Movable Books

 

Movable books -- science at work and play

by Gillian O'Reilly

The term "movable books" (including lift-the-flap, pull the tab and pop-up books) evokes images of diverting children's books or grand paper constructions of Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter or Star Wars scenes. The roots of these books, however, lie in astronomy and medicine and their pedigree is centuries old.

We can look back nearly 900 years to the first known lift-the-flap manuscript, the Liber Floridus (1121), which shows the orbits of the planets.

Later books included anatomy texts where the lift-the-flap function was ideal for showing the exterior and then interior of organs such as the heart; click on the link to see this 1662 example from Descartes' De homine figures.

Gradually, the movable book format moved into the world of juvenile literature, appearing in the mid-18^th century. Some were very simple lift-the-flap operations, but the format grew to include movable wheels, pull-string or pull-tab devices and eventually the pop-up book where the simple act of turning of the page engineers a 3D construction ranging from simple to magnificently complex.

These early forms of interactive materials were designed to engage young readers in the text, whether for amusement or instruction -- or as Spring projecting figures, or, Dean's new model book: The farmer & his family (1865) notes, "by carefully raising the projecting parts of the pictures, the effect will be improved." Topics for juvenile movable books ranged widely from fairy tales, Bible stories, domestic life, and historical events.

Today, movable books again bring you science in wonderfully intricate pop-ups and lift-the-flap publication like Bugs by paper engineer George McGavin.

The world-renowned historical children's book collection at the Osborne Collection in the Lillian H. Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library contains works by many noted paper engineers, including the six-foot, life-sized Dimensional Man -- as the catalogue summary says, "just lift the left pectoral muscle to see the thorax or turn the large intestine anti-clockwise to reveal the abdomen!"

Note: The Osborne Collection www.torontopubliclibrary.ca\osborne\ offers excellent opportunities to explore science books for children through the centuries. It is housed in the Lillian H. Smith Branch, along with the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy.

Gillian O'Reilly

Salty Slug Love

Slippery, slimy, oozy slugs; what’s not to love? Slugs can be small and slugs can be as long as your arm! Slugs can be sausage shaped and brown, or they can have leaves, legs, and lots of rainbow colours! They can live anywhere wet, and lots live under the sea. 

Salty Samples 

Sea slugs are a family of boneless animals that contain a particularly fancy looking molluscs called nudibranchs. Usually they’re small enough to fit on your hand, but they can be as long as a sheet of binder paper. Their shapes and colours result in names like “dragon” and “orange peel,” or “sea bunny,” “dancer” and “clown.” Start an image search and you could browse pictures of fanciful nudibranchs all day. There are more than 3000 kinds! 

Pantry Paint Packs 

Like flamingoes get their pink colour from their food, nudibranchs get their colour from their diet too. Check out this little creature that looks like a sheep that rolled in cut grass! It’s the leafy sheeps’ algae diet that makes them green. They store the chloroplasts from their food and that means photosynthesis happens inside their bodies like it does in plants. 

Nudibranch Brunch 

Nudibranchs are carnivorous! They eat algae, sponges, and even other sea slugs. Some also eat coral and even stinging jellyfish, and that makes them a bit toxic. Like the leafy sheep keeps some chloroplasts from its food, the jellyfish eating “blue dragon” keeps some of the stinging cells from its food. Like a lot of colourful things in nature, the bright hues warn us that they can hurt. Touching them can sting. 

Making Nudibranchs 

Any two nudibranchs can make babies together, because they all have both sex organs. They’re hermaphrodites, just like earthworms and most snails are. About 5 of every 100 animal species are hermaphroditic.

A gooey ribbon of fertilized eggs will hatch into nudibranchs that look just like their parents but smaller. Depending on the type, there can be 2 eggs or 25 million! Once they leave the nest, they’ll live just a few weeks to a year. 

Notice Nudibranchs 

To see a nudibranch in person, you’ll have to go out into the ocean because they don’t survive captivity for long. But you’ll find some of these saltwater slugs along every ocean coast — except in the Arctic and Antarctic circles. They love coral reefs. You will find nudibranchs in shallow water and way down in the deep. Look on the bottom, and remember they’re usually very small. Most photos of these creatures are taken with a close-up macro lens.

Panel discussion at When Words Collide

 Wow! We just finished a terrific panel discussion at a virtual convention. Several writers from Sci/Why were attending When Words Collide, a literary festival that has gone all-online for this year's event. We held a panel discussion on Sunday August 16 with the title Writing Science Books for Youth.

If you've come to our website to learn more about writing, put a comment after this post or another recent post and one of us will be able to get back to you.

Check out our pages of resources! We have a list of science books written by our authors, who are all Canadian. And on the sidebar at right is a box celebrating that we were short-listed for the People's Choice Award. Clicking on that box will take you to the blog for Science Borealis which can connect you to other science websites.

Not Your Grandma's Scientist

By Claire Eamer

The default image of a scientist used to be a white man -- usually with more fly-away white hair than was strictly necessary. Maybe a bit like the dude on the right...

Of course, we all know now that the image was never really accurate. After all, Crick and Watson's discovery of the nature of the DNA molecule owed a great deal to the remarkable work of Rosalind Franklin.

Our current awareness of the dangers of pesticides and similar chemicals was founded on the work and the riveting prose of biologist Rachel Carson. And the great 19th century astronomer, William Herschel, had an equally talented little sister, Caroline, who did much of his math for him and discovered three nebulae and eight comets on her own.

But still, the public face of science has all too often been a white man. Well, the times are changing (and none too soon!).

Take, for example, Evan Johnson-Ransom, a young Black grad student at Oklahoma State University whose delightful Twitter feed I discovered recently.

It's full of dinosaurs, fossils, recreations of ancient beasties, and lots of fascinating palaeo content. Especially, T. rex and its relatives -- which Mr. Johnson-Ransom hopes to spend the next few years studying. As I told him online, he is living every 8-year-old's dream!

Or how about the four young women who just started an organization called Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS)? They're all passionate about sharks and hope to recruit more enthusiasts to join them.

But why sharks? One of the founders of the group, Carlee Jackson, said in a recent interview that she has been fascinated by sharks since the age of six, even though she grew up in shark-free Detroit. She studied marine biology in Florida, where she finally saw her first live shark in the wild. She thought it was...er...cute. But sharks are not just cute, she said. They're a vital part of the ocean ecosystem.

Sharks not your thing? How about birds? Actually, how about Dr. Letícia Soares. Originally from Brazil, she's working at the Advanced Facility for Avian Research at Western University in London, Ontario, where she studies the transmission of avian malaria in birds.

I discovered Dr. Soares on Twitter, where she was talking with great enthusiasm about birds, research, online conferences, and a certain Turquoise-fronted Amazon parrot that sings in one of the indigenous languages of Brazil. Her enthusiasm about all these topics and more is infectious.

You might notice a theme here -- Twitter. For all that it can be a nasty, poisonous place, Twitter can also open up worlds. It's a great place to find and sometimes interact with scientists of all shapes, sizes, colours, and preferences. There are even some very cool white-guy-scientists there. If you're interested in diversity in science, take a look around.

I should add, however, that diversity in science can often be found even closer to home. And it's not just the young folk. Take, for example, the president of my local university, Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo: Dr. Deb Saucier, a neuroscientist of Métis heritage and a recent recipient of the Indigenous Women in Leadership Award.

And from a previous generation, we in Canada have The Honourable Dr. Lillian Eva Quan Dyck. Daughter of a Chinese immigrant father and a Cree mother, she is a member of the Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan. After a distinguished career in neuropsychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan, she was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 2005.

Finally, if you're curious about diversity in science, here are a few articles or websites to browse:

• 6 Black Archaeologists and Anthropologists You Should Know About
• 6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism
• 9 Black Chemists You Should Know About
• 14 Inspiring Innovators From Asia
• These Powerful African Scientists Are Changing The World

You can probably think of more examples and more sources. If so, just add them in the Comments below. I'd love to learn more!

Herbal Medicine in Medieval Times

 

Herbal Medicine in Medieval Times:

Whoa, whoa, whoa – It’s Magic!

By Marie Powell

In the past few years, I’ve been writing a medieval fantasy novel series for young adults. Last of the Gifted: Spirit Sight is about as far from science as it can get: the Welsh brother-and-sister team that are my protagonists solve their problems with magic.

But during the writing, I had questions about how their medieval world worked. It’s not surprising that I was a little preoccupied with medicine and healing, especially during this time of pandemic and social isolation. I turned to alternative medicine and biology resources to find out what people might have used to treat infections, everyday ailments, and even wounds in medieval times.

Note that I said alternative resources. The websites I looked at all point out that we must consult a doctor before using any of these plants or herbs today, and special precautions must be taken before using anything that has medicinal properties.

That said, it’s fascinating to read about what medieval people thought about biology and medicine. We think of herbs for cooking today, but for the medieval Welsh, plants in the fields and and gardens were more often used as a source of medicine, rather than cooking (Freeman, 1996).

For example, the common flower Marigold or Calendula might be found in gardens today for beauty or to attract helpful insects and birds (Russo, n.d.). It blooms in the morning, and it certainly adds colour to any garden. Medieval herbalists also thought it could help with a variety of ailments, from menstrual cramps to inflammation (Russo, n.d.). In the 12^th and 13^th Centuries, people mixed marigold with other herbs like St. John’s Wort and aloe to treat wounds. (Quave, 2018)

That was interesting for me, since my story takes place during a major war between Wales and England, and there are lots of injuries to treat. Other plants were thought to be useful as well. Comfrey was used to help heal broken bones (Hedgerow Medicine, n.d.). Moss was used to dress wounds at least since 1014, and Agrimony or Agrimonia eupatoria was thought to help stop bleeding (Hedgerow Medicine, n.d.) (Woodbury, 2012).

Of course, I looked at Welsh texts in translation, like the “Medical Book of the Physicians of Myddvai.” This source lists 32 days in the year that were considered dangerous to your health (I leave you to look them up from the links below and see if you agree). It also suggests various remedies, including: “The mugwort, madder, meadow sweet, milfoil, hemp, red cabbage, and the tutsan, all these seven herbs enter into the composition of the medicine required. Whosoever obtains them all, will not languish long from a wounded lung, or need fear for his life” (ab Ithel, 1861). Writers often say that research is like going down a rabbit hole, and that website was one rabbit hole that kept me occupied for several days.

North Wales is mountainous, and I began to wonder if my characters experienced altitude sickness or what they used as a cure. One source suggested Rhodiola Rosea (Plants for a Future, n.d.), which is found in the UK. Apparently it tastes a bit like spinach so it may have provided nutrients to supplement their diet, too. But don’t try this at home: medical studies and climbers recommend acclimatization, rest, hydration, high-calorie foods, and avoiding depressants instead (Curtis, 1998) (Usher, 2018).

What about that blue dye that Celtic peoples are reported to have used to bolster their courage in battle? That’s Woad (wohd) or Isatis tinctorial. The plant has a yellow flower, but the blue dye comes from its blue-green leaves after they've been dried, powdered, and brewed. Some sources say its roots and leaves, when prepared properly, could also be used as an ointment to fight infections and sores (Ellis, 2018), or to prevent “hardness of the spleen” (Grieve, 1995-2020). Sounds uncomfortable!

I’m still looking for great resources as I delve into the magic of Book 2 of my series, Last of the Gifted: Water Sight. Meanwhile, I’ve listed some resources below for further reading. Know any good resources on medieval magic and medicine? Please leave a comment and let’s discuss it!

Disclaimer: The content of this article is purely research. The author is not a medical professional or herbalist. Please consult a physician or medical professional for advice before using any herbs or alternative medicines.

Marie Powell’s castle-hopping adventures in North Wales have led to the publication of her new series, Last of the Gifted, including Spirit Sight this summer and Water Sight this fall with Wood Dragon Books (participation made possible through Creative Saskatchewan’s Book Publishing Grant Program). Marie is the author of 40 children’s books published by Scholastic Education, Amicus, Learner/Lightning Bolt, and others. Find her at https://mariepowell.ca  

Photo credits:

1 - Marigold or Calendula (Alvesgaspar, 2008)

2 - Agrimony - (Rosser1954, 2019)

3 - Rhodiola Rosea - (Σ64, 2007)

4 - Woad flowers - (Pethan, 2005)

 Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Bibliography: Further Reading List

Σ64. (2007, August 5). Rhodiola rosea. Retrieved from Wikimedia.org: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhodiola_rosea_01.jpg

ab Ithel, W. J. (1861). The Medical Book of the Physicians of Myddvai. Retrieved from Celtic Literature Collective: Welsh MSS Society: http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/meddigion_myddfai.html

Alvesgaspar. (2008, January). A Field Marigold inflorescence (Calendula arvensis). Retrieved from Wikimedia.org: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calendula_January_2008-1_filtered.jpg

Curtis, R. (1998). Outdoor Action Guide to High Altitude: Acclimatization and Illnesses. Retrieved from Princeton University: AEE Wilderness Safety Page: http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html

Ellis, M. E. (2018, 05 12). Woad Uses Beyond Dye: What Can Woad Be Used For In The Garden? Retrieved from Gardening Know-How: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/woad-plant/woad-uses-beyond-dye.htm

Freeman, B. (1996). First Catch Your Peacock: Classic Guide to Welsh Food. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_cuisine#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFreeman199648-8

Grieve, M. (1995-2020). Woad. Retrieved from Botanical.com: https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/w/woad--28.html

Hedgerow Medicine. (n.d.). Hedgerow Medicine. Retrieved from Hedgerow Medicine: http://www.hedgerowmedicine.com/blog/list

O'Brien, L. (2018, January 21). Lora O'Brien, Irish Author & Guid. Retrieved from Celtic Woad - An Authentic Resource?: https://loraobrien.ie/celtic-woad-an-authentic-resource/

Pethan. (2005, May). Isatis tinctoria. Retrieved from Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Isatis_tinctoria02.JPG

Plants for a Future. (n.d.). Rhodiola rosea - L. Retrieved from Plants for a Future: https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Rhodiola+rosea

Quave, C. (2018, Oct 25). Wound healing with botanicals: A review and future perspectives . Retrieved from NCBI Resources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6519724/

Rosser1954. (2019, May 13). The Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum), growing in Lainshaw Woods, Stewarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland. Retrieved from Wikimedia.org: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hemp_Agrimony_(Eupatorium_cannabinum),_Lainshaw_Woods,_Stewarton,_East_Ayrshire.jpg

Russo, S. (n.d.). Calendula: Healing From The Inside Out. Retrieved from Emerald Pharms: http://emeraldpharms.com/medicinal-plants/calendula-healing-from-the-inside-out

Science Direct. (n.d.). Calendula. Retrieved from Science Direct: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/calendula

Usher, T. (2018, April 16). Vice. Retrieved from Today I learned: The UK Is the World's Biggest Importer of Legal Cocaine: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/vbxqy9/today-i-learned-the-uk-is-the-worlds-biggest-importer-of-legal-cocaine

Whiteman, R. (1997). Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden: An Illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and Their Uses. Bulfinch.

Woodbury, S. (2012, 08 19). Medicinal Herbs in Wales. Retrieved from SarahWoodbury.com: https://www.sarahwoodbury.com/medicinal-herbs-in-wales/