Maine Solar System Model

We were in Presque Isle this summer and discovered this wonderful model of the solar system as we drove northward from Houlton. The Maine Solar System—the largest scale model of the solar system in the western hemisphere, and the second largest such model in the world—stretches for nearly 100 miles along U.S. Route 1. The model, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, features nine planets (including Pluto, which was a planet when the model was first established), three dwarf planets (including Pluto, based on its current status and present location closer to the Sun), and seven associated large moons at Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto. Other dwarf planets, to be located north of the Sun at Lille and Madawaska, are planned. You could plan to see them all, but what happened to us is that we saw Saturn (which is hard to miss), then Jupiter, and then it was a question of where are all the rest? Lucky for us, because we were there for purposes other than site seeing, five of them are in and around Presque Isle, and the hard part is spotting them because the planets are all quite small, and then the sun, which is so huge you aren't sure if it is just a huge yellow arch or actually part of the model sun. One thing I will not forget is the scale (as well as the distance between them all), which drives home the scale of our solar system, and really, it was quite fun.

Celebrate Vaccines

Once again, into the fray. I am so grateful for vaccinations in general and the COVID vaccine in particular. It is so fitting that Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize this year, and so nice that it came on the heels of their world altering contribultions--they literally saved untold millions of lives, and they were able to witness the fruits of their labors. The discoveries by the two were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020. Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times. 

COVID-19 Precautions

It is time to really pay attention to preventing the spread of illness within the United States, and after a lengthy discussion of the possible ways to do that within my health care system, I hope that we can manage this.  The longer we delay the epidemic, the lower the peak numbers will be, and the less people who will die.  Wash your hands as if your life and the lives of others depends on it.

That said, governments will not be able to limit both deaths from COVID-19 and the economic impact of viral spread. Keeping mortality as low as possible will be the highest priority for individuals; hence governments must put in place measures to ameliorate the inevitable economic downturn.  COVID-19 has developed into a pandemic, with small chains of transmission in many countries and large chains resulting in extensive spread in a few countries, such as Italy, Iran, South Korea, and Japan.   Most countries are likely to have spread of COVID-19, at least in the early stages, before any mitigation measures have an impact.  What has happened in China shows that quarantine, social distancing, and isolation of infected populations can contain the epidemic. The impact of the COVID-19 response in China is encouraging but it is unclear whether other countries can implement the stringent measures China eventually adopted.

Earthquake in Chiapas

 When a deadly magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck the coast of Mexico's Chiapas state on 7 September, the handful of scientists that study the region were stunned, but not altogether surprised. For more than a century, there had been little activity to study—precisely why they thought the area could be due for a big one. The epicenter of the quake, which struck just before midnight local time, was just southeast of the Tehuantepec gap, a 125-kilometer-long stretch of Mexico's Pacific coast that has been seismically silent since record-keeping began more than a century ago. Their first priority now is to figure out how much, if any, of the Tehuantepec gap slipped in last week's quake, which killed more than 90 people and destroyed or severely damaged the homes of 2.3 million more.

The region where the earthquake struck is one of the most active seismic zones in the country: this is where the Cocos Plate dives, or subducts, under the North American plate. “Earthquakes of this size are not uncommon at subduction zone boundaries,” notes Jascha Polet, a seismologist at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona.
But this quake was different: it occurred within the Cocos plate as it warped or bent, not at the boundary with the North American plate.

Mexico’s seismology agency has registered at least 337 aftershocks, with the strongest reaching a magnitude of 6.1.

Papua New Guinea: Most Diverse People

This Science Monday comes from the journal Science.  You can't get much more sci ency than that.  Except for maybe Nature.
If you travel through New Guinea, it is apparent to the trained ear that people along the banks speak distinct languages. The island's remarkable linguistic diversity reflects real genetic differences.  The report in Science concludes that this genetic variation dates back just 10,000 to 20,000 years, rather than to 50,000 years ago or so, when humans first arrived.
The island's independent invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago did not wipe out the genetic differences, as it did in Europe or parts of Asia. With agriculture, you tend to get larger groups of people and genetically homogenized societies. In Europe, farmers from Anatolia replaced local hunter-gatherers and erased much of their genetic contribution. That did not happen on New Guinea .
The researchers analyzed variation among 1.7 million DNA markers across the genomes of 381 Papua New Guinea (PNG) residents, and they also compared the complete genomes of another 39. They concluded that the people of New Guinea were isolated from Asians for most of prehistory, and that highland and lowland dwellers separated from each other 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. In the highlands, people split into three very distinct clusters of social groups within the past 10,000 years, soon after they began cultivating plants. In the lowlands, two main clusters arose in the north and south.  Why the separation?  That is one for the anthropologists to answer, but it is not solely geographic separation.  Cool right?

Cassini's Photographs of Saturn

In the era of science doubters, or those who take what they like and leave the rest, it seems like a good time to celebrate some science. I'll call it Science Monday. Taken with Artist Wednesday, with will be a nice balance.

Here are some images taken from the spacecraft Cassini "moments" before it crashed into Saturn on Friday (which is space time means is was more than 300,000 miles away.

Before Cassini, we had only brief glimpses of the discoveries awaiting us at Saturn. Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 conducted flybys decades ago, taking pictures, measurements and observations as they zoomed past. These missions shed new light on Saturn’s complicated ring system, discovered new moons and made the first measurements of Saturn’s magnetosphere. But these quick encounters didn’t allow time for more extensive scientific research.

Cassini changed all that. It began the first in-depth, up-close study of Saturn and its system of rings and moons in 2004. It became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, beginning a mission that yielded troves of new insights over more than a decade. The Saturnian system proved to be rich ground for exploration and discoveries, and Cassini's science findings changed the course of future planetary exploration.

 These images are startlingly beautiful, making the planet palpable and ethereal at the same time.