Category Archives: Science

Vote Early—Vote Often

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The Electorate Has Spoken – Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Yesterday, Anne and I voted early. It used to be that a valid excuse was required to vote early. Anne always had one, since she is a poll judge. I was usually forced to lie that I would be out-of-town. Then in the year of covid, a new excuse was added, fear of getting sick. After that the need for an excuse was dropped. There was a good turnout at the closest poll, in downtown Clayton. So good that we couldn’t park in the library’s garage. The line wasn’t long, but the ballot was.

We have no big elections. The only statewide office is for auditor. Our Democratic congressman is running unopposed. But there were quite a few ballot issues to vote on. Most of these were put up by the Republicans, so I voted against those. After voting, I saw a sign that said that the library lends out telescopes. I put my name in to check out one. Something to look forward to.

After performing our civic duties, we went to Ivy Cafe for lunch. Ivy is known for their tartines and we each ordered one. Anne had the Meramec, sushi-grade pan-seared Norwegian salmon, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, capers, and mediterranean sauce. While I had the Delmar, strip steak, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella, horseradish drizzle, and herbs.

Focus Stacking

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Chaetoceros debilis (marine diatom), a colonial plankton organism, Wim van Egmond, 2013

Focus stacking is a digital image processing technique that combines multiple photographs taken at different focus distances to create a single composite image with an extended, front-to-back depth of field. The photographer takes a series of photos (often called a focus bracket) of the same scene using a tripod. In each frame, the point of focus is shifted incrementally—starting from the closest foreground element and moving progressively toward the background. The above photo is sort of a goal with this technique. It is a Nikon award winning macro picture. Below, find my initial foray, an obliquely shot one euro coin. Not bad for a first attempt, if it do say so myself.

1 Euro

In other news, Maren’s mother Kim is here now. The calvary has arrived! Were saved.

10,000 BC

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10,000 BC Movie Poster

Last night, I rewatched the 2008 movie 10,000 BC. It a schlocky flic, but I have a soft spot for it. Not the least because of the consternation that it seems to engender in scientific-academic circles. Most of these complaints seem to revolve around the way that the movie plays fast and loose with the homo sapiens timeline. As the title suggests, this film purports to portray human life in the year 10,000 BC. However, it introduces numerous inventions, such as the pyramids, sailing ships, and iron tools that would not exist for thousands of years. Then there are the wooly mammoths employed to build said pyramids, saber tooth tigers as big as a pickup truck and terror birds (Phorusrhacids) that were long since extinct by 10,000 BC.

But you know who has relatively few complaints about these aspects of the movie? Creationists. They still want to quibble about the timeline. According to their calendar the earth was created in 4,000 BC. But they are willing to overlook the tacking on of over 6,000 years of prehistory because the movie doesn’t blaspheme and there is no swearing. “I mean evolution is not the Gospel. It’s just a theory. Right?”—As overheard in the Smithsonian’s hall of human origins.

Small World

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Germinating Mallow pollen being parasitized by a filamentous fungus, Igor Robert Siwanowicz, 2025

This image shows several pollen grains resting on the stigma of a mallow flower. The larger grains are from the mallow, the smaller – from an aster flower. The larger grains are germinating – releasing their pollen tubes carrying male gametes down to the ovules contained at the base of the flower. The process of fertilization was unlikely to have had occurred in this case – the thin, segmented strands wrapping around the pollen grains and branching inside of them are the hyphae of a filamentous parasitic fungus, possibly from the genus Cladosporium or Alternaria. Mallow pollen reaches up to 150 micrometers in diameter; daisy pollen is about 20 micrometers.

I was reading the New York Times this morning and found an article that described Nikon’s Small World video and photography competitions, which have just closed for 2026. The photography competition has been occurring for fifty years. However, the Times article focused on the newer video completion. Both contests are fascinating. I chose just one photo to highlight the quality of all this work. This picture placed eighth last year. It ably illustrates the titanic struggles occurring all the time in this lilliputian world right under our nose.

I just love the phrase “filamentous fungus”. Doesn’t it just make your skin crawl?

A Shot in the Arm

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SARS-CoV-2

Anne and I trooped down to the pharmacy this morning and got vaccinated twice. Once for the flu and again for covid. In two-week’s time, when the vaccines finally take effect, we will be prepared. Surveying the pharmacy staff, three of whom were out sick, we may be on the late side for this year’s respiratory infection season. Better late than never. With the mercury still in the high nineties, it seems early for these preparations, but your body needs time to build its immunity. Go get your shots today! Why wait? Life is fleeting and precious. Protect it!