Environmental News

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by tochatihu, Oct 22, 2015.

  1. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    @hill let him take his day off to burnish status as ... that which it may be. I need to put time into global plant herbivory for a manuscript about larger questions.

    Peace out.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    111,953
    50,943
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    sometimes i'd like to disappear
     
  3. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    [CO2] has been consistently monitored at high elevation in Hawaii since 1958. First by Keeling the Elder then Keeling the Younger.
    Current Administration seems to plan to discontinue support:

    Trump administration's proposed NOAA cuts threaten decades-long CO2 data collection, scientist says - CBS News

    While this could be painted as a very bad thing, I doubt it will end. On the govt side it has high status (we care ... no, really). On the private side, it is such an icon that I feel confident that new funding would appear if needed. Corporations having conscience, greenwashing their products, call it what you like.

    ==
    At some point in 1970's I think, parts of govt wanted to defund this, but other parts prevailed in favor of it. I think this project is bulletproof.

    Your bullets may vary.
     
  4. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    28,223
    15,965
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    There have been plenty of non-Federal, CO[2] monitors that have overlapped with the Mauna Loa Observatory that observations and trend data will continue. Cutting Federal money will not change Sanzaru:
    upload_2025-5-13_21-14-3.png

    Bob Wilson
     
  5. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2006
    23,129
    12,297
    0
    Location:
    eastern Pennsylvania
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
  6. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    This modification of wood chemically removes some lignin, then compresses wood with heating. Other modifications of wood fill the tubular holes in xylem with various chemicals. I don't know that any process has emerged as a clear winner.

    Plywood and its thicker relative, cross-laminated timber, leaves wood unmodified but creates layers of different orientations.

    Wood in natural form does what trees need, but not everything that people need of it.

    My favorite from long ago was fiberglass infused wood used for making drum sticks. We used them in marching band. Also if one set then on fire, the flames would persist while playing (essentially waving sticks in the air). We enjoyed that, but the band director did a bit less.
     
  7. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Mites (Acari) are abundant, diverse, and the second-most troubling disease vector after mosquitoes. Those I am known to hate.

    But mites are beneficial to many plants by eating many plant problems. Readers might enjoy:

    Mighty mite defense systems: More mites, more protection for plants

    ==
    First mite domatia I learned of was on grape leaves. A topic I avoided discussing with people who use grape leaves to wrap foods.
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    111,953
    50,943
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i had something like that once, delicious! please don't tell me any possible downsides.
     
  9. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Merkey likes this.
  10. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
  11. Merkey

    Merkey Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2012
    299
    272
    0
    Location:
    Birmingham, Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    tochatihu likes this.
  12. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Super good question! Cerebral blood-brain barrier excludes too-large stuff brought up by carotid arteries, and should certainly exclude ~10 micron-size amoeba. I think we are seeing here bypass of BBB by nasal sinus arteries (contents). Naegleria fowleri have done this nasally before. Not very many times, happily.

    Swimming in fresh (not sea) water, not a pool with blasting by chemicals, one might pinch nostrils shut. It's you inside of there and it ought not be them.
     
    Merkey likes this.
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    111,953
    50,943
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    So many sad swimming stories, I keep my head above water.
    And yet, look at what they swam in during the Olympics
     
    #2693 bisco, Jun 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2025 at 8:57 PM
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    111,953
    50,943
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
  15. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    That analysis is off limits to me, but general ideas have been around for a while. Some species pollinate plants (we may consider that 'noble'), but not plants that require specialized pollinators. So that function could be performed by other insects.

    Nearly all (it seems) of ~3500 mosquito species feed on blood. About 10 species specialize on human blood. As they typically take more than one meal, they move little bits of blood from one person to another. Thus act as disease vectors, and kill more humans than any other critters. Realize if they were just 'one and done', we would not be in this fight.

    Making extinct the 10 human problem species is not a permanent solution because some of the other 3490 ish species could switch to us. No, we got ta snuff them all.

    Let other pollinators fill the gaps. Some animals get much of their protein from mosquitoes. Well, boo hoo. Learn to eat something else.

    ==
    Other arthropod species feed on blood; some flies, some ticks and some unholy homopterans. Some of those are also disease vectors. We'll get to them later.

    Humans have never been shy about snuffing other species inimical to the human enterprise. Don't 'grow a conscience' with this gang.
     
  16. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2004
    9,499
    3,667
    0
    Location:
    Kunming Yunnan China
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    "Realize if they were just 'one and done', we would not be in this fight." Quoting myself ;)

    Leeches do this singular feeding. As such, they take yer blood without disease vectoring. Not a really nice thing (I have been leeched) but they show it can be done without those consequences.

    ==
    No discussion like would be complete without vampire bats. Multi-feeders and disease vectors. They inspire many dramatic stories. Bat-fear and bat-hate comes from them. Let that drama guide your thinking about 'Mosquitoes? yes or no?'
     
  17. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
    28,223
    15,965
    0
    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    Mosquitoes are part of the bat and dragonfly food chain. Better goals:
    • eliminate infectious pathogens carried by mosquitoes
    • make them "not like" human blood
      • this may already occur because human's swat mosquitoes within arms reach
      • we also use noxious compounds to confound mosquitoes
      • bug zapper and a six pack is entertainment in Dixie
    Bob Wilson
     
  18. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    8,080
    6,882
    0
    Location:
    Redneck Riviera (Gulf South)
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Ah.....WAPO.....
    I guess all those staffing cuts are starting to tell.....'eh?

    No.
    We can't, really.......and NO.
    We shouldn't.
    I'm not opposed to DNA editing for zany religious reasons, but I am not confident that we're going to be very good at it.....especially when we use the lowest bidders for the lab work. :eek:

    We've been battling those pesky pests for a minute or two.
    We tried using Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane in the 40's and we 'learned some things.'
    (Like: typing out Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane 100 times in a poorly sourced 'peer reviewed' paper SUCKS so it was converted to that now-infamous TLA....)

    @Mendel Leisk TLA. Three Letter Acronym.

    A good friend at my church drives, the 'bug truck' at night for my county.
    I kid them about using just tap water in the tank - which probably has enough chemicals to be effective.
    They drive them at night for obvious reasons........

    If you're lucky enough to live in the deep South, there are TWO truck sounds that will REALLY get people moving on those long summer evenings albeit in different directions!
    (The other, of course, is the Ice Cream truck!)
     
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
  19. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2006
    23,129
    12,297
    0
    Location:
    eastern Pennsylvania
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Humans also have no issue taking out species not an issue to their enterprise. Insect populations on a whole have been dropping. I wouldn't be so sanguine about another species stepping in to fill roles with that in process, if mosquitos are wiped out.
     
  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    111,953
    50,943
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i'm not qualified to make these lofty decisions. who is?

    the scientists who don't think we should wipe them out say that we don't know enough about their importance in good things.
    the scientists who want them gone see the african devastation mostly first hand.