Tiger Moth

October 22, 2024

Our enclosed porch serves as a greenhouse for both Melissa’s succulents and a rack during late winter for my vegetable seedlings. The area is also used to store Melissa’s supplies and the seeds I use to feed the birds. When I started feeding birds several years ago, I set the bags on the floor. This worked for several months, but as the weather got colder the rodents that thrived in the tall grass of the lot behind our house were more intent on seeking food and shelter. While I never saw a house mouse (Mus musculus) or brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), I did have several instances of “something” chewing through the seed bags and spilling the contents onto the floor. I now have a large 20 gallon (76 l) tub for the larger bags and 3 smaller 5 gallon (15 l) buckets to hold the daily dispersal. The containers are large enough to contain the seed and have a lid which keeps out the (hopefully) mice. While cleaning behind the “supplies” behind the feed buckets I found more evidence of mice, but again no actual critters. What I did find beneath several of the buckets was a brightly colored moth. When I checked my phone identification it said this was a harnessed tiger moth.

When I looked online, I found the harnessed tiger moth (Apantesis phalerata) is a species of moth within the Erebidae family, first described by Thaddeus William Harris in 1841. The harnessed tiger moth’s subfamily (Arctiinae) has about 11,000 species of tiger moths divided globally across three tribes. The harnessed tiger moth is indigenous to North America, with a geographical distribution from Ontario, Quebec, and Maine in the north, to the west in South Dakota, and stretching south to Florida and Texas. The adult moth has a wingspan ranging from 1.2 to 1.7 inches (30 to 42 mm), and their distinctive black and orange wing patterns earned them the name “tiger” moth. The tiger moth has a grooved exoskeletal structure (tymbals) on the posterior three segments of the thorax (metathorax) which they use to produce high frequency cicada (superfamily, Cicadoidea) like clicks. The clicks are a defensive mechanism against predation and for communication during mating. The lifespan of a harnessed tiger moth ranges from 5 to 10 days after mating. The moth’s activity period varies regionally, being active from April to September in the southern parts of its range, and from May to August in the northern areas. My tiger moth was active (at least alive) in mid-October.

The harnessed tiger moth uses its vibrant colors to serve as a visual deterrent, signaling to potential predators that they are distasteful. Despite their warning colors, harnessed tiger moths are preyed upon by bats, which rely on echolocation (not sight) to hunt. This tiger moth is not poisonous, but adults do secrete a liquid to ward off predators that can cause allergic reactions in humans. The furry body of the caterpillar can also cause rashes and irritation if touched with bare hands. There are many spiritual meanings attached to the various species of tiger moth and different types of tiger moths hold different gravity in various cultures worldwide. White-colored tiger moths are seen as a sign of peace and innocence as white is often considered the color of peace.

THOUGHTS: Two common spiritual meanings are attached to all tiger moth species around their attraction to light. Some believe spotting a tiger moth is an indication that the person must leave the dark and start embracing the light in their soul. For other cultures this is a warning that means not to be easily lured by charming deals or things and think rationally before making decisions. Human decisions are fraught with a similar dichotomy of good and bad. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, in his Meditations said, “You have power over your mind – not outside events.” Nietzsche takes the same perspective, affirming the agency of the individual goes beyond good and evil and declares what is “good” and “bad” by what is serving and hindering their own goals. There are not absolutes, only your reaction to events. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Amulet

October 15, 2024

I finally got around to going through the items placed in “my bag” when we were clearing out mom’s belongings last year. These were the items that had “made the cut” when my sister helped her downsize from her two bedroom condo to the one bedroom apartment. We did not have a lot of time to be out of the apartment, so things were not always carefully distributed. One particular small basket contained a number of photos of me when I was a child along with something I had no idea what was. It was an elongated cylinder about 5 inches (12.5 cm) long with three beaded chains hanging beneath it that each held several small charms. While I did not know what it was, it had obviously held some significance to mom. Rather than boxing it up for my son to deal with as part of my estate, I decided to post a picture on our sib feed (messenger) and see if anyone knew what it was. My sister immediately responded this was an amulet to bring good luck to the household given to my parents by the Turkish foreign exchange student they had sponsored.

When I looked online, I found an amulet, also known as a good luck charm, is believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word “amulet” comes from the Latin word “amuletum”, or an object that protects a person from trouble. While I could not find my amulet, I did find several traditional charms popular in Turkish households, including an eye bead or naẓar (Arabic, meaning ‘sight’ or ‘attention’), an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the evil eye. A typical nazar is made of handmade glass featuring concentric circles or teardrop shapes in dark blue, white, light blue and black, occasionally with a yellow/gold edge. The bead is a mixture of molten glass, iron, copper, water, and salt, all ingredients thought to shield people from evil. According to Turkish belief, the blue acts as a shield against evil and absorbs negativity. Blue eyed humans are relatively rare in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, so the ancients believed people with light eyes (particularly blue) could curse someone with just one look. The Assyrians had turquoise and blue-eye amulets used during the 2nd millennium BCE.

Two years ago (almost to the day) we were in Breisach, Germany, and the Black Forrest. I had commented at the time on how this forest (and its tales and superstitions) was popularized by the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm. The quaint towns and villages we passed seemed to be untouched by time, with their cobblestoned streets and traditional half-timbered houses. As we wound through the countryside, our guide explained how every farmstead carved out among the vales had its own tiny chapel, how crucifix shrines dotted the countryside, and that charms were placed above many doorsills as deterrents for the witches said to proliferate the area. Winter isolation gave time for stories and the dark foreboding forest gave rise to the imagination. A trusted amulet or charm was needed by people and houses alike.

THOUGHTS: An amulet is said to derive its properties and powers from magic, whereas a religious amulet is believed to have no power of their own without faith in Jesus and being blessed by a clergyman. Amulets are sometimes confused with pendants, or small aesthetic objects that hang from necklaces. Any pendant may be an amulet, with the difference being that it is believed to protect its holder from danger. The fear of the unknown is instinctual for humans as we do not possess the fangs of a lion or the claws of a bear. Feeling safe, we can overcome more powerful things than ourselves. A modern human amulet is often money or a weapon, but the best protection is still found within the herd. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Aurora

October 11, 2024

Both the national and local news were abuzz yesterday with predictions of the amazing light displays that were going to appear in the northern sky last night. This dazzling display of color was the result of a powerful solar storm that slammed into Earth. This celestial phenomenon is more often a tourist attraction for people traveling to Alaska, Iceland, and regions within the Arctic Circle, but last night’s storm triggered lights in the night sky much further south. This is the second time a severe solar storm hit the Earth this year, with the first being in May. My sister lives in Maine and she started the buzz for our family, posting photos on our family feed of the crimson display seen from her back yard. It was also suggested by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that the lights were going to be visible as far south as Alabama and northern California. Reports came in from as far south as Texas and Arizona, while the southern lights were seen in parts of Australia. As we watched the 10 pm news, there were postings of the aurora from areas of northwest Arkansas.

When I looked online, I found an aurora, commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth’s sky that is predominantly seen in high-latitude regions around the Arctic and Antarctic. Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky. An aurora is the result of disturbances in the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Major disturbances result from enhancements in the speed of the solar wind from coronal holes and from coronal mass ejections that alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma. The particles, mainly electrons and protons, then precipitate into the Earth’s upper atmosphere (thermosphere or exosphere) and the ionization and excitation of atmospheric components emit light of varying colors and complexity. The form of the aurora is dependent on the amount of acceleration the solar winds impart to the precipitating particles. Most of the planets in Sol’s Solar System, some moons, brown dwarfs, and even comets can display an aurora.

Melissa and I had taken the bait in May and gone outside to look for the aurora on our back deck. The TV news had been posting photos taken throughout our state and we wondered if we could see anything. Our deck is mostly surrounded by trees, but there is a patch of northern sky that is visible. At the time we had not seen anything. This time Melissa’s friends began sending photos and we were again lured into the dark. Melissa used her flashlight rather than the porch lights to keep the area as dark as possible. When situated she turned off the flashlight and we scanned the horizon. Nothing. The night was pitch black with only the faint lights of the city to the north visible. Then I remembered the lights could often be seen through filters such as a phone camera. Again, I scanned and horizon. Nothing. However, as I looked higher in the sky, I began to see the pink glow above the blue caused by the lights of the city to the north. We saw the aurora.

THOUGHTS: Witnessing the aurora goes along with the total Eclipse of the sun as memorable celestial events for Melissa and me during 2024. The contrast between the blackness seen by the naked eye and the colors seen by the camera were amazing. While ancients watched the skies and considered such events as omens or predictors of the future, but this aurora would have gone unseen in the past. The problem with celestial predictions, is they portend “something”, more so than “a thing”. History predicts the coming elections in the US will bring some sort of change. While that may be an easy prediction for modern pollsters, the last two elections have proven the “what” is far less known. Change happens, but humans can play an active role in what that change is going to be. Work for positive change. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Carrots

October 10, 2024

Only a few plants remain in my raised beds as we approach the end of the growing season. I have two bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) that had been overshadowed by the cutleaf ground cherry (Physalis angulata) that had self-propagate and taken over three of my raised beds. After I ripped the plants out of the bed these two scrawny plants were hidden underneath. I had no idea what they were but decided to let them grow. They are now producing fruit, while the peppers in my containers have stopped producing and the wilted stems have been removed. The 2 red burgundy okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) are still going strong at over six feet (2 m) with new blossoms daily. If only I liked okra. I am thinking I might try and pickle some smaller fruits as it is the only way I can eat them. The watermelons are still trying to produce, with five new melons on the vine. Then there are the five cabbage plants (Brassica oleracea) struggling to survive. I did not pay close enough attention and most of my leafy vegetables were eaten by insects. I never saw them, but the holes in the leaves gave away their presence. The only other crop is the carrots I had planted at the end of April.

When I looked online, I found the carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) is a root vegetable, typically orange in color and is a biennial plant in the umbellifer family (Apiaceae). Heirloom variations can be purple, black, red, white, and yellow. All of the subspecies are domesticated forms of the wild carrot which is native to Europe and Southwestern Asia. The plant probably originated in Iran and was originally cultivated for its leaves and seeds, but the most common part of the plant now eaten is the taproot. The domestic carrot has been selectively bred to have a larger, more palatable, and less woody-textured taproot. Carrots are commonly consumed raw or cooked in various dishes and are a rich source of the provitamin A compound (beta-carotene), which converts to vitamin A as it is digested. Fast-growing cultivars mature within about 90 days of sowing the seed, while slower-maturing cultivars need 120 days. World production of carrots (combined with turnips) for 2022 was 42 million tons, with China producing 44% of the total.

I do not know if I planted a fast growing or slow growing variety of carrots, but my carrots have been in the ground for over 160 days. When I planted them, I made a single slit in the ground and shook the tiny seeds into the ground. I had planted them too close together and when they sprouted none of the seedlings had enough room to flourish. I tried thinning them several times but never seemed to get them far enough away from each other to give them room to grow. Every time I checked or thinned them, they were still needle thin. Several of the tops had become larger recently and today I decided it was time to quit messing with them and harvested the batch. I did have one descent sized carrot, and a lot of smaller (but passable) ones. I tried one and gave another small one to Melissa. While they may not have grown large, they did taste good.

THOUGHTS: The carrots suffered the same fate as all my root vegetables. I did not space them enough and even thinning them did not give them enough room to grow. I watched a YouTube video suggesting I plant them in squares to make sure there was proper spacing to grow. More knowledge to save for the future. I did not do a second planting of any of my vegetables (in August). I had grown weary and was not paying enough attention to the plants I already had in the ground. I guess sustainability is still a long way off. Overcrowding has the same effect on humans as it does carrots. Human overpopulation suggests we may become too large to be sustained by the environment or the Earth’s resources. Estimates of the world’s carrying capacity predict a maximum of 7.7 billion. We now stand at over 8 billion and rising. Unless this is addressed, like my carrots the world will self-correct itself. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Habitat

October 03, 2024

Melissa and I have been trying to revamp the furniture in our living room since the day we moved into her house in Arkansas. Knowing we had a house full of furniture in Arkansas, we donated most of our furniture to the Conference Center where I had been working. While our Kansas furniture was in good shape, it was the first furniture I purchased 20 years earlier and I was ready for a change. When we moved to Arkansas the furniture was not much newer and was a style neither of us liked. We tried buying an inexpensive living room set two years ago, but it turned out to be inexpensive. Over the weekend Melissa visited a friend in northwest Arkansas and was impressed with the style and utility of the furniture she had. Needless to say, we went shopping over the weekend and came away with a sofa and chair as a replacement. That left one question, what are we going to do with the items we no longer need? We decided on repurpose by donating to Habitat for Humanity.

When I looked online, I found Habitat for Humanity International, also referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and tax-exempt 501(C)(3) Christian nonprofit which seeks to build affordable housing. It was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller. The operational headquarters are located in Americus, Georgia, and the administrative headquarters are located in Atlanta. In 2023, Habitat for Humanity operated in more than 70 countries and works to help build and improve homes for low-income or disadvantaged families. Homes are built using volunteer labor, including the practice of sweat equity from the future homeowners, along with paid contractors for certain construction or infrastructure activities. Habitat makes no profit from the home sales and instead operates with financial support from individuals, philanthropic foundations, corporations, government entities, and mass media companies. While Melissa and I have worked on several houses, it is probably better known that President Jimmy Carter and Rosaland worked many more volunteer hours building Habitat houses.

Along with building houses, Habitat ReStores accept small and large donations of new or gently used furniture, appliances, housewares, and building materials. The sale proceeds then help Habitat’s work in the local community and around the world. Items can be donated in person, and many Habitat ReStores offer free pickup of large items. We were able to donate 2 sofas, 1 recliner, and a love seat to our local ReStore. I made an appointment, and they picked up the items this morning. Unfortunately, 1 recliner did not make the cut (worn). The EPA estimates that 9 million tons of furniture are tossed every single year, or roughly 5% of everything brought to landfills. Most of the furniture going to the land fill was made within the last 10 to 15 years, according to Ashlee Piper, sustainability expert and author. Part of the problem is that today’s fast furniture is more challenging to repair because of its materials. Unlike grandma’s, these pieces are not meant to last a lifetime.

THOUGHTS: While in Berkeley I was living across the street from the Cal dorms. The students obviously did not know about Habitat and each spring term as they were kicked out for the summer their fast furniture ended up in my building’s dumpster, allowing me to upgrade every year. The price or where the item of furniture was made can be a red flag for new items. Shopping locally can increase your odds of something being made with a thoughtful production process, rather than something where the emphasis is put on producing goods as cheaply as possible. There are often good finds in secondhand stores (like Habitat) that with some minor repairs or refurbishing will make the piece feel fresh. We are not all blessed with an overflowing dumpster. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Sea Robins

September 30, 2024

David Kingsley, the Rudy J. and Daphne Donohue Munzer Professor in the department of developmental biology at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, first came across an odd looking fish in 2016 when he stopped into a small public aquarium in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. “The fish on display completely spun my head around because they had the body of a fish, the wings of a bird, and multiple legs like a crab,” Kingsley said. Kingsley and his colleagues decided to study the fish in the lab and found differences between the sea robin species and the genetics responsible for their unusual traits. The findings of the study team’s new research show how evolution leads to complex adaptations in specific environments, such as the ability of sea robins to be able to “taste” prey using their highly sensitive appendages. According to their research, some types of the bottom-dwelling ocean fish use taste bud-covered legs to sense and dig up prey along the seafloor. Sea robins are so adept at rooting out prey on the ocean floor with their leglike appendages that other fish follow them around hoping to snag some of the freshly uncovered prey themselves.

When I looked online, I found sea robins (order, Triglidae), commonly known as gurnards, are a family of bottom-feeding scorpaeniform ray-finned fish. Triglidae is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes and is divided into 3 subfamilies and 8 genera that include 125 species distributed in temperate and tropical seas worldwide. Most species are around 12 to 16 inches (30 to 40 cm) in length with the females typically being larger than the males. They have an unusually solid skull, and many species possess armored plates on their bodies. Another distinctive feature is the presence of a “drumming muscle” that makes sounds by beating against the swim bladder. Sea robins have three “walking rays” on each side of their body that are derived from the supportive structures in the pectoral fins (fin-rays). During development, the fin-rays separate from the rest of the pectoral fin and develop into walking rays. These walking rays have specialized muscle divisions and unique anatomy that differ from typical fin-rays to allow them to be used as supportive structures during underwater locomotion. The rays are used for locomotion and prey detection on the seafloor via tasting (chemoreception) and are highly sensitive to the amino acids in marine invertebrates.

While all sea robins have leglike appendages, only some have the macroscopic sensory organs that allow them to taste the environment. Research revealed digging sea robins depend on a regulatory gene called tbx3a not only to develop their specialized fin adaptations but also to form the papillae that cause them to dig. Tbx3 also plays a role in limb development in humans, chickens, mice, and other fish species. The fish grew legs using the same genes that contribute to the growth of our limbs and then repurposed these legs to find prey using the same genes our tongues use to taste food. Sea robins stand out among other walking fishes because their pectoral fins (walking fin rays) are highly jointed and their skeletal and muscular anatomy showcase unique modifications that enable the sea robins to walk.

THOUGHTS: Sea robins have firm white flesh that holds together in cooking, making them well-suited to soups and stews such as the French bouillabaisse. They were often caught in British waters as a bycatch and discarded, but as other species became less sustainable and more expensive, they became more popular. Sea robins (gurnards) are used as bait by lobster fishers but are also now appearing in fish markets in the US. As desirable species are overfished or become scarce humans turn to the “next one up” to meet our food needs. We need to find ways to make fishing sustainable, or even the rough (trash) fish will be in short supply. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Moo Deng

September 28, 2024

Moo Deng is a pygmy hippopotamus living in Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Si Racha, Chonburi province, Thailand, born on 10 July 2024. Her name was chosen through a public poll with over 20,000 people voting for “Moo Deng”, translating to “bouncy pig”. The zoo posted images of her on its Facebook page and Moo Deng quickly became a fan favorite for her playful and energetic romps. Her popularity led the zoo to sell clothing and other merchandise featuring designs based on her likeness. Other companies produced merchandise, including a cake shop (Vetmon Café) which created a realistic cake shaped like her. Moo Deng’s viral popularity resulted in a doubling of daily visitors in early September. The zoo is in the process of copyrighting and trademarking “Moo Deng the hippo” to raise funds for the zoo and plans to launch a livestream to allow fans to watch Moo Deng over the Internet.

When I looked online, I found Moo Deng is a pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) or pygmy hippo, a small hippopotamid native to the forests and swamps of West Africa. The pygmy is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the larger common or Nile hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). The pygmy hippo was unknown outside West Africa until the 19th century and is a reclusive and nocturnal forest creature difficult to study in the wild. Like the common hippo, the pygmy hippo displays terrestrial adaptations but is semiaquatic and relies on water to keep its skin moist and its body temperature cool. Mating and birth may occur in water or on land. The pygmy is herbivorous and feeds on ferns, broad-leaved plants, grasses, and fruits it finds in the forests. Current pygmy populations are primarily in Liberia, with small groups in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has been extirpated (eradicated) from Nigeria. Pygmy hippos are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, as forests are logged and converted to farmland. The Pygmy are also vulnerable to poaching, hunting for bushmeat, natural predators, war, and are illegally hunted for food in Liberia. The species breed well in captivity and the vast majority of research is derived from zoo specimens. A 2015 assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimated that fewer than 2,500 pygmy hippos remain in the wild.

As a viral sensation Moo Deng has prompted a makeup trend popular with beauty influencers. Moo Deng makeup is in line with what beauty enthusiasts look for, super dewy skin and lots of blush. The trend is perfect for fall as the skin will be hydrated and glass-like as the drier months approach. The trend started with influencers trying to recreate her iconic look by achieving the baby pygmy’s glass-like skin with the prettiest shade of blush. Before applying makeup, you need to ensure the base is nice and dewy to capture the baby hippo’s glistening skin. The trend incorporates lots of grey hues to represent Moo Deng’s skin color. An element common among influencers’ is the heavily flushed cheeks. Any blush shade will do, as long as it has a great color payoff. Grey eyeshadow or lip gloss, followed by a particular shade of blush create the final makeup look.

THOUGHTS: While Moo Deng may create viral views, sales, and makeup, she is at risk. Some visitors harassed Moo Deng by splashing her with water and throwing objects to wake her up, forcing the zoo to install security cameras around her enclosure. The zoo also implemented a 5-minute time limit for visitors to accommodate the high volume of visitors. While most marvel at the wonder of nature, there are others who find pleasure in destruction. Whether it is throwing objects at Moo Deng or toppling 100,000 year old rock formations the seconds of fame being sought are not worth the cost. “Influence” comes with responsibility. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Euphorbia Ingens

September 27, 2024

Melissa was working on her succulents over the weekend and called me out to see what was going on with her plants. We had placed two tables in the flower bed on the north side of the house that we have yet to figure out what to do with. Melissa decided in the short run this would be a good place to put some of her hardier cacti to take advantage of the outside. Although these plants are visible through the porch windows, Melissa does not get out to physically check on them more than once a week. As with most cacti and succulents, a good rule of thumb is to leave them alone and let them thrive on their own. One of the plants has been growing particularly well over the last two years and is over 3 feet (1 m) tall. The third section of the plant had developed greenish-yellow buds along its ridges which appeared to be ready to bloom. When I asked, she told me this was a Euphorbia ingens (I sometimes think she uses the scientific names just to throw me off).

When I looked online, I found the candelabra tree (Euphorbia ingens), or naboom, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae native to dry and semi-savanna areas of southern Africa. This tree is a tall succulent with green round-like branches resembling a balloon that grows to 19.5 to 26 feet (6 to 8m) tall. The trunk of the candelabra is thick, and the stems have 5 ridges each and are 1-1/3 to 3 inches (3.5 to 7.5 cm) thick. The segmented stems are dark-green and young sprouts have paired spines 3/16 to 5/64 inches (0.5 to 2 mm) long. The plant blooms from autumn to winter and the small greenish yellow flowers sit on the ridges of the topmost segment. A red, round, three-lobed capsule fruit turns purple when ripe. The plant’s flowers are attractive for butterflies, bees and other insects, which pollinate them when gathering pollen and nectar. The seeds are edible for birds, who also like to make their nests in the branches of these trees. The light and solid wood of the main trunk is used in door, plank, and boat production. The milky latex sap of the tree is highly poisonous and can cause blindness, severe skin irritation, and poisoning (when ingested) in humans and other animals. The plant has few pests due to the toxic sap.

Euphorbia ingens grows well both indoors and outdoors and has become a popular choice for rock gardens and indoor houseplant collections due to its stately appearance and low maintenance. In their natural environment, these succulents can grow up to 40 feet (12 m) tall, but they usually top out around 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 m) tall when grown indoors. Still, even this would take a high ceiling to accommodate a mature plant. When grown indoors or in containers, it is extremely uncommon for this species of euphorbia to produce blooms. Since Melissa’s plant has budded, we are waiting to see if it will break into full bloom.

THOUGHTS: The buds on the Euphorbia ingens are only the latest of Melissa’s accomplishments. Over the last two years she has repeatedly shown me the flowers that have bloomed on many of the succulents and cacti that are under her care. In my case, with the exception of the ground cherry (Physalis angulate) that I did not plant and the red burgundy okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) I do not like to eat, I have often struggled with production of my plants (pole beans are another exception). Melissa’s mom was a prolific gardener whose secret was to spend hours tending her flowers. The same it true with Melissa who spends hours with her succulents. I am willing to plant, water, and harvest. Perhaps there is a lesson there. When we are willing to put in the work, we can achieve most tasks. That is true for gardening. That is also true for creating positive human interaction. Do the work. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

SMBH

September 26, 2024

Today’s NY Times feed reported on the massive pair of jets releasing from a supermassive black hole (SMBH) 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. The megastructure spans 23 million light-years in length, making these black hole jets the largest ever seen, according to new research. While Black holes gobble up nearly everything that comes close to them, a fraction of material is ejected before an object falls in, forming a jet on either side of the black hole, said Martijn Oei, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology and the lead author of a new study describing the discovery published September 18 in the journal Nature. The jets have a power output equivalent to trillions of suns and are so massive that researchers have nicknamed the megastructure Porphyrion after a giant from Greek mythology. The discovery is causing astronomers to rethink their understanding of how massive black hole jets can be as well as how these giant features can affect their surroundings and the structure of the universe.

When I looked online, I found a supermassive black hole (SMBH or SBH) is a black hole more than one hundred thousand times the mass of the Sun. Solar mass (M☉) is a standard unit of mass used in astronomy equal to approximately 2×1030 kg, or the approximate mass of the Earth’s Sun. It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. Black holes are a class of astronomical objects that have undergone gravitational collapse, leaving behind spheroidal regions of space from which nothing can escape, including light. The discovery of SMBH was a consequence of the investigation of quasars in the mid-20th century. Nearly every large galaxy has a SMBH at its center. Active galactic nuclei, such as Seyfert galaxies and quasars, are powered by supermassive black holes. The largest SMBH is in the galaxy cluster Abell 1201 and has a mass thirty billion times that of the Sun. The SMBH at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy (Sagittarius A*) has a mass four million times that of the Sun. Two supermassive black holes have been directly imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope: the black hole in the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 and Sagittarius A* at the Milky Way’s center.

When sustained for mega years, high-power jets from SMBH become the largest galaxy-made structures in the Universe. “This pair is not just the size of a solar system, or a Milky Way; we are talking about 140 Milky Way diameters in total. The Milky Way would be a little dot in these two giant eruptions” Oei said. The structure consists of a northern lobe, a northern jet, a core, a southern jet with an inner hotspot, and a southern outer hotspot with a backflow. This system demonstrates that jets can avoid destruction by magnetohydrodynamical instabilities over cosmological distances. How jets can retain such long-lived coherence is unknown at present. The haunting question is what Porphyrion is doing to the rest of the universe. Cosmologists have found that the visible features of the universe are structured in a weblike manner, with galaxies clumped in giant clusters and connected by thin filaments that span dark voids of tens to hundreds of millions of light-years. In Porphyrion’s day, this cosmic web was half the size it is now, and these jets would have been big enough to affect the overall web.

THOUGHTS: In total, the team spotted 10,000 new black hole jet pairs. Like many discoveries, the researchers were not looking for jets from the SMBH but were trying to observe the cosmic web. Research (and exploration) often mistakenly makes discoveries that expand our understanding of the universe, the Earth, and even humanity. The quest for understanding is one aspect that (we think) sets humans apart from other animals. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Leopard Darters

September 25, 2024

Last week the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AFGC) released 80 leopard darters into the wild with the help of state and federal partners along with Conservation Fisheries LLC, a private hatchery specializing in propagating rare and threatened species. According to Chance Garrett, fish ecologist for the AGFC, this release is the first of two scheduled for the Cossatot River in western Arkansas this year and is the first historical reintroduction effort of leopard darters anywhere. The fish were grown from broodstock taken from the Mountain Fork River which flows from Arkansas into Oklahoma. Another 250 fish are planned for release in early October. Garrett said, “They originally thought it was only found in Oklahoma, but some populations were found in the Rolling Fork and Cossatot after its listing. Those two populations are thought to no longer exist, so this effort to re-establish them is extremely important.” This is the second year of the project, but the first year saw a low survival rate as the hatchery and were added to the broodstock rather than being released. The leopard darters measured and an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm) at stocking size and were transported from the hatchery to their destination in one day.

When I looked online, I found leopard darters (Percina pantherina) are a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, from the subfamily Etheostomatinae. The family (Percidae) also contains the perches (Genus, Perca), ruffes (Gymnocephalus cernua), and pikeperches (Genus, Sander). The species is native to the US and is only be found in the Little River drainage in Oklahoma and Arkansas. A typical habitat is medium to large streams with rubble and boulder substrate. The leopard darter feeds on small invertebrates on the riverbed and spawns in March and April. Adults rarely exceed 3 inches (8 cm) in length and have 11 to 14 large, dark spots on their sides, which contrast against a light background that ranges from pale olive on the back to yellowish olive on the underside. The back of the fish has numerous saddles and bars. The leopard darter is threatened by impoundment, habitat loss, and runoff from agricultural activity. It has never been a common species and has been listed as a threatened species in the US since 1978.

Transporting and releasing the leopard darter was a full day affair. They left the Conservation Fisheries hatchery in Knoxville, Tennessee in the morning, were met by AGFC personnel in Memphis, and driven to the other side of other side of Arkansas by 6:30 p.m. that evening. Once at the river, the fish had to be tempered to adjust to the river water. They arrived in bags which were floated to slowly acclimate to the temperature of the river water. Then some river water was let into the bags to help them adjust slowly to the chemistry of that location. Finally, they are ready for release. The staff scanned the release pool the next day and found many of the fish had dispersed. Garrett said. “Hopefully we’ll see them in future survey efforts . . . Ultimately our goal is to see some spawning activity in spring.” The leopard darters represent one of the longest-standing members of the Endangered Species Act.

THOUGHTS: Leopard darters typically live less than two years, but individuals older than three years have been found. Introduction of these 320 fish (total) could reintroduce a viable population into the Cossatot River, but the fragile species still faces the loss of habitat due to construction of reservoirs and population isolation, along with agricultural and industrial activity, that drove them to decline in the first place. Species reintroduction and preservation takes the combined efforts of government agencies, business, and individual landowners to be effective. While it may take a village to raise a child, it takes concerned communities to preserve endangered species. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.