Archive for the 'Science' Category

      No, this is not about the popular TV series by the same name. Nor is it about the war in Iraq. This lens is about an area the size of Massachusetts which spreads across the Gulf Of Mexico (our country’s gulf coast) from Texas to Florida. This area, dubbed “The Dead Zone” by biologists, is fed from the mighty Mississippi River system which drains the entire midsection of the country. From border to border and from the Rockies to the Appalachian Mountains ten states drain into the Mississippi River. This area is the country’s bread belt and corn is the name of the game.
 
     However, there is a giant defugalty lurking here. Corn is also feeding ever larger biofuel refineries as well our stomachs and between the two the price for corn has been driven upwards of 10$/bushel. Here is the bad part. Corn needs lots of nitrogen and phosphorous to produce bumper crops, so the farmers are pouring these chemicals on, over ever larger numbers of acres. And these chemicals are leaking into, eventually, the Mississippi, and finally, the gulf coast waters. This industrial strength river of nitrogen and phosphorous is the ideal medium for the unchecked and explosive growth of an algae and bacterial bloom. A bloom so intense it draws all the oxygen out of the water. All the fish populations and marine life which used to call these warm waters home have been forced to relocate to be able to breathe.

     Until the price of corn goes down it will never be a viable alternative energy resource. The price will not come down unless the production goes way up. If production goes way up, the chemical contamination of our rivers goes up and the gulf coast war goes into second gear. It seems this war on algae is doomed to failure before it even gets proper media exposure. Government wars, like the war on poverty, or the war on drugs, or the war in Iraq seem to be doomed to fail at every turn, but we still waste precious and monstrous amounts of our collective resources on them. Seems to me it is time the government gives up the waging of hopeless wars and the funding of bottomless pits and resumes doing what it does well. Remind me, what is that exactly?
   
     I believe there may be a biological and economical use for the huge algae bloom. It is close to shore, and would appear to be as nourishing as say, for cows, corn silage or baled hay. I am looking into possible solutions (algae as biofuel?) and would appreciate any input from expert to novice. The solution to both increasing corn yields and decreasing fertilizer use could also involve some form of recycling. The runoff does seem to be ideal if it could be recirculated throughout the field irrigation system. Please forward any thoughts you may have on the subject. 

      In one of my favorite books, author Tom Robbins makes a case for a way to promote longevity which doesn’t require vitamins or supplements of any kind. In “The Jitterbug Perfume” he follows the 1000 year life of King Alabar during the 10 centuries prior to the 21st. During feudal times it was customary to execute an aging  king by means of a poisoned egg. All that was necessary for this to occur was a single strand of grey hair or a failing performance in the  private chambers. This policy was enforced to ensure a strong and virile leader sat on the throne since it was the king’s  job to lead knights to battle to protect the kingdom. The king’s leadership was rewarded with a generous harem to assure bountiful heirs to the throne.      

     As the story goes, , the job of administering  the fatal poisoned egg fell to the king’s number one consort, or queen. Because of his unusual wisdom and compassion, Alabar’s queen decided to conspire with him to circumvent his death. When a traitorous grey hair was discovered by the court magician the king’s execution was decreed. As planned, the egg’s lethal dose was diluted, and after his faked death the queen dug him up and he fled the kingdom. He traveled East, and after spending an enjoyable time with Pan and his nymphs, he wandered into a remote sect who had discovered the secret to eternal life. He spent enough time with them to learn the basics of their ways and so was able to maintain himself in the prime of life. Although breathing properly and eating correctly were cornerstones of this sect’s secret to life, the Tom Robbins twist to a long life was the knowledge that one must fool the body’s genes into believing a man’s reproductive powers were still necessary and in use.  

  
     The basic premise is that our DNA has but one function; to assure the survival of the species. To this end our DNA will perform the job of cellular cleansing and faithful cell replication as long as it believes the body is still performing it’s reproductive function. Once our DNA determines we are no longer procreating, it slacks off and ageing and cellular degradation begin.    

    Tom Robbins’ theory received an unexpected confirmation from an anthropology study of hunter/gather societies. A mathematical model by Stanford University biologist Shripad D. Tuliapurkar and colleagues affirmed that human evolution would have preserved genes that favor both male and female survival for as long as they can reproduce.     
    So the moral of the story is use it or lose it. It seems our sex lives may have a great deal to do with the health and length of our lives.

    Sounds fair to me.     Bob Parmelee         parmsplace.com

     There has been an enormous amount of progress made since Watson and Crick first discovered the double helix structure of DNA in 1958. The original and deceptively simple version held that genes encoded proteins in our cells. These proteins, in turn, did the work necessary to keep an organism alive. At that time it was thought that only 1.5% of the genome was actually used for this purpose. The other 98.5% of the genome was dubbed “junk DNA” assumed to have been left over from a millennia of mutations during life’s millions of years of evolution on this planet.

     What is amazing , to me at least, is the fact that, as complicated as we humans are, we only have about 2,000 more genes, or about 10% more, than the microscopic roundworm. And the roundworm doesn’t even have a brain!  What we do have in abundance are RNA transcripts which are produced by these genes of ours. It turns out these RNA transcripts do the real work of differentiating us from roundworms. A good analogy would be to picture the building of a garage versus the building of a hospital. The basic materials like dimension lumber, sheet rock, plumbing pipes or wiring and roofing are the same. The tools necessary to assemble these materials, like hammers and nails, saws and screws are the same also. What is different is the complexity of the structure or the blueprints. The construction of a hospital involves the orchestration of hundreds or thousands of rules which specify which materials are used, where they are used, and when. In our cells the RNA transcripts provide the assembly instructions for our body’s blueprints, and when they spring into action.

     Although it took less than a decade to sequence our DNA once the tools were available, it will probable take decades to unravel the regulatory function of our RNA transcripts. The complex interweaving of genes, transcripts, and the regulation each provides has spawned an alphabet soup of anacronyms describing these newly found roles. One thing is certain.  Our understanding of  our genetic coding will get a great deal more complicated before it begins to get sorted out again.

Bob Parmelee                 Parmsplace.com

     After the E-Coli /Spinach disaster of 2006 which caused several deaths and many severe illnesses in over half the states, little has been heard. However, the repercussions are still reverberating throughout the farming community. In a typical display of overkill farmers have been subjected to hoards of auditors. Among their duties these auditors roam the fields looking for animal feces. Crop circles are then drawn around these “piles” and no crops within 25 ft. are supposed to be harvested. I am no farmer but I can imagine trying to dodge a field full of circles and trying to make a living out of what is left. At great cost fences are being erected to keep the free roaming animals out of the crops. Animals known to carry the E-Coli bacterium include cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and deer. Ponds are being filled in and huge buffer zones are being established around irrigation water sources and livestock waste depositories. However, the invasion doesn’t stop with land animals. We need also to be concerned with snails, frogs and tadpoles, slugs, rats and field mice, and, of course, air born attacks from flies, butterflies, and the birds and the bees, etc.    

     Obviously we cannot protect ourselves from everything which might carry a disease. To suggest we can sterilize all animals roaming millions of acres along with the ground they cover is ridiculous. However, science may soon provide a way to do one better. It seems E-Coli and other bacteria have a sweet tooth. Tests have indicated these bugs have an affinity for particular types of sugars. When nanoparticles of iron are coated with a pathogens’ particular favorite, they readily bond to the coating. Passing these solutions by a magnet can draw away an astounding 88% of the pathogens in as little as 45 minutes of exposure.     Because nanoparticles are extremely cheap to produce they could assist in decontaminating not just food, but blood reserves, water sources, etc. Virtually anything the little bugs live in we can trick them out of. Isn’t science grand?

     Bob Parmelee       www.parmsplace.com

     A recent article in Science News discussed the latest satellite used to measure earth’s ice sheets. To calibrate the altitude measuring instruments on board the satellite the scientists use a salt flat in Bolivia. This salt flat was determined by previous tests to be flat over an area approximately 25 miles wide by 30 miles long. This New Jersey sized area was crisscrossed by SUVs with GPS antennas mounted to their roofs. The scientists collected data every 100 meters (about the length of a football field). What amazed me most about the survey is not that they discovered that the field wasn’t flat. What blew my mind was that they were able to tell that the vehicles were riding about 5mm (less than ¼ of an inch) higher off the ground at the end of the day when their fuel tanks were almost empty. The salt flat results indicated that the highest point was actually about 30 inches higher than the lowest point, about 30 miles away.

     Now let’s talk about global warming. The same degree of accuracy is telling us the world temperature is rising at unprecedented rates. However, large numbers of senior legislators (read George Bush and cronies) are still disputing these results and their urgency. The ice caps are, in fact disappearing, and the oceans are indeed rising. These people who dispute the findings have no scientific background and are therefore able to doubt the accuracy of the scientists and their instruments.

     What surprises me most about our country is not that these people can deny or bury anything contrary to their belief system under a mountain of B.S.  What most amazes me is that we continue to elect these ignorant people to the highest offices in the land. If we don’t wake up soon, the damage we continue to do to the environment will be our undoing. Who cares if alternative energy development costs the oil ticket a few billions? They didn’t deserve the money anyway. Our children deserve better.

Bob Parmelee             parmsplace.com