New study helps sort out Easter Island mystery

Monolithic human figures called moai were carved from rock between 1250 and 1500 by the inhabitants of Easter Island, which lies more than 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile. Photo credit: Phil Whitehouse/Flickr

New research by an international team of geographers and is new shedding light on the question of what caused the collapse of the population of the early inhabitants of Easter Island, known as the Rapa Nui.

The 63-square-mile island, which lies more than 2,000 miles off the west coast of Chile, was settled around 1200 AD, and the Rapa Nui population is thought to have reached as high as about 15,000. But by 1722, when Europeans arrive, the population had declined to about 2,000, and it was nearly gone by the 1860s.

The catalyst for the Rapa Nui’s demise has long been debated in the scientific community. Was environmental degradation the cause, or could a political revolution or an epidemic of disease be to blame?

The new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the demise of the Polynesia group began before the arrival of the Europeans arrived in 1722. The study also suggests that regional variations and natural environmental barriers to growing crops played a factor rather than the inhabitants’ actions degrading the environment.

Oliver Chadwick is a professor in University of California at Santa Barbara’s Department of Geography and the Environmental Studies Program. He said:

In the current Easter Island debate, one side says the Rapa Nui decimated their environment and killed themselves off. The other side says it had nothing to do with cultural behavior, that it was the Europeans who brought disease that killed the Rapa Nui. Our results show that there is some of both going on, but the important point is that we show evidence of some communities being abandoned prior to European contact.

The archaeologists examined six agriculture sites used by the island’s statue-building inhabitants. Their research focused mainly on the three sites for which they had information on climate, soil chemistry and land use trends as determined by an analysis of obsidian spear points.

The team used flakes of obsidian, a natural glass, as a dating tool. Measuring the amount of water that had penetrated the obsidian’s surface allowed them to gauge how long it had been exposed and to determine its age. Chadwick said:

When we evaluate the length of time that the land was used based on the age distribution of each site’s obsidian flakes, which we used as an index of human habitation, we find that the very dry area and the very wet area were abandoned before European contact. The area that had relatively high nutrients and intermediate rainfall maintained a robust population well after European contact.

The study results suggest that the Rapa Nui reacted to regional variations and natural environmental barriers to producing sufficient crops rather than degrading the environment themselves. In the nutrient-rich center where they could produce food well, they were able to maintain a viable culture even under the threat of external factors, say the researchers, including European diseases such as smallpox, syphilis and tuberculosis. Chadwick said:

The pullback from the marginal areas suggests that the Rapa Nui couldn’t continue to maintain the food resources necessary to keep the statue builders in business. So we see the story as one of pushing against constraints and having to pull back rather than one of violent collapse.

Bottom line: New research suggests a combination environmental degradation and the arrival of Europeans contributed to the collapse of Easter Island’s Rapa Nui society.

Read more from University of California at Santa Barbara

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1CqSmDV

Monolithic human figures called moai were carved from rock between 1250 and 1500 by the inhabitants of Easter Island, which lies more than 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile. Photo credit: Phil Whitehouse/Flickr

New research by an international team of geographers and is new shedding light on the question of what caused the collapse of the population of the early inhabitants of Easter Island, known as the Rapa Nui.

The 63-square-mile island, which lies more than 2,000 miles off the west coast of Chile, was settled around 1200 AD, and the Rapa Nui population is thought to have reached as high as about 15,000. But by 1722, when Europeans arrive, the population had declined to about 2,000, and it was nearly gone by the 1860s.

The catalyst for the Rapa Nui’s demise has long been debated in the scientific community. Was environmental degradation the cause, or could a political revolution or an epidemic of disease be to blame?

The new research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the demise of the Polynesia group began before the arrival of the Europeans arrived in 1722. The study also suggests that regional variations and natural environmental barriers to growing crops played a factor rather than the inhabitants’ actions degrading the environment.

Oliver Chadwick is a professor in University of California at Santa Barbara’s Department of Geography and the Environmental Studies Program. He said:

In the current Easter Island debate, one side says the Rapa Nui decimated their environment and killed themselves off. The other side says it had nothing to do with cultural behavior, that it was the Europeans who brought disease that killed the Rapa Nui. Our results show that there is some of both going on, but the important point is that we show evidence of some communities being abandoned prior to European contact.

The archaeologists examined six agriculture sites used by the island’s statue-building inhabitants. Their research focused mainly on the three sites for which they had information on climate, soil chemistry and land use trends as determined by an analysis of obsidian spear points.

The team used flakes of obsidian, a natural glass, as a dating tool. Measuring the amount of water that had penetrated the obsidian’s surface allowed them to gauge how long it had been exposed and to determine its age. Chadwick said:

When we evaluate the length of time that the land was used based on the age distribution of each site’s obsidian flakes, which we used as an index of human habitation, we find that the very dry area and the very wet area were abandoned before European contact. The area that had relatively high nutrients and intermediate rainfall maintained a robust population well after European contact.

The study results suggest that the Rapa Nui reacted to regional variations and natural environmental barriers to producing sufficient crops rather than degrading the environment themselves. In the nutrient-rich center where they could produce food well, they were able to maintain a viable culture even under the threat of external factors, say the researchers, including European diseases such as smallpox, syphilis and tuberculosis. Chadwick said:

The pullback from the marginal areas suggests that the Rapa Nui couldn’t continue to maintain the food resources necessary to keep the statue builders in business. So we see the story as one of pushing against constraints and having to pull back rather than one of violent collapse.

Bottom line: New research suggests a combination environmental degradation and the arrival of Europeans contributed to the collapse of Easter Island’s Rapa Nui society.

Read more from University of California at Santa Barbara

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1CqSmDV

On Sea Level Rise [Greg Laden's Blog]

Sea levels are rising with increasing global temperatures. It seems that whenever there is a new estimate of the rate of melting of one or more major parts of the polar ice caps, that estimate is higher than previously thought. By the end of the century, the most aggressive estimates suggest that we will have close to 2 meters (6 feet) of sea level rise along the coasts.

So,here are three sea level rise items for you.

First, the Obama Administration will begin to plan for sea level rise in all major federal projects to which this variable pertains. See this item in the Washington Post.

The order represents a major shift for the federal government: while the Federal Emergency Management Administration published a memo three years ago saying it would take global warming into account when preparing for more severe storms, most agencies continue to rely on historic data rather than future projections for building projects.

The new standard gives agencies three options for establishing the flood elevation and hazard area they use in siting, design and construction of federal projects. They can use data and methods “informed by best-available, actionable climate science”; build two feet above the 100-year flood elevation for standard projects and three feet above for critical buildings such as hospitals and evacuation centers; or build to the 500-year flood elevation.

Second, not breaking news but something you may want to know about, is the US Army Corps of Engineers report on risk management for coastal communities, here.

Third: you may remember a while back I made a map that showed North American coast lines under the extreme scenario where all of the polar ice on Earth melts. That would represent about 80 meters of sea level rise. Well, the data I used to do that, from the USGS, had a problem, and with new data I’ve redone the map (and focused on the eastern part of the continent because it is more interesting). See: How high can the sea level rise if all the glacial ice melted?

That is all, thank you very much.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1z6DVlS

Sea levels are rising with increasing global temperatures. It seems that whenever there is a new estimate of the rate of melting of one or more major parts of the polar ice caps, that estimate is higher than previously thought. By the end of the century, the most aggressive estimates suggest that we will have close to 2 meters (6 feet) of sea level rise along the coasts.

So,here are three sea level rise items for you.

First, the Obama Administration will begin to plan for sea level rise in all major federal projects to which this variable pertains. See this item in the Washington Post.

The order represents a major shift for the federal government: while the Federal Emergency Management Administration published a memo three years ago saying it would take global warming into account when preparing for more severe storms, most agencies continue to rely on historic data rather than future projections for building projects.

The new standard gives agencies three options for establishing the flood elevation and hazard area they use in siting, design and construction of federal projects. They can use data and methods “informed by best-available, actionable climate science”; build two feet above the 100-year flood elevation for standard projects and three feet above for critical buildings such as hospitals and evacuation centers; or build to the 500-year flood elevation.

Second, not breaking news but something you may want to know about, is the US Army Corps of Engineers report on risk management for coastal communities, here.

Third: you may remember a while back I made a map that showed North American coast lines under the extreme scenario where all of the polar ice on Earth melts. That would represent about 80 meters of sea level rise. Well, the data I used to do that, from the USGS, had a problem, and with new data I’ve redone the map (and focused on the eastern part of the continent because it is more interesting). See: How high can the sea level rise if all the glacial ice melted?

That is all, thank you very much.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1z6DVlS

The Tide is Turning on Climate Change [Greg Laden's Blog]

If you are running for office, note that the majority of Americans think global warming is real, important, and can and should be addressed by government.

This has been happening since two elections back, when we started to see candidates threatened, if only to a limited degree, based on an untenable position on climate change. Last election cycle this became even more important as organizations like ClimateHawksVote had remarkable successes in supporting climate hawk candidates — candidates that place climate change at the top of the list of important issues. Since then even more has happened, including changes in the way broadcast media addresses climate change (the false balance is melting away) and various and sundry activities in the US Congress (see this). All along the way polls have indicated that Americans are increasingly accepting of the concensus climate science, and increasingly concerned about climate change. Having 2014 as the warmest year on record, and all of the 10 or 15 warmest years (depending on how you like to count) having happened in the most recent decades has probably added to this.

Now, there is a new poll by the New York Times and Stanford University that shows that most Americans support “government action to curb global warming.” Not only that, but a large number of Republicans, who are generally directed by their leaders to not accept climate change science, are on board as well.

According to the poll, 78% of Americans believe that global warming will be a serious problem in the future. Only 10% think it is not serious at all. Similarly, 83% of Americans indicate that global warming will be serious world wide. 56% of Americans think global warming has hurt them personally, though most of them feel it has done so to a moderate amount or “a little.” 78% of Americans think global warming has, conversely to hurting, helped them. A full 85% of Americans think global warming will hurt future generations.

About 42% of those polled think that doing something in the US about global warming will help the US economy, 24% think it would be neutral, and only 30% think it would hurt.

Regarding elections, and candidates, 66% would be more likely (21% say no effect) to vote for a candidate that has a strong issue statement on global warming, saying it is real, matters, and that we need to shift to new forms of energy.

13% of Americans, by contrast, would be more likely to vote for a candidate that expresses the position that global warming is a hoax and a fraud. 67% would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. 78% think greenhouse gasses should be limited.

The poll asks far more questions than I just summarized.

When these questions are asked of just republicans, similar but weaker support for the reality of the science and the importance of taking action are found.

Will global warming be a problem for the United States:

Of all respondents, 78% say somewhat to very serious. Of Republicans, 54% say somewhat to very serious. Also, among all respondants, among the youngest age group (18-29) 85% say somewhat to very serious, with 47% indicating very serious.

That pattern, with something close to a majority of Republicans, a strong majority of all respondents, and a very strong majority of younger respondents, stating that global warming is real, should be addressed, should require government action, and matters in their voting preferences, holds.

The bottom line is that accepting the science and calling for action is the position that will garner more support among Americans, though as expected, this does not hold for the Tea Party. A majority of Tea Party “members” do think global warming is serious, and even feel that it will hurt. But a strong majority also feel that if nothing is done to reduce global warming that this will not help future generations. A slim minority of Tea Parties would support a Climate Hawk candidate. Candidates claiming global warming is a hoax do not garner huge support from the Tea Party. But, 49% would be more likely to vote for a candidate who claims “I am not a scientist.” So I guess that ploy plays.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1AjHKGa

If you are running for office, note that the majority of Americans think global warming is real, important, and can and should be addressed by government.

This has been happening since two elections back, when we started to see candidates threatened, if only to a limited degree, based on an untenable position on climate change. Last election cycle this became even more important as organizations like ClimateHawksVote had remarkable successes in supporting climate hawk candidates — candidates that place climate change at the top of the list of important issues. Since then even more has happened, including changes in the way broadcast media addresses climate change (the false balance is melting away) and various and sundry activities in the US Congress (see this). All along the way polls have indicated that Americans are increasingly accepting of the concensus climate science, and increasingly concerned about climate change. Having 2014 as the warmest year on record, and all of the 10 or 15 warmest years (depending on how you like to count) having happened in the most recent decades has probably added to this.

Now, there is a new poll by the New York Times and Stanford University that shows that most Americans support “government action to curb global warming.” Not only that, but a large number of Republicans, who are generally directed by their leaders to not accept climate change science, are on board as well.

According to the poll, 78% of Americans believe that global warming will be a serious problem in the future. Only 10% think it is not serious at all. Similarly, 83% of Americans indicate that global warming will be serious world wide. 56% of Americans think global warming has hurt them personally, though most of them feel it has done so to a moderate amount or “a little.” 78% of Americans think global warming has, conversely to hurting, helped them. A full 85% of Americans think global warming will hurt future generations.

About 42% of those polled think that doing something in the US about global warming will help the US economy, 24% think it would be neutral, and only 30% think it would hurt.

Regarding elections, and candidates, 66% would be more likely (21% say no effect) to vote for a candidate that has a strong issue statement on global warming, saying it is real, matters, and that we need to shift to new forms of energy.

13% of Americans, by contrast, would be more likely to vote for a candidate that expresses the position that global warming is a hoax and a fraud. 67% would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. 78% think greenhouse gasses should be limited.

The poll asks far more questions than I just summarized.

When these questions are asked of just republicans, similar but weaker support for the reality of the science and the importance of taking action are found.

Will global warming be a problem for the United States:

Of all respondents, 78% say somewhat to very serious. Of Republicans, 54% say somewhat to very serious. Also, among all respondants, among the youngest age group (18-29) 85% say somewhat to very serious, with 47% indicating very serious.

That pattern, with something close to a majority of Republicans, a strong majority of all respondents, and a very strong majority of younger respondents, stating that global warming is real, should be addressed, should require government action, and matters in their voting preferences, holds.

The bottom line is that accepting the science and calling for action is the position that will garner more support among Americans, though as expected, this does not hold for the Tea Party. A majority of Tea Party “members” do think global warming is serious, and even feel that it will hurt. But a strong majority also feel that if nothing is done to reduce global warming that this will not help future generations. A slim minority of Tea Parties would support a Climate Hawk candidate. Candidates claiming global warming is a hoax do not garner huge support from the Tea Party. But, 49% would be more likely to vote for a candidate who claims “I am not a scientist.” So I guess that ploy plays.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1AjHKGa

It’s the same old story [Pharyngula]

Denialists claiming to be pro-science. Politicians insisting on a balanced treatment. A population ignorant of the science indignantly rejecting a clear and well-established, evidence-based conclusion.

I’m not talking about creationism, although it’s exactly the same story. It’s the anti-vax position now.

That dishonest weasel, Chris Christie, is now talking about respecting the choice of anti-vax parents.

Mary Pat and I have had our children vaccinated and we think that it’s an important part of being sure we protect their health and the public health, Christie told reporters here Monday. But the likely Republican presidential candidate added: I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well, so that’s the balance that the government has to decide.

…

Christie, however, said there has to be a balance and it depends on what the vaccine is, what the disease type is, and all the rest. He added, Not every vaccine is created equal and not every disease type is as great a public health threat as others.

This is absurd, almost as absurd as declaring the earth to be 6000 years old. Vaccination is effective; the arbitrators of that effectiveness should be qualified doctors, not ignorant politicians pandering to the stupid vote; and some things are not a matter of opinion, and not subject to the whims of the biggest dumbasses in the population. “Balance” should not be an issue in public health (what, we need to have equal numbers of the sick and dying vs. the healthy and thriving?) just as it isn’t a concern when determining what biological science to teach our kids.

This is what the current measles epidemic, caused by asses who refuse to vaccinate, is doing.

Washington Post

We’re now living in a country where the fostering of New Age nonsense has led to one of our richest states, California, being the leader in child suffering, while Mississippi now has the honor of the nation’s best child vaccination rate — and freedom from measles outbreaks. Measles is not some irritating rite of passage for children, with a few spots and a bit of itching and then it’s all over — kids die of this disease, and often it’s the innocent who are the casualties, not the privileged jerks who don’t want their kids to be afflicted with imaginary side-effects. Read Roald Dahl’s letter about his daughter, who died of the measles. I wouldn’t expose my kids to that kind of risk.

And then there are the irresponsible ‘professionals’ who spread lies about health care. Just as with creationism, it has to be made clear that these aren’t innocent differences of opinion, but that the public is being lied to.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1zwGnCK

Denialists claiming to be pro-science. Politicians insisting on a balanced treatment. A population ignorant of the science indignantly rejecting a clear and well-established, evidence-based conclusion.

I’m not talking about creationism, although it’s exactly the same story. It’s the anti-vax position now.

That dishonest weasel, Chris Christie, is now talking about respecting the choice of anti-vax parents.

Mary Pat and I have had our children vaccinated and we think that it’s an important part of being sure we protect their health and the public health, Christie told reporters here Monday. But the likely Republican presidential candidate added: I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well, so that’s the balance that the government has to decide.

…

Christie, however, said there has to be a balance and it depends on what the vaccine is, what the disease type is, and all the rest. He added, Not every vaccine is created equal and not every disease type is as great a public health threat as others.

This is absurd, almost as absurd as declaring the earth to be 6000 years old. Vaccination is effective; the arbitrators of that effectiveness should be qualified doctors, not ignorant politicians pandering to the stupid vote; and some things are not a matter of opinion, and not subject to the whims of the biggest dumbasses in the population. “Balance” should not be an issue in public health (what, we need to have equal numbers of the sick and dying vs. the healthy and thriving?) just as it isn’t a concern when determining what biological science to teach our kids.

This is what the current measles epidemic, caused by asses who refuse to vaccinate, is doing.

Washington Post

We’re now living in a country where the fostering of New Age nonsense has led to one of our richest states, California, being the leader in child suffering, while Mississippi now has the honor of the nation’s best child vaccination rate — and freedom from measles outbreaks. Measles is not some irritating rite of passage for children, with a few spots and a bit of itching and then it’s all over — kids die of this disease, and often it’s the innocent who are the casualties, not the privileged jerks who don’t want their kids to be afflicted with imaginary side-effects. Read Roald Dahl’s letter about his daughter, who died of the measles. I wouldn’t expose my kids to that kind of risk.

And then there are the irresponsible ‘professionals’ who spread lies about health care. Just as with creationism, it has to be made clear that these aren’t innocent differences of opinion, but that the public is being lied to.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1zwGnCK

In the Balkans, resilience is rooted in knowledge of wild plants

The unripe berries of a local tree are a favorite snack food for Gorani children.



By Carol Clark



Traditional communities living in isolated, rural areas with little money or infrastructure tend to have one thing in common: Resilience rooted in intricate knowledge of their natural environment, especially plants.



This knowledge may be relevant to some of biggest problems in plant science, including climate change, conservation biology, food security and human health, says Cassandra Quave, an ethnobotanist at Emory University.



Quave led an ethnobotanical study centered on a remote corner of the Balkans that was published in the journal Nature Plants. Her co-author is Andrea Pieroni from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy.



“Ethnobotany is the study of the interactions of people and plants,” Quave says, “but it has also been described as ‘the science of survival.’ People’s knowledge of which plants are beneficial, and how to harvest and preserve those plants, can make a huge difference in the overall well-being of a community.”

An Albanian describes plant uses.

Emory’s Center for the Study of Human Health funded the study, with additional support from the University of Gastronomic Sciences.



The study compared how two different cultures used plants in the Gora region of northwestern Albania, near the border with Kosovo. The researchers focused on a rural district of Gora that is one of the most economically disadvantaged in Albania. The two cultures in the study, Albanians and the Gorani ethnic minority, were both Muslim and subsisted primarily on small-scale agricultural, especially potato farming. The area is mountainous and many “roads” are unpaved, rocky paths. Some communities can be cut off completely from the outside world by heavy snows during the long winters.



“This area was heavily affected by the Balkan conflict of the 1990s,” Quave says. “The adults there have living memories of extremely challenging times. Even in peace time, life is difficult.”



The researchers conducted interviews with more than 100 residents about 104 different species of plants in their local environment. They recorded 418 uses of these plants for a broad spectrum of food, health, ritual and economic purposes.



The plant uses of the two cultures tended to overlap when it came to food, the study showed. Stinging nettle, for example, is a dietary staple among both the Albanians in the study and the Gorvani. “They boil nettle and use it the way we would spinach,” Quave says, sometimes mixing it with cheese, and baking it into local pastries known as byrek or pita.

A willow tree next to a Gorani home.

The researchers also found 77 divergent uses for plants between the two cultures, including 43 plant species. “Culture affects the way people view the natural environment,” Quave says. “And those views can affect everything from home healthcare practices to diet and local economies and conservation issues.”



The Albanians in the study, for example, reported less of an affiliation with a species of willow tree known as Salix alba, while the Gorani often choose to plant this tree around their homes and have many uses for it. “It’s what we call a cultural keystone species because it is so entwined with their way of life,” Quave says.



When a Gorani man wants to propose marriage to a woman, he may dig up a willow sapling and place it by her front door. If the woman accepts the proposal, the family plants the sapling in their field. If she rejects the suitor, the sapling becomes firewood.



Both the Gorani and Albanians use willow branches with leaves as protective amulets over their doors. And they add willow leaves to the fodder of their livestock once a year, along with some other plants, because they believe it helps keep the animals safe and healthy, Quave says.



Another example of a tradition used primarily by the Gorani involves the use of the plant Nepeta cataria, commonly known as catnip, to treat fright. “If a child has a nightmare,” Quave says, “they might brew a cup of catnip tea to soothe them.”



To store up supplies for winter months, both the Albanians and Gorani in the study use lactic fermentation to preserve food. If they need starter culture for fermentation, they use the roots from certain plants.



“They have a great deal of knowledge about their local environment that has been handed down to them through generations,” Quave says. It’s important to record that knowledge, she says, both because it could have possible relevance for science and because it could help communities improve their well-being.



“A lot of international attention has been focused on the Balkans to try to support reconciliation and development,” she says. “If you really want to help local communities in a way that’s sustainable and culturally sensitive, it’s important to have a detailed understanding of how they interact with their environment.”



Photos courtesy of Cassandra Quave



Related:

Tapping traditional remedies to fight modern super bugs



from eScienceCommons http://ift.tt/1wXChh4

The unripe berries of a local tree are a favorite snack food for Gorani children.



By Carol Clark



Traditional communities living in isolated, rural areas with little money or infrastructure tend to have one thing in common: Resilience rooted in intricate knowledge of their natural environment, especially plants.



This knowledge may be relevant to some of biggest problems in plant science, including climate change, conservation biology, food security and human health, says Cassandra Quave, an ethnobotanist at Emory University.



Quave led an ethnobotanical study centered on a remote corner of the Balkans that was published in the journal Nature Plants. Her co-author is Andrea Pieroni from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy.



“Ethnobotany is the study of the interactions of people and plants,” Quave says, “but it has also been described as ‘the science of survival.’ People’s knowledge of which plants are beneficial, and how to harvest and preserve those plants, can make a huge difference in the overall well-being of a community.”

An Albanian describes plant uses.

Emory’s Center for the Study of Human Health funded the study, with additional support from the University of Gastronomic Sciences.



The study compared how two different cultures used plants in the Gora region of northwestern Albania, near the border with Kosovo. The researchers focused on a rural district of Gora that is one of the most economically disadvantaged in Albania. The two cultures in the study, Albanians and the Gorani ethnic minority, were both Muslim and subsisted primarily on small-scale agricultural, especially potato farming. The area is mountainous and many “roads” are unpaved, rocky paths. Some communities can be cut off completely from the outside world by heavy snows during the long winters.



“This area was heavily affected by the Balkan conflict of the 1990s,” Quave says. “The adults there have living memories of extremely challenging times. Even in peace time, life is difficult.”



The researchers conducted interviews with more than 100 residents about 104 different species of plants in their local environment. They recorded 418 uses of these plants for a broad spectrum of food, health, ritual and economic purposes.



The plant uses of the two cultures tended to overlap when it came to food, the study showed. Stinging nettle, for example, is a dietary staple among both the Albanians in the study and the Gorvani. “They boil nettle and use it the way we would spinach,” Quave says, sometimes mixing it with cheese, and baking it into local pastries known as byrek or pita.

A willow tree next to a Gorani home.

The researchers also found 77 divergent uses for plants between the two cultures, including 43 plant species. “Culture affects the way people view the natural environment,” Quave says. “And those views can affect everything from home healthcare practices to diet and local economies and conservation issues.”



The Albanians in the study, for example, reported less of an affiliation with a species of willow tree known as Salix alba, while the Gorani often choose to plant this tree around their homes and have many uses for it. “It’s what we call a cultural keystone species because it is so entwined with their way of life,” Quave says.



When a Gorani man wants to propose marriage to a woman, he may dig up a willow sapling and place it by her front door. If the woman accepts the proposal, the family plants the sapling in their field. If she rejects the suitor, the sapling becomes firewood.



Both the Gorani and Albanians use willow branches with leaves as protective amulets over their doors. And they add willow leaves to the fodder of their livestock once a year, along with some other plants, because they believe it helps keep the animals safe and healthy, Quave says.



Another example of a tradition used primarily by the Gorani involves the use of the plant Nepeta cataria, commonly known as catnip, to treat fright. “If a child has a nightmare,” Quave says, “they might brew a cup of catnip tea to soothe them.”



To store up supplies for winter months, both the Albanians and Gorani in the study use lactic fermentation to preserve food. If they need starter culture for fermentation, they use the roots from certain plants.



“They have a great deal of knowledge about their local environment that has been handed down to them through generations,” Quave says. It’s important to record that knowledge, she says, both because it could have possible relevance for science and because it could help communities improve their well-being.



“A lot of international attention has been focused on the Balkans to try to support reconciliation and development,” she says. “If you really want to help local communities in a way that’s sustainable and culturally sensitive, it’s important to have a detailed understanding of how they interact with their environment.”



Photos courtesy of Cassandra Quave



Related:

Tapping traditional remedies to fight modern super bugs



from eScienceCommons http://ift.tt/1wXChh4

Mostly Mute Monday: The Galactic Plane (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]

“The Milky Way is nothing else but a mass of innumerable stars planted together in clusters.” -Galileo Galilei

It is, in fact, almost exactly as Galileo said.

Image credit: ESO / S. Brunier, from the Gigagalaxyzoom project.

Galileo missed a few things, though, including a plethora of unclustered stars, dust, nebulae and star-forming regions as well.

Image credit: ESO / Stephane Guisard / S. Brunier, via http://ift.tt/1BUXsWg.

Want to view it all at once? Check out today’s Mostly Mute Monday!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1BUXsWh

“The Milky Way is nothing else but a mass of innumerable stars planted together in clusters.” -Galileo Galilei

It is, in fact, almost exactly as Galileo said.

Image credit: ESO / S. Brunier, from the Gigagalaxyzoom project.

Galileo missed a few things, though, including a plethora of unclustered stars, dust, nebulae and star-forming regions as well.

Image credit: ESO / Stephane Guisard / S. Brunier, via http://ift.tt/1BUXsWg.

Want to view it all at once? Check out today’s Mostly Mute Monday!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1BUXsWh

Science Stories: Commercial Instincts [Uncertain Principles]

(When I launched the Advent Calendar of Science Stories series back in December, I had a few things in mind, but wasn’t sure I’d get through 24 days. In the end, I had more than enough material, and in fact didn’t end up using a few of my original ideas. So I’ll do a few additional posts, on an occasional basis, to use up a bit more of the leftover bits from Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist…)

One of the things I was reacting against in writing Eureka is the popular idea of scientists as a sort of unworldly elite, off doing their ivory-tower idealized thing without worrying about real-world concerns. In fact, science is an intensely human activity, and scientists are just as embedded in the real world as anybody else.

But then, sometimes, there is a bit of truth to the stereotypes…

One of the greatest experiments of the 19th century in physics was done by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. Hertz devoted most of his far too short career (he died of sudden illness at 36) to studying James Clerk Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory, confirming its various predictions about the induction of currents and the transmission of electromagnetic waves through free space.

The 1887 experiments are a beautiful piece of work. Hertz generated waves using a spark gap, which is pretty much what it sounds like– two electrodes with a gap of a centimeter or so between them. This was connected to a high-voltage oscillating circuit, which would generate a spark across the air gap at regular intervals. He detected the resulting waves with a smaller gap, a simple loop of wire with a small gap in it. The electric field of a passing wave produced by the original spark could induce a tiny visible spark in the receiver, which Hertz used to show the presence of fields emanating from the source. He also tested the strength of the field by varying the gap– bigger fields allow the generation of longer sparks.

Using this basic apparatus, he proved a whole bunch of Maxwell’s predictions– that waves were produced by the spark, that they were reflected by conductors but mostly unaffected by insulators. He also showed clearly that these were waves by generating standing waves and measuring the wavelength (I dimly remember a colloquium in grad school arguing that he was aided in this by the regularly spaced metal pillars in the hall where he did the experiment, but not more detail than that). Along the way, he incidentally discovered the photoelectric effect, from the observation that it was easier to generate sparks when there was a clear line of sight from the source spark to the receiver, allowing ultraviolet light to strike the receiver and knock loose some electrons. It’s a wonderful body of work, and the unit of frequency is named in his honor because of it.

The one thing Hertz lacked, though, was any kind of commercial instinct. Asked about the possible applications of his result, he famously replied:

It’s of no use whatsoever[…] this is just an experiment that proves Maestro Maxwell was right—we just have these mysterious electromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the naked eye. But they are there.

Within a decade, of course, a whole bunch of people had followed up Hertz’s experiments and Marconi and others had demonstrated wireless telegraphy, which would soon lead to the development of radio.

So, as much as I like to push back against the popular image of unworldly scientists, I have to admit, there’s some basis to it. Hertz was a brilliant experimental physicist, but no kind of businessman…

——

(“Featured image” cartoon from a 1922 book taken from this Wikimedia page.)

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1wXtI5F

(When I launched the Advent Calendar of Science Stories series back in December, I had a few things in mind, but wasn’t sure I’d get through 24 days. In the end, I had more than enough material, and in fact didn’t end up using a few of my original ideas. So I’ll do a few additional posts, on an occasional basis, to use up a bit more of the leftover bits from Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist…)

One of the things I was reacting against in writing Eureka is the popular idea of scientists as a sort of unworldly elite, off doing their ivory-tower idealized thing without worrying about real-world concerns. In fact, science is an intensely human activity, and scientists are just as embedded in the real world as anybody else.

But then, sometimes, there is a bit of truth to the stereotypes…

One of the greatest experiments of the 19th century in physics was done by Heinrich Hertz in 1887. Hertz devoted most of his far too short career (he died of sudden illness at 36) to studying James Clerk Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory, confirming its various predictions about the induction of currents and the transmission of electromagnetic waves through free space.

The 1887 experiments are a beautiful piece of work. Hertz generated waves using a spark gap, which is pretty much what it sounds like– two electrodes with a gap of a centimeter or so between them. This was connected to a high-voltage oscillating circuit, which would generate a spark across the air gap at regular intervals. He detected the resulting waves with a smaller gap, a simple loop of wire with a small gap in it. The electric field of a passing wave produced by the original spark could induce a tiny visible spark in the receiver, which Hertz used to show the presence of fields emanating from the source. He also tested the strength of the field by varying the gap– bigger fields allow the generation of longer sparks.

Using this basic apparatus, he proved a whole bunch of Maxwell’s predictions– that waves were produced by the spark, that they were reflected by conductors but mostly unaffected by insulators. He also showed clearly that these were waves by generating standing waves and measuring the wavelength (I dimly remember a colloquium in grad school arguing that he was aided in this by the regularly spaced metal pillars in the hall where he did the experiment, but not more detail than that). Along the way, he incidentally discovered the photoelectric effect, from the observation that it was easier to generate sparks when there was a clear line of sight from the source spark to the receiver, allowing ultraviolet light to strike the receiver and knock loose some electrons. It’s a wonderful body of work, and the unit of frequency is named in his honor because of it.

The one thing Hertz lacked, though, was any kind of commercial instinct. Asked about the possible applications of his result, he famously replied:

It’s of no use whatsoever[…] this is just an experiment that proves Maestro Maxwell was right—we just have these mysterious electromagnetic waves that we cannot see with the naked eye. But they are there.

Within a decade, of course, a whole bunch of people had followed up Hertz’s experiments and Marconi and others had demonstrated wireless telegraphy, which would soon lead to the development of radio.

So, as much as I like to push back against the popular image of unworldly scientists, I have to admit, there’s some basis to it. Hertz was a brilliant experimental physicist, but no kind of businessman…

——

(“Featured image” cartoon from a 1922 book taken from this Wikimedia page.)

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1wXtI5F