…but that is beside the point! Life happens, we move on.

Specifically, we move on to ducks.

DUCK

Some cutie wanted to know why it is safe and acceptable to eat duck medium-rare or rare, but not chicken. Why indeed! Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it. Apparently I do not eat enough ducks. Also, Googling this will get you a lot of cooking forums where folks suppose that ducks and geese are bacteria free.

Ducks and geese, like everything else, are exposed to bacteria in their daily lives and thus susceptible to bacterial contamination. The difference between them and chicken is actually in the muscle itself.

Although not as red as beef, duck and goose meat is considered “red”. As migratory birds, they possess fast-oxidative muscle fibers (which I described oh so long ago…). Like beef, these muscles are dense, so bacteria cannot penetrate deep into the tissue. As a result, as long as the outside of the duck or goose is cooked, the inside can safely remain pink. Of course, as the FDA always likes to remind us at the bottom of the menu, “any raw or undercooked meat or eggs carry a risk of food-bourne illness, &etc”. But The Risk is still greatly decreased.

Chicken on the other hand, is a considerably less dense white meat. Bacteria can penetrate deeper into their fast-glycolytic muscle tissue, so cooking chicken all the way through is necessary. If you don’t, that pink center will only get warm enough to incubate whatever could be living in there. And that would be gross.

Don’t be gross.

The End.

Sources

Armentrout, Jennifer. “Cooking Duck Breast: Is Medium-Rare Safe?” Fine Cooking. Feb 9, 2015. <http://www.finecooking.com/articles/cooking-duck-brest-medium-rare.aspx&gt;

Sherwood, Lauralee, Hillar Klandorf and Paul Yancey. 2005. Animal Physiology: From Genes to Organisms. Thomson Brookes/Cole, Belmont, CA.

–. 2015 “Meat and Poultry Temperature Guide.” Food Network. Feb 9. 2015 <http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/articles/meat-and-poultry-temperature-guide.html&gt;

Raw Power- Clarification

Some things have been been bugging me since I posted Raw Power the other day, and I want to make a clarification. First of all, food poisoning is serious business. Bacteria like E Coli and Salmonella can make you very sick, some strains can even kill you. Things like improper butchering or storage techniques allow for bacterial contamination and proliferation, as a result, humans invented cooking to kill any potential bacteria living in their food. Eating raw meat means you trust yours or the restaurant’s butcher and the chef that prepared it. Although there are grades of bacterial exposure (called inoculum) that range from unnoticeable to the body to lethal, it does NOT take much time for bacteria to proliferate to a lethal inoculum size (which varies between species). It can take as little as 20 minutes for a population on your food to double. So ALWAYS keep food cold and separate from other things when not preparing it and wash everything well and frequently.

Sushi, conversely, is a greater concern for parasitic contamination. Preparing sushi means choosing fish that have been carefully inspected for any parasites. They’ve also been flash frozen at incredibly cold temperatures to kill any lingering buggies (your freezer is not cold enough to do this). If you’re making sushi (or steak tartarre, for that matter) tell your butcher so they can help you choose the best and safest cuts.

Lastly, I addressed bacterial contamination at large, but it remains to be said that E Coli, Salmonella and other enteric bacteria reside in the gut, so contamination with such bacteria is indicative of exposure to fecal matter (usually due to nicking the intestines during butchering). These do not just live in your environment if you are a safe cook. Be a safe cook.

Again, there are safe ways to eat raw meat, but you and the meat have to be safe. The FDA is strict about testing for the serious stuff like E Coli and Salmonella, so I focused on other types of bacterial exposure. However, I realized my post might have minimized the dangers and thus I wanted to clarify some things.

That is all.

Superb Owl Sunday

Aw damn…aw shit I MISSED IT. I was so busy with work I forgot about the most important event of the year: Superb Owl Sunday. I know I’m late to the game, but I’d like to put in the Barn Owl for Most Superb Owl.

Seriously. That is one Superb Owl.

I have heard the suggestions of osprey or guys really enthusiastic about America, but those are ridiculous ideas. Neither of those are owls. Barn owls, however! Besides being damn fine raptors, they are an excellent natural mouse trap; a family of owls will consume 1300 rats per year! How can a fish hawk or star-spangled bros compare? I don’t see either of THEM eating that many rodents.

Barn owl populations are greatly threatened by human activity and development; they’re hit by cars and they can fly into barbed fences or power lines. To help them out (besides watching for animals when driving), get an owl box! Just don’t bug them once they get settled. They don’t like that.

Sources

Frendt, Don, Andy Harmer and Phil Johnson. 2011. “Natural History”. The Hungry Owl Project. Feb 2, 2015 <http://www.hungryowl.org/education/natural_history.html&gt;