July 27, 28, and 29, 2016

Published on 7/29

News and Views


I’m going to leave the Democratic National Convention and the controversies surrounding it, not forever of course, but just for today, largely because there’s nothing left there except the Hillary Show. The general news between CBS and NPR is also interesting. I’ll start with the Pope.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-trips-at-poland-mass-near-czestochowa/

Pope trips at Poland mass
CBS/AP
July 28, 2016, 7:00 AM

Photograph -- Pope Francis falls as he arrives at the Jasna Gora shrine in Czestochowa, Poland July 28, 2016. REUTERS
Photograph -- 2016-07-28t085835z492055280lr1ec7s0oxd9crtrmadp3pope-poland.jpg, Pope Francis attends a mass on the occasion of the 1050th anniversary of Poland's Baptism at the Jasna Gora shrine in Czestochowa, Poland July 28, 2016. REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Pope Francis: The world is at war


CZESTOCHOWA -- Pope Francis missed a step and fell to the ground Thursday as he was coming to an open-air altar to celebrate Mass at Poland's holiest shrine of Jasna Gora.

In a dramatic moment, the 79-year-old Francis, walking deep in thought in his long robe, did not notice a step and fell to the ground before the altar. Priests around him rushed to help him up and straightened his robe.

Vatican Spokesman Father Lombardi told CBS News that the Pope did not see the final step because of red carpet that made it difficult to discern.

"But he immediately got up again and celebrated mass," Lombardi said. "In fact, he did so with great energy and vigour, especially during the homily. We are not at all concerned. The pope is very well."

On a couple of occasions in the past, Francis, wearing long robes at public ceremonies, has missed a step or even fallen down on stairs. Each time he has gotten up on his own or thanks to an aide lending a hand.

Every time, as he did Thursday, Francis has carried on without missing a beat for the rest of the long ceremonies.

The Mass proceeded as planned and the pope delivered a long sermon before tens of thousands of faithful gathered at the foot of the Jasna Gora monastery in the southern city of Czestochowa.

Pope Francis, visiting a shrine cherished by Poles, praised native son St. John Paul II on Thursday as a "meek and powerful" herald of mercy, and honored the countless "ordinary yet remarkable people" in Poland who held firm to their Catholic faith throughout adversity in the former Communist nation.

The Argentine pontiff, who had never had set foot in Eastern Europe before this week's five-day pilgrimage, gazed in awe for several minutes as he studied the Jasna Gora monastery shrine's iconic image of the so-called Black Madonna and Child. The faces in the images are blackened by centuries of varnish and candle soot since the artwork became the object of veneration, starting in the 14th century.

A silver screen was raised slowly and dramatically to unveil the image as Francis stood silently in admiration and then prayed.

The Mass was held in celebration of the 1,050th anniversary this year of the Poland's acceptance of Roman Catholicism. The baptism of a medieval king in 966 put the nation on course to be part of the Latin-speaking Western world, setting it apart culturally from Orthodox nations in the region.

"Our minds turn to so many sons and daughters of your own people, like the martyrs who made the defenseless power of the Gospel shine forth, like those ordinary yet remarkable people who bore witness to the Lord's love amid great trials," Francis said in his homily, speaking in Italian and pausing for a priest to translate his words into Polish.

He then cited two beloved Polish saints, praising those meek and powerful heralds of mercy who were Sts. John Paul II and Faustina. "Through these channels of his love, the Lord has granted priceless gifts to the whole Church and to all mankind."

Francis then recalled the far less famous soldiers of the faith in Poland.

"Your own history, shaped by the Gospel, the cross and fidelity to the church, has seen the contagious power of a genuine faith, passed down from family to family, from fathers to sons and above all from mothers and grandmothers, whom we need so much to thank," he said.

Francis then urged today's Poles to stay united, as their nation is divided over such issues as how to view refugees and migrants, especially those who aren't Christians. He prayed that Poles would have "the desire to leave behind all past wrongs and wounds, and to build fellowship for all, without ever yielding to the temptation to withdraw or to domineer."

The pope did not elaborate. A right-wing government came to power in Poland last year that has faced international scrutiny for eroding past democratic gains, and many critics say they see a rise in xenophobic sentiment in the country.

Worry about bad weather prompted a last-minute change in his day's travel plans, with the pontiff opting to take a car instead of a military helicopter to Czestochowa, 60 miles from Krakow. But the gray skies held into the Mass.

Francis' visit to Poland centers around a Catholic youth jamboree that has drawn hundreds of thousands of participants this week. He will have his first big meeting with the young faithful in a Krakow meadow Thursday evening.

En route, Francis made an unscheduled stop at a clinic to visit and pray for comatose Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, an-89-year-old retired prelate who had been archbishop of Krakow. Marcharski had replaced Cardinal Karol Wojtyla in the post after the latter was elected the world's first Polish pontiff, John Paul II, in 1978.

With John Paul a national hero as well as a beloved saint, Francis on this five-day trip finds himself in a deeply Catholic country that is attached to Czestochowa, where the shrine is located, and where a main boulevard is named after John Paul.

In his first speech after arriving Wednesday, Francis called on Poles to be compassionate and welcoming to those in need, especially refugees. He also met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose populist government has virtually slammed the door on asylum-seekers and economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa who are flooding southern European shores. The president also attended the Mass at the Jasna Gora shrine.



“The Mass was held in celebration of the 1,050th anniversary this year of the Poland's acceptance of Roman Catholicism. The baptism of a medieval king in 966 put the nation on course to be part of the Latin-speaking Western world, setting it apart culturally from Orthodox nations in the region. …. Francis then urged today's Poles to stay united, as their nation is divided over such issues as how to view refugees and migrants, especially those who aren't Christians. He prayed that Poles would have "the desire to leave behind all past wrongs and wounds, and to build fellowship for all, without ever yielding to the temptation to withdraw or to domineer." The pope did not elaborate. A right-wing government came to power in Poland last year that has faced international scrutiny for eroding past democratic gains, and many critics say they see a rise in xenophobic sentiment in the country. …. . He also met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose populist government has virtually slammed the door on asylum-seekers and economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa who are flooding southern European shores. The president also attended the Mass at the Jasna Gora shrine.”


CZESTOCHOWA is pronounced HOW??? This Pope may have a problem with long robes or perhaps his eyes, but he keeps up with the world and is determined to LEAD in the right direction. I do really like him. “Bless his heart,” as people used to say in the South.


SCIENCE

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/28/487775814/ancient-bone-shows-evidence-of-cancer-in-human-ancestor

Ancient Bone Shows Evidence Of Cancer In Human Ancestor
REBECCA HERSHER
July 28, 20162:35 PM ET

Photograph -- Scientists using a high-resolution X-ray technique found that this bone belonging to a hominin, an ancient, extinct relative of modern humans, has a malignant tumor.
Patrick Randolph-Quinney (UCLan)
Photograph -- Archaeology students excavate a site at the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa in September 2015. The foot bone of a human ancestor was found in a nearby cave, and shows the oldest known evidence of malignant cancer in a hominin. Stephan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images
Related: The sexually transmitted cancer is common in street dogs around the world. SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS -- Contagious Cancer In Dogs Leaves Prehistoric Paw Prints
Related: A Scientist's Dream Fulfilled: Harnessing The Immune System To Fight Cancer
Photograph -- Jim Allison in his lab at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS


A bone from a human ancestor that died between 1.8 and 1.6 million years ago shows evidence of cancer, a newly published study finds. It is the oldest known example of a malignant tumor in a human ancestor.

The bone belonged to a hominin — an extinct relative of modern humans — that lived and died in what is now South Africa. The foot bone, specifically the metatarsal that runs between the ankle and the pinky toe, was originally excavated between 1960 and 1980 from the Swartkrans cave, part of a World Heritage Site in South Africa called the Cradle of Humankind for its many hominin bones.

But a malignant tumor in the bone was not immediately apparent. A doctoral student in Florida originally examined the bone as part of an unpublished thesis and noticed the apparent tumor, but concluded it was just a kind of benign mass known as an osteoid osteoma.

It wasn't until two scientists at the Radiography and Tomography Section of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation examined the bone with a high-resolution X-ray technique that the conclusion was re-evaluated, the researchers write in their paper published today. They scanned the bone in sections, and another team at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg assembled the images of those sections into a detailed 3-dimensional image.

In the 3-D cross section, it was clear the mass was not benign. It was a malignant cancer, with an "irregular spongy woven bone texture with a cauliflower-like external appearance," the authors write.

As for what kind of bone cancer, exactly, this human ancestor suffered from, the researchers are not sure, but their best guess is that it was some variety of osteosarcoma. Today, the American Cancer Society says osteosarcoma is the most common type of cancer that develops in bones.

This tumor is far from the earliest example of cancer. Evidence of malignant tumors has been found in dinosaur bones. Many scientists believe tumors, which are the result of uncontrolled cell growth, have been around as long as multi-cellular organisms.

Nor is today's study alone in its finding that cancer is an ancient affliction, rather than a modern scourge caused by polluted environments and poor diets. Egyptian mummies have turned up evidence of prostate cancer from thousands of years ago. Another osteosarcoma appeared in the skull of a medieval man in what is now the Czech Republic.

The authors of the most recent study note in their study:

"Whilst most modern human malignancies are thought to be caused by environmental agents of a chemical nature, the evidence for this is not entirely conclusive....

"Whilst the explosion of malignancy incidence [today] is clearly correlated with the hazards of the modern world and increased life expectancy, primary bone tumors evidently occurred throughout history."



Excerpts -- “The bone belonged to a hominin — an extinct relative of modern humans — that lived and died in what is now South Africa. The foot bone, specifically the metatarsal that runs between the ankle and the pinky toe, was originally excavated between 1960 and 1980 from the Swartkrans cave, part of a World Heritage Site in South Africa called the Cradle of Humankind for its many hominin bones. …. They scanned the bone in sections, and another team at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg assembled the images of those sections into a detailed 3-dimensional image. In the 3-D cross section, it was clear the mass was not benign. It was a malignant cancer, with an "irregular spongy woven bone texture with a cauliflower-like external appearance," the authors write. As for what kind of bone cancer, exactly, this human ancestor suffered from, the researchers are not sure, but their best guess is that it was some variety of osteosarcoma. Today, the American Cancer Society says osteosarcoma is the most common type of cancer that develops in bones. …. This tumor is far from the earliest example of cancer. Evidence of malignant tumors has been found in dinosaur bones. Many scientists believe tumors, which are the result of uncontrolled cell growth, have been around as long as multi-cellular organisms.”


Ever since geneticists got to the point of identifying characteristics and sequencing DNA, archaeologists and paleontologists have been digging into the past using that as a new tool. That they can identify this, considerably more than ancient, bone cancer amazes me. Conclusions about how old a bone, a broken stone or a roughly formed piece of pottery is, have traditionally had to be judged until the very recent past by comparing it to similarly formed examples, and then aged by the contents of the surrounding soil or its presence within a known historical site. All of that was a matter of comparing one thing to another, with only a few ways of mathematically determining age -- Carbon 14 dating, tree ring dating, for instance.

Then came the ability to estimate, using supercomputers, how long it takes for a given number of mutations to occur in a species, and with that how many generations had passed. That has brought the science of determining age out of the dark of the past. It’s still an educated guess, of course, but we definitely have come forward in our understanding of these things. Arguments like whether “human beings” had actually interbred with Neanderthalers and a couple of other recently identified types of humans such as the Denisovans, were answered by geneticists, who have analyzed the bones of those little known human groups and compared their genes to ours. We are, in fact, “blood relatives” because we share their genes.



http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/01/23/265236618/contagious-cancer-in-dogs-leaves-prehistoric-paw-prints

Contagious Cancer In Dogs Leaves Prehistoric Paw Prints
MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF
January 23, 2014 3:31 PM ET

Photograph -- The sexually transmitted cancer is common in street dogs around the world.
Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images
Photograph -- Alaskan malamutes were bred about 4,000 years ago and are the closest living relatives to the ancient dog that developed the contagious cancer.
iStockphoto
Related: -- HEALTH, Startling New Evidence Cancer Is Contagious


Our four-legged friends suffer from many of the same cancers that we do. But one type of dog tumor acts like no other: It's contagious.

The tumor spreads from one pooch to another when the dogs have sex or even just touch or lick each other.

"It's a common disease in street dogs all around the world," says geneticist Elizabeth Murchison at the University of Cambridge. "People in the U.S. and U.K. haven't heard of it because it's found mostly in free-roaming dogs in developing countries."

Now this strange disease just got even stranger.

Murchison and her colleagues found that the infectious cancer is a living fossil. The modern tumors contain the DNA of an ancient pooch that hung out with prehistoric people thousands of years ago.

The contagious cancer first arose about 11,000 years ago in a wolf-dog hybrid that's most closely related to an Alaskan malamute, Murchison and her team report Thursday in the journal Science.

About 500 years ago, the tumor jumped from continent to continent via the world's pooches. And the cells have been living and hiding out in dogs ever since.

"When I look down the microscope and see these cells that came from a dog 11,000 years ago, it boggles my mind," Murchison tells Shots." It's really incredible."

So how did she figure all that out?

To start off, she and her team sequenced the DNA of tumors from two dogs: a cocker spaniel from Brazil and an aboriginal camp dog in Australia. They then compared the genetic patterns of the tumors with more than 1,000 modern dog breeds.

Their conclusion?

The contagious cancer first appeared in a dog that looked something like an Alaskan malamute: gray-brown or black coat, short straight fur, pointy ears and a medium-size snout.

But this pooch probably wasn't as cuddly as a malamute. The ancient doggie also contained a fair number of wolf genes, Murichson found.

"The dog was around during the early days of domestication," she says. "But it seemed to be relatively inbred and had some signs of domestication." For instance, the dog probably could digest carbohydrates, she says, which is a trait found in Fido but not his wolf cousins.

Veterinarians have known about the contagious dog cancer since the late 1800s, Murichson says. The disease even offered scientists one of the first tools for studying live cancers.

"When Russian scientists figured out the tumors were transmissible in the 1870s, it was a hugely important insight," Murichson says. "At the time there wasn't a model for [studying] cancer. Scientists could only study it in people who had already died."

After the discovery, she says, many labs started trying to figure out how cancer arises and spreads in the body.

Now Murchison hopes the genome of the dog tumor will help solve one of the major outstanding questions about human cancers: how they evade the immune system.

"We found mutations that confer that ability in the dog tumor," she says. "They could potentially offer clues for human cancers, as well."



The scientific theory that cancers can possibly be contagious is not new. Some tumors were proven to be caused by viruses in the 1960s or 70s. I’m not sure when. I was in college at the time. Anyway, viruses are “caught” in some way. The human papilloma virus causes a form of sexually transmitted cancer, and if young people of both sexes are given a vaccine before they start to have intercourse, their contracting it can be prevented. Most viruses can’t live very long at all outside a living cell, like bacteria and protozoa can, but some that are able to are discussed in the next article below.

See the interesting article below on that subject, and much more. Surprisingly, it states that there is “some disagreement” on whether or not a virus is actually a living thing at all, since it has no mitochondria. They say that it may be something more like a crystal. Some bacteria are a necessary part of the human colon environment, and I expect some viruses may be also. The HIV virus can be caught by a baby in utero.

Why this wolf-dog virus first arose, some 11,000 years in the past, but didn’t spread the cancer around the world among all the human “camp followers” we call dogs before about 500 years ago is an interesting question. Was it not contagious until 500 BP? Viruses can, by mutating, change their characteristics, so perhaps that is what happened here. Humans worldwide certainly had dogs well before that. So what is their evidence of this timeline on the matter? Probably more DNA analysis on ancient dog skeletons.



https://healdove.com/disease-illness/How-Long-Do-Viruses-Live

How Long Do Viruses Live on Surfaces?
Liam Bean
Updated on November 14, 2014

Note to Reader

The Ebola virus, also called the Ebola Virus Disease or EVD, is still a relatively new discovery. Due to this fact, information on this virus may undergo changes as more data becomes available.

The "Life" Expectancy of a Virus Varies

First, there is still some disagreement as to whether a virus is actually alive. This is primarily due to the fact that a virus does not have mitochondria, the mechanism that powers a cell. For this reason "viability" is often the word used to describe the survival rate (life) of a virus as opposed to "life*."

Due to a number of factors, such as internal structure, outer coating, and environment conditions, viruses display a huge range of time in how long they can persist in an infectious state. Some viruses require water to remain viable, others require a particular temperature range, others still do better out of direct light.

In almost all cases, viruses can be killed by tearing apart their structure. Substances that can have this effect on a virus include soap, bleach, and the UV rays from sunlight.

* Note that scientists are somewhat divided on whether or not a virus is actually a living thing. Some claim that the fact that it contains RNA means it is living. Others claim that since it lacks mitochondria (the powerhouse of living cells) it is a non-living particle similar to a crystal.

How Long Does a Virus "Live" Outside a Host?

Some viruses can "live*" undisturbed for years. Others are so fragile that they can only withstand "external" conditions for mere minutes if not seconds. This article will name a number of viruses and define their "life expectancy" outside a host cell.

Imagine that this "outside a host cell" is a doorknob, phone, computer keyboard, or play-yard.

Surface

For the sake of consistency, a surface on which a virus can "live" will have a specific definition. The surface most "friendly" to viruses is typically characterized as one that it is not in direct sunlight, is not exposed to cleaning chemicals, and is in a temperature controlled environment; one that is neither too hot or too cold.

Another way to put this is an environment that most humans would find comfortable.

Additionally, a smooth dry surface is more hostile to viruses (and bacteria) than a surface such as cloth or carpet.

[Long discussions of at least a dozen specific viruses are also a part of this article. Go to the website to read about them.]


ABOUT THE ARK

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/07/28/487737404/there-s-no-controversy-lets-stop-failing-our-children-on-evolution

There's No Controversy: Let's Stop Failing Our Children On Evolution
Commentary
BARBARA J. KING
July 28, 2016 7:05 AM ET

Photograph -- Visitors pass outside the front of a replica Noah's Ark at the Ark Encounter theme park in Williamstown, Ky., in early July. John Minchillo/AP


Watching the NBC Nightly News broadcast on a Friday earlier this month, I gaped as the last segment aired.

Kevin Tibbles was reporting from the site of Kentucky's Ark Encounter, constructed by Christian fundamentalist, young-Earth creationist and Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham. At the time, Ark Encounter was set to open to the public the following week.

Tibbles described Ark Encounter as telling "the Old Testament story of Noah, the animals and, of course, the flood." He interviewed Ham and closed out the 2-minute piece by noting Ham's hope that people will come in droves "to study the story of Noah for generations to come."

What did Tibbles fail to explain?

For one thing, that the Ark shows in its animatronic displays the co-existence of dinosaurs and people. Dinosaurs, of course, went extinct (well, except for birds, but that's another subject) 65 million years ago; the human lineage evolved 6 million years ago, and our own species about 200,000 years ago.

Further, as the Patheos blog put it:

"There wasn't a single voice of opposition. There wasn't any mention of how the state government is giving Answers in Genesis up to $18 million in tax breaks. And there wasn't even a mention of how the whole Noah's Ark story is fiction."

The NBC segment was a prime example of a missed opportunity in mass-media science literacy education — education that's sorely needed.

Ark Encounter isn't the only summer-vacation creationist destination out there. The next stop after Ark Encounter could be the Grand Canyon for a creationist rafting trip down the Colorado River, during which rafters are informed that the Grand Canyon was formed in a great flood sometime after God's creation of the Earth itself 6,000 years ago.

Science, of course, tells us that the Grand Canyon dates back many millions of years. As Ann Reid, director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) puts it, the Grand Canyon "is one of the most powerful places on the Earth to show the difference between religious thinking and scientific thinking."

That's exactly why the NCSE does its own science-based Colorado rafting trips.

And that's exactly what we could use more of this summer, and always: explicit pushback to anti-science creationist discourse. We all know that the statistics in the U.S. on understanding and acceptance of evolution are discouraging, but what worries me most is when creationism masquerading as science is just accepted with a shrug, as if, "hey, it's just part of American society now." In this way, we all fail our children.

What can we do — parents and teachers — to push back? Here are some ideas:

*Speak out and speak up to school boards. Parents can insist that biology teachers in public schools be well-qualified to teach evolution; currently, many are not. In a related vein, check in with the "Take Action" page of the NCSE.

*Let the media know when they do a poor job of covering evolution-related issues or, conversely, a good one. The week after the NBC Nightly News segment, CBS News aired a report from Ark Encounter. Correspondent Mark Strassmann talked to Ham — and to a visitor who confirmed her belief that dinosaurs and people "walked hand-in-hand" a few thousand years ago on Earth. But he went on also to interview Jim Helton from Tri-State Freethinkers and science communicator Bill Nye "The Science Guy" as well, who stood up for evolutionary science.

*Read science- and evolution-based books to, and with, your children. Even young kids may enjoy and learn from age-appropriate writing that gets across concepts of evolution. Last year, I wrote here about Grandmother Fish by Jonathan Tweet and illustrator Karen Lewis. Another example is Evolutionary Tales by Matt Cubberly and illustrator May Villani, a short book that invites children to think about adaptive features of animals like the sugar glider, tarsier and pileated woodpecker.

*Ask evolution-related questions of political candidates and their staff. Science is, of course, a big issue in presidential campaigns. It's clear that the Hillary Clinton campaign accepts anthropogenic climate change as a serious risk to the world that requires science-based policy initiatives, whereas the Donald Trump campaign does not. But on evolution, it's much harder to find evidence of questions asked and answered. (An attempt to reach Trump senior communications adviser Jason Miller this week did not produce a reply; even asking evolution-related questions may be valuable, though, because they let staffers know what voters care about.)

The Washington Post does report that Trump's running mate, vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, judging from a 2009 television interview, favors teaching "all the facts" about the "controversial areas" surrounding evolution. This "teach the controversy" strategy matches the one adopted by young-Earth creationists and intelligent-design advocates.

Science-minded people know there is no controversy. Creationism is religion. Our children must be taught about evolutionary science in order to become fully science-literate.

Barbara J. King is an anthropology professor emerita at the College of William and Mary. She often writes about the cognition, emotion and welfare of animals, and about biological anthropology, human evolution and gender issues. Barbara's most recent book on animals is titled How Animals Grieve, and her forthcoming book is Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat. You can keep up with what she is thinking on Twitter: @bjkingape



CBS -- Excerpt -- “*Speak out and speak up to school boards. Parents can insist that biology teachers in public schools be well-qualified to teach evolution; currently, many are not. In a related vein, check in with the "Take Action" page of the NCSE. …. *Let the media know when they do a poor job of covering evolution-related issues or, conversely, a good one. The week after the NBC Nightly News segment, CBS News aired a report from Ark Encounter. Correspondent Mark Strassmann talked to Ham — and to a visitor who confirmed her belief that dinosaurs and people "walked hand-in-hand" a few thousand years ago on Earth. But he went on also to interview Jim Helton from Tri-State Freethinkers and science communicator Bill Nye "The Science Guy" as well, who stood up for evolutionary science. …. *Read science- and evolution-based books to, and with, your children. Even young kids may enjoy and learn from age-appropriate writing that gets across concepts of evolution. …. *Ask evolution-related questions of political candidates and their staff. Science is, of course, a big issue in presidential campaigns.”


I don’t usually find as many good news stories on NBC as I do on CBS; I am proud of CBS, therefore, for correcting the narrative of their rival. Thank goodness they stepped up to the bat to take on this whitewash by NBC. It does LOOK as though NBC may possibly be receiving money “under the counter” from the very wealthy Evangelical Fundamentalists to say the right things.

I have no problem with people’s belief in a religious philosophy based on the Bible, or even as a GENERAL account by ancient members of the Hebrew tribes of their HISTORY, as they saw it. But in modern times with so much actual scientific knowledge at our disposal, I am very much opposed to SCHOOLS filling kids’ heads with pure garbage based on the Bible. The Bible is not a scientific document, and I just can’t believe that the Higher Power (or as AA puts it, "The God of my understanding") would have given mankind incisive, logical minds for them to then REFUSE to use them in the name of “faith.” People telling children that they will go to Hell if they THINK is shameful. I will quickly say that my United Methodist Church didn't preach about the subject of EVOLUTION at all, much less threaten us with Hell, at least over that.



HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY AND OUR DOWNFALL

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/07/27/487636481/the-madness-of-humanity-part-3-tribalism

CULTURE

The Madness Of Humanity Part 3: Tribalism
Commentary
MARCELO GLEISER
July 27, 2016 1:35 PM ET

Photograph -- Rob Refsnyder of the New York Yankees bats during the Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees regular season MLB game at Yankee Stadium on July 17 in New York City. Tim Clayton/Getty Images


This is the third in a series of essays concerning our collective future. The goal is to bring forth some of the main issues humanity faces today, as we move forward to uncertain times. In an effort to be as thorough as possible, we will consider two kinds of threats: those due to natural disasters and those that are man-made. The idea is to expose some of the dangers and possible mechanisms that have been proposed to deal with these issues. My intention is not to offer a detailed analysis for each threat — but to invite reflection and, hopefully, action.

On March 23, 1998, in San Diego, Calif., 39 members of the Heaven's Gate sect willfully committed suicide.

Their cue, as interpreted by their leader "Do," was the closest approach of the comet Hale-Bopp to Earth. Members of Heaven's Gate believed that an unidentified point of light trailing the comet was a long-awaited redeeming UFO, transporting aliens that would transfer them to a purely spiritual plane of existence. The point of light was later identified as the star SAO 141894.

A tourist at the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in February examines a full-size replica of the "Fat Man" atomic bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945. Los Alamos is home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory which was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project.

13.7: COSMOS AND CULTURE
The Madness Of Humanity: Nuclear Weapons And M.A.D.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft's vantage point in orbit around the moon.

13.7: COSMOS AND CULTURE
The Madness Of Humanity Part 2: Planetary Predation

History is filled with similar examples of apocalyptic sects whose members chose death over life, some peaceful and other extremely aggressive to anyone who doesn't "belong."

"Belonging" is a key word here. It has its origins in our tribal past, when groups of individuals would struggle and fight for survival in adverse environmental conditions. To belong to the tribe meant protection from outside aggressors and an immediate sense of identity. I am part of a group that shares my values. Being part of this group makes me strong. Those who are not part of my group, that don't share my values, are a threat. They are the enemy. If we don't destroy them, they will destroy us. We, thus, must convert others to our value system or, if that fails, destroy them by any means available.

There are gradations of tribalism, of course. Only the most extreme would adopt the those-who-don't-belong-are-enemies value system, and only the most aggressive within these will opt to destroy their opponents. Most tribes actually feed on each other's strength and motivation to pursue a common goal. In his recent book Tribe, Sebastian Junger argues for the importance of such socially-bonding values, citing the detribalization of modern life as a cause for our current social and political misdirection. Tribalism can play a positive role in society and has been key to our survival.

However, taken to its extreme, tribalism is divisive, prejudiced, small-minded, and, as we see everyday in the news, deadly.

Anthropologist Scott Atran, director of the Institute Jean Nicod in Paris, and from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, has been studying radical Islamic movements for years. In particular, Atran is interested in what makes peaceful and mostly non-religious young people leave their countries and families to join violent organizations such as the Islamic State. Atran's arguments resonate with the attraction of extreme tribal behavior mentioned above: Young people adrift in a globalized world go to ISIS and other extreme movements seeking a shared identity that gives their lives a sense of meaning and purpose.

"The rise of the Islamic State is a revolutionary movement of historic proportions. Many of its members are devoted actors with an apocalyptic belief that they must destroy the world to save it," said Atran, as quoted by Bruce Bower in Science News.

Most extreme tribal behavior springs from a perceived threat to what the group believes are sacred values or beliefs. "Sacred" here doesn't necessarily imply religious values: "Secularized sacred," as Atran refers to it, can play a key role as well, as in political notions of "human rights" or in ideologies that attempt to save "humanity" through political revolution (socialism, anarchism, communism, fascism, etc.)

There is a paradox here, as we humans need to belong. We are social animals, and being part of an identifying group is essential to a healthy emotional life. We experiment with such tribal behaviors all the time, from cliques in junior high school to sports fans with painted faces. Sometimes, such experiments get heavy — and violence erupts. Growing up in Brazil, I remember as a kid how ferociously I defended my local soccer team. Anyone who didn't support my team was at least suspicious, if not plain mad. How could their value system be sound if they chose to support another team? And how different is this from the current polarized behavior during this election season? Different tribes, with different value systems, vying for power.

Tribalism is deeply ingrained in our value system. There's no way out of it. We need it; we love it; we hate it. What leads to extreme behavior, however, is something else. Extreme behavior comes from a radicalized sense of belonging, a desperate attachment to a single-minded goal that causes a short-sightedness of the "other." Extreme behavior is inward-looking, intolerant, unwilling to grow, to look out. The need to belong trumps any other value system, even the value of one's own life. Leaders feed on the devotion of their followers; followers feed on the devotion to their leader and the cause he or she represents.

After millennia of agrarian civilization, we remain morally stuck in our tribal behavior. Buddhists talk of detachment as the way to inner peace, that the root of all ill comes from our attachment to things, to values, to people. This is a hard lesson to learn for most of us, but if we connect a level of detachment to openness we may have a chance to move on.

We can commit to goals without radicalizing them, to support groups without demonizing others; we can follow value systems without closing off to different choices that others make. Red Sox or NY Yankees, we all share the same playing field.

Marcelo Gleiser is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist — and a professor of natural philosophy, physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College. He is the co-founder of 13.7, and an active promoter of science to the general public. His latest book is The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected: A Natural Philosopher's Quest for Trout and the Meaning of Everything. You can keep up with Marcelo on Facebook and Twitter: @mgleiser



People who do believe firmly in a fatherly or motherly deity who (not “which”) is taking care of us, and always will, will find it easier to avoid getting caught up in a political movement – the Sanders Revolution, for instance. I think this article is talking about that subject, or at least about the high degree of polarization in our 2016 elections. I don’t want to see violence, of course, but I don’t want to see Rightists destroy our democratic nation, either; and after this one crucial election when I feel all liberal-leaning people should vote together to defeat Trump, I do want to see a cleansed Democratic Party, or a greatly diminished one, whatever it takes to change their direction.

This is because our Middle of the Road folks have been smug, passive, blind, and voiceless for so long that they no longer care who among us are deprived of basic needs and of their voices as citizens. It's simply easier that way. We “don’t have to worry” about a psychologically bizarre and fascist-leaning demagogue taking over our country, with the active participation of the Koch Brothers and their Dominionist friends. After all, God will protect us.

Likewise, the same is true of the issue of the rapid degradation of our environments and our human communities. God is handling all that, so if the Koch Brothers say we should do more mountaintop removal mining and fracking to squeeze out the last little bit of natural gas, etc., etc., it would be truly unpatriotic (the greatest sin) to fight against them. Personally, I just can’t buy that, so I’m delighted to have found a political philosopher and leader who is leading in the right direction.

I will refrain from advocating the assassination of anyone, even Donald Trump, but I would like to see a massive movement of honest folks who care about the world we live in as they move en masse on the Capitol Building. It would be even better if it were done by candlelight as we all jangled our keys loudly, the way “The PEOPLE” did in Prague in the Velvet Revolution.” View this Youtube video to refresh your memory. There is a time for some tribalism if it is in pursuance of a terribly important improvement in our path as a country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laX3EnSJGoE




http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/07/26/487457043/the-remarkable-inconsistency-of-climate-denial

The Remarkable Inconsistency Of Climate Denial
Commentary
ADAM FRANK
July 26, 2016 10:26 AM ET

This is a year of politics. That means everyone has opinions about where the world should be headed and how we should get there.

No matter how weird this political season has been, however, there remains a key difference between opinions and facts. That difference comes into the starkest relief when people must face their own inconsistencies in reconciling the two domains.

And nowhere is the gap between opinions and facts more apparent than the subject of climate change. As a recent action by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) demonstrates, for climate deniers there is a chasm between what is said and what is done.

The basic dilemma of climate denial is that, for decades, science has pointed to two very clear conclusions. First is the overwhelming evidence that the planet is warming. Second is the overwhelming evidence that the warming is due to human activity (mostly in the form of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use).

The truth of these claims is getting bolded and underlined as 2016 is on track to be the hottest recorded year ever for the planet. The last hottest year on record was 2015 (you know you're in trouble if the hottest year ever is always this one now). In addition to the temperature records, every climate observatory in the world is now recording CO2 greenhouse gas levels higher than any time in the last 4 million years.

In the face of these facts, climate denialists claim that the science is somehow mistaken or it's a deliberate hoax. So where exactly is their inconsistency? To understand the break between actions and words, consider a June 28 letter to Congress sent by the AAAS and 30 of the nation's scientific organizations urging action on climate change:

"Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research concludes that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver. This conclusion is based on multiple independent lines of evidence and the vast body of peer-reviewed science."

So which of the nation's scientific organizations are we talking about here? Some were big and others were small, but let's begin with the AAAS. These are the folks who help maintain the U.S.'s preeminent effort in science and technology. If you are using something scientific or technological, they're the ones pushing for the research efforts supporting it.

Beyond the AAAS, here is a partial list of the other organizations on the letter:

American Meteorological Society
Crop Science Society of America
American Geophysical Union
American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Public Health Association
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Soil Science Society of America

Just these seven names are enough to expose the problem for climate denialists. If climate science is hoax and the Crop Science Society of America signed the letter, then doesn't that make crop science suspect, too? And, of course, you can't have modern, advanced agriculture without understanding soil. That's the domain of the Soil Science Society of America. They've signed on to the AAAS letter, too. But that must mean we shouldn't trust any of their claims about how to grow food. Then there's the American Meteorological Society. If they are urging Congress to take action on climate change, it must mean they and their science is corrupted as well. If that were the case, then we would do well to ignore things like their hurricane warnings.

Of course, ignoring warnings of an impending hurricane — the result of meteorological science — would be stupid. No one in their right mind would do it. But that is the point, isn't it? Those who espouse climate denial say one thing and then act in an entirely different way if someone tells them a hurricane is coming. Why? Because it would be crazy to do otherwise.

Climate denialists, like everyone else, enjoy the fruits of science. But it's only when those fruits run up against pre-conceived political antagonisms that the cognitive dissonance begins.

When climate denialists get sick, they go to the doctor. They use the results of medical science. But to do so, they must ignore this from the AMA:

"The American Medical Association is working to ensure that physicians and others in health care understand the rise in climate-related illnesses and injuries so they can prepare and respond to them."

When climate denialists need to stay cool in the summer, they use the fruits of chemistry as it manifests in new kinds of refrigerants/coolants. But that means they must also ignore those same chemists who have this to say about climate science,

"...comprehensive scientific assessments of our current and potential future climates clearly indicate that climate change is real, largely attributable to emissions from human activities."

I could go on — but you get the picture.

This is the great dilemma and the great contradiction. People who benefit from science everyday somehow manage to find a place in their heads to simultaneously reject it. Whether its climate or vaccines, the same contradiction between words and action arises.

But here is the really difficult thing about this kind of contradiction for all of us: It always gets resolved in the end. That's because when it comes to science denial, it's reality that always has the last word.

Adam Frank is a co-founder of the 13.7 blog, an astrophysics professor at the University of Rochester, a book author and a self-described "evangelist of science." You can keep up with more of what Adam is thinking on Facebook and Twitter: @adamfrank4.



No matter how much “conservatives” in our government debate against global warming, the military is already making plans to protect itself. See this news article from a couple of years ago.


http://www.npr.org/2014/06/24/324891517/as-sea-levels-rise-norfolk-is-sinking-and-planning

As Sea Levels Rise, Norfolk Is Sinking And Planning
June 24, 20143:27 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
YUKI NOGUCHI

Photograph -- For homes near the Hague River in downtown Norfolk, flooding is now a regular event. On a calm day, at high tide, the water laps just inches from the top of the barrier.
Yuki Noguchi/NPR
Related: BUSINESS, Latest Climate Change Report Paints Dire Picture For Business


From the water's edge in Norfolk, Va., the U.S. naval base spans the whole horizon. Aircraft carriers, supply centers, barracks and admirals' homes fill a vast expanse.

But Ray Toll, a retired naval oceanographer, says the "majority of [the naval base], if not all of it" is at risk of flooding "because it's so low and it's flat."

The Norfolk-Hampton Roads area in Virginia is home to the largest naval operation in the world. This area is particularly vulnerable because the land is sinking as sea levels are rising. Planning for that is both a national security concern and a topic of discussion among the area's business owners.

Toll, working through Old Dominion University, is helping devise a plan that would coordinate a response between the federal and local governments and local businesses. Toll says a regional approach is necessary because it's not just the military that is affected.

The naval base at Norfolk has had to build two levels to its docks to accommodate rising sea levels. The water level has risen about 1 1/2 feet since 1920.i
The naval base at Norfolk has had to build two levels to its docks to accommodate rising sea levels. The water level has risen about 1 1/2 feet since 1920.
Yuki Noguchi/NPR

"Any impacts that the Navy is going to feel is going to have a direct and indirect impact on the business infrastructure," he says. And Toll says, "that goes all the way down to the small shops that are right on the water, because everybody lives here."

David DiPalo is the sanguine owner of O'Sullivan's Wharf, a restaurant 3 miles from the naval base. It's on the waterfront, and locals can bring their catch in to be fried.

"We've flooded, in the past five years, three times," DiPalo says. "And basically, it's like we move for a day or two. And that's all you can do."

DiPalo says between lost business and food, damage and cleanup, each time it costs between $5,000 and $10,000. But he says his current storm prep system works, and he vows to stay put.

"I don't believe in rising sea levels. I think it's all a bunch of hype," DiPalo says. "The fact of the matter is we live on a living, breathing planet, and I think it's just part of the planet's cycle."

Rising waters have become part of the everyday cycle, too. In downtown Norfolk, at high tide, the water is just inches from cresting the barrier into the streets. It routinely spills over, so there is debris on the sidewalks and a slightly musty smell.

Residents navigate alternate routes during flooding, which happens increasingly frequently. Norfolk's water levels are up 1 1/2 feet since the 1920s — a fact that seems to alarm outsiders more than natives.

The Page House Inn in downtown Norfolk is a bed and breakfast just 200 feet from the tidal Hague River, and about a quarter of its guests are connected to the Navy.

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he hopes a new study can influence the business community by applying the science of risk management.

Rough surf pounds a fishing pier as Tropical Storm Hanna passes through Virginia Beach, Va., in 2008. Virginia is dependent on coal mining but it also faces routine flooding from rising sea levels.

AROUND THE NATION
How Coal Industry Jobs Coexist With Rising Sea Levels In Virginia

Hoboken, N.J., residents walk through flood water in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Mayor Dawn Zimmer is advocating for better planning and increased funding for flood-prone urban areas.

ENVIRONMENT
For N.J. Mayor, The Time To Adapt To Rising Sea Levels Is Now

A NASA photo shows the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctic. A new study indicates that part of the huge West Antarctic Ice Sheet is starting a slow and unstoppable collapse.

THE TWO-WAY
Melting Of Antarctic Ice Sheet Might Be Unstoppable

Debbie Wilborn, the proud owner of the 115-year-old inn, stands on the sun porch and points toward a bed of shrubs 20 feet from the house.

"The water will come up and flood this parking lot over here," Wilborn says. "Right next door, yup. But I don't ever worry because I haven't seen it get that powerful where it would come up into our driveway over here on this side of the house."

Outside of paying for flood insurance, Wilborn isn't planning for sea-level rise. Water, she says, won't chase her out of the place: "If someone told me to evacuate and go, I'm like: 'No, I'm staying right here.' She's been here 115 years. I'm staying, I'm not going anywhere."

Around the area, construction crews raise homes several feet off the ground — for fees well into the six figures.

Michele Duffy is considering moving to Norfolk and is studying the housing market. She says waterfront homes there are selling for less than they did 30 years ago. When she bought a place in Paducah, Ky., several years ago, she avoided the flood zones, and water is on her mind even more now.

"If there is flooding, I really want to know where it is so I can stay away," Duffy says. "With climate change, what is the area going to look like? What are my investment opportunities?"

Several miles away in Newport News, Bob Fallon works for defense contractor Huntington Ingalls Industries, which has sprawling shipbuilding facilities.

He has lived in the area for almost 35 years and says he's seen sea levels rise about 7 or 8 inches in that time.

Fallon explains that his company lifted the foundation for its air and power systems and is helping local utility companies protect their power sources from floods. It's also replacing old docks and buildings.

"We are building our new facilities higher off the ground," Fallon says. "The equipment that's inside the facilities is built higher off the ground. The material itself is more water resilient."

Fallon is not thinking about relocation. Instead, he says, "it's about designing for resiliency. Adapting to it. For shipyards and businesses, it's not about relocation."

Decades from now, the company will be there, he says, just operating on higher ground.



http://www.npr.org/2014/06/24/325073881/latest-climate-change-report-paints-dire-picture-for-business

Latest Climate Change Report Paints Dire Picture For Business
Heard on Morning Edition
JOHN YDSTIE
June 24, 2014 5:07 AM ET

Photograph -- Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he hopes a new study can influence the business community by applying the science of risk management. iStockphoto
THE TWO-WAY -- New Report Finds Climate Change Already Having Broad Impact
ENVIRONMENT -- As Sea Levels Rise, Norfolk Is Sinking And Planning


The U.S. economy faces great risks from climate change, according to a new study that focuses on the current and future effects of climate change on everything from jobs, to crop yields, to energy production.

Though the study presents no new climate science, it paints a dire picture of the business and economic effects if action isn't taken, including crop yields that fall by more than 70 percent in the Midwest and billions of dollars' worth of property literally underwater on the East Coast.

The study is called "Risky Business", and the driving force behind it is a bipartisan group of prominent former businessmen and public officials: entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; retired hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer; and Henry Paulson, a former Wall Street titan and Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush.

Paulson, a Republican, acknowledges that many in his party are skeptical of the science of climate change and want more research. He says this new study suggests the business and investment community needs to take action.

The naval base at Norfolk has had to build two levels to its docks to accommodate rising sea levels. The water level has risen about 1 1/2 feet since 1920.

"It's going to increasingly be difficult for anybody, regardless of party, to say there isn't a problem," he says.

Paulson says he hopes the study can influence the business community by applying a major business tool — the science of risk management.

"The more we can talk about risk management, which is part and parcel of the free enterprise system and a conservative principle, I think we will make some headway," Paulson says.

The study says there's a better-than-ever chance that as much as $23 billion worth of Florida property will be underwater by the middle of the century.

But the report projects something investors call a "tail risk" — a low-probability but extremely high-cost event that pushes losses far above $23 billion. For Florida property, the "tail risk" is that there's a 1 in 100 chance that by the end of this century, as much as $681 billion worth of property will be submerged.

Robert Rubin, another Wall Street veteran and former Treasury secretary under President Clinton, is also involved in the Risky Business study. He says the threats are widespread across the economy.

People survey the damage on Scenic Highway in Pensacola, Fla., after part of it collapsed following heavy rains and flash flooding on April 30.

"Agricultural yields could fall by 50 percent or more in some parts of the country," Rubin says. "You could have temperatures that prevented people from working outdoors for some part of the year in certain parts of the country. All of this has massive effects, and all of this is a very realistic projection of what is likely to happen if we don't act."

Paulson proposes a tax on carbon emissions that scientists say are causing climate change, to provide an incentive to wean the economy off carbon-based fuels.

"A carbon tax is one way of putting a price on this pollution, one way of letting the market operate," Paulson says.

But there's virtually no chance a carbon tax will pass in Congress anytime soon. Rubin suggests an interim step that doesn't need congressional approval. It would be a requirement by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Accounting Standards Board where companies disclose the risks that climate change poses to their assets and profits.

"I think we've got to act on all possible fronts, because I really do think that life on Earth, as we know it, is at stake here," Rubin says.



http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/28/487618421/oyster-archaeology-ancient-trash-holds-clues-to-sustainable-harvesting

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Oyster Archaeology: Ancient Trash Holds Clues To Sustainable Harvesting
NATALIE JACEWICZ
July 28, 2016 7:00 AM ET

Photograph -- A typical Native American oyster deposit, or midden, dating to about 1,000 years ago. Archaeologists are finding clues to sustainable oysters harvesting in these remains.
Torben Rick/Smithsonian Institution
Photograph -- Members of the research team, Sean McCanty and Courtney Hofman, excavate an ancient oyster shell midden at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md. Torben Rick/Smithsonian Institution
THE SALT -- Can Oysters With No Sex Life Repopulate The Chesapeake Bay?
THE SALT -- Why The Southeast Could Become The Napa Valley Of Oysters
Photograph -- Capers Blades "singles on a half shell" oysters grown by farmer Dave Belanger (aka Clammer Dave) in Capers Inlet, S.C.


Times are tough for Chesapeake oysters.

For one thing, they used to be bigger. "If you look at what people were saying back in the 1600s and 1700s about oysters, people had to cut them in half before they could even eat them," says Denise Breitburg, an ecologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

What's more, these oyster behemoths were so plentiful that they formed tall towers stretching up to the water's surface. But today, after decades of overfishing, oyster populations in Maryland's waters have dropped to 1 percent of what they were around 1900.

To see how much the population has changed over the years, Breitburg and other biologists and archaeologists undertook the largest survey to date of any shellfishery, chronicling the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population from almost 800,000 years ago to the present day. The researchers were surprised to find thousands of years during which oyster populations stayed stable – the era of Native Americans. The stability suggests Native Americans figured out how to farm oysters sustainably, and their techniques could help support our oyster habit today, according to a study published earlier this summer in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The archaeologists began by studying Native American trash pits, which speckle the Chesapeake Bay coast and are full of oyster shells.

By using radio carbon dating, researchers found the oldest trash pit surveyed to be 3,200 years old, and the most recent to date no later than 1900. Next they measured the height of each oyster as a proxy for past human pressure on oysters. (Humans tend to harvest bigger oysters first, so if the average oyster size is smaller, it likely means that oysters were being harvested too fast for many of them to reach a large size and produce a lot of baby oysters.)

The scientists rounded the survey out by examining oyster size from fossils hundreds of thousands of years old and by analyzing harvest numbers from the 20th and 21st centuries.

"The scale of the data set is massive. To my knowledge, it's unparalleled," says environmental archaeologist Victor Thompson of the University of Georgia, who was not involved in the study.

The team found oysters were bigger hundreds of thousands of years ago than during the time of humans, but no decrease in oyster size happened during the time of prehistoric Native Americans, from roughly 3,200 to 400 years ago. This suggests the oyster population wasn't under increasing pressure as Native Americans harvested them.

Torben Rick, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and lead author of the research, examines a 1,500-year-old oyster shell in the museum's collection. John Gibbons/Smithsonian Institution

A relatively low number of humans partially explains the limited pressure on oysters during this period, says lead author Torben Rick of the Smithsonian Institution. But he said Native Americans also seem to have relied on sustainable fishing techniques. Thanks to technological limitations, Native Americans generally fished close to shore, giving oysters in deep water a safe space to grow and reproduce. Native Americans also may have harvested oysters from different areas seasonally, and the rotation gave sites time to recover.

Young oysters live on old oyster shells and slowly mature while forming a complete shell.

So what happened since the time of Native American harvesting?

Oyster specialist Stephanie Westby of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chesapeake office blames pollution, overfishing and dredging – a fishing practice that rips up the water's bottom and leaves mud, where oysters can't attach easily to make homes. Without oysters to filter tiny organisms in the water, the water quality suffers.

Native American practices, according to Rick, underscore the importance of sanctuaries today. Establishing refuges can be controversial, since fishers rely on oysters for their livelihood, but Rick says well-placed refuges could boost oyster populations for everyone, including fishers. "Ultimately, it's about rethinking our oyster strategy so we can have our cake and eat it too," says Rick. "We don't want to alienate anyone. This doesn't need to pit biologists against fishermen."

Some areas are already establishing refuges. In 2014, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement set the goal to restore oyster populations in 10 tributaries by 2025. Now there are sanctuaries in Virginia and Maryland especially for oysters, Westby says, and hatcheries are producing young oysters to be transplanted to wild oyster reefs.

There's also a new source of oysters that Native Americans didn't have – farming. Michael Hild owns Anderson's Neck Oyster Company, which is currently farming 6 million oysters. "Not only are you taking pressure off of the wild stock that remain in the Chesapeake Bay," says Hild, "but the farmed oysters that you place in the water are making water cleaner."

Rick says he hopes archaeology can help uncover more about the history of other fisheries, like blue crab. "The past isn't something we can recreate or return to," Rick admits, "but it just gives us much more information to work with."



I am never really surprised when I hear something new that those Native Americans were aware of and able to do – better than we can. Heavy reliance on farming of the destructive sort has caused us to be unaware of other vitally important issues around our foods.

We simply cannot remove all of the adult animals and plants of any kind and from any environment, without exterminating the whole species. Duuhh!! The plight of oysters in the ocean and other creatures which we view as “food” and not as fellow life forms, is clear to me, but not to too many fishermen. There are trades and businesses which will have to be abandoned. Send those young boys to college and not to another job on the family fishing boat.

There are lots of problems with an entirely unregulated and unmanaged “Marketplace,” and one of the worst is this lack of planning, problem solving and general “thinking outside the box” that we tend to do in this country. Government control is BAD, but unmitigated control by BIG BUSINESS is equally bad.

Indians did cultivate crops, but they also ate widely from the woods, waterways and fields on a seasonal basis. Our Scots-Irish forebears in North Carolina did the same, partly due to help from the Indians. Our persimmons, black walnuts, black muscadines and white scupornongs, maize, melons and other delicious members of that family, were all given to us by Native American culture. Studying the Native American practices is a great idea. We tend to look always to a greater and greater use of technology instead of greater knowledge and wisdom. It is due to that societal practice that the ocean and inland waterways have been dredged, removing the old oyster shells, without which the new ones can’t grow (and a huge number of other species which are a part of our food chain).

The farthest Eastern bridge here in Jacksonville is the tall and beautiful Dames Point Bridge; and if you look down at the water line, in one place at least, you will see “towers” of oysters sticking up out of the water. Life goes on, but we need to lend a hand to the Life Force. We should always remember that when God takes care of things we may not like the way he will do it, and he won't ask our permission, either.



By the way, a well-known and beloved Native American died within the last week. His name was Chief David Bald Eagle.

See:

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36903794
Dances with Wolves actor Chief David Bald Eagle dies at 97
27 July 2016
From the section Entertainment & Arts

Photograph -- Chief David Bald Eagle served as Errol Flynn's stunt double and appeared in more than 40 films, AP
Photograph -- Bald Eagle had a varied career in showbusiness and was also a rodeo cowboy


Native American Chief David Bald Eagle, who appeared in the Oscar-winning 1990 film Dances With Wolves, has died aged 97.

The grandson of Chief White Bull, who fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, Bald Eagle appeared in more than 40 films.

He went on to become the face of South Dakota's Lakota people.

He died at his home on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation on 22 July, according to a local funeral home.

Born in a tepee in 1919 on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation, his native Lakota name translates as Wounded in Winter Beautiful Bald Eagle.

He served in the US Army during World War Two where he fought in the landings at Anzio in Italy and won the silver star.

After being severely wounded by German fire while parachuting into Normandy during D-Day, Bald Eagle pursued a music career as a drummer for Cliff Keyes Big Band.

Following a foray into ballroom dancing, which ended with the tragic death of his dance partner and wife, Penny Rathburn, in a car crash, Bald Eagle established a career in Hollywood.

He trained a range of stars including John Wayne in horse and gun handling, and served as Errol Flynn's stunt double.

In the late 1950s he joined a rodeo display team and while in Belgium met his second wife, Josee.