150 Years of On The Origin of Species

150 years ago today, on November 24, 1959, the most important book in the history of biology was published.  Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species was, and still is, the foundation upon which all of modern biology rests, with its myriad applications in medicine, ecology, philosophy, and beyond.  I’ve sort of let blogging take a back seat now that I’m busy with school in the evenings and working to get my foot in the door of the academic world, so even at the momentous anniversary I will probably be content to just remind everyone how important biological science is, and ask that you consider making a charitable donation to an organization that supports scientific research and/or education.  Perhaps there’s a cancer research foundation whose work saved the life of a loved one, or a college scholarship fund that helps low-income students in your community pursue higher education in biology.  I am personally a fan of the National Center for Science Education, which is constantly waging the legal battles to protect our public school science cirricula from an ongoing, organized assault by creationist groups who seek to replace the discipline of biology with their dishonest and ignorant religious agenda. You can contribute to NCSE here.  Lastly, I’ll mention that the National Science Foundation has put together an excellent resource in celebration of the Origin of Species anniversary, which can be found here.  I highly recommend checking it out!

I’m leaving on a business trip to Dubai on Saturday, which will be my first real adventure outside of the United States (except for the 51st state, aka Canada)*.  I hope to have some cool pictures and stories to share from the UAE next week, so stay tuned.

* Just kidding, ay? I love you, Canucks.

Perseid Party, or Death From The Skies!

IMPORTANT: Even if you can’t go with me tomorrow, please read this article about the Perseid Meteor Shower, and try to find the most promising way to see them near where you are.  And if you happen to read this before 5AM ET/2AM PT this morning (I’m looking at you, California kids!), try to go out and take a look now!

So – who wants to join me to see the best meteor shower of the year – the Perseids?!  It was too cloudy tonight to see very much, and even when some clear spots in the sky opened up, our very brightly lit urban environment overpowered all but the brightest stars.  I’m taking C in my car, so I’ll have room for up to three others.  I’ll drive some place dark, outside the city (suggestions welcome), and lay back to watch the show for at least 1 or 2 hours.  Bringing a folding cot, sleeping bag, hammock, or blanket is recommended for prolonged viewing comfort.  Binoculars, cameras, tripods, and telescopes are also great ideas if you have any of these available to you.  Food and drink never hurt anyone, either (hah)!  I will cancel this mini-trip if the weather doesn’t co-operate…  as it turns out, unfortunately, I can’t see the sky with my naked eyes through total cloud cover.

Hooray for death from the skies!

Back from Canada, soon Back to School

This fall, I’m going back to school.  I’d been weighing options for graduate school and finally determined that my best prospect for getting into a good ethology/zoology PhD program would be to get a B.S. in Biology first.  My first bachelor’s degree was a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Maryland-College Park; I focused on biological anthropology, but I decided I need more experience in research methods and applied math to really hack it as a doctoral candidate.  So, I’m about to embark on what will probably be at least a ten-year-long odyssey of learning and hard work before getting that Piled-higher-and-Deeper piece of paper.  I couldn’t be happier about it, however, because I’ve always dreamed of spending my life in the pursuit of scientific advancement, even if the work is tedious, repetitive, unrecognized, and doesn’t pay well.

On another note, C and I just returned from our vacation to Niagra Falls and Toronto, Ontario.  The falls were even more amazing than I remembered from a short visit around age 8.  And what a great city Toronto is!  It’s too bad I got a nasty virus (influenza or something similar) and spent much of the time suffering through fever, aches, congestion, cough, and fatigue – but we still managed to ascend the CN Tower, ride Segways, and catch a Blue Jays game among other things.  I’d certainly go back there again when I have more time and better health.  I’ll conclude this post with a few pictures from our Canadian excursion.

Niagra Falls, viewed from the American side

Niagra Falls, American Falls, illuminated at night

Toronto city center at night

Celeste & I rode Segways through Toronto's Distillery District

The CN Tower, the tallest free-standing structure in North or South America, illuminated at night.

View of Toronto from Skypod, perched 447 meters up on the CN Tower.

Okefenokee dokey

The internet bandwidth at my hotel here in Georgia is having its own little recession.  So, I don’t really have the patience to research and write a good entry tonight.  I’m in Waycross for work through Friday, and I hope to catch a glimpse of some gators at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge while I’m here!

I’m looking into ways of boosting readership, since a limited audience is the main reason I don’t write prolifically.  On the other hand, I’m less likely to post pointless drivel than I would someplace like Livejournal.  I’m looking at crossposting plugins, and I will probably find a way to publish my new posts via email to willing friends and colleagues.

Hopefully they’ll have the broadband fixed tomorrow and I’ll be able to get something of substance up here.  I’m considering a few good stories as topics.  In the meantime, I hope you’re preparing for the most important Darwin Day in your lifetime – this Thursday, February 12, is Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday! Check out the Happy Birthday, Mr. Darwin! page at the Year Of Science 2009 website for lots of perspective on Darwin’s impact as viewed from his bicentennial.  To find Darwin Day events near you, check out DarwinDay.net!

As the world burns…

For the moment, I’m sitting next to Celeste on a dust-covered couch – one of many in this covered pavilion at the center of Black Rock City, Nevada. Lots of whimsy,  nonsense, dust storms, and the American Dream are alive and well here in this god-forsaken desert. Somehow I found wi-fi access and am taking this brief moment to let you know that our gang is healthy and having fun, and we’ll be back to Maryland faster than you can sing a commercial jingle.

A little while ago, on the walk here, we heard someone reading Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas over a P.A., for anyone within earshot to enjoy. Tonight, we’re going hippie fishing. If you’ve never heard of it, just know that it involves fishing line, a glowstick, and confused ravers in the dark.

Live in Reno, Nevada

I found myself in a hotel bed in Reno this morning, only slightly hung over, and a mere $50 in the red.  That included $20 dropped on black for one spin of the roulette wheel – it landed on red. Today is the day we run around the city gathering supplies (food, water, etc) and preparing for the final three-hour trek to Black Rock City, Nevada. We’re going to rent a second car; there’s absolutely no way we could fit all the gear into my Prius after picking up our fifth camp-mate (and her rediculously oversized suitcase) at the airport yesterday.

The drive across North America to get here was beautiful, as usual. I’d post pictures now, but we’re in a bit of a rush to get checked out of the hotel. More to come! I’m optimistic about finding wifi internet access on the playa.

The Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseid meteor shower is near its maximum right now, and stargazers with a good view of the night sky and low light pollution may see meteors as frequently as once per minute! Really, the maximum was a couple days ago, but there should still be activity from this shower up until August 24.  I’ll be out with my binoculars tonight, weather permitting.  I have been busy lately and haven’t blogged much… next Wednesday, though, I’m leaving for my vacation to Burning Man in Black Rock City, Nevada. I hope to post some updates from the road whenever I can find WiFi hotspots, so stay tuned! I also may get around to writing something later today or this weekend. Good luck stargazing – leave a comment if you saw a Perseid meteor!

Phoenix lands undamaged on Mars!

I’m a bit disappointed in myself for not posting anything on this earlier. Most of you already know by now that on Sunday, NASA’s Phoenix probe successfully performed a rocket-assisted landing on Mars’ northern arctic plains.  It was the sixth successful attempted (of twelve total, worldwide) Mars landing.  Phoenix is a joint project of a number of international universities and space agencies, and its primary goal is to analyze the water ice covering much of the ground near Mars’ north pole.  In doing so, it will help researchers look for evidence of past or present Martian life.  I think we are on the right track with robotic exploration, as the ethical complexities involved in manned missions to Mars (at least in this technological era) are very limiting.

Anyway, the landing occurred at 23:53:44 UTC; that’s the Earth-received time.  That means the time that mission control received the first radio signals.  The landing really took place 15 minutes and 20 seconds before that, which is the amount of time it takes radio signals from Mars to reach Earth.  Forget what you know about relativity; Earth and Mars are too close together in space, and the relative speed between them is too tiny a fraction of the speed of light for relativity to matter in this case.  As far as we need be concerned, the Earth-received time minus 15m 20s is simultaneous to Mars time.  That’s one of the dilemmas that any future human Mars explorers would face: it would take over a half hour, at least, to receive any reply to a message radioed to Earth.  Keep in mind too that Mars’ and Earth’s orbits around the sun are not synchronous; the half hour delay is the best of scenarios!

A bit more info: Phoenix was launched on August 4, 2007 atop a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.  It took nearly ten months to complete the 680 million kilometer journey to Mars.  How about a picture of the launch, you ask?  Why, I’ve got one for you right here:

And so, dear readers, space exploration marches on!  I know it’s perhaps just a little unlikely, but I’m still crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to land on the moon before I die.  I know that may seem to contradict what I said a moment ago about robotic exploration being the right track, but things may change for the better.  We may discover safer, less expensive ways to escape Earth’s gravity, and better portable protection from solar radiation.  I don’t even care if it’s not really all that safe.  If I’m 45 or older, and I’m offered a seat on a moon shuttle, you better believe I’m going.  Hell, I’d go to Mars, too.  Apart from the obvious atmospheric differences, the terrain doesn’t look too different from the Black Rock Desert where I’ve camped at Burning Man several times now

The first image of Mars’ horizon sent by Phoenix:

The Black Rock Desert, Black Rock City, NV:

Until next time, kiddies.  Keep watching the skis… I mean, keep watching the skies!

An adventure to the great outdoors.

If the trend of the last few weeks continues, this weekend will be here before I know it. I’m looking forward to it especially, because for the first time this year I’ll be going camping! My brother, some of his friends, my friend Don, and I (and others are welcome to tag along!) will be at Green Ridge State Forest. In my opinion, it’s Maryland’s best public camping area, with Assateague State Park in second place (because they don’t allow pets). There are great semi-primitive campsites with relative privacy (you typically can’t see your nearest neighbors) and backpackers are allowed to do real primitive camping.

I hope the weather cooperates so I can do a bit of stargazing. I want to camp as much as possible this spring/summer/fall. Who’s with me? Other places I’d like to camp soon include Buchanan State Forest (Pennsylvania) and Sky Meadows State Park (Virginia).

From South Dakota…

A real update will follow tomorrow, I promise, and replace this one. You’ll get pictures and science and maybe even some enthusiasm. Tonight I’m poised to actually get a few hours of sleep, which to me is a big deal. Goodnight, blogosphere!