Merry Christmas! The Twelfth Dredge of Biomass

 

The Twelfth Dredge of Biomass

by Raymond K. Nakamura

For these taxing times, I tried a taxonomic take on an old favourite. Here is an annotated list of animal phyla, chosen for matching the number of syllables in the gifts mentioned in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.

On the twelfth dredge of biomass, my true love gave to me —

This is supposing that you and your true love are fans of invertebrate zoology.

12 Annelida

Annelids are segmented worms, which include earthworms, as well as some marine ones called Christmas tree worms.

 

11 Platyhelminthes

Platyhelminthes are flatworms such as planarians, known for their ability to regenerate after being cut in half. 

10 Loricifera

Loricifera are relatively new in their discovery (1983). They would make fancy ornaments if they weren’t so tiny.

 

9 Cnidarians

Cnidarians include jellyfish, sea anemones, and coral, not to be confused with A Christmas Carol (a Charles Dickens story that can be read here on Project Gutenberg, a website sharing stories too old for copyright, or you can read about it on Wikipedia).

8 Nematoda

Nematoda are mostly tiny worms found in so many places that American nematodologist Nathan Cobb said in 1915,

 “If all the matter in the universe except the nematodes were swept away, our world would still be dimly recognizable ... we should find its mountains, hills, vales, rivers, lakes, and oceans represented by a film of nematodes."

 

7 Arthropoda

Arthropoda include all the insects and all the crustaceans. I studied barnacles, which are arthropods, and so did Charles Darwin so they must be cool.

 

6 Priapulids

Priapulids are unsegmented marine worms also sometimes call “penis worms” for their approximate similarity in shape and sometimes size. Perhaps not appropriate for a true love to send.

 

5 Chordata

Chordata are the phylum to which all the gifts in the original 12 Days of Christmas song included, except for the pear tree. 

4 Chaetognaths

Chaetognaths are tiny creatures that would look like nice ornaments or awesome dragons if they were bigger.

 

3 Molluscs

Molluscs are a diverse group that include clams, mussels, oysters, escargot, calamari and other items that go well with garlic butter. The creature I drew is a Nautilus, Greek for sailor, and the name of Captain Nemo’s submarine in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (a Jules Verne book you can read at Project Gutenberg).

 

2 Tardigrades

Tardigrades are tiny creatures also known as “water bears.” They are remarkably resilience creatures capable of living in many places. They were even spilled on the moon, although we don’t know if they survived that.

 

1 Echinodermata

Echinodermata include sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, and feather stars. I got interested in marine biology because of sea urchin gonads and ended up doing a doctorate on of the hydrodynamics sand dollars. Please don’t use them as tree ornaments no matter how perfect they seem for the task.

Whatever your inclination, I hope you have a maritime merry time this winter solstice, trying out these alternatives for all the verses and putting the “sea” back in Season’s Greetings.

Tom Lehrer songs now in public domain!

by Paula Johanson

Part of learning about science is talking and thinking about science. And singing about it too, if you're someone who appreciates the humour of Tom Lehrer. Not every family will laugh at every one of his songs, but most families will find something funny in at least one of his songs about science or math. There's a Tom Lehrer song listing the elements from the Periodic Table of the elements, which is funnier to sing or hear than you'd think a list would be. It's all the two-syllable and three-syllable rhyming, which is humourous in English-language poetry for some traditional reason. Actor Daniel Radcliffe (who played Harry Potter in the films) has been known to sing this song at parties, and at least once on television.

Another song Tom Lehrer wrote had some cutting satire about Wehrner von Braun, a rocket scientist. Lehrer also wrote songs for the short television videos known as Schoolhouse Rock and for the television show The Electric Company, which were landmarks in the field of education using video/television.

As writer Cory Doctorow says on Twitter:

Tom Lehrer is one of our great nerdy, comedic songwriters, a Harvard-educated mathematician who produced a string of witty, unforgettable science- and math-themed comedic airs with nary a dud.

Now in his nineties, Lehrer remains both a political and scientific hero, sung the world round by geeks of every age. When my daughter was young, we taught her "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park."

Undergrads at UC Santa Cruz would sign up for his math class just to learn freshman algebra from the "Wehrner Von Braun" guy. Now, Lehrer has done something absolutely remarkable. 

In a note on his website, Lehrer has released the lyrics (and music, for those songs where he was the composer) into the public domain. He warns fans to download the songs before 12/31/2024, when he says he will delete his site. https://tomlehrersongs.com

Only the lyrics to 96 songs are in the release; Lehrer cautions the accompanying music will appear later "with further disclaimers." In his note, Lehrer urges us to make up our own tunes for these: "In particular, permission is hereby granted to anyone to set any of these lyrics to their own music and publish or perform their versions without fear of legal action." 

 

Why would anyone choose to give up the copyright to his songs? Well, for several reasons. Lehrer is in his nineties and has already retired from his academic career and from performing his songs. You can read about Lehrer's colourful life in a Wikipedia article about him which has many references for further reading. Some of his songs from the Electric Company are at this link and they're well worth learning.

If you want to learn more about copyright and creative commons licensing, there are many books and articles on the topic. Creative Commons has a website at this link. Copyright in Canada is managed at this link where there is lots of information you can read, including a Guide to Copyright you can read online at this link. 

How Do Vaccines Work?

 by Yolanda Ridge

After a year of bad news stories, there’s finally some good news on the horizon when it comes to COVID-19: a vaccine!

So how do vaccines work? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how vaccines—also known as immunizations—prevent people from getting disease like the measles, the flu and (hopefully soon) COVID-19. For the simplicity, I’ll refer to the disease as “YUCK” and the germ that causes it as “Y”.

Scientists modify Y so it is weak or even dead but still recognizable (a bit like a zombie).

This zombified version of Y is given to a person, usually by injection or nasal spray.

Once a person has been exposed to Y-modified they start to develop an immune response.

This immune response can cause some people to develop a fever or maybe a bit of a runny nose but it will not cause someone to get YUCK because of the way Y has been modified (or zombified).

The body essentially learns from this exposure to Y-modified through something called adaptive immunity.

When an immunized person is next exposed to Y (this time through contact with someone who has YUCK) their immune system will immediately recognize the intruder and launch a full-scale assault… usually enough of an attack to stop Y from causing YUCK.

There’s more detail on vaccines and immunity in this excellent TED-Ed video. Because it was made in 2015, there’s no mention of COVID-19. But did you know that there are more than 150 coronavirus vaccines currently in development across the world? As I write this, people in the United Kingdom and Russia are receiving the first immunizations against COVID-19.

For more details on the different types of coronavirus vaccines and the process of getting them approved, check out this comprehensive article: Here’s the latest on COVID-19 vaccines, from National Geographic magazine.

According to a poll done by National Geographic magazine, 61% of Americans are likely to get an FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine once it’s available. What about you?

Yolanda Ridge is a middle grade author and science writer from Rossland, BC. Visit her website at www.yolandaridge.com to find out more.

Photo credits: Male Zombie by Gordon Dylan Johnson from opengameart.org; Soldier by André Santana from pixabay.com

Canadian Student Wins International Competition

 by Paula Johanson

A high school student from Fort MacMurray, Alberta, has just won an international science competition called Breakthrough Junior Challenge. Maryam Tsegaye has won a $500,000 award which includes a scholarship, a new science lab for her school, and a prize for her teacher. The challenge was to submit a video that explains a scientific principle.

Maryam explained quantum tunnelling, in a three-minute video.

If you haven't gotten around to learning new science during quarantine and winning an award with over 5,000 competitors, don't blame the pandemic -- just celebrate this student's victory!

Here's a link to an article about this student and her amazing video which is well worth seeing: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-maryam-tsegaye-khan-1.5829840

Fungus Photos

 by Jan Thornhill

[Today's post is based on some images and captions by Jan Thornhill. Her studies of fungus lead her to make photographs with surprising colours and textures! There are spores and bracket fungus and more.]

 

 

I found a new hen-of-the-woods (Grifola frondosa) fungus growing at the base of a tree, and took a quick location pic so I'd be able to find the same tree again next year. (My criteria for this location pic are: identifiable mushroom in foreground and, in the background, a fallen-tree-on-the-embankment landmark). Then I downloaded what I think is easily the best hen picture I've ever taken. I wish I'd had something to do with it!  

Here is Rhodofomes cajanderi, one of 2 pink-pored shelf fungi in Ontario (the other is R. rosea). Both are uncommon where I live. I can't get over the colour of this one! 

 

One of my favourite tiny gilled mushrooms - Resupinatus applicatus. Compare this image of the underside of these mushrooms to a photo of the topside, with my hand for scale.

This fungus is Gomphus clavatus (or Pig's Foot Gomphus - one of my favourite common names). It is a choice edible mushroom that, like the Chanterelle, has "folds" instead of gills. Despite the purplish colour, this mushroom produces ochre spores (visible on a couple of lobes in this pic).

Ever find raccoon scat sporting hair? If the "hair" tips are beaded with minute yellow spheres that then turn black (as the enclosed spores mature) you've probably found the fungal mold, Phycomyces blakesleeanus.

It's taken 30 years, but I finally found the jelly fungus, Dacryopinax spathularia! Here it is, growing on and in a fallen log.

[Mushrooms, of course, are more than the little round white shapes found in grocery stores. It's tricky to tell wild mushrooms apart. If you find some fungi growing wild, better not eat them. Just enjoy their looks and leave any eating to experts like Jan Thornhill.]

Solve This! Use Engineering to Sort Coins

 Video by Joan Marie Galat

 

They KNEW this would happen!

 In 2011 Daryl Bem proved that precognition exists! People can know something before it happens. Specifically, he ran an experiment which went like this: students were shown a computer screen displaying two curtains. They were told that a picture would appear behind one of the curtains and they had to predict which curtain. The computer then used a random number generator to choose which side the picture would appear. If the subjects had no ability to know the future, you would expect a 50-50 success rate. But Bem’s experiment showed that subjects predicted successfully at a statistically significant higher rate.

 

 

Creative Commons Licence

 It would have been easy to dismiss this as an improperly run experiment, except that

• Professor Bem was a highly regarded scientist, having initiated a major field of study within psychology
• He had taught at Carnegie-Mellon, Stanford, Harvard, and Cornell Universities
• His study was peer-reviewed and no problems found with the methodology or analysis

and so “Feeling the Future” was published in one of the most prestigious psychology journals.

 

Creative Commons Licence

Consternation! Pretty much no-one believed in precognition, but how could “good”, peer-reviewed, published science, be totally wrong? Several scientists tried repeating Bem’s study and found no precognition. And others started looking at whether some well-accepted studies were replicable and found that they, too, didn’t hold up. Some estimates suggested that as many as 50% of published results are not repeatable. And so began the so-called Replication Crisis in psychology.

Sadly, some of the studies that have not held up include some great ideas. You know about them if you’ve read wonderful books like Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman’s  Thinking Fast and Slow or Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational. Examples are:-

  

 Creative Commons Licence

Social Priming: A famous study found that after exposing subjects to some random words which included ones relating to old age, they walked more slowly when leaving the building.

 

Creative Commons Licence

Ego depletion: This 1996 experiment has been cited over 3,000 times. Student volunteers were placed in a room with freshly baked, fragrant chocolate chip cookies. Some groups were permitted to eat them, other groups not. After a while they were given an impossible puzzle to try and solve. Those whose will-power had been tested by refraining from eating gave up after eight minutes. Those who had been allowed to eat the cookies lasted an average of 19 minutes.  

  

Quentin Gronau - Creative Commons Licence

Facial Feedback Hypothesis: A highly cited experiment in 1988 gave subjects a pen to hold in their mouths while looking at cartoons. Those who were instructed to hold the pen in a way to force them to smile, found the cartoons significantly funnier than the control group.

 There are many reasons that invalid results can be published and subsequently not refuted. Some are

1. Significance level: Psychology accepts as significant a 95% confidence level. And if the conclusion is true 95% of the time, you would expect it to be wrong once in every 20 studies.  By contrast the benchmark for Physics is one spurious conclusion in 3.5 million!
2. Journals will only publish positive results, so there’s a lot of pressure on researchers to find significance.
3. Journals are also very reluctant to publish papers showing that studies were not successfully replicated. And if the replication works, it's old news! So there’s little incentive to try to replicate a study. It won’t get you a publishable paper no matter whether the replication is successful or unsuccessful.
4. “P-hacking”. You collect a lot of data and then search it for a significant result. If you slice and dice your data enough, you are quite likely to come up with a statistically significant result, purely by chance. So if you don’t get significance with your entire group of subjects, try splitting them into subgroups of males and females; or try young and old; or try gay and straight; or first-born vs other birth sequence, etc. In Bem’s study, he found that precognition worked with erotic images and male subjects. If you have 20 subgroups, you should have a good chance of finding a spuriously significant result.
5. “Data Peeking”. This is a way of selectively collecting the data you would like. You run a study on, say, 20 subjects and look at the results. If they don’t look good, decide that the procedure isn't quite right. Throw away that 'bad' data, make a small change and try again. Keep doing this until you get a really good result on 20 subjects. Then declare those 20 to be the start of the real study and keep going. It has been suggested that Bem may have done this. It’s clearly dishonest if you know that the procedural changes you are making are not significant. But there’s a widespread belief that in many cases minor changes to the procedure are significant. (Perhaps just convenient wishful thinking).

 Lots of psychologists are trying hard to fix the many problems in the discipline.

• There are many groups working to replicate and either support or debunk existing theories.
• There’s a lot of pressure to “preregister” studies. This means you specify in advance what your hypothesis is and what data you’ll test and analyze. It leaves less wiggle room for data hacking after the fact.
• There’s pressure on journals to agree to publish Registered Reports. These would be well-designed studies and the journal agrees in advance to publish the results, regardless of the outcome.

In the meantime, I plan to keep smiling and eating chocolate chip cookies.