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You Sure Are a Big Fella Earl

In Durham, I am nearly 2-3 hours from the North Carolina coast.  With relation to Earl, the local forecast is that this far inland we are unlikely to see any rain and a just a moderate breeze.  As of 7:45 am this morning the eye was 475 miles from Durham, yet the outer fingers of Hurricane Earl are brushing by. Of course my photograph is not nearly as nice as the Ms. KZ but she is after all a professional photographer.  What is that a wide angle lens? Show off!

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Calm Before the Storm

Photo copyright Anna Linda Photography 2010: http://annalindaphoto.zenfolio.com/.

My wife snapped this pic of the finger of Hurricane Earl over our home in Wilmington, NC. These preceding clouds look innocent and quite beautiful and serene, but belie a more destructive force around the corner. Long time residents of the coastal south see these and know it is time to make preparations.

While we moved to North Carolina (literally) during Hurricane Hanna in 2008, it downgraded to a tropical storm by the time I felt in my broken down U-Haul on the shoulder of I-95 just north of Richmond, VA. I had sent my wife and kids ahead to stay with a friend in Greenville, NC while I waited for nearly six hours in the beating rains with little water or food waiting for a tow truck to arrive. Arguing through several layers of “customer service” agents on the phone, I was swayed by 30-40 mph winds.

What Earl has in store for North Carolina, only Earl knows. We made the decision to ride it out since we were only tangentially in its path, but our home that we own in Beaufort, NC is much, much closer to where Earl is expected to make landfall in the Outer Banks. I will be updated by our tenant as soon as possible after the storm passes, but my thoughts are with him and his family. They just moved here from Iowa, the land of tornadoes, from near where I grew up.

We Iowans are no strangers to disasters – floods and tornadoes are an annual occurrence. I’ve seen twisters tear up apart neighbor’s homes, cutting a swath through neighborhoods less than a mile from me. I’ve floored it through on I-80 east-bound through Nebraska watching a funnel touch down west-bound in my side-view mirrors. With the pedal to floor I was only going 40 mph. The unpredictable paths and miniaturized scale of tornadoes is somewhat comforting though in the face of a large hurricane. When you know a hurricane is inevitable you can evacuate, but your property and memories are likely to be squashed flat and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

We fear for our tenants, our home, and most importantly our friends in Carteret County. Barring any last minute changes to Earl’s trajectory we should be safe for the most part. I will do my best to live-blog and live-tweet (@kzelnio) the events that may unfold in Wilmington. You can follow #BFTEarl on twitter to follow our good friends from Southern Fried Science and Bomai Cruz as they hunker down in Beaufort. Here is the latest storm track from StormPulse with wind speed prediction for 8 pm Thursday evening. Wilmington may be just inside that high gust wind zone..

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Technology and the Outdoors

I just returned from five days of backpacking in the Ansel Adams Wilderness to be faced with the yearly article on Stupid People in the Outdoors.  This year’s contender features a buffalo goring and a group calling in rescue helicopters because their water “tasted salty.” This is all standard Stupid People antics, but the NYT article blamed “technology.” As an advocate for the use of technology in outdoor education, this wounded my tender tree-loving heart. Technology may give fools loud voices, but doesn’t actually increase the supply of fools. (Jack Shafer at Slate looked at the statistics and agrees.)

Now, I’m no stranger to Homo asinum. I spent a season warning cotton-clad, shivering tourists on NH’s Mt. Washington that “People die up here! Even in summer!” (Seriously, they do! There’s a whole book!) But too often technology is placed in diametric opposition to the natural world when it should be viewed as a helpful tool. For example, as a naturalist and educator, the number one question I always get is “What is that?” This is a question made for technology to answer!

Here’s two of my favorite iPhone apps, ones that I just used myself on my backpacking trip. StarWalk is a visually stunning app that identifies the stars and constellations when you point your device around the sky. It can also travel in time (what was the sky like two months ago?) and search and map specific celestial bodies (where is Jupiter tonight?).

The Audubon Field Guides are now also available for mobile devices – I have the four-pack of trees, wildflowers, birds, and mammals. They are not cheap (the four-pack was $40) but are a considerable savings in money and weight over the books. Not even a dedicated nerd-hiker like myself would carry a bunch of heavy ID books on a trip like this – it’s hard enough to carry 35+ pounds of necessary equipment and food. My personal highlight was figuring out what weasel-like mammal had leaped into the path ahead of me. (It was an American marten – super cool!). But simply being able to look up trees and wildflowers without having to carry 4 different guides was amazing.

Obviously there are countless ways to use GPS and mobile devices to enhance people’s wilderness experience. I’m particularly eager to see more marine apps developed – I would love to see a Guide to the Pacific Tidepools for high-traffic areas such as Cabrillo and Big Sur, for example. (Want to develop one? I’ll help!) Activities not directly related to the natural world, like geocaching, are a fun way to get people outside. And the communities created by technology can get people outdoors too – Outdoor Afro is a great example of this.

I think this is such an important topic that I’ve proposed a Technology and the Outdoors session for Science Online 2011, but my rant about the NYT article just couldn’t keep. People managed to kill themselves in ludicrous ways before GPS – heck, at least 5 people have died trying to urinate into the Grand Canyon – and they will continue to do so. This shouldn’t distract from the amazing and ever-growing number of cool applications for research and learning outside.

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Update on Hurricane Earl

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Dispersants! Part III: Do dispersants really promote degradation of oil?

ResearchBlogging.orgPromoting microbial degradation of oil has been one of the main arguments in favor of dispersant use.  Interestingly, the PWSRCAC review (covering literature from 1997-2008) did not identify any recent study that explicitly found dispersant use enhancing the biodegradation of oil.  Actually, ~50% of studies found that chemical additives inhibited microbial degradation and the other half of studies didn’t find any significant difference between treatment and control groups.  Worryingly,

It is also noted that the most toxic components of the oil, the biodegradation of PAHs [Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons], has never been shown to be stimulated by dispersants. (Fingas, 2008)

Apparently, only the old skool research supported this promotion of oil biodegradation.  But science is like fashion—research trends change as time progresses and we learn from our mistakes (and despite a resurgence in 80s trends, parachute pants and stretch stirrup pants were DEFINITELY mistakes).  Older studies showed enhanced results because they were carried out under ideal lab conditions—high energy tanks containing lots of yummy nutrients and plenty of time for microbes to work their magic.  In the open ocean, microbial growth is restricted by the limited availability of many key nutrients.  In a real oil spill, time is of the utmost importance, and oil needs to be contained, removed or degraded as soon as possible.

What is clear from these studies is that the interactions between bacteria, oil, and dispersants are very complex.  Yoshida et al. (2006) reported differential responses of bacterial species—some groups were able to utilize dispersant components as nutrient sources, while the growth of other bacteria was directly or indirectly prohibited.   Thus, biodegradation is highly dependent on the dispersant formula, the in situ microbial community structure, and the specific type of oil being degraded.

Finally, I cannot stress enough that biodegradation is HIGHLY affected by temperature—Ventosa et al. (2004) reported rapid oil degradation at 20°C but much slower microbial breakdown at 5°C.  Dispersant use = Deepwater oil plume = slooooooow biodegradation in cold, deep waters.

Biodegradation of Alkanes and PAHs at 5°C and 20°C using dispersants Corexit 9500 and JD2000 (Venosa et al. 2007)

References:

Fingas, M.F. (2008). A Review of Literature Related to Oil Spill Dispersants 1997-2008 Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (PWSRCAC) Report PWSRCAC Website

Venosa AD, & Holder EL (2007). Biodegradability of dispersed crude oil at two different temperatures. Marine pollution bulletin, 54 (5), 545-53 PMID: 17316707

Yoshida A, Nomura H, Toyoda K, Nishino T, Seo Y, Yamada M, Nishimura M, Wada M, Okamoto K, Shibata A, Takada H, Kogure K, & Ohwada K (2006). Microbial responses using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis to oil and chemical dispersant in enclosed ecosystems. Marine pollution bulletin, 52 (1), 89-95 PMID: 16202430

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Thermolinkus thioreducens

I'll redooce yer links like I reduce solefidez beeotchz.

The latest Maritime Monday over at gCaptain.

Shrimps love sea urchins!! Echinblog has the proof.

The surreal Ice Aquarium. Yes, it is in Japan. Did you have to ask?

A few days ago, our friends at the Underwater Thrills blog threw down the gauntlet to determine the cause of the corkscrew seal killers. With a 2005 bottle of Floodplain Proprietors Red wine from California’s luscious Napa Valley on the line, UK researchers report they are very close to determining the cause of the corkscrew lacerations on UK seals.

A new limerick and a poem from Dawn Evans Radford at the Coastal Health Blog.

Down in the bay lived a plump little oyster
whose hormone changes eventually forced her
to fly into a tizzy.
Cried she, I get dizzy
trying to decide if I’m a girl or a boyster.

Read on for the Poem: Book of the Minor Prophet

Brian Switek found new uses for dolphin snot. No, not for that! Gross! Dolphin ‘blow’, as it were, can actually be used to non-invasively collect genetic material. Brian has all the details on this PLoS One paper.

Mac McClelland found BP’s missing oil over at Mother Jones.

Two reports were published in Science last month – one mapping the plume and describing lack of microbial consumption, the other documenting a microbial community, both using different methods from a different set of researchers. Nature News tackles the reasons for this discrepancy.

Expedition Titanic: Return to the Deep has great new footage of the eerie exterior and interior of the Titantic from their new, ongoing field season this year.

Bluegrass Blue Crab at Southern Fried Science has a nice primer on metal toxicity in aquatic organisms: Chemistry of the Great Big Blue: Metals.

GIANT KILLER SQUIDZ FROM HELL WILL EAT HUMANZ IN TEH WATERZ!!!!11!!11!!!! Danna Staaf, a humboldt squid expert, sets the record straight on this myth.

Blog friend Grrl Scientist has relaunched her blog on the new Guardian Blog Network! Congratulations and make sure you check it out and add her new RSS feed to your readers.

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What is Twitter and Why Scientists Need To Use It.

Twitter is a microblogging site, restricting posts, i.e. Tweets, to 140 characters or fewer. This limit allows real-time posts to be made using SMS (short message service) technology, which is the basis for text messaging on cell phones and other mobile devices. Tweets can also be posted online at twitter.com. As of January 2010, over 75 million people are registered to Twitter.  Twitter rates are now reported around 65 million tweets per each day.  With this traffic one may wonder how specific tweets and topics can be filtered from the information cloud.  Tweets can be directed to individual users by incorporating a person’s or organization’s Twitter handle, e.g. @DrCraigMc or @NESCent.  Hashtags, words preceded by the # symbol, can also be embedded in a tweet and provide searchable tags, e.g. #evolution or #ocean.

Bora Zivkovic an expert about scientific blogging and microblogging, and chair of ScienceOnline states that

Twitter forces one to think about the economy of words, to become much more efficient with one’s use of language. It takes work and thought and practice to get to the point of tweeting truly well. I remember Jay Rosen once saying that some of his tweets take 45 minutes to compose and edit until he is satisfied that the text uses the words for maximal clarity and impact. There is no luxury in using superfluous language and the result can be a crystal-clear statement or description that far outshines the often-wordy original [paper, news article, blog post].

Perhaps the best way to think of Twitter as relevant to science was put forth by James Dacey

It’s been compared to a cocktail party where multiple conversations, all taking place at once, result in that familiar cacophony of chitchat. Some people thrive in this environment, while others feel jarred, but eventually we all drag ourselves along to one because we know that’s the real place to hear the interesting stuff for our careers. Researchers need to get themselves onto Twitter pronto because it is fast becoming the place to find out the breakthroughs in your research field.

How is Twitter used?

Twitter is increasingly becoming a platform for breaking news, including new scientific discoveries.  Twitter is primarily used in 6 ways (h/t to Bora again for this).

  1. Eavesdropping: follow informative people to get information and learn
  2. Dialogue: exchange, discuss, and debate information
  3. Broadcast: used by news organizations and businesses to inform audience about news or products/services
  4. Data collection: e.g. using Tweeting fishermen to monitor fish populations.
  5. Accidental journalism: e.g. landing on Hudson river, Mumbai attacks, Iran post-election protests
  6. Mindcasting:  following a single story or topic, with links, for a period of time

Can meaningful content be conveyed on Twitter?

Much like blogs were viewed five years ago, many may ask whether this is another social medium used by youth to broadcast their daily inane events.  However, valuable content is consistently provided by Twitter. For example, Twitter has proved a remarkable aggregator of information concerning the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (follow the #oilspill hashtag). That Twitter conveys meaningful content is also reflected by the fact that the tweets will by archived by the Library of Congress.

David Winer who pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software served as editor at Wired Magazine, and a research fellow at Harvard Law School stated that

Twitter is a news system, today, it will be more of a news system in the future, and whatever becomes of Twitter the company or their web service, the essentials of what Twitter does is an integral part of the news system of the future.

In paper published in BioScience, John Eisen commented that

“To do science, you have to know what’s going on in science,” Eisen says. “I found Twitter…most useful for becoming informed of what other people are doing in science.” By sharing comments, links, information, and notes about new scientific developments with trusted sources, Eisen says, he is better able to keep up with the vast amount of information in his fields of interest. Twitter and other social networks such as FriendFeed, he says, enable “real-time highlighting and ranking and tracking of what’s going on in the world of science.” Twitter is also useful for networking and finding collaborators.

A great number of scientists, science journalists, and others tweeting about science can be found on Twitter. www.sciencebase.com, science writer’s David Bradley’s Web site provides an ongoing list. In a recently published paper, researchers found that scholars cite science papers on Twitter and citations are part of a conversation that moves faster than traditional citations but still reflects scholarly impact.  The researchers suggested that Twitter could be a useful source for bibliometricians and others interested in scholarly communication. Recently this was best exemplified in a contest where Twitter users were encouraged to Tweet about a science papers and findgs under the hashtag #sci140 referring science being presented in 140 characters.  Some of the highlights include

  • Salt of DNA structure= double helix. Strands anti-parallel; has implications. (PS Rosie didn’t help)
  • We did some messing about with wire and stuff, found double helix fits the Xray patterns of DNA. Rest is obvious. Suck that, Linus!
  • dog + bell + food = saliva. Repeat. Eventually dog + bell = saliva, where’s my nobel prize?
  • Oops, Who would’ve thought that absolute power corrupts absolutely? (Zimbardo,1971)
  • Dropped heavy and light ball at Pisa; saw landed at same time. Peer review problems now, especially after telescope incident.
  • cat in box + decay triggered poison. box closed: cat alive & dead. when box opened: cat live or dead #Schrodinger
  • It’s impossible to determine whether a guy with an infinite piece of paper will ever stop doing math. http://bit.ly/9qKV5E

40% of Tweets on a paper occur within one week of the cited resource’s publication (ap0logies to Jason Priem for not linking to his fantastic paper, see his comments below).  While Twitter citations are different from traditional citations, survey participants in one study suggest that they still represent and transmit scholarly impact. The survey participants also suggested that Twitter allows them to (1) to share knowledge, study, work about their field of expertise, (2) to communicate about some of their research projects, (3) to increase their network, and (4) to communicate about venues (conference, workshops, tutorial, talk, etc.

Thus, Twitter provides one the most important online tools to bring together researchers despite discipline or geography to share information about science. Moreover, Twitter provides a steady stream of cutting edge science but accessible information to public.  Thus Twitter as a tool realizes scientific collaboration, the synthesis of ideas and information, and communication of science to the public.

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Is Science on the Gulf Oil Spill Skewed?

Newsweek has a great write up about how independent scientific queries into the Gulf of Mexico are being squashed. Only are few scientists were able to benefit from the National Science Foundation’s 10.2 million dollars in the rapid response research program and conduct independent research.  Most research is being conducted by those funded by BP or working explicitly for the government through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.  Thus, the legal battle between the government and BP on the impacts and eventual liability is driving scientific research not good science.  Overall the article provides an alarming and disturbing picture of the state of affairs.

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A Visit From Earl?

Looks like KZ and I might be getting a visit from Earl later this week.

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Chris Mah on Oil’s Impact on Marine Invertebrates

Daniel Brown brought my attention to this Ocean Portal video featuring the Echinoblog’s Chris Mah on the potential impact of oil on the Gulf of Mexico’s marine invertebrates. (The video also features Daniel’s original echinoart!) For more on oil impacts, see Dr Bik’s recent posts on dispersant toxicity.

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