Syzdekistan

The New York Times’ excellent science writers take a look at how animals perceive death and the upcoming “Sim” game, Spore is played by evolutionary biologists:

“You always wonder why life tends to become more complex over time,” Mr. Wright said. “If you look at this balance between cooperation and competition, at almost every level it explains it neatly. You have agents competing at some level. The agents might be cells. At some point the cells can group together and work collectively and outcompete the other ones that are not cooperating. Then competition jumps to the next level. At every level you have to have the right balance between co-op and comp. That balance is driving the organizational complexity.”

From the National Weather Service:

August 2008 is second warmest on record in Las Vegas…

The average temperature for August 2008 was 93.0 degrees which was the second warmest August on record. The warmest August on record occurred in 1995 when the average temperature was 93.1 degrees. The average high temperature for the month was 104.2 degrees which tied for the 17th warmest on record. However… the average low temperature for August 2008 was 81.7 degrees which was the warmest average low temperature on record.

There was only 0.07 inches of rain which was 0.38 inches below normal.

I recorded only 0.04 inches of rain in August and a total of 1.21 inches this year.

Technorati Tags: rain, Vegas, weather

Many of the actions that affect endangered species occur either on Federal lands or are the actions of federal agencies. Whether changes in logging rules in a National Forest, permitting oil and gas leases on BLM land, or even building a new visitor center in a National Park, Federal agencies are required by law to consult with US Fish and Wildlife Service biologists regarding their project. Then the Fish and Wildlife Service issues a Biological Opinion regarding the Endangered Species on the project. They can find that the project causes “jeopardy” to the species and cancel the project. This is exceedingly rare. More typically, they issue some guidelines to follow during the project to protect the species and the project continues. This system works. The effects of the project on the species is scientifically evaluated by independent experts, the project is modified to protect the species if necessary, and the project is completed.

In the waning days of the Bush administration, President Bush has instructed the Interior Department to remove this independent review. Instead, the agency proposing the project will conduct the review of impacts on Endangered Species internally. In other words, they will evaluate the impacts of their project internally. While Federal agencies often have talented biologists on their staffs, this is a clear conflict of interest. Reviews of impacts need to be scientific, impartial, and independent.

The rule change is also intended to remove the possibility of looking at the effects of climate change on endangered species.

Today, the Interior Department opened up a public comment period regarding this rule change. It is only 30 days long and is intended to finish in time for the Bush administration to implement this rule before the November election. Furthermore, the Interior department is not taking email comments. They take written comments or you can use their online system here. Search for Endangered Species and click on “Interagency Cooperation Under the Endangered Species Act.”

Technorati Tags: Endangered Species

Sports Illustrated has an amazing sequence of underwater camera shots showing the unbelievable finish in last night’s 100-meter butterfly. Link. I have never seen such an amazingly close finish to a race before. Phelps was 7th at the 50 meter mark and really didn’t think he could pull off a medal, let alone a gold, in this race. Utterly amazing.

The New York Times has this interesting article on the genetic relatedness of the peoples of Europe.

The genetic map of Europe bears a clear structural similarity to the geographic map. The major genetic differences are between populations of the north and south (the vertical axis of the map shows north-south differences, the horizontal axis those of east-west). The area assigned to each population reflects the amount of genetic variation in it.

Europe has been colonized three times in the distant past, always from the south. Some 45,000 years ago the first modern humans entered Europe from the south. The glaciers returned around 20,000 years ago and the second colonization occurred about 17,000 years ago by people returning from southern refuges. The third invasion was that of farmers bringing the new agricultural technology from the Near East around 10,000 years ago.

The pattern of genetic differences among present day Europeans probably reflects the impact of these three ancient migrations, Dr. Kayser said.

The map also identifies the existence of two genetic barriers within Europe. One is between the Finns (light blue, upper right) and other Europeans. It arose because the Finnish population was at one time very small and then expanded, bearing the atypical genetics of its few founders.

The other is between Italians (yellow, bottom center) and the rest. This may reflect the role of the Alps in impeding free flow of people between Italy and the rest of Europe.

Recently, we were in Zion National Park and stopped for ice cream at the main lodge in Zion canyon. We were lucky enough to see a Botta’s pocket gopher (Thonomys bottae) excavating it’s burrow in the field near the lodge.

These mammals are high specialized burrowers. They have huge incisors and their lips close behind their teeth so they don’t get dirt in their mouths while digging. Pocket gophers almost never leave their burrows and are rarely seen. They can move with ease backwards in their burrows using their tail as a sensory device. Pocket gophers have large, fur-lined cheek pouches that can be flipped inside out and eat roots and tubers. They can be extremely harmful to agricultural fields but in wilderness areas their burrowing greatly hastens soil formation.

Of course, there were other cute mammals in the field as well:

Technorati Tags: gopher, mammal

While Rob and I were at Defcon, we saw this BMW Z4 with Nevada license plate “NO TAG.”

This reminded me a funny story I once heard. A guy was filling out a customized license plate application and his first and second choices were “BOATING” and “SAILING.” Not having a third choice, he wrote “NO PLATE” intending that if he couldn’t get his first two choices, he didn’t want a personalized plate.

Well, his first two choices were taken so the DMV issued “NO PLATE.” He decided to keep the plate despite the mistake.

Anyway, after four weeks he started getting parking tickets in the mail. Lots of parking tickets. It turned out that when a parking ticket was issued to a car with no plates the officer would write “NO PLATE” in the license plate field. The DMV computers would end up sending him the ticket. Over time, he got over 2,500 tickets in the mail and ended up setting up a form letter to send to the courts to get the ticket removed.

I wonder if this Nevadan hacker knows the story and if he gets tickets in the mail.

Check out the Snopes story here.

This past weekend, Rob and I attended Defcon 16 here in Vegas. DefCon is a hacker conference. While there is a lot of nefarious talks (like how to hack the Boston subway which actually got cancelled due to a lawsuit) at the conference, there is also a lot of cool technology and great security information. Rob and I are both hackers — in the good, taking things apart, and making them better sort of way. We are not crackers who break into systems and do bad things.

We had a great time. We managed to stay off of the Wall of Sheep where people who use unsecured network traffic for emails or logging into websites get their logins and passwords displayed to show everyone how stupid they are using the “world’s most hostile network”.

We drank beer chilled from 80 degrees to 40 degrees in 24 seconds in an apparatus consisting of an ice chest, dry ice, isopropyl alcohol, 20 feet of copper tubing, an air compressor, and a red funnel.

From Warballooning, hacking medical equipment, and some cool hardware, it was a great conference. We are definitely planning on going next year.

I tend to get excited when we have tornados in Nevada. Heck, I get excited when we get clouds. Anyway, there were three supercell thunderstorms near Fallon, Nevada yesterday. Supercells are the biggest and nastiest thunderstorms. They have an very strong rotating updraft that feeds the storm and keeps it stable. Supercells commonly have intense rain, large hail, strong winds, lightning, and sometimes generate tornados.

News reports from the area stated:

A “monster storm” 20 miles wide produced a tornado, rain and large hail Monday in Northern Nevada, National Weather Service meteorologists said. A tornado touched down 5 miles north and west of Fallon, hail an inch around pelted Lahontan Reservoir and heavy rain fell on Churchill and Lyon Counties. No injuries or severe property damage were reported. Meteorologist Scott McGuire said the tornado was reported at 3:34 p.m. north of Fort Churchill State Park. It traveled across Lahontan Reservoir and passed by Fallon before dissipating by 4:45 p.m. A trained tornado watcher clocked the funnel traveling northeast at a speed of 17 mph. McGuire said there might have been more than one tornado in the area. The strength will be assessed by a storm damage survey team today.

The National Severe Storm Prediction center has some cool reports of the tornados, hail, and strong winds.

The storm damage survey team’s initial report (cleaned up for the web):

Public information statement national weather service Reno NV 630 pm PDT Tue Jul 22 2008 …preliminary damage survey results from July 21 2008 storms…

This statement may be updated on Wednesday. Photos from storm spotters and storm track maps will be posted to our website. Visit our website at weather.gov/reno for details. .

General information… Several supercell thunderstorms tracked over portions of western Nevada during the afternoon of July 21 2008…mainly affecting Lyon, mineral, and Churchill counties. Meteorologists from the national weather service in Reno surveyed areas of reported damage and funnel cloud sightings along us highway 50 from near lahontan reservoir through the fallon area and eastward to near Sand Mountain.

Three distinct supercell thunderstorms affected the area:

1) tracking from Schurz to near Sand Mountain (this was the strongest and longest lasting storm of the day), 2) from near wabuska to fallon, and 3) from near lahontan reservoir to west of fallon. At this time based on spotter reports and the damage survey evidence, we cannot confirm a tornado touchdown with these storms. However spotters did report funnel clouds with rotation at the base of the cloud with each of these storms. It should be noted that we surveyed a relatively small area along us highways 50 and 95, which makes it very difficult to definitively say a tornado path occurred. . Storm #1… The storm which tracked east of fallon near sand mountain (#1) produced a swath of hail pockmarks in the mud along highway 50 approximately 20 to 22 miles east of downtown fallon. These marks indicated that numerous hailstones of pea to marble size occurred with this cell, with a number of marks suggesting hail up to quarter size. There was damage to a power pole in this area which appeared to be caused by high winds…however based solely on this a wind speed cannot be estimated. A trained weather spotter located near fallon reported a funnel cloud with this storm, but it is uncertain whether this touched down. A department of transportation employee who happened by the site mentioned flooding had occurred across Dixie Valley road. The ditches along us highway 50 were still full of water this morning, indicating torrential rainfall fell with these storms. .

Storm #2… Straight-line wind damage was noted southwest of fallon in the schindler lane and scheckler cutoff areas. A few trees were blown down with branches torn off. Wind speeds were estimated at 60 to 70 mph. A trained weather spotter reported a funnel cloud with this storm as it passed over fallon and to the north of fallon, however in the area we surveyed we found no indications that it had touched down. The spotter also reported seeing a greenish color to the sky which is indicative of a hail core. Hail up to 1.25 inch diameter occurred with this storm in fallon. .

Storm #3… The storm survey concluded in the vicinity of fort Churchill state park in Lyon county south of Silver Springs, where park rangers indicated a brief period of small hail, but a more prolonged period of heavy rain and strong winds associated with the initial stages of this storm. Only minor tree damage was observed in this area although park rangers mentioned that cleanup had already occurred and that a portable toilet had been blown over in the storm. Based on this information…wind speeds were estimated at approximately 60 to 70 mph.

A couple of thoughts on documenting a tornado. In most of the country, it is fairly straightforward to document the swirling winds of a tornado versus the straight-line winds. However, in the desert, it can be hard to find evidence of any winds. A tornado in a wheat field in Oklahoma would leave lots of evidence but a tornado traveling across desert scrub or a playa would leave little sign of its passing. Also, unpopulated areas have few persons to report a tornado. My point is that Nevada tornados are very likely to go unreported or under-reported.

Technorati Tags: Nevada, tornado, weather

Tonight, I’ve been playing with Stellarium, a very cool planetarium program. It’s an open source program so it’s free and has a lot of features. I really like the view where you can have different culture’s constellations and asterisms portrayed on the stars. It has a night mode if you want to take your laptop out with you. It’s really fun to put the program in equatorial mode, zoom in on Jupiter, and speed up time. You can then watch the Jovian moons revolve around Jupiter, Jupiter revolve on it’s axis, and Jupiter slowly moving across the field of stars. If you do use it in the field, make sure to set your location and check that the time is current.

Free download for Linux, Mac, and Windows here. Special thanks to Small Dog Electronics that mentioned the software in their email newsletter.