A main-belt asteroid named after forest-canopy scientist Margaret D. Lowman

A Mont-Blanc-size main-belt asteroid, orbiting near Jupiter and discovered by astronomer couple Carolyn S. and Eugene M. Shoemaker at Palomar in 1988, is named after American canopy ecologist Margaret D. Lowman: 10739 Lowman (1988 JB1) [1,2].

The orbit of botanist Margaret Lowman (b. 1953, New York)—known as Canopy Meg—includes Australia, Africa, Peru, Panama, Belize and Florida, where she explores and studies what is happening at the tops of trees [3]. As a pioneer of the science of canopy ecology, Meg is also nicknamed the “real-life Lorax” by National Geographic and “Einstein of the treetops” by Wall Street Journal [4].

Richard Preston writes in his canopy-guided nonfiction page turner The Wild Trees [3]:

In 1978, Margaret D. Lowman, a young American graduate student in botany at the University of Sydney, in Australia, decided to write her dissertation on treetops. She had been anxious about choosing a topic, and she thought that at least nobody had tried this one. Lowman wanted to climb the trees, but she had no idea how to do that. She joined a caving club in Sydney, and the other members taught her how to climb a rope using Jumar ascenders. Lowman sewed a climbing harness for herself made out of seat-belt straps, and welded some pieces of iron together to make a slingshot. She then went into a forest near Sydney and used the slingshot to shoot a fishing line over the branch of a tree, after which she attached a thin nylon cord to the fishing line and dragged the cord over the branch. Then she attached a rope to the nylon cord and pulled it over. Lowman began making solo ascents into the rain-forest canopy of eastern Australia. “When I first started out climbing trees, I had no idea that they held fifty percent of the life on the planet,” Lowman said to me. “We had no clue that the forest canopy is this amazing hot spot for biodiversity.” 

[Richard Preston, 2007]

During an evening tree climb in New South Wales, “Treetop Meg” once slipped and fell off a branch; fifteen feet to the ground in free fall. She got badly bruised, but without suffering any broken bones [2]. It was time to design smart devices and structures that support safe canopy access and observation.

How did the canopy-asteroid connection arise?
Margaret Lowman has designed hot-air balloons for over 30 years.  The balloons advanced the exploration of canopy worlds, but not asteroid belts. This was the realm of planetary scientist Carolyn Shoemaker (b.  1929, Gallup, New Mexico), a leading discoverer of comets and asteroids and co-discoverer of  the to-be-named asteroid. Shoemaker, who “loves to name real estate in outer space after woman whose work I admire” [2], honored Canopy Meg by coining one of “her” asteroids Lowman,  Thus, an outer-space object got named for a woman dedicated to understand life at the delicate interface between outer space and the human landscape—at Earth's fragile and fractal arboreta branching out into the universe.

Keywords: Minor Planet Lowman, astronomy, planetary science, terminology, honoring female scientists, name giving.

References and more to explore
[1] Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Small-Body Database Browser: 10739 Lowman (1988 JB1) [ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=10739+Lowman].
[2] Richard Preston: The Wild Trees. Random House Trade Paperbacks, New York, 2008; pp. 53-55.
[3] The Official Web Site Of Margaret D. Lowman, Ph.D., aka: Canopy Meg [canopymeg.com/].
[4] Oxford Centre for Tropical Forest: Margaret D Lowman, Ph.D. [www.tropicalforests.ox.ac.uk/people/269].

More on naming and classifying orbiting objects in planetary science:

• Official labeling scheme for newly discovered minor planets
• A new verb is making its orbit: to pluto
• Two Pluto moons discovered in June 2005 named Nix and Hydra by IAU
• Acronym in astronomy: TNO for trans-Neptunian object
• Europe versus Europa
• Jupiter moon Europa named after Jupiter's mythological “irregular loves”
• Dysnomia, a moon of the Kuiper belt object Eris, named after the spirit of lawlessness
• Uranus moons named after characters in Shakespearean plays
• Mars moons Deimos and Phobos named after the Greek god of fear and his twin-brother

The IUPAC color books: terminology, nomenclature and ontology in chemistry, biochemistry and materials science

Here is a brief overview—hyperlinks included—of those color books by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) that have accessible online versions [1-3]:

The interactive Gold Book at goldbook.iupac.org, and the PDF version Compendium of Chemical Terminology at goldbook.iupac.org/PDF/goldbook.pdf. It is not named for the color or chemical element gold, but to honor the chemist Victor Gold (1922-1985), who initiated its first edition [4,5].

The Green Book: Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry [http://www.iupac.org/fileadmin/user_upload/publications/e-resources/ONLINE-IUPAC-GB3-2ndPrinting-Online-Sep2012.pdf]

The Blue Book: Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry by Advanced Chemistry Development (ACD) [acdlabs.com/iupac/nomenclature]

The Purple Book: Compendium of Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature [www.iupac.org/fileadmin/user_upload/publications/e-resources/ONLINE-IUPAC-PB2-Online-June2014.pdf]

The Orange Book: Compendium of Analytical Nomenclature (website by David S. Moore) [http://iupac.org/publications/analytical_compendium/]

The Red Book: Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry [www.iupac.org/fileadmin/user_upload/databases/Red_Book_2005.pdf]

The “White Book”: Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents [www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/bibliog/white.html]

The Silver Book: Clinical Chemistry is currently under revision (future status of Web availability unknown) [www.iupac.org/nc/home/projects/project-db/project-details.html?tx_wfqbe_pi1[project_nr]=2007-033-3-700]

Organizationally, the color code gold (in memory of Victor Gold) stands for the combined glossary. As you may have realized by reading the compendium titles, the other colors refer to sub-disciplines or branches of chemistry: green for physical, blue for organic, purple for macromolecular, orange for analytical, red for inorganic, “white” for “biochemical” and silver for clinical [6].

Mark Borkum and Jeremy Frey argue the case for Web-based, machine-accessible representations of these and other IUPAC publications to make them available for reuse by software developers [1]. Further, they urge IUPAC to take immediate measures in promoting a “cohesive vision of chemical terminology, nomenclature and ontology on the Web” by acknowledging and visionarily involving interdisciplinary chemists and software engineers:

There are many fine examples of “chemist-ware” on the Web, but their developers represent an absolutely tiny fraction of the world's chemists, who are presently unable to fully express themselves.

[Mark Borkum and Jeremy Frey, 2015]

Keyterms: cheminformatics, polymer informatics, computer science, e-science infrastructure, standardization, chemical compendia, online resources, open software architecture, open-source mantra.

References
[1] Mark I. Borkum and Jeremy G. Frey: What's in a Name? Quite a Lot, as it Happens! Chemistry International March-April 2015, pp. 7-9 [www.degruyter.com/view/j/ci.2015.37.issue-2/ci-2015-0231/ci-2015-0231.xml].
[2] IUPAC: Nomenclature and Terminology (including IUPAC color books) [www.iupac.org/home/publications/e-resources/nomenclature-and-terminology.html].
[3] Wikipedia: IUPAC book [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUPAC_book].
[4] W. J. Albery: Victor Gold, 29 June 1922 - 29 September 1985. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society December 1987, 33, 263 ff. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1987.0010.
[5] Hawaii Book Library: Victor Gold (Chemist) [www.hawaiilibrary.net/article/whebn0022605991/victor%20gold%20%28chemist%29].
[6] International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry: Nomenclature Books [www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/bibliog/books.html].

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.