New Harmony—a small southwestern Indiana town first named Harmonie—considered the birthplace of North American geology

Which small town can say of itself that it is today a scientific center of national significance?  If you can't find a current one, what about one in the past—let's say, in the early nineteenth century. Simon Winchester introduces us to such a community:  New Harmony, now a historic town on the Wabash River in Posey County, Indiana, which was founded in 1814 by a religious group of immigrants from Germany. Beginning as an utopian community and sold to a wealthy industrialist and idealist from Scotland in 1825, this tiny, spiritually minded town—a “Community of Equality”—soon attracted intellectuals, philosophers and naturalists [1-4].

New Harmony's original name is Harmonie, the German-spelled word for harmony. Winchester describes its early development [1]:

The town, first simply named Harmonie, was settled initially by early-nineteenth-century Germans, men and women fleeing to America much as the Pilgrim Fathers had fled two centuries before, to escape religious restrictions back home. Their piety and hard work paid off quickly, and they eventually moved on to larger quarters, selling their tiny settlement to another idealist adventurer, the campaigning Welsh socialist Robert Owen. He, flushed with the success of a millworkers' commune that he had organized outside Edinburgh, planned to establish a utopian beachhead in America, based on socialist ideals. He renamed the former German village New Harmony; and once he had settled during the winter of 1825, he invited like-minded idealists to join him.  

What led to New Harmony's scientific distinction?
Among its inhabitants were no fewer than seven geologists of later fame. Geology played an important role in exploring the American West and in unifying the States. According to Winchester, New Harmony was the place where this realization of geology's importance was born. It is the birthplace of North American geology.

Keywords: geography, history, place name, European immigrants, European American settlement, socialists.

References and more to explore
[1] Simon Winchester: The Men Who United The States. First Harper Perennial edition published 2014.
[2] Country Homes of America: City Data for New Harmony, Indiana [www.countryhomesofamerica.com/city/detail/?id=18652].
[3] Historic New Harmony Newsletter: New Harmony a Magnet for Geologists Past and Present. Fall 2007 [www.usi.edu/media/3118577/07-5092-In-Harmony-F07-Web.pdf].
[4] Indiana State Museum: Historic New Harmony [www.indianamuseum.org/explore/new-harmony].

Microscopic silica structures in plant tissue: phytoliths and their other names

Phytoliths develop in the tissue of various plant species after take-up of monosilicic-acid-containing groundwater from soil. Silicon dioxide (silica) concretions are then deposited in those plant structures—both intracellular and extracellular structures—through which the water circulates. These plant stones are commonly called phytoliths, but are known under other names as well [1]:

The term is Greek (phyto means plant, lith means stone). Other names that have been used in the past include opaline silica, plant opal, and opal phytoliths, but the most common is simply phytoliths.

Silica phytoliths are a subgroup of biogenic opal [2]. This explains why some synonyms associate phytoliths with opal, a hydrated amorphous form of silica. Phytoliths are composed of mainly noncrystalline silica, enriched in terrigenous metals and other chemical elements such as carbon permitting radiometric dating.

Arguably, the most interesting aspect of phytolithic mineral secretions is their long-time persistence as siliceous plant remains, such as the brown-colored fine dust that Charles Darwin observed at Porto Praya during his voyage on the Beagle [1].

Phytoliths are now systematically studied by multidisciplinary research communities [3-6]. Forensics, archaeology and paleobotany are disciplines naturally interested in the phytolithic fingerprint structures to identify the past occurrences and associations of plant species. Phytolith analysis, including phytolith dating, helps to reconstruct past macro- end microenvironments. The understanding of agricultural development and evolving human dietary patterns based on phytolith tracking is shaping current decisions in health care and nutrition.

Phytolith properties such as mechanical strength, heat absorbability and fungal defense activity makes the broadly accessible phytoliths promising constituents for micro- and nanotechnology applications.

Keyterms: inorganic biochemistry, archaeobotany, biogenic silica, ecofact, microfossil, plant opal, opaline silica, [SiO_x(OH)_4-2x]_n.

References and more to explore
[1] Thomas C. Hart: Phytoliths: The Storytelling Stones Inside Plants. American Scientist March April 2015, 103 (2), pp. 136-143 [www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2015/2/silicon-plant-fossils].
[2] J. Kamenik, J. Mizera and Z. Řanda: Chemical composition of plant silica phytoliths. Environmental Chemistry Letters 2013. 11 (2), pp. 189-195. doi.: 10.1007/10311-012-0396-9.
[3] Irwin Rovner: Plant Opal Phytolith Analysis: Major Advances in Archaeobotanical Research. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 1983, 6, pp. 225-266.
[4] C.A.E. Strömberg et al.: Decoupling the spread of grassland from the evolution of grazer-type herbivores in South America. Nature Communications 2012, 4, article number: 1478. doi: 10.1038/ncomms2508.
[5] Soumya Jain: Biogenic Silica: An Inspiration to Nanotechnology. December 30, 2013 [blogrootid.blogspot.com/2013/12/biogenic-silica-inspiration-to.html].
[6] J. Mazumdar and R. Mukhopadhyay: Phytoliths of fern IV: In some aquatic ferns and Chinese Brake fern. Bioresearch Bulletin 2013, 2 (2) [bioresonline.org/article/phytoliths-of-ferns-iv-in-some-aquatic-ferns-and-chinese-brake-fern-2/].

Weston Beach in the Point Lobos Reserve named in memory of photographer Edward Weston

Weston Beach, south shore in Point Lobos Reserve

Weston Beach in the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is an inspiring place for family fun activities as well as for exploring intertidal biology and aspects of California geology. Maybe you did come here to take pictures on some of your precious days by the shore. Edward Weston did so for 20 years.

Edward Henry Weston (1886-1958) photographed life, forms and textures around Point Lobos. After him, Weston Beach is named since the United States Board on Geographic Names made this name official in October 1979. Nobody less than the American environmentalist and photographer Ansel Easton Adams (1902-1984) had proposed that this small pebble beach be named in Weston's memory. Adams said that this beach “is sort of synonymous with him” [1].

Edward Weston was born on March 24, 1886, in Highland Park, Illinois, and died on January 1, 1958, in Carmel—just a few miles north of what is now the Point Lobos Reserve. Weston's photography work ranges from natural forms and landscapes to portraits, nudes and close-ups, created in Mexico and California [2,3]. Weston was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in 1984 [4].

Spontaneous rock art, found at Weston Beach (January 25, 2015)

References and more to explore
[1] How did Weston Beach get its name? Section in the Brochure Weston Beach Tide Pools by Mary Conway, Melissa Gobell and Marie Murphy. California State Parks, Monterey District, 2211 Garden Road, Monterey, CA 93940, USA
[http://www.pointlobos.org/sites/default/files/u924/PL%20Tidepool%20Brochure%20for%20Website.pdf].
[2] Edward Weston Biography [www.biography.com/people/edward-weston-9528521#synopsis].
[3] Encyclopaedia Britannica: Edward Weston. American photographer [www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/641137/Edward-Weston].
[4] International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum: Edward Weston [www.iphf.org/hall-of-fame/edward-weston/].

Michael D. Thompson Trailhead named after Reno High School graduate and outdoor enthusiast

Trailhead kiosk depiction of Michael D. Thompson

The Michael D. Thompson Trailhead west of Reno in northern Nevada is a gateway to the scenic landscapes of the Truckee River Valley and the Mount Rose Wilderness. This trailhead is a popular meeting place and starting point for short, medium and long hikes to destinations such as the Steamboat Trail Arrow, the two Holes in the Wall and via the Hunter Creek Trail to  Hunter Creek Falls and beyond .

The trailhead is named in honor of  Reno-born Michael David Thompson, who died young and is still remembered by some locals. The trailhead kiosk provides a brief biography:

The land for this trailhead has been given to the citizens of Washoe County in memory of Michael David Thompson. Michael was born in Reno on June 10, 1970, graduating from Reno High School in 1988. He was president of his senior class, a member of the ski team, and an outstanding student. During his twenty years, Michael lived life to the fullest, seeking new challenges and giving back to the community.

Michael loved to do what many Reno residents love to do when outdoors:

Michael loved outdoor adventure whether it was on the ground skiing, hiking, camping, mountain biking, ATV riding, four-wheeling, or flying an airplane 12,000 feet over the Sierra.

The popularity of  the Thompson Trailhead is still growing. Now, it indeed is “a busy place with hikers and bikers ready for the wilderness,” as forecasted in my Hunter Creek Trailhead under construction post in 2009.

Michael D. Thompson Trailhead

The Ebola virus disease: classification and naming of a group of zoonotic filoviruses

Are viruses of the Ebola type going to cause the next big human pandemic? So far, the Ebola virus disease, an often fatal illness, has affected local groups of humans, gorillas and other mammals in tropical Africa. Some regional populations of gorillas have disappeared. Ebola viruses are zoonotic: they can move from one species to certain others. For example, humans are susceptible to Ebola, horses are not. Intervals of hiding—times free of infection events—are followed by sudden outbreaks.

Recent news about human-to-human transmission of Ebola viruses in West and Central Africa are alarming. Much about Ebola is not yet understood. Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered as a key reservoir hosts for the virus, spreading it over long distances. But modern air travel and animal trading can result in outbreaks around the globe at any time. No proven vaccine is yet available [1-4].

Major symptoms of an Ebola infection include abdominal pain, fever, headache, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, arthralgia (joint pain), myalgia (muscule pain), asthenia (weakness), tachypnea (rapid breathing), conjunctival injection (pink eyes) and diarrhea. Like some other viruses, ebolaviruses suppress the immune system  (see pages 94 and 95 in [1]).

The Ebola virus disease is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). In 1976, an Ebola outbreak (Zaire outbreak) occurred in a small Catholic mission hospital in Yambuka, a village in the Bumba Zone district (page 69 in [1]). Today, five species of ebolaviruses are known. They all are named after the area or place at which they were first observed and documented. The following overview is based on the scientifically focused, excellently researched and fascinatingly written thriller Spillover by David Quammen [1].

Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV)
The Zaire ebolavirus is named after the Zaire outbreak mentioned above. The case fatality rate was 88 percent; lower than for untreated rabies cases, but higher than for any other recorded outbreak (see page 71 in [1]).

Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV)
This virus is named after an Ebola disease outbreak in southern Sudan in 1976, causing 151 deaths—a lethality lower than in the Zaire outbreak (see page 76 in [1]).

Reston virus (RESTV)
The Reston virus—probably native to the Philippines—is named after a lab-animal quarantine facility in suburban Reston across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. In 1989, an Ebola outbreak occurred at this facility, known as the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit, among long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), which were imported from the Philippines for medical research (see pages 77 and 78 in [1]). No illness or death in humans from this species has been reported to date [2].

Taï Forest virus (TAFV)
This virus is named after the Taï Forest National Park in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast in West Africa), near this country's border with Liberia. In 1992, Christophe Boesch, a Swiss biologist, got infected with Ebola during a necropsy of a dead chimpanzee. Quickly hospitalized and treated in Switzerland, she survived (see page 80 in [1]). 

Bundibugyo virus (BDBV)
The Bundibugyo virus emerged in late 2007 as the fifth ebolavirus species. Twenty people died in a remote mountain region in Uganda. Blood samples flown to the CDC in Atlanta revealed an Ebola-type virus, one that genetically was at least 32 percent different from any of the other four (see page 84 in [1]).

The often-used term “Ebola hemorrhagic fever” (EHF) is a misnomer for Ebola virus disease: many Ebola patients do not show any bleeding at all.

Ebolaviruses, like the Marburg virus, were originally classified as filoviruses (a genus), but are now grouped into the Filoviridae family encompassing the two genera of Ebola-like and Marburg-like viruses.

Keywords: field biology, virology, pathology, taxonomy, terminology, zoonosis, Ebola symptoms.

References and more to learn
[1] David Quamman: Spillover. Animal Infections and the next human pandemic. W. W. Norton & Company, New York and London, 2012.
[2] World Health Organization: Ebola virus disease. www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/.
[3] J. H. Kuhn et al.: Proposal for a revised taxonomy of the family Filoviridae: classification, names of taxa and viruses, virus abbreviations. Arch. Virol. 2010, 155 (12), pp. 2083-2103. DOI: 10.1007/s00705-010-0814-x.
[4] Tara's Ebola Site: Ebola Classification and Taxonomy. web.stanford.edu/group/virus/filo/class.html.

A term in earth science: Great Oxidation Event

The atmosphere of today's Earth contains about 21% of oxygen (O₂). Early in its history, the anoxic Hadean Earth—as it is scientifically proposed to have been existed around 4.4 billion years ago—had no interface of life-supporting oxygen. The Great Oxidation Event (GOE), which has been suggested to have occurred at the end of the Paleoproterozoic Era more than two billion years ago, was the time when some amount of free oxygen surfaced into the atmosphere. The appearance of the first atmospheric oxygen molecules was biologically and geologically induced. Then, photosynthetically produced oxygen paved the way for advancing forms of life and triggered the coevolution of the biosphere and the geosphere [1-3]. From the GOE onwards, Earth's atmosphere and oceans became oxygenated over time in stages [4].

The details of how atmospheric oxygen first rose to significant levels remain lost in geologic time. But ideas and answers are found by searching for fossiliferous formations such as ancient sandstone, black chert, black shale and stromatolites. Based on microbial mat fossils and fossil biomolecules, found in such deposits, researchers are looking for clues to understand the photobiochemistry of early organisms and possible routes of oxygen production. For example, fieldwork by Nora Noffke and others has turned up microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS), including 3.48-billion-year-old MISS—the oldest ever reported [5].

An interesting aspect of this geobiological research is the interdependent, natural occurrence of organic and inorganic chemical processes throughout most of Earth's history. Robert M. Hazen and Dimitri Sverjensky argue that biodiversity and mineral diversity developed closely interlocked after oxygen became available within Earth's near surface environment [1]:

Our  recent chemical modeling suggests that the Great Oxidation Event paved the way for as many as three thousand minerals, all of them species previously unknown in our Solar System. Hundreds of new chemical compounds of uranium, nickel, copper, manganese, and mercury arose only after life learned its oxygen-producing trick. Many of the most beautiful crystal specimens in museums—blue-green copper minerals, purple cobalt species, yellow-orange uranium ores, and others—speak powerfully of a vibrant living world. These newly minted minerals are unlikely to form in an anoxic environment, so life appears to be responsible, directly or indirectly, for most of Earth's forty-five hundred known mineral species. Remarkably, some of these new minerals provided evolving life with new environmental niches and new sources of chemical energy, so life has continuously coevolved with the rocks and minerals.

Snapshots of the intertwined stories of our early home planet are now coming in view, thanks to groundbreaking discoveries. Will those results help us to understand and reconstruct the evolution of other planets and their moons in the solar system and beyond? Was the Great Oxidation Event a singularly Earth-bound affair?

Other terms for the Great Oxidation Event: Great Oxygenation Event, Oxygen Catastrophe, Oxygen Crisis, Oxygen Revolution and Great Oxidation.

Keywords: geophysics; planetary science; solar system; paleontology; mineralogy; paleochemistry; photosynthesis. 

References and more to explore
[1] Robert M. Hazen: The Story of Earth. The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet. Penguin Books, New York, 2012; see page 180 and others.
[2] Robert M. Hazen: Mineral Evolution [hazen.gl.ciw.edu/research/mineral-evolution].
[3] Dimitri A. Sverjensky: Mineral Evolution [www.jhu.edu/~dsverje1].
[4] Heinrich D. Holland: The oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2006, 361. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1838 [rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/361/1470/903.full.pdf].
[5] Jim Raper: Geobiologist Noffke Reports Sign of Life that Are 3.48 Billion Years Old [www.odu.edu/about/odu-publications/insideodu/2013/11/11/topstory1].

Crane nomenclature borrowing from equine nomenclature

Female cranes are known as mares, male cranes are known as roans and the chicks are known as colts [1,2].

Commonly, the term mare is associated with an adult female horse. The term roan refers to a particular color pattern—a mixture of white and color (for example, white or gray sprinkles on a brown coat)—found in animals such as horses and dogs. A horse showing this coat color pattern is called a roan. 

Somehow, these terms made it from the equine into crane terminology. Alex Shoumatoff notes (page 59 in [2]):

For some reason crane nomenclature is borrowed from horse terms. A mother crane is called a mare, the dads are roans. The terminology sounds like it was created out West.

Keywords: biology, ornithology, terminology, male, female.

References and more to explore
[1] Kachemak Crane Watch: SandHill Cranes, August 20, 2008 [cranewatch.org:8080/Cranewatch/news/sandhill-cranes].
[2] Alex Shoumatoff: Flight Club. Smithsonian March 2014, 44 (11), pp. 54-67.