The Ants go Marching One by One

Another very interesting TV show I saw on HD Discovery channel. It is entitled "Ants - Nature's Secret Power" and well worth watching if you get a chance. I read that it is an award winning documentary (I can see why) and that "Ants II" is coming out in 2008 - I can hardly wait!

I grew up with numerous ant farms in mayonnaise jars with hose (not panty hose - they didn't make them back then - but old fashioned hose) over the top held on with a rubber band. Sometimes I am truly amazed at what my mother let me do in my bedroom. I have always been fascinated with ants. This just fueled the fire. It even crossed my mind to quit my job and apply for a postdoc with some ant researcher. Seriously. So I am now determined to start an ant farm for my classroom. I am going to see if I can find some ants in Florida in January when I go there for my conference, baggie them up and tenderly put them in my luggage and transport them home. If that doesn't work I am going to order some from a science catalog. I want an ant farm. Ant farms are so cool. If you want to make an ant farm, here is a diagram. Of course you can buy those fancy ones, but if you are not interested in investing in such a worthwhile luxury, you can build one easily. The reason for the small jar or bottle is to keep the ants from digging their tunnels so far into the middle that you can't see any of them. To encourage them to go toward the outside, wrap dark paper or cloth around the outside at the level of the sand. You can use pop bottles that have been cut as well as more fancy things. If you are using a big jar with a lid, punch holes in the lid then put it over the panty hose. If you don't, ants can crawl through any but the tiniest holes and you will welcome critters into your home.

Don't tranport reproductive ants - queens. That is not only illegal but not smart - we don't need any more exotic species introduced. Enjoy these amazing little creatures. They truly are wonders to be seen.

Coolest Woodpecker Story to date!

Yesterday I was working at my desk in my home office. I heard tapping to my right, where the window is. It was time for Kevin to get home so I thought he might be tapping on the window. After finishing what I was typing I turned my head and there was a pileated woodpecker right there on the window sill pecking lightly at the window as if to get my attention. The window is only about 4 feet from where I sit so he was really close. I looked at him and he looked at me. I think he is my friend now. It was an awesome moment. I didn't want to move at first. When he went to a nearby tree I went for the camera but when I got back he was gone. Here is a picture of a pileated woodpecker. They are very large - about raven size.

I will never forget being visited by my woodpecker friend.

Krakatoa and chaos

I recently saw a show on the PBS series Secrets of the Dead. "Catastrophe" used a variety of scientific and historic data to demonstrate that there was a huge climactic change about the year 535 AD. For more information on the series or show go to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/flash/flash.html They began looking at the cause. It appears to have been caused by a volcanic eruption and some scientists believe it was an earlier eruption of Krakatoa. If you aren't familar with the 1883 eruption, I suggest you Google it. Basically this volcano located in Indonesia (do you know of any other significant geologic event in this area????) blew and the island essentially disappeared, leaving instead some new, smaller islands around where the old island existed. It caused global climate change as well. But not as severe as the change in the 6th century.

The reason I liked this show so much was that it tied together so many different areas of learning such as biology (tree ring analysis), geology (that's obvious), and history (historical records from Europe and Java). One scientist extrapolated that this eruption influenced a number of historical events including the emersion of the plague and the abandonment of Teotihuacan in Mexico (again, a good thing to Google if you don't know about this).

We so often teach biology separate from chemistry which is REALLY separate from history and heaven forbid we talk about language arts! But the universe is not in compartments. Everything affects everything else. Chaos theory postulates that a butterfly's fluttering on one part of the globe affects weather on the other side. That may be somewhat of an exaggeration but a volcanoe - hey, it has to affect everything. For a lot of great examples of this, read James Burke's Connections or see if you can find the video series. Next time you are eating ice cream think about the fact that a doctor trying to cure malaria (mal = bad, aria = air) invented a cooler (air conditioner) which evolved into the refrigerator, freezer and ice cream maker. Didn't cure malaria though - it wasn't caused by hot, bad air as thought but by a parasite carried by another parasite - mosquitoes, the most deadly animal on the planet.

Look for how everything affects everything else. What did Hurricane Katrina have to do with car manufacturers? And what does that mean for importation of foreign vehicles. And how does that affect the economy in those countries? What does that have to do with politics? I'd love to see other ideas you come up with.

Woodpeckers

Our home seems to have turned into a haven for woodpeckers. I saw a flicker flying through last week. We have had both downy's and hairy's on our suet on the porch. And yesterday I saw a pileated woodpecker out my window. I tried to get a photo but he kept going around the tree. The photo here is from the USGS. They are very large birds and very interesting. They make oblong holes in trees instead of the round ones other woodpeckers make.

Woodpeckers peck for 3 reasons. First of all they peck for food. They don't peck healthy wood - only wood that is dead or dying and has bugs in it - they eat the bugs. They make their homes in the same kind of wood - why make a home where there isn't any food? The third reason they peck is called "drumming". In the spring the males have to show off their ability to peck to the females. This is an important characteristic because it tells the female that they can make a home and find food. They like to drum on things that make a lot of noise. Every spring a hairy woodpecker uses our metal woodstove chimney. Drumming causes lots of noise but little or no damage. I'm glad I learned the term drumming because once, when teaching high school, I told the students that the males were making all that noise to show off their _____ (you get the picture). It came out completely wrong and caused a lot of laughter. Now I am careful not to say it that way.

Basically, If you have woodpeckers pecking on your house regularly you better have it checked for termites or carpenter ants!

Woodpeckers don't migrate so, if you live in a cold climate and you put out suet you will likely have woodpeckers visit you.

Nature's Sense of Humor

I have to believe that there is a sense of humor in the universe - after all we have the okapi and the duckbill platypus. Most people have heard of the platypus but did you know they don't have nipples? The milk kind of oozes out and the babies have to lap it up. They just lay there on their backs and the babies lick up the milk. Another interesting thing is that male platypus have a hollow claw that injects venom. It theoretically could kill a small dog.


The okapi was obviously created by kindergarteners. The okapi is most closely related to the giraffe but looks like someone stuck zebra upper legs on goat lower legs. Then they took a big horse front and stuck it to a smaller horse backside and put on the legs. They topped it off with a giraffe head complete with knobs. They have a prehensile tongue. That means it is very, very long and they can wrap it around things. That is impressive.

Entropy

Entropy is the concept that all things tend toward disorder unless there is an input of energy. Tonight I am inputting a lot of energy to reduce the entropy of my office. Fun, fun, fun.

Nutrition?????

Today in class we discussed nutrition. Then I went to Hardees! I did eat a roast beef with no fries - felt too guilty to go for the 1/2 pound thick burger with large fries. What are we busy people to do? We could bring lunch but bringing leftovers would mean cooking in order to have leftovers. TV dinners (especially the ones designed for losing weight) are much healthier than in the past and they work.

There are a few good nutritious choices at the fast food places. Sandwiches and salads are great but some of us want something hot - especially in the winter. Besides them, there are bean burritos (which you can get al Fresco at Taco Bell instead of with cheese), and Wendy's chili or baked potato (or both). I wish Hardees or Wendys had steamed broccoli or baked sweet potatoes.

Of course, there is the vending-machine food pyramid. You have to have one of each food group - yellow package, red package, brown package and green package. Pick clear or green bottle to go with.

If you were not aware, there is a new food pyramid. My students last year created a nutrition website. You can access it at http://www-instruct.nmu.edu/education/clowe and click on "Nutrition for Teens" at the bottom of the page. The new food pyramid is discussed and compared to the old one on the page labeled "food pyramid" and it contains a link to the USDA official food pyramid site. There is even a place for kids on the USDA site.

Green Hydra

In class we found green hydra in our pond water. According to what I have read, green hydra are common. However, after many, many hours and days of gazing at pond scum (one of my favorite things to do on a rainy day) I had never seen one. This one has a budding "baby" - they grow right out of the side of the "parent" and then pop off when they are big enough. They are clones of the parent - this is called asexual reproduction as opposed to the crayfish experience. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, hydra are related to jelly fish, corals and (my favorite) anemones. They have tentacles with the same kind of "stinging cells" that the others have but they are so small they really can't do any damage to you. These are green because they have a green friend. They have an algae that lives inside their tissues and makes food. So, if the hydra doesn't have any food they just have to be in the light and the algae makes the food. In turn, they provide the algae with a nice, safe house. Cool, huh? What if we had green friends. If we got hungry and didn't have any money we could just stand outside in the sun. But then, what would we miss? Steak? Chocolate? Maybe that's not such a good idea.

testing this

I am testing this e-mail to blog thing.  I wondered if it would really work.  If so, I can perceive typing blogs during meetings.  But, of course, I would never do a thing like that! 

Teaching Evolution

Today I presented at our fall conference a session on teaching evolution with sensitivity. In my experience, most difficulties with parents over evolution are avoidable. Not that there aren't some parents who will object anyway but most will not object to their students learning the principles of evolution. What they object to are teachers who say you have to "believe" in evolution - as if it were deity. They object to people who do not respect their right to their own religious beliefs. In some circles people of a wide variety of religions and cultures are welcomed into the society but fundamentalist Christians are somehow not deserving of that same respect. I call for teachers of evolution to think about their own reactions to those with differences. You do not have to share religion or cultural practices or beliefs to respect and care for the people who do. Confusing science and religion is not only a problem of those who object to the teaching of evolution but also of those who teach it. We need to make sure we are only assessing the students' knowledge - not their beliefs. We can assess reasoning skills but let us not tread in areas where science doesn't belong. And for Heaven's sake :) let's don't use the words "believe in evolution". Try saying "I accept the evidence of the theory of evolution". (side note - is evolution just a theory? YES and so is every other "how" or "why" in science.)

In addition, many people in the sects that object have been told or have assumed that biologists must be atheists. This is patently not true as most teachers and scientists know. Some are, some are agnostics but many are active in a variety of religions. We need to be better at communicating this to the students and parents. Finally, I think a problem is exasperated when, in the arrogance of science, we begin to assume science is the only way, or the only good way, to look at and learn about the universe. Philosophy, the arts, history, literature, cultural studies, and religion are wonderful ways to view the same universe. A life without these - with only science - would be dull indeed.

A sensitive approach to the teaching evolution will result in more people learning and understanding the prinicples of evolution and not feeling that they have to be adversarial in doing so.

Crayfish Gone Wild

Last weekend we went on a canoe trip to the Platte River near the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore. As I was waiting for Kevin to get back from downstream where he dropped the car, the canoe-guru (young man in charge of setting up canoes for people who rented - we didn't - we have our own very nice canoe) stared intently into the water near the dock. Always the curious geek, I asked what he was looking at. He said something to the effect that he thought the crayfish in the water were having sex. Yes, indeed they were. The water was very clear so I took a picture. We canoed for several hours. The weather was perfect (unlike today where it is very cold and windy - Oklahoma cold) and the fall color was peak. There were herons on the bank, some very interesting yet-to-be-identified woodpecker in the trees and king salmon in the river. Yes, king salmon. They stock them for the spawn. They are BIG fish! We also climbed the dunes. Not the part where everyone, their kids and grandmothers climb. No - we had to do the crazy thing and climb the very steep, slidy (is that a word?) part. This is a picture of my feet as I was looking down from about 3/4 of the way up.