Category Archives: Musings & News

Kindness Beats Selfishness

March 8, 2012Insects, Musings & NewsKate St. John

An article in the March 5 issue of The New Yorker got me thinking about human society.

Kin and Kind: A fight about the genetics of altruism by Jonah Lehrer describes the history of the inclusive fitness theory and the current dispute among evolutionary biologists on the origin of altruism.

It all started with E.O. Wilson, a biologist, author and expert on ants. In 1975 he promoted the theory of kin selection to explain why altruistic individuals sacrifice themselves for their kin. (Ants do this a lot!) Natural selection says this shouldn’t work because their genes would die out but kin selection says they help their kin because it preserves the genes they share. Survival through kinship was named inclusive fitness.

Over the years E.O.Wilson started to see holes in inclusive fitness. In 2010 he and two mathematicians, Mark Nowak and Corina Tarnita, published an article in Nature that refuted it.

Half The New Yorker article is about the resulting fight. The other half is what caught my attention.

E.O.Wilson changed his mind because he learned more about ant behavior. As it turns out, cooperation within a species doesn’t spring up easily. When it happens to start within a group, it makes the group survive so well that they dominate other groups. Further, cooperative species are so successful that they dominate others species. Cooperation can start in any group. It just happens that the groups are composed of kin.

This works because “Selfishness beats altruism within groups. Altruistic groups beat selfish groups,” as E.O. Wilson wrote in 2007.

The first principle has certainly been my experience. Within a group, a selfish person pushes everyone else around. We see it working for these individuals and our society advertises it in slogans that say “It’s all about you” and “Have it all.” It doesn’t take much thinking to realize that you can’t have all of it if you’re sacrificing yourself. So we’re encouraged to be selfish.

But wait. The second principle is true too. Selfish groups lose to altruistic ones. Cooperation makes groups successful over rivals who fight among themselves.

It’s important not to lose sight of this. Humans have been successful as a species because we help each other. Selfishness is a disadvantage to society. Rugged individuals fail in the face of disasters like last week’s tornadoes. We can’t do everything alone, and we cannot expect society to thrive if we insist that everyone pull himself up by his own bootstraps.

I am happy to know that nature showed the way on this.

In my view kindness beats selfishness any day of the week!

(photo of leaf cutter ants, who are models of cooperation, from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the photo to see the original)

Today Some Links Are Broken, Wikipedia Has Gone Dark

January 18, 2012Musings & NewsKate St. John

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you’ll notice that I use Wikipedia extensively for links to further information. I personally use it every day for research.

Today Wikipedia has gone dark in protest of two bills, SOPA and PIPA, before the U.S. House and Senate. If passed those bills would create new tools for censorship of international websites inside the U.S. and potentially shut down U.S. websites and their financial services, without a trial, for alleged copyright infringement. These bills have been urged by the entertainment industry.

Read more about Wikipedia’s decision here. Click on the graphic to see Wikipedia’s home page today. (Note that mobile phones will see the normal page.)

——————— Personal opinion about SOPA and PIPA ———————

On this blog I make every effort to insure that I have rights to display the media I use, but I cannot know if a website is lying when it tells me media is in the public domain or is free to use. If these bills become law, the federal government could shut down my blog without warning for copyright infringement if I used media from a place that lied to me. Very scary stuff. I’m contacting my legislators.

For today Wikipedia is dark and my links will not work. I hope for a better tomorrow.

———————

(image from Wikipedia’s English language homepage, 18 January 2012)

p.s. Today’s Winter Tree blog is below.

My Clocks Are Just Fine

November 5, 2011Books & Events, Musings & NewsKate St. John

I don’t want to change them but I’m supposed to turn my clocks back an hour tonight.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) was invented for people like me whose work is ruled by the clock but who spend their leisure time outdoors. It’s really inconvenient for those who work by the solar day — farmers, for instance.

Though I like Daylight Saving Time I hate changing the clocks no matter which direction they’re going.

The twice yearly jog causes trouble for nationwide schedules, computer programs, and our sleep patterns. We saw this when DST’s start and end dates moved by law in 2007. Computers that missed the patch stayed on the old schedule. Most annoying to me was the computer that unlocked the doors for the business day but remained on Standard time in early March. It was too old to patch so we changed its time by hand. Three weeks later it “knew” to change to DST and was wrong again. Aaaaarrrggg! (We got a new computer.)

Even worse are the clock-change effects on people. In March the loss of an hour makes everyone groggy. Studies have shown that there are significantly more workplace accidents on the Monday after we “spring forward.” Not only that, everyone’s grumpy for days! I am, too.

Most of the world doesn’t suffer through this. DST wasn’t standardized in the U.S. until 1966 and it’s not observed in Asia, Russia, most of Africa and most of South America. It’s not even observed in Arizona and Hawaii.

So why do we have Daylight Saving Time?

In a word: Lobbyists.

DST had a few early champions (G.V.Hudson, William Willett, and Pittsburgh’s Robert Garland) but it didn’t really catch on until lobbyists urged its use. The start and end dates moved in 2007 because the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Convenience Stores began lobbying for it in 2005. Their sales benefit from outdoor leisure time.

We don’t have to live like this. If I was in charge, we’d turn the clocks forward one night in March and we’d never go back.

I’m telling you, my clocks are just fine!

(photo in the public domain from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the photo to see the original.)

Songbirds decline in Wyoming gas fields

October 22, 2011Musings & NewsKate St. John

Jonah gas field, Wyoming, May 2006 (photo by Bruce Gordon from Skytruth.org) — *Wyoming’s Jonah gas field, May 2006 (photo by Bruce Gordon of EcoFlight for Skytruth*)

22 October 2011

First the game birds declined. Now the songbirds have, too.

A study led by Anna Chalfoun of the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at University of Wyoming has shown that the oil and gas boom in southwestern Wyoming has altered the landscape so much that plants, animals and songbirds have declined where sagebrush once ruled.

In 1998 the Bureau of Land Management opened the Jonah gas field to intensive natural gas development. The result is that the Upper Green River Valley changed dramatically from a sagebrush wilderness to a fragmented evenly-spaced industrial zone.

Those who love Wyoming saw an immediate change in the land and wildlife and petitioned BLM to revise their well-spacing rules. In 2003 Skytruth collected satellite images and aerial photographs illustrating the oil and gas footprint and testified to the Committee on Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives, again petitioning for a change in well drilling techniques.

Skytruth’s famous 2006 aerial photo of the Jonah gas field (taken by EcoFlight’s Bruce Gordon) is shown above.

Alas, policies didn’t improve and the Upper Green River Valley has become a living experiment in intensive natural gas development. What happens to the land, air, water and wildlife in the presence of this industrial activity?

According to Chalfoun’s study, some birds appear to be unaffected but Brewer’s, sage and vesper sparrows declined in direct proportion to the amount of wells, roads and human activity. This is especially significant because BLM classes Brewer’s sparrows and sage sparrows as sensitive species.

Pennsylvania is conducting its own living experiment in the Marcellus shale. What happens to our forests during Marcellus industrial activity?

Listen to this report from The Allegheny Front, The Gas Boom Comes to the Forest, to find out what Pennsylvania scientists have learned so far.

(photo of Wyoming’s Jonah gas field, May 2006, by Bruce Gordon of EcoFlight for Skytruth)

In Just Five Minutes

October 6, 2011Musings & News, Schenley ParkKate St. John

The weather will be beautiful for the next six days so now’s the time to get outdoors.

In October, every day brings a change to the landscape. Are the leaves changing color? Are there new migrating birds in your area? Have you seen monarch butterflies flying south? Yes!

Not only is it fun to observe nature but it’s good for you. Did you know that a nature walk relieves stress and boosts your mental health?

In 2010, UK researchers published an analysis of 10 studies on 1,250 people that showed that exercise in a green space greatly improves your mood and self esteem.

According to the BBC, “the research looked at many different outdoor activities including walking, gardening, cycling, fishing, boating, horse-riding and farming in locations such as a park, garden or nature trail.

The biggest effect was seen within just five minutes. … An [even] bigger effect was seen with exercise in an area that also contained water — such as a lake or river.”

So take time to get outdoors. Be happy.

It works for me.

(photo of a park in Plawniowice, Poland by Jan Mehlich from Wikimedia Commons. It resembles Schenley Park, doesn’t it?)

Inspiration

October 4, 2011Musings & NewsKate St. John

Last weekend our friend Eve Beglarian visited us with Mary Rowell on their way west to share music and reconnect with some of the places and people they met two years ago.

Eve is a musician and composer who, in 2009, made a river journey down the Mississippi by kayak, bicycle and car, gathering images, sounds and experiences to compose music evocative of the river and its communities. During parts of the journey Mary accompanied her and they switched off kayaking. One would paddle all day while the other drove ahead to the next landing.

By mid-October they were between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau.

On 16 October 2009 the weather was gray with heavy clouds when Eve saw a large flock of birds wheeling and turning in the distance. The birds, and her conversation with a man named Paul in Cape Girardeau, inspired the music that accompanies this video.

The more I watch In and Out of the Game, the more fond of it I become.

Yes, the birds are there. Wait for them.

(music and video by Eve Beglarian)

Moving North

October 3, 2011Musings & NewsKate St. John

Incredible as it seems, the dotted blue line on this map is moving north.

That line is the Arctic Circle which defines the northern region on Earth that experiences at least one 24-hour day in summer and one 24-hour night in winter.

I thought the Arctic Circle was permanent so I was stunned to find out last weekend that it’s moving north 49 feet (15 meters) per year. The area inside the circle is shrinking — and it’s basically the moon’s fault.

The Arctic Circle moves because the earth wobbles on its axis. This happens for a variety of reasons but the biggest contributor is the tidal force caused by the moon’s gravitational pull. The result is a 2^o change in the earth’s tilt over a 41,000 year period.

Right now the earth’s tilt is becoming less pronounced and the axis is slowly becoming upright. Inch by inch, the North Pole is facing the sun less than it did the day before and locations on the edge of the Circle are losing the midnight sun by 49 feet per year.

In practice this is far less noticeable than it sounds because atmospheric refraction bends the light and topography allows us to see the sun longer from mountaintops.

Besides, it’s happening very slowly. I don’t know when this particular wobble began its upward tilt nor when it will pause and start back down but with a 41,000 year period I don’t expect to see it in my lifetime.

(image in the public domain from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original.)

I Felt The Earth Move Under My Feet

August 23, 2011Musings & NewsKate St. John

23 August 2011

I felt the earth move under my feet … and you may have too!

Earthquakes are very unusual in Pittsburgh but just before 2:00pm, while Karen Lang and I were sitting on a cement bench near Heinz Chapel, I felt the bench swaying back and forth as if we were on a swing. I asked Karen, “Do you feel that?”

Yes, she did. “I think we’re having an earthquake!”

In Smithfield, Virginia my sister was sitting on her sofa, 120 miles from the 5.8 earthquake epicenter in Mineral, Virginia, when the whole house started to shake and sway. It started at ground level and worked its way up the house’s three stories — almost like a dog shaking off water from head to tail. Mary was transfixed. The worst swaying was on the third floor where my niece shouted, “Mom! The glass is going to fall off the shelves!”

Fortunately the quake didn’t last long. Nothing fell. Nothing was damaged.

We were all surprised. Just a little excitement in nature today.

(Seismogram image from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original.)

Fibonacci

August 17, 2011Musings & News, Plants & FungiKate St. John

In the 13th century an Italian named Fibonacci changed the course of history. In the process he used numbers to describe this spiral. Here’s how.

Fibonacci was a great mathematician in the Middle Ages. In 1202 he published Liber Abaci (Book of Calculation) to introduce the Arabic numeral system to Europe.

Until that time, Europe used Roman numerals for commercial bookkeeping. Imagine CCXLVIII + MDCCCLXXIX = what? The new math was adopted quickly because it boosted European commerce.

In his book, Fibonacci included lots of examples showing how to calculate using 0-9 digits with place value. He also included “story problems.” Here’s the rabbit problem:

If you start with 1 pair of rabbits, how many pairs will there be at the end of one year?

Start with 1 male and 1 female rabbit in a field
They produce 1 male and 1 female rabbit every month from their second month of age onward.
The young rabbits mature, pair up, and mate producing 1 male and 1 female per month from the second month of age onward.
The rabbits never die.

The answer is a mathematical pattern. Start with 0 and 1 and put them in a row. Add them together to produce the next number in the sequence. Put this number at the end of the row and add those last two numbers to get the next one. Keep doing this forever.

       0,1
0+1=1  0,1,1
1+1=2  0,1,1,2
1+2=3  0,1,1,2,3
2+3=5  0,1,1,2,3,5
3+5=8  0,1,1,2,3,5,8

The Fibonacci sequence is: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610,…

These numbers also describe spirals.

Imagine drawing squares whose edge lengths are the units in the Fibonacci sequence. Each time you draw a new square, make it touch the ones you drew before. Because each number in the sequence is larger, the new squares touch the old ones on their long edge. Eventually you’ll notice that you are drawing squares in a spiral. …Yes, this is hard to imagine. Here are some real life examples and Vi Hart’s YouTube video that shows how it works.

I’ve only grazed the surface of Fibonacci in nature so if you’d like to learn more see this educational math website from Surry, UK that has good, simple examples and animations.

I hope I haven’t lost you in math! I get excited by these things.

(photo of a maypops tendril by Chuck Tague)

p.s. In August 2011, Science Friday reviewed a new book about Fibonacci.

Cool Water

July 20, 2011Musings & News, Plants & FungiKate St. John

Here’s a place that’s changed for the better in the last 200 years.

Hells Hollow Falls are part of the gorge cut by Hell Run, a tributary of Slippery Rock Creek in Lawrence County.

At its headwaters Hell Run flows through farmland, then into the woods where the gorge and waterfall have been protected as part of McConnell’s Mill State Park.

It wasn’t always this beautiful.

In the mid-1800’s the valley was logged and mined for its iron-ore-rich limestone and the coal to fire its industry. The Lawrence Iron Furnace, two coal mines, a quarry, and a lime kiln were all within a short walk of the waterfall. It must have been a smoky, dirty place in those days.

In the 1870’s the local iron business collapsed and within 50 years the coal mines closed too. The trees grew back, the buildings disappeared, and the brick-walled lime kiln became a curiosity in the woods.

The only noticeable scar is coal mining’s affect on the water. The abandoned mines release toxic, orange, acid mine drainage (AMD) into Hell Run’s feeder streams above the falls. Fortunately, even in the dry month of July there’s enough fresh water to dilute it.

When I visited Hells Hollow Falls last Sunday I marveled at the miniature slot canyon upstream. Geologists say this channel was formed when the creek ran inside a limestone cave just below ground level. Eventually the top of the cave fell in and revealed the flume, pictured below. If I was the size of an ant, this would be the Grand Canyon.

If you’d like to see these wonders for yourself, click these links for information on Hells Hollow and McConnell’s Mill State Park.

The waterfall looks cool … especially in this heat.

(photos by Kate St. John, taken on 17 July 2011)

Outside My Window

A Blog of Birds & Nature with Kate St. John