Creating genetically modified people is no longer a science fiction fantasy; it's a likely future scenario.
Biologist Paul Knoepfler estimates that within fifteen years, scientists could use the gene editing technology CRISPR to make certain "upgrades" to human embryos — from altering physical appearances to eliminating the risk of auto-immune diseases.
In this thought-provoking talk, Knoepfler readies us for the coming designer baby revolution and its very personal, and unforeseeable, consequences.
Dr. Paul Knoepfler is working to figure out how we use safely stem cells to treat many diseases and how they sometimes turn to the dark side to cause cancer. Over the years he has made key discoveries about how stem cells and cancer are programmed. Now he is especially interested in how to hack these cells to control their behavior, including using powerful CRISPR genetic modification technology.
Knoepfler has also been a leading voice in the discussion about how CRISPR could be used to make designer babies and the risks of going down that path. He is a professor of cell biology and anatomy at UC Davis School of Medicine in California, where he both does research and teaches. In addition, he is a prolific writer including his popular science blog, The Niche, and two books: Stem Cells: An Insider's Guide and GMO Sapiens: The Life-Changing Science of Designer Babies. He is excited about contributing to efforts to build an innovative, global community of interconnected people with a shared passion for biomedical science and battling fake science. Knoepfler’s outspoken, approachable nature in tackling some of the most transformative questions in science has made him a go-to scientist for journalists and ordinary people across the globe.
You can read the full transcript here.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Nature. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Nature. Mostrar todas las entradas
domingo, 12 de marzo de 2017
domingo, 5 de marzo de 2017
Extensive listening –Why bees are disappearing
Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse?
Bees pollinate a third of our food supply, they don’t just make honey!, but colonies have been disappearing at alarming rates in many parts of the world due to the accumulated effects of parasitic mites, viral and bacterial diseases, and exposure to pesticides and herbicides.
Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota professor of entomology and 2010 MacArthur Fellow, tries as much as possible to think like bees in her work to protect them. They’re “highly social and complex” creatures, she says, which fuels her interest and her research.
Spivak has developed a strain of bees, the Minnesota Hygienic line, that can detect when pupae are infected and kick them out of the nest, saving the rest of the hive. Now, Spivak is studying how bees collect propolis, or tree resins, in their hives to keep out dirt and microbes. She is also analyzing how flowers’ decline due to herbicides, pesticides and crop monoculture affect bees’ numbers and diversity. Spivak has been stung by thousands of bees in the course of her work.
You can read a full transcript of the talk here.
Bees pollinate a third of our food supply, they don’t just make honey!, but colonies have been disappearing at alarming rates in many parts of the world due to the accumulated effects of parasitic mites, viral and bacterial diseases, and exposure to pesticides and herbicides.
Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota professor of entomology and 2010 MacArthur Fellow, tries as much as possible to think like bees in her work to protect them. They’re “highly social and complex” creatures, she says, which fuels her interest and her research.
Spivak has developed a strain of bees, the Minnesota Hygienic line, that can detect when pupae are infected and kick them out of the nest, saving the rest of the hive. Now, Spivak is studying how bees collect propolis, or tree resins, in their hives to keep out dirt and microbes. She is also analyzing how flowers’ decline due to herbicides, pesticides and crop monoculture affect bees’ numbers and diversity. Spivak has been stung by thousands of bees in the course of her work.
You can read a full transcript of the talk here.
jueves, 16 de febrero de 2017
Uncovering the secrets of North America's largest diamond
Africa is home to the world’s largest diamonds - but advances in mining technology are enabling other regions of the world to get in on the act. Most recently, Canada unearthed the biggest diamond ever found in North America - the Foxfire. It has spent the last couple of months on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1. When did the story of the Foxfire diamond begin?
2. Why do we know the Foxfire diamond was bigger at some stage?
3. When was the Foxfire discovered?
4. How much did Deepak Sheth pay for the diamond?
5. What will happen to the Diavik mine in a few years’ time?
The story of the Foxfire diamond began two billion years ago, when it was forged by fire and forces deep beneath the Earth. Now the largest uncut diamond from North America is being studied by scientists at the National Museum of Natural History.
It looks like a lump of quartz.
I think a lot of people would agree with you and I'm sure a lot of people, if they saw that just laying along the side of the road, would probably not even think about picking it up.
Diamonds are as mysterious as meteorites. Both travel through time and space to offer clues about the origins of the universe. These diamonds perilous journey is even more remarkable as most are destroyed or splintered by the volcanic action that propels them at high speed to the Earth's surface.
We know by looking at these flat surfaces that there was more to this diamond at one time, that during either this violent descent as part of this volcanic eruption, or the explosion at the surface, or the mining operation, something caused this diamond to be broken and these flat faces are the broken cleavage surfaces, so someplace, someplace there are other pieces to this diamond.
Better get hunting.
Better get looking. We don't know this is the biggest piece or the smallest piece. Somewhere there are other pieces that would fit on to these flat surfaces right here.
The Foxfire was discovered in 2015 in one of the most inaccessible parts of the world, the Diavik mine in the barren lands of Canada's Northwest Territories, about 130 miles from the Arctic Circle.
The mine spends most of the year frozen in snow. Last year the Foxfire was sold at an auction to Deepak Sheth, a businessman and collector.
So can I hold it?
Of course, of course, please. You’re holding a history.
Holding history that's very heavy.
Yes, it is hundred and eighty-seven point sixty-three carat diamond. It's a miracle of nature.
How much did you pay for it?
Many, many millions of dollars.
How many millions?
I'm sorry. [I] cannot divulge that.
But it's worth many, many millions, it’s a multi-million dollar diamond.
Yes, it is.
I'm feeling quite nervous you can take it back.
Sure, sure.
Mr Sheth plans to keep the diamond in its rough condition but anyone hoping to find its missing parts had better hurry. In just a few years the Diavik mine will close, leaving any treasure buried beneath the ice.
Jane O'Brien, BBC News Washington.
Key:
1 two billion years ago
2 by looking at its flat surfaces
3 in 2015
4 he won’t say, many millions
5 it will close
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.
1. When did the story of the Foxfire diamond begin?
2. Why do we know the Foxfire diamond was bigger at some stage?
3. When was the Foxfire discovered?
4. How much did Deepak Sheth pay for the diamond?
5. What will happen to the Diavik mine in a few years’ time?
The story of the Foxfire diamond began two billion years ago, when it was forged by fire and forces deep beneath the Earth. Now the largest uncut diamond from North America is being studied by scientists at the National Museum of Natural History.
It looks like a lump of quartz.
I think a lot of people would agree with you and I'm sure a lot of people, if they saw that just laying along the side of the road, would probably not even think about picking it up.
Diamonds are as mysterious as meteorites. Both travel through time and space to offer clues about the origins of the universe. These diamonds perilous journey is even more remarkable as most are destroyed or splintered by the volcanic action that propels them at high speed to the Earth's surface.
We know by looking at these flat surfaces that there was more to this diamond at one time, that during either this violent descent as part of this volcanic eruption, or the explosion at the surface, or the mining operation, something caused this diamond to be broken and these flat faces are the broken cleavage surfaces, so someplace, someplace there are other pieces to this diamond.
Better get hunting.
Better get looking. We don't know this is the biggest piece or the smallest piece. Somewhere there are other pieces that would fit on to these flat surfaces right here.
The Foxfire was discovered in 2015 in one of the most inaccessible parts of the world, the Diavik mine in the barren lands of Canada's Northwest Territories, about 130 miles from the Arctic Circle.
The mine spends most of the year frozen in snow. Last year the Foxfire was sold at an auction to Deepak Sheth, a businessman and collector.
So can I hold it?
Of course, of course, please. You’re holding a history.
Holding history that's very heavy.
Yes, it is hundred and eighty-seven point sixty-three carat diamond. It's a miracle of nature.
How much did you pay for it?
Many, many millions of dollars.
How many millions?
I'm sorry. [I] cannot divulge that.
But it's worth many, many millions, it’s a multi-million dollar diamond.
Yes, it is.
I'm feeling quite nervous you can take it back.
Sure, sure.
Mr Sheth plans to keep the diamond in its rough condition but anyone hoping to find its missing parts had better hurry. In just a few years the Diavik mine will close, leaving any treasure buried beneath the ice.
Jane O'Brien, BBC News Washington.
Key:
1 two billion years ago
2 by looking at its flat surfaces
3 in 2015
4 he won’t say, many millions
5 it will close
martes, 20 de diciembre de 2016
Disappearing glaciers
Glacier National Park in Montana has a name to live up to. But it’s a name that seems to be living on borrowed time, as Conor Knighton discovered On the Trail.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions.
1 How far have Conor and Dan been walking before reaching their destination in Montana’s Glacier National Park?
2 What does Dan compare rephotography to?
3 When will the glaciers in Montana’s Glacier National Park have disappeared?
4 How will Dan feel if glaciers disappear?
5 How far has the glacier in Kenai Fjords retreated in 2016?
6 What are the photos of glaciers being used for these days?
Glacier National Park in Montana has a name to live up to. But it’s a name that seems to be living on borrowed time, as Conor Knighton discovered On the Trail.
Like most photographers, Dan Fagre is obsessed with getting the perfect shot. We’ll have hiked around 12 miles all together, up steep mountain passes, across icy streams, all to photograph a small slice of Montana’s Glacier National Park. Visitors take snapshots of the views, but when Fagre looks through his lens, he sees something different. He’s trying to take a picture of what isn’t there, the tons and tons of ice that have disappeared.
Oh my gosh! None of it is there!
None of that is there, so…
Fagre is an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
So in 1938 then, the glacier filled this entire basin…
Using material from the park’s archive, the USGS has been rephotographing old black and white images.
Rephotography is really interesting, it’s a little bit of a detective story. You’re trying to find the exact spot that a photographer stood decades before and shoot the exact same picture, and then compare the changes between those two time spans.
In a short amount of time, the change has been dramatic.
So 50 years ago, what’d we been looking at?
50 years ago we would have been under ice right now.
Oh, really? Right here?
Right here. We would’ve been under a lot of ice.
The sign says Glacier National Park, but some models have suggested that these Montana mountains will lose, if not all of their glaciers, by 2030. Soon there won’t be any ice left to photograph.
You know, like a lot of people, I really like the glaciers in Glacier Park, and while I will be sad to see them go personally, I think my role as a scientist is to make sure that everybody understands the pace at which they’re disappearing, and the reasons for that, so that, again, better decisions could be made societally.
The reason, scientists explain, is climate change; the planet is heating up. Park Service Director John Jarvis has said that climate change is fundamentally the greatest threat to the integrity of our national parks that we have ever experienced.
Visiting the parks this year, I’ve experienced it first hand. At Kenai Fjords in Alaska, the massive glaciers will survive longer than those in Montana, but they’re still shrinking. Walking into the park, there are signs where there was once ice,1899, 1926, 1961, all the way up to 2005, markers of where this glacier used to be.
Last year, President Obama paid a visit to Kenai Fjords to talk about climate change.
That is melting glaciers and blocks of ice, that’s raising sea levels…
In 2016, this glacier has already retreated over 250 feet. That’s a new record.
Well, the glaciers have been receding, and the surprising thing, the thing that lets us know that this is an indication of climate change, is the rate of retreat has increased drastically.
At the park Ranger Fiona North also uses photos to illustrate the before and after.
So this one, this is 1992.
Wow, it used to come down. It covered this whole green area.
From Alaska to Montana, photos that were originally taken to publicize these natural wonders are now being used to publicize how they’re disappearing. It packs a punch that a chart or a graph just can’t deliver.
I think people are extremely visual and, you know the old saying about one painting or photo being worth 1,000 words. We get a lot of information visually, and we tend to trust that even more than what we hear.
With these photos, the message is clear: The pace of change is anything but glacial.
Key:
1 twelve miles
2 a detective story
3 by 2030
4 sad
5 250 feet
6 to publicise how they are disappearing
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions.
1 How far have Conor and Dan been walking before reaching their destination in Montana’s Glacier National Park?
2 What does Dan compare rephotography to?
3 When will the glaciers in Montana’s Glacier National Park have disappeared?
4 How will Dan feel if glaciers disappear?
5 How far has the glacier in Kenai Fjords retreated in 2016?
6 What are the photos of glaciers being used for these days?
Glacier National Park in Montana has a name to live up to. But it’s a name that seems to be living on borrowed time, as Conor Knighton discovered On the Trail.
Like most photographers, Dan Fagre is obsessed with getting the perfect shot. We’ll have hiked around 12 miles all together, up steep mountain passes, across icy streams, all to photograph a small slice of Montana’s Glacier National Park. Visitors take snapshots of the views, but when Fagre looks through his lens, he sees something different. He’s trying to take a picture of what isn’t there, the tons and tons of ice that have disappeared.
Oh my gosh! None of it is there!
None of that is there, so…
Fagre is an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
So in 1938 then, the glacier filled this entire basin…
Using material from the park’s archive, the USGS has been rephotographing old black and white images.
Rephotography is really interesting, it’s a little bit of a detective story. You’re trying to find the exact spot that a photographer stood decades before and shoot the exact same picture, and then compare the changes between those two time spans.
In a short amount of time, the change has been dramatic.
So 50 years ago, what’d we been looking at?
50 years ago we would have been under ice right now.
Oh, really? Right here?
Right here. We would’ve been under a lot of ice.
The sign says Glacier National Park, but some models have suggested that these Montana mountains will lose, if not all of their glaciers, by 2030. Soon there won’t be any ice left to photograph.
You know, like a lot of people, I really like the glaciers in Glacier Park, and while I will be sad to see them go personally, I think my role as a scientist is to make sure that everybody understands the pace at which they’re disappearing, and the reasons for that, so that, again, better decisions could be made societally.
The reason, scientists explain, is climate change; the planet is heating up. Park Service Director John Jarvis has said that climate change is fundamentally the greatest threat to the integrity of our national parks that we have ever experienced.
Visiting the parks this year, I’ve experienced it first hand. At Kenai Fjords in Alaska, the massive glaciers will survive longer than those in Montana, but they’re still shrinking. Walking into the park, there are signs where there was once ice,1899, 1926, 1961, all the way up to 2005, markers of where this glacier used to be.
Last year, President Obama paid a visit to Kenai Fjords to talk about climate change.
That is melting glaciers and blocks of ice, that’s raising sea levels…
In 2016, this glacier has already retreated over 250 feet. That’s a new record.
Well, the glaciers have been receding, and the surprising thing, the thing that lets us know that this is an indication of climate change, is the rate of retreat has increased drastically.
At the park Ranger Fiona North also uses photos to illustrate the before and after.
So this one, this is 1992.
Wow, it used to come down. It covered this whole green area.
From Alaska to Montana, photos that were originally taken to publicize these natural wonders are now being used to publicize how they’re disappearing. It packs a punch that a chart or a graph just can’t deliver.
I think people are extremely visual and, you know the old saying about one painting or photo being worth 1,000 words. We get a lot of information visually, and we tend to trust that even more than what we hear.
With these photos, the message is clear: The pace of change is anything but glacial.
Key:
1 twelve miles
2 a detective story
3 by 2030
4 sad
5 250 feet
6 to publicise how they are disappearing
sábado, 5 de noviembre de 2016
Reading test: The best Dorset walks
In this week's reading test we are going to practise the heading-matching task. To do so, we are going to read part of The Guardian article 10 of the best Dorset walks.
Match each of the paragraphs below with its corresponding heading A-J. There are three headings you do not need to use.
A - A walk across farming fields and grassland
B - Be ready for rough weather
C - For lovers of the natural world
D - For those who are interested in minerals and rocks
E - It used to be a hotspot for criminals
F - Man settled in this area a long time ago
G - Many battles took place in this area
H - Not suitable if you are unfit
I - Perfect if you fancy going for a swim
J - The area inspired a famous novelist
Brownsea Island
Located in the middle of Poole harbour, Brownsea is a dramatically located wildlife refuge with a rich history and great views of the surrounding area. The birthplace of the Scouting movement, it has plenty to divert families, with the Baden-Powell Outdoor Centre providing excursions and activities. The real star, however, is the wildlife, with red squirrels, deer, lizards, insects and birdlife all in residence. This short walk takes you through some of the best spots, but further wandering may result in its own wildlife-spotting rewards.
Burton Bradstock
This short circular walk along golden Burton Cliff takes in some spectacular clifftop views of the Jurassic coast. Hive beach below is part of the fascinating stony beach coastline around Lyme Bay. It was a key landing stage for smugglers, and folklore says that a local fisherman or smuggler could tell exactly where he was on the beach at night or in fog simply by looking at the size of the pebbles. You can enjoy the view with some fine fresh fish at the Hive Beach Café.
Corfe
There are few castles more evocative than Corfe Castle, an imposing ruin perched high on the hill, which is thought to be the inspiration for Kirrin Castle in Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. It's a formidable defensive, and the common around the castle has been shaped by human activity over thousands of years, leaving an interesting archaeological landscape. Cream teas for the tired walker await in the Bankes Arms Hotel or, for something stronger, the beer garden overlooking the castle at the Greyhound Inn is the perfect place to relax with a pint.
Godlingston Heath
The sand spit of Studland is the start point for the South West Coast Path, and is also home to some fantastic beaches, with barbecue spots and views across to Sandbanks (a short journey away on the chain ferry), Bournemouth, and the Isle of Wight. The wide open Shell Bay is a popular spot, with gently sloping waters backed by dunes, while for those who prefer slightly more freedom, the most popular naturist beach in Britain is nearby.
Marshwood
Dorset's countryside is scattered with forts, castles, gun emplacements and other fortifications. There are several recognisable ancient monuments in the county, including the two Iron Age hill forts featured in this walk. Lambert's Castle offers fine views of the surrounding area, with the coast visible on clear days. The medieval fishpond is also well worth a visit.
Melbury Downs
Inland Dorset is Thomas Hardy country, with landscapes right out of his novels. You can still visit his birthplace and his later home, Max Gate, but the essence of Hardy is found in the surrounding countryside that inspired his semi-fictional Wessex. This walk takes you through the Downs in which his novels of the Blackmore Vale are set, featuring far-reaching views and an ancient landscape. For a nearby pick me up, The Fontmell is a good, newly-refurbed country pub.
West Bexington
Following a short stretch of the South West Coast Path, this walk takes in the area around Chesil Beach, an 18-mile long "barrier beach" that shelters Weymouth from the erosion caused by the prevailing wind and waves. Fishermen are a common sight on the coastline. Further inland, the wide hedgerows offer excellent habitats for birds.
KEY:
Brownsea Island – C
Burton Bradstock – E
Corfe – F
Godlingston Heath – I
Marshwood – G
Melbury Downs – J
West Bexington - B
Match each of the paragraphs below with its corresponding heading A-J. There are three headings you do not need to use.
A - A walk across farming fields and grassland
B - Be ready for rough weather
C - For lovers of the natural world
D - For those who are interested in minerals and rocks
E - It used to be a hotspot for criminals
F - Man settled in this area a long time ago
G - Many battles took place in this area
H - Not suitable if you are unfit
I - Perfect if you fancy going for a swim
J - The area inspired a famous novelist
Brownsea Island
Located in the middle of Poole harbour, Brownsea is a dramatically located wildlife refuge with a rich history and great views of the surrounding area. The birthplace of the Scouting movement, it has plenty to divert families, with the Baden-Powell Outdoor Centre providing excursions and activities. The real star, however, is the wildlife, with red squirrels, deer, lizards, insects and birdlife all in residence. This short walk takes you through some of the best spots, but further wandering may result in its own wildlife-spotting rewards.
Burton Bradstock
This short circular walk along golden Burton Cliff takes in some spectacular clifftop views of the Jurassic coast. Hive beach below is part of the fascinating stony beach coastline around Lyme Bay. It was a key landing stage for smugglers, and folklore says that a local fisherman or smuggler could tell exactly where he was on the beach at night or in fog simply by looking at the size of the pebbles. You can enjoy the view with some fine fresh fish at the Hive Beach Café.
Corfe
There are few castles more evocative than Corfe Castle, an imposing ruin perched high on the hill, which is thought to be the inspiration for Kirrin Castle in Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. It's a formidable defensive, and the common around the castle has been shaped by human activity over thousands of years, leaving an interesting archaeological landscape. Cream teas for the tired walker await in the Bankes Arms Hotel or, for something stronger, the beer garden overlooking the castle at the Greyhound Inn is the perfect place to relax with a pint.
Godlingston Heath
The sand spit of Studland is the start point for the South West Coast Path, and is also home to some fantastic beaches, with barbecue spots and views across to Sandbanks (a short journey away on the chain ferry), Bournemouth, and the Isle of Wight. The wide open Shell Bay is a popular spot, with gently sloping waters backed by dunes, while for those who prefer slightly more freedom, the most popular naturist beach in Britain is nearby.
Marshwood
Dorset's countryside is scattered with forts, castles, gun emplacements and other fortifications. There are several recognisable ancient monuments in the county, including the two Iron Age hill forts featured in this walk. Lambert's Castle offers fine views of the surrounding area, with the coast visible on clear days. The medieval fishpond is also well worth a visit.
Melbury Downs
Inland Dorset is Thomas Hardy country, with landscapes right out of his novels. You can still visit his birthplace and his later home, Max Gate, but the essence of Hardy is found in the surrounding countryside that inspired his semi-fictional Wessex. This walk takes you through the Downs in which his novels of the Blackmore Vale are set, featuring far-reaching views and an ancient landscape. For a nearby pick me up, The Fontmell is a good, newly-refurbed country pub.
West Bexington
Following a short stretch of the South West Coast Path, this walk takes in the area around Chesil Beach, an 18-mile long "barrier beach" that shelters Weymouth from the erosion caused by the prevailing wind and waves. Fishermen are a common sight on the coastline. Further inland, the wide hedgerows offer excellent habitats for birds.
Melbury Downs, Dorset. Photograph: Alamy for The Guardian
KEY:
Brownsea Island – C
Burton Bradstock – E
Corfe – F
Godlingston Heath – I
Marshwood – G
Melbury Downs – J
West Bexington - B
jueves, 15 de septiembre de 2016
Road trip across Bolivian Salt Flats
Phill Jupitus and Marcus Brigstocke attempt to cross the stunning salt lake Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1 How much salt does the lake contain?
2 What is the one feature of Salar de Uyuni that is outstanding on planet Earth?
3 How fast should they drive when crossing the lake?
4 Where can Salar de Uyuni be seen from?
It's estimated the lake contains 10 billion tonnes of salt. Below the crust lie pools of brine thought to contain over half the world's lithium reserves. As the surface edge is flooded, entering the lake is a dicey proposition.
I'm nervous about that, actually.
That's quite a way, isn't it?
That's a way in water, and there's now way of seeing how deep that gets.
Look at it, look at this! Look at the sodium chloride!
I really want to taste some.
I have, it's salty.
You just tasted?
Yeah.
Bold.
This is unbelievable. It's so crunchy.
I'd come across, but I'm wearing suede shoes.
It's dreamlike, it's so weird. For a kick-off, the brightness. It's the brightest place on the planet I've ever been, and it's just...there's a beauty to it. Over my shoulder there, there's a line of horizon you can't quite make out. It's just absurd and beautiful and wonderful and I can't wait to get on it.
That's deeper than it looks.
It's loose as well.
Right, OK, so that's how it's going to be for the wheels as well.
Yeah, yeah.
We're just going to need to take it very steady because also, if you flick this water up into the engine and stuff, not that I know what happens, but something bad happens.
I've seen some things in my life but, my God, this is just... and the volcano.
How deep do you think that gets?
Well, we'll find out. We've got to go real slow, but we've got to keep moving.
It's been an honour, sir.
Likewise!
Right, keep it under 10 miles an hour, we were told.
Yep, nice and steady.
How do you feel about just driving into a lake, Phill?
I feel very weird.
Yeah, that's pretty deep, man.
Yeah.
Ha!
This is mad.
Oh, my God!
Careful, man. What are you doing?
Water ballet, my friend!
Easy, don't spray it up into the engine.
I won't, I won't.
What way are we headed?
We're going in exactly the right direction.
Yeah, so this line here. You see the end of that headland there? I'm going to keep pointing at that. Very occasionally I get a surge of fear that it's going to crack,
and we're going to disappear into many metres of water beneath.
A lake of brine.
Yeah.
It's kind of scary, I've got to say.
They say you can see the curvature of the earth once you get out here to the middle. Isn't that crazy? Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong could see this from the moon.
Just keep a steady speed, yeah?
Shall do.
Oh, my God!
Phill, it's incredible.
I'm so glad I'm dressed like this. Dude, you're going to have to try this when I drive. It's awesome.
Marcus?
Yeah?
I'm 50 this year.
Also, it's quite a small window.
You'll be fine.
Key:
1 10 billion tonnes
2 its brightness
3 10 miles an hour
4 from space / from the moon
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1 How much salt does the lake contain?
2 What is the one feature of Salar de Uyuni that is outstanding on planet Earth?
3 How fast should they drive when crossing the lake?
4 Where can Salar de Uyuni be seen from?
It's estimated the lake contains 10 billion tonnes of salt. Below the crust lie pools of brine thought to contain over half the world's lithium reserves. As the surface edge is flooded, entering the lake is a dicey proposition.
I'm nervous about that, actually.
That's quite a way, isn't it?
That's a way in water, and there's now way of seeing how deep that gets.
Look at it, look at this! Look at the sodium chloride!
I really want to taste some.
I have, it's salty.
You just tasted?
Yeah.
Bold.
This is unbelievable. It's so crunchy.
I'd come across, but I'm wearing suede shoes.
It's dreamlike, it's so weird. For a kick-off, the brightness. It's the brightest place on the planet I've ever been, and it's just...there's a beauty to it. Over my shoulder there, there's a line of horizon you can't quite make out. It's just absurd and beautiful and wonderful and I can't wait to get on it.
That's deeper than it looks.
It's loose as well.
Right, OK, so that's how it's going to be for the wheels as well.
Yeah, yeah.
We're just going to need to take it very steady because also, if you flick this water up into the engine and stuff, not that I know what happens, but something bad happens.
I've seen some things in my life but, my God, this is just... and the volcano.
How deep do you think that gets?
Well, we'll find out. We've got to go real slow, but we've got to keep moving.
It's been an honour, sir.
Likewise!
Right, keep it under 10 miles an hour, we were told.
Yep, nice and steady.
How do you feel about just driving into a lake, Phill?
I feel very weird.
Yeah, that's pretty deep, man.
Yeah.
Ha!
This is mad.
Oh, my God!
Careful, man. What are you doing?
Water ballet, my friend!
Easy, don't spray it up into the engine.
I won't, I won't.
What way are we headed?
We're going in exactly the right direction.
Yeah, so this line here. You see the end of that headland there? I'm going to keep pointing at that. Very occasionally I get a surge of fear that it's going to crack,
and we're going to disappear into many metres of water beneath.
A lake of brine.
Yeah.
It's kind of scary, I've got to say.
They say you can see the curvature of the earth once you get out here to the middle. Isn't that crazy? Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong could see this from the moon.
Just keep a steady speed, yeah?
Shall do.
Oh, my God!
Phill, it's incredible.
I'm so glad I'm dressed like this. Dude, you're going to have to try this when I drive. It's awesome.
Marcus?
Yeah?
I'm 50 this year.
Also, it's quite a small window.
You'll be fine.
Key:
1 10 billion tonnes
2 its brightness
3 10 miles an hour
4 from space / from the moon
lunes, 5 de septiembre de 2016
Listening test: Sinkholes
Listen to two friends talking about sinkholes and choose the option A, B or C which best completes each sentence. 0 is an example.
0 Example:
Last year
A 10 sinkhole incidents were reported in the UK.
B a man was swallowed in Florida in February.
C a man was swallowed while he was in his own house.
1 In one of the pictures they talk about
A a man saw a house disappear on his way back home.
B a man was unable to open a door in his own house.
C a woman noticed her garden had disappeared when she opened the window.
2 The soil collapses into the hole because
A of heavy rains.
B the hole is too big.
C the soil is too heavy.
3 The water makes holes in the limestone rock
A a long way from the surface.
B by erosion.
C overnight.
4 The building complex in China collapsed because
A a tunnel had been made.
B of a naturally formed sinkhole.
C there were no foundations.
5 In the UK the sinkholes were caused by
A construction work.
B excess rain.
C no known reason.
6 The sinkholes are next to the houses in the UK because
A of luck.
B the quality of the houses is better.
C the soil under the houses doesn’t get wet.
7 The woman is worried because
A of the soil in the area where they live.
B there are holes in the area where they live.
C they live in a cave.
Last year a man was sleeping in his bed when the ground opened up and swallowed him and his bed and he was never seen again. Now the man lived in Florida where sinkholes are relatively common but in February of this year more than ten were reported in the UK. And frightening pictures there were, Richard, weren't there?
There were many pictures. I remember, I think there was one lady, woke up one morning, opened her window, and her car had disappeared and there was a huge hole outside her house. Awful.
Horrible, yes. Then there was the man who... he came home after being out with his wife and he couldn't open the back door. It seemed a bit strange and he looked up and he saw a crack and as he was looking the crack got bigger and bigger and the house was just falling apart in front of him. Very frightening.
Awful
So how are sinkholes actually caused then, Richard?
I think they're mainly in limestone areas for a start and limestone gets dissolved by water. So the water goes though the ground and forms a big hole underground, and then, when there's a weight on top of the soil, the soil collapses and then all of a sudden there's a huge hole in the ground.
Why does the water make the hole in the ground?
Because the water is acidic and it dissolves the limestone, the rock.
So you're talking about rainwater here?
Yes
And this can take a long time?
It can take thousands of years. Because we know lots of places have caves, don't they, underground and they're perfectly safe. It's just that when they form quite close to the surface of the ground, that's when there's a danger.
But the holes themselves can also be man-made, can't they?
Yes. Actually one huge sinkhole occurred recently in China. An entire building complex collapsed and that was because... well, it may have... may have been because... of the construction of an underground metro line nearby.
Okay. So you've got this big hole and you're saying that after a while the soil collapses into the hole, right?
Yeah, well the hole's underground, you can't see it.
Right
And then what happened in England, the holes were there, all this rain they've been having, got soaked up by the soil, and of course it made it very, very, very heavy. The weight of that soil crashed through these holes and that's what formed the sinkhole.
So basically you need the hole and you need a lot of water then?
Yes.
Why is it then that when you see all those horrible pictures of the sinkholes in the UK, they're often by people's homes, whereas that man in Florida, it was his house that went down the hole. Why is that?
That's interesting because the water runs off the roof of the house, in Britain, and so that water goes down into the garden for instance, so it's that soil that's very heavy and sodden with water, not the actual soil underneath the house.
Well, I don't know why, for me there is something just horrific about falling down one of these sinkholes and I think I'm a little bit concerned because we live in a fairly chalky, limestony area, don't we?
Yes. There's lots of caves round here that's for sure.
And it rains a lot.
And what a horrible way to go! That man in Florida, he just disappeared forever.
source: Podcast in English
0 Example:
Last year
A 10 sinkhole incidents were reported in the UK.
B a man was swallowed in Florida in February.
C a man was swallowed while he was in his own house.
1 In one of the pictures they talk about
A a man saw a house disappear on his way back home.
B a man was unable to open a door in his own house.
C a woman noticed her garden had disappeared when she opened the window.
2 The soil collapses into the hole because
A of heavy rains.
B the hole is too big.
C the soil is too heavy.
3 The water makes holes in the limestone rock
A a long way from the surface.
B by erosion.
C overnight.
4 The building complex in China collapsed because
A a tunnel had been made.
B of a naturally formed sinkhole.
C there were no foundations.
5 In the UK the sinkholes were caused by
A construction work.
B excess rain.
C no known reason.
6 The sinkholes are next to the houses in the UK because
A of luck.
B the quality of the houses is better.
C the soil under the houses doesn’t get wet.
7 The woman is worried because
A of the soil in the area where they live.
B there are holes in the area where they live.
C they live in a cave.
Last year a man was sleeping in his bed when the ground opened up and swallowed him and his bed and he was never seen again. Now the man lived in Florida where sinkholes are relatively common but in February of this year more than ten were reported in the UK. And frightening pictures there were, Richard, weren't there?
There were many pictures. I remember, I think there was one lady, woke up one morning, opened her window, and her car had disappeared and there was a huge hole outside her house. Awful.
Horrible, yes. Then there was the man who... he came home after being out with his wife and he couldn't open the back door. It seemed a bit strange and he looked up and he saw a crack and as he was looking the crack got bigger and bigger and the house was just falling apart in front of him. Very frightening.
Awful
So how are sinkholes actually caused then, Richard?
I think they're mainly in limestone areas for a start and limestone gets dissolved by water. So the water goes though the ground and forms a big hole underground, and then, when there's a weight on top of the soil, the soil collapses and then all of a sudden there's a huge hole in the ground.
Why does the water make the hole in the ground?
Because the water is acidic and it dissolves the limestone, the rock.
So you're talking about rainwater here?
Yes
And this can take a long time?
It can take thousands of years. Because we know lots of places have caves, don't they, underground and they're perfectly safe. It's just that when they form quite close to the surface of the ground, that's when there's a danger.
But the holes themselves can also be man-made, can't they?
Yes. Actually one huge sinkhole occurred recently in China. An entire building complex collapsed and that was because... well, it may have... may have been because... of the construction of an underground metro line nearby.
Okay. So you've got this big hole and you're saying that after a while the soil collapses into the hole, right?
Yeah, well the hole's underground, you can't see it.
Right
And then what happened in England, the holes were there, all this rain they've been having, got soaked up by the soil, and of course it made it very, very, very heavy. The weight of that soil crashed through these holes and that's what formed the sinkhole.
So basically you need the hole and you need a lot of water then?
Yes.
Why is it then that when you see all those horrible pictures of the sinkholes in the UK, they're often by people's homes, whereas that man in Florida, it was his house that went down the hole. Why is that?
That's interesting because the water runs off the roof of the house, in Britain, and so that water goes down into the garden for instance, so it's that soil that's very heavy and sodden with water, not the actual soil underneath the house.
Well, I don't know why, for me there is something just horrific about falling down one of these sinkholes and I think I'm a little bit concerned because we live in a fairly chalky, limestony area, don't we?
Yes. There's lots of caves round here that's for sure.
And it rains a lot.
And what a horrible way to go! That man in Florida, he just disappeared forever.
KEY:
1B 2C 3B 4A 5B 6C 7A
miércoles, 13 de julio de 2016
Talking point: Natural disasters
This week's talking point is natural disasters. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.
What items do you expect to see in a living room? Make a list as exhaustive as possible.
Have a look at the picture below, which used to be a living room before disaster struck. Are any of the items on your list in the picture?
What do you think may have caused the living room in the picture to become like that?
If the picture were a natural disaster that occurred in your country what would you do to help?
Look at the words below. Put them into two categories: natural disasters and human-made disasters.
– bomb damage
– drought
– earthquake
– fire
– flood
– volcanic eruption
– tsunami
– missile strike
– landslide
What do you think are the worst kinds of natural disasters? Why?
Think of a natural disaster that has happened in your country.
How effective was the response of the emergency services?
How well did people cope?
Why do you think that some people cope better with challenging situations than others?
Read these ‘ethical dilemmas’ about aid. Choose one and discuss your answer with other students.
A
You give money for a charity for disaster relief. You later find out that most of the money never reaches the people in the disaster zone. Would you stop giving money to any charities in the future? Why / Why not?
B
You work for an aid organisation. There is a natural disaster in a country with a terrible record of human rights. To provide aid, you need to work with this country's government. Would you do that? Why / Why not?
C
You work for an aid organisation. You arrive at a disaster area and people are sleeping in tents. The organisation has put you and the other aid workers in an expensive hotel for security reasons. Would you stay? Why / Why not?
To illustrate the point you can watch the video 10 Deadly Natural Disasters Caught on Video.
What items do you expect to see in a living room? Make a list as exhaustive as possible.
Have a look at the picture below, which used to be a living room before disaster struck. Are any of the items on your list in the picture?
What do you think may have caused the living room in the picture to become like that?
If the picture were a natural disaster that occurred in your country what would you do to help?
Look at the words below. Put them into two categories: natural disasters and human-made disasters.
– bomb damage
– drought
– earthquake
– fire
– flood
– volcanic eruption
– tsunami
– missile strike
– landslide
What do you think are the worst kinds of natural disasters? Why?
Think of a natural disaster that has happened in your country.
How effective was the response of the emergency services?
How well did people cope?
Why do you think that some people cope better with challenging situations than others?
Read these ‘ethical dilemmas’ about aid. Choose one and discuss your answer with other students.
A
You give money for a charity for disaster relief. You later find out that most of the money never reaches the people in the disaster zone. Would you stop giving money to any charities in the future? Why / Why not?
B
You work for an aid organisation. There is a natural disaster in a country with a terrible record of human rights. To provide aid, you need to work with this country's government. Would you do that? Why / Why not?
C
You work for an aid organisation. You arrive at a disaster area and people are sleeping in tents. The organisation has put you and the other aid workers in an expensive hotel for security reasons. Would you stay? Why / Why not?
To illustrate the point you can watch the video 10 Deadly Natural Disasters Caught on Video.
jueves, 17 de diciembre de 2015
New York's abandoned island
It's one of New York 's best kept secrets. Lying in plain sight of the city is an island which no one has inhabited for more than 50 years. Photographer Christopher Payne shares the secrets of North Brother Island.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 and Advanced students.
1 Why is 1963 a relevant year?
2 Why did Norther Brother island become popular in the late 19th century?
3 What is Mr Softee?
4 How long was the tuberculosis pavilion used for its intended function?
5 What was it used for after 1943?
6 What's the title of the book by Allan Weisman?
North Brother Island is an uninhabited island of ruins in East River New York city. It’s the most unexpected of places in a city like New York. It is a secret hiding in plain sight. (1) It is been abandoned for the last 50 years or so, since 1963, but from the 1880’s all the way up to the 1960’s it was home to thousands of people.
In the late 19th century there was a constant scare of contagious diseases with the huge burden in population in New York city and diseases were always making headlines, and so that’s when (2) North Brother island came in a prominence as a quarantine hospital.
You step onto it and all of a sudden you’re in the middle of the city and yet you’re completely alone. It’s an experience that I’ve never had anywhere else. It’s like you’re walking back into time, into another world and yet you still hear the sounds of the city. One time I even heard the Mr Softee truck, which is (3) an ice-cream truck and I heard that and then it was bizarre because on the one hand that’s part of the living, that’s part of the present, the world that we’re living in is New York city, vibrant and alive. And yet I was in one of these abandoned buildings which hasn’t been used in, in decades and so being on the island is full of contrast.
The most interesting building on North Brother island by far is the tuberculosis pavilion. (4) It was never used for its intended function. By the time it was completed in 1943 the threat of tuberculosis had passed and there really wasn’t the need to quarantine people on islands like North Brother anymore, and so (5) it was used mostly for housing, for the returning veterans after World War II and later on for the juvenile delinquents.
I’d like to think that my photographs tell more than just what’s there now. They are looped back to the past, and certainly when they’re paired with a historical photograph, you can get a sense of what happened before but also how quickly things disintegrate.
And then I read this wonderful book called (6) The World Without Us by Allan Weisman and it discusses what will happen to the world if people just left and nature took over. And it made me realize that the work I was doing was just not a look into the past but it was a look into the future, and that these photographs show what will happen to New York City and the world around us if people just suddenly left. And how quickly nature would just reclaim what it’s hers. It alludes to the conundrum we face of living in a natural world which we try to alter but always reasserts itself in the end.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 and Advanced students.
1 Why is 1963 a relevant year?
2 Why did Norther Brother island become popular in the late 19th century?
3 What is Mr Softee?
4 How long was the tuberculosis pavilion used for its intended function?
5 What was it used for after 1943?
6 What's the title of the book by Allan Weisman?
North Brother Island is an uninhabited island of ruins in East River New York city. It’s the most unexpected of places in a city like New York. It is a secret hiding in plain sight. (1) It is been abandoned for the last 50 years or so, since 1963, but from the 1880’s all the way up to the 1960’s it was home to thousands of people.
In the late 19th century there was a constant scare of contagious diseases with the huge burden in population in New York city and diseases were always making headlines, and so that’s when (2) North Brother island came in a prominence as a quarantine hospital.
You step onto it and all of a sudden you’re in the middle of the city and yet you’re completely alone. It’s an experience that I’ve never had anywhere else. It’s like you’re walking back into time, into another world and yet you still hear the sounds of the city. One time I even heard the Mr Softee truck, which is (3) an ice-cream truck and I heard that and then it was bizarre because on the one hand that’s part of the living, that’s part of the present, the world that we’re living in is New York city, vibrant and alive. And yet I was in one of these abandoned buildings which hasn’t been used in, in decades and so being on the island is full of contrast.
The most interesting building on North Brother island by far is the tuberculosis pavilion. (4) It was never used for its intended function. By the time it was completed in 1943 the threat of tuberculosis had passed and there really wasn’t the need to quarantine people on islands like North Brother anymore, and so (5) it was used mostly for housing, for the returning veterans after World War II and later on for the juvenile delinquents.
I’d like to think that my photographs tell more than just what’s there now. They are looped back to the past, and certainly when they’re paired with a historical photograph, you can get a sense of what happened before but also how quickly things disintegrate.
And then I read this wonderful book called (6) The World Without Us by Allan Weisman and it discusses what will happen to the world if people just left and nature took over. And it made me realize that the work I was doing was just not a look into the past but it was a look into the future, and that these photographs show what will happen to New York City and the world around us if people just suddenly left. And how quickly nature would just reclaim what it’s hers. It alludes to the conundrum we face of living in a natural world which we try to alter but always reasserts itself in the end.
jueves, 4 de junio de 2015
Grassless Lawns Catching On During California Drought
The California drought has caused many residents to rethink their water use. To help conserve water, some Los Angeles County residents are taking advantage of a rebate program that allows them to convert their lawns to a landscape that requires little to no watering, virtually for free, and lower their water bills too.
It’s a desert out here in Southern California and expecting every homeowner to have lush green lawns isn’t exactly realistic anymore.
They’re doing my rental house today across the street which is a big yard and they are doing the front and the back which is going to save me a lot of water.
Turf Terminators launched last summer so we’ve been going at it for about ten months and we’ve grown from, you know, 3 employees to 500. We realized that turf removal rebates that are available for the replacement of turf grass were rising in value so we put two and two together and figured out that we can run a business doing drought tolerant landscaping here.
We’ve got a variety of drought tolerant vegetation. Primarily here we are going to be installing some lavender shrubs, we have kangaroo paw in the back, and also tea tree here. So, it’s a good variety. You get a lot of color in these yards, but none of these require much maintenance and certainly not a lot of water.
Green grass is, you know, a staple of American life. It’s been amazing to see so many people willing to stand up and sort of take action. It’s all part of a transformation of California’s relationship with water, I think. When we actually, perform services in a neighborhood, about 3.5 neighbors make the transition as well. Mr. Smith has ten of his neighbors who have already signed up with us.
I’ve been living here 48 years. No one in this area haven’t been living here less than 25 or 30 years. I know all of my neighbors on this block and quite a few of them all around the area. Majority of the people over here are senior people and they are retired and on a fixed income.
This is absolutely free. If you think about the amount of water that you’re saving …
Fixed income man, I tell you. And with this program, I think I can live with that. I’ll be Hopalong Cassady on that one.
Yes, I was the first lawn on the block to change from grass. My neighbor, Mr. Smith, he was the one who introduced me to it. I just finished this last week.
Hot potato …
My grandkids, my dog, and myself love the astroturf. My water bill is half of what it used to be since I had the astroturf. A lot of people think that just, somebody is just talking about a water shortage, I can do all I want with my water. But, it’s a real threat of us running out of water. As the water bill gets higher, a lot of people will think I should have done this and then if it becomes mandatory then they are going to wish they had got it done beforehand. It’s almost like Las Vegas, you go to Las Vegas, just about everybody has this type of lawn
It’s a desert out here in Southern California and expecting every homeowner to have lush green lawns isn’t exactly realistic anymore.
They’re doing my rental house today across the street which is a big yard and they are doing the front and the back which is going to save me a lot of water.
Turf Terminators launched last summer so we’ve been going at it for about ten months and we’ve grown from, you know, 3 employees to 500. We realized that turf removal rebates that are available for the replacement of turf grass were rising in value so we put two and two together and figured out that we can run a business doing drought tolerant landscaping here.
We’ve got a variety of drought tolerant vegetation. Primarily here we are going to be installing some lavender shrubs, we have kangaroo paw in the back, and also tea tree here. So, it’s a good variety. You get a lot of color in these yards, but none of these require much maintenance and certainly not a lot of water.
Green grass is, you know, a staple of American life. It’s been amazing to see so many people willing to stand up and sort of take action. It’s all part of a transformation of California’s relationship with water, I think. When we actually, perform services in a neighborhood, about 3.5 neighbors make the transition as well. Mr. Smith has ten of his neighbors who have already signed up with us.
I’ve been living here 48 years. No one in this area haven’t been living here less than 25 or 30 years. I know all of my neighbors on this block and quite a few of them all around the area. Majority of the people over here are senior people and they are retired and on a fixed income.
This is absolutely free. If you think about the amount of water that you’re saving …
Fixed income man, I tell you. And with this program, I think I can live with that. I’ll be Hopalong Cassady on that one.
Yes, I was the first lawn on the block to change from grass. My neighbor, Mr. Smith, he was the one who introduced me to it. I just finished this last week.
Hot potato …
My grandkids, my dog, and myself love the astroturf. My water bill is half of what it used to be since I had the astroturf. A lot of people think that just, somebody is just talking about a water shortage, I can do all I want with my water. But, it’s a real threat of us running out of water. As the water bill gets higher, a lot of people will think I should have done this and then if it becomes mandatory then they are going to wish they had got it done beforehand. It’s almost like Las Vegas, you go to Las Vegas, just about everybody has this type of lawn
jueves, 14 de mayo de 2015
Colony Collapse: The Mystery of the Missing Bees
The mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder has brought honeybees into the public eye. But the story of their plight — and its impact — is more complicated.
This might be one of the most interesting, disturbing and puzzling stories to come along in a long time.
In early 2007 the news broke that beekeepers across the United States had made a surprising discovery.
Bees are mysteriously dying.
It’s called colony collapse disorder. Beekeepers in 27 states report disappearing honey bees.
Pollination by bees produces 30% of our food.
Congress is holding hearings. Even the Vice-president has been briefed.
The end of honey bees, the end of pollination, a dire threat to crop the world over.
Today, what’s happening to the bees and what’s really at stake.
The buzz began with these bees at Dave Hackenberg’s bee farm, ground zero for the mystery of the missing bees.
In November of 2006 Dave Hackenberg discovered that nearly all of the 400 beehives in his Florida bee yard were empty.
So this is what you call a dead hive.
Yeah. Empty box. No bees.
The veteran beekeeper had seen bees die before, but never like this.
I keep asking myself, what am I doing wrong? I mean, it’s so… It’s a mind-boggling thing, I mean it really is a mind-boggling thing.
Hackenberg contacted scientists at Pennsylvania State University. They were intrigued by the beekeeper’s story.
And I said, well bring up some bees and we’ll check it out, and so indeed he brought up some bees, and those bees got sampled and we found all these things I couldn’t explain and I couldn’t understand. And certainly nothing popped out. And then it became apparent that this was happening in different parts of the country.
VanEngelsdorp helped give the die-off a name, colony collapse disorder, or CCD. Suddenly, bees were big news.
The population of honey bees down roughly 25% across this country.
It’s a simple equation. Without bees to pollinate many plants, the plants just don’t grow.
The fear is that most of the honey bees will be dead.
Dad, we have to do something. All the bees are dying.
Oh, no! No bees.
Colony collapse disorder. The mystery fascinated the public and strange explanations soon began to spread.
You buy that this could be a Russian plot?
Not really.
The rapture, God calling other bees back to heaven?
I don’t think he needs them up there.
But much of the television coverage missed an important bit of back story. Beekeepers had been struggling to maintain their hives ever since the 1980’s, when the invasive varroa mite arrived in the US.
We have a saying, before the varroa mite you can be a beehaver, after the varroa mite you have to be a beekeeper, because you have to manage your bees.
Varroa mites infest and slowly weaken colonies, but Hackenberg’s CCD losses came quickly to colonies that appeared healthy.
A number of us thought that we might be dealing with a new pathogen, a novel pathogen. So if we can find that novel pathogen, let’s say a virus or something, then that might explain, that was the missing link.
The only thing we could say about CCD bees and it was a very distinct thing was that they were really sick, they sort of had every disease going.
One theory was that stress was making bees sick. To meet the growing pollination demands of large-scale agriculture, commercial beekeepers trucked their bees from state to state to pollinate crop after crop.
Some of us are running these bees two, three, four crops a year, pollinating, and so they don’t get a chance to ever get rejuvenated and it used to be you can get them on some for clean food for two or three weeks in the way they go, but pasture land and general it’s running out because of land being turned into crop land and so we’re running out of places to go with the bees.
More crops mean more pesticides and many beekeepers have blamed CCD on neonicotinoids, widely used chemicals that are absorbed by plants and can accumulate in pollen and nectar.
The European Union voted to suspend the use of neonicotinoids because of possible links to bee collapse.
The EPA is reviewing its pesticides but the direct link to CCD has not been established. Indeed most scientists now believe that no single factor can fully explain the phenomenon.
We are probably dealing with multiple factors coming together to cause a set of symptoms that we call CCD. Personally I would fall back to nutritional stress and maybe pesticide stress leading to pathogen outbreak, I call it. As to the pathogen or the types of pathogens that are there don’t really matter that much but the bees are in a weakened state and that allows these pathogens to multiply and cause, cause the bees to die.
Bees have this behaviour called altruistic suicide. What happens is that the bee somehow knows she’s sick, flies away from the hive so she doesn’t in fact infect her nest mates. So we think that explains this behaviour of collapse, why we are not finding dead bees and why we see this quick spiral down in the population.
In South America right now and moving north to North America, there’s a new strain of bees that…
Colony collapse was not the first time bees had captured the public attention.
This is the African killer bee, in the last four years responsible for the death of hundreds of people in South America.
In the 1970’s fears over the spread of Africanised honey bees gave bees a bad name. But since the onset of colony collapse disorder, bees have become a symbol of environmental protection.
If you couldn’t understand that they were singing, all we’re saying is give bees a chance.
When people saw the bees they said, ah, ah, here’s something that I can really do something significant. You can save the bees by actually getting some bees. Hobby beekeeper Jim Fisher keeps about two dozen beehives on Manhattan rooftops. And he teaches beekeeping classes in Central Park and Brooklyn. He says enrollment surged in the wake of the CCD mystery.
Hundreds of people, more people that can fit in a room started attending the classes.
They call it urban beekeeping and it’s getting a ton of buzz.
Pre media blitz prior to pre CCD beekeeping was a hobby taken up by retired white blue-collar guys for the most part. The demographic immediate became a lot younger, a lot more female.
They got a good home, they got lots of comb. Before I started, I, I was nervous because of all the diseases but as a community across the country we’re eventually going to figure it out and being part of that process I think that is for the common good.
There’s been a couple of silver linings on the CCD story. One is just public awareness about the role that pollinators play in the food supply. It’s also brought new researchers from other areas.
Scientists are attaching tiny back packs to honey bees in order to study them.
These radio frequency ID tags track bees as they move through the landscape.
To help better understand the causes of colony collapse disorder, at Harvard University scientists are taking a different approach. They’ve engineered the robo-bee. It’s still in working progress and there are several other potential uses, but these miniature robots could one day assist with crop pollination. But the dire predictions of falling bee populations leading to a food crisis have not come to pass. Beekeepers replace their dead hives, so there are just as many honey bee colonies in the US today as there were in 2006.
We are not worried at all the bees are going to go extinct in this country or in the world. What we are worried about it is that we will have the beekeepers.
We are buying bees to keep our head above water. It’s not the basic beekeeping that I remember as a kid, then as a young guy running bees, you know. It’s….There’s a whole lot of things that have changed. There’s lots of days I would like to pull the plug and I would just walk away but I like what I’m doing, I mean, you know. It’s something that gets in your system and doesn’t go away.
Today honey bee colonies continue to die off in large numbers but the CCD mystery has a new twist.
We haven’t seen as much CCD over the past few years. The classic symptom of CCD has changed, or disappeared but we’re still losing a lot of colonies, and that can be for a variety of reasons. Parasitic varroa mite, pesticide exposure, poor nutrition, nutritional stress and in particular we’ve been seeing a lot of queen loss. So we’re doing some queen experiments here so there’s a multitude of things that beekeepers are facing to try and keep colonies alive in addition to CCD
This might be one of the most interesting, disturbing and puzzling stories to come along in a long time.
In early 2007 the news broke that beekeepers across the United States had made a surprising discovery.
Bees are mysteriously dying.
It’s called colony collapse disorder. Beekeepers in 27 states report disappearing honey bees.
Pollination by bees produces 30% of our food.
Congress is holding hearings. Even the Vice-president has been briefed.
The end of honey bees, the end of pollination, a dire threat to crop the world over.
Today, what’s happening to the bees and what’s really at stake.
The buzz began with these bees at Dave Hackenberg’s bee farm, ground zero for the mystery of the missing bees.
In November of 2006 Dave Hackenberg discovered that nearly all of the 400 beehives in his Florida bee yard were empty.
So this is what you call a dead hive.
Yeah. Empty box. No bees.
The veteran beekeeper had seen bees die before, but never like this.
I keep asking myself, what am I doing wrong? I mean, it’s so… It’s a mind-boggling thing, I mean it really is a mind-boggling thing.
Hackenberg contacted scientists at Pennsylvania State University. They were intrigued by the beekeeper’s story.
And I said, well bring up some bees and we’ll check it out, and so indeed he brought up some bees, and those bees got sampled and we found all these things I couldn’t explain and I couldn’t understand. And certainly nothing popped out. And then it became apparent that this was happening in different parts of the country.
VanEngelsdorp helped give the die-off a name, colony collapse disorder, or CCD. Suddenly, bees were big news.
The population of honey bees down roughly 25% across this country.
It’s a simple equation. Without bees to pollinate many plants, the plants just don’t grow.
The fear is that most of the honey bees will be dead.
Dad, we have to do something. All the bees are dying.
Oh, no! No bees.
Colony collapse disorder. The mystery fascinated the public and strange explanations soon began to spread.
You buy that this could be a Russian plot?
Not really.
The rapture, God calling other bees back to heaven?
I don’t think he needs them up there.
But much of the television coverage missed an important bit of back story. Beekeepers had been struggling to maintain their hives ever since the 1980’s, when the invasive varroa mite arrived in the US.
We have a saying, before the varroa mite you can be a beehaver, after the varroa mite you have to be a beekeeper, because you have to manage your bees.
Varroa mites infest and slowly weaken colonies, but Hackenberg’s CCD losses came quickly to colonies that appeared healthy.
A number of us thought that we might be dealing with a new pathogen, a novel pathogen. So if we can find that novel pathogen, let’s say a virus or something, then that might explain, that was the missing link.
The only thing we could say about CCD bees and it was a very distinct thing was that they were really sick, they sort of had every disease going.
One theory was that stress was making bees sick. To meet the growing pollination demands of large-scale agriculture, commercial beekeepers trucked their bees from state to state to pollinate crop after crop.
Some of us are running these bees two, three, four crops a year, pollinating, and so they don’t get a chance to ever get rejuvenated and it used to be you can get them on some for clean food for two or three weeks in the way they go, but pasture land and general it’s running out because of land being turned into crop land and so we’re running out of places to go with the bees.
More crops mean more pesticides and many beekeepers have blamed CCD on neonicotinoids, widely used chemicals that are absorbed by plants and can accumulate in pollen and nectar.
The European Union voted to suspend the use of neonicotinoids because of possible links to bee collapse.
The EPA is reviewing its pesticides but the direct link to CCD has not been established. Indeed most scientists now believe that no single factor can fully explain the phenomenon.
We are probably dealing with multiple factors coming together to cause a set of symptoms that we call CCD. Personally I would fall back to nutritional stress and maybe pesticide stress leading to pathogen outbreak, I call it. As to the pathogen or the types of pathogens that are there don’t really matter that much but the bees are in a weakened state and that allows these pathogens to multiply and cause, cause the bees to die.
Bees have this behaviour called altruistic suicide. What happens is that the bee somehow knows she’s sick, flies away from the hive so she doesn’t in fact infect her nest mates. So we think that explains this behaviour of collapse, why we are not finding dead bees and why we see this quick spiral down in the population.
In South America right now and moving north to North America, there’s a new strain of bees that…
Colony collapse was not the first time bees had captured the public attention.
This is the African killer bee, in the last four years responsible for the death of hundreds of people in South America.
In the 1970’s fears over the spread of Africanised honey bees gave bees a bad name. But since the onset of colony collapse disorder, bees have become a symbol of environmental protection.
If you couldn’t understand that they were singing, all we’re saying is give bees a chance.
When people saw the bees they said, ah, ah, here’s something that I can really do something significant. You can save the bees by actually getting some bees. Hobby beekeeper Jim Fisher keeps about two dozen beehives on Manhattan rooftops. And he teaches beekeeping classes in Central Park and Brooklyn. He says enrollment surged in the wake of the CCD mystery.
Hundreds of people, more people that can fit in a room started attending the classes.
They call it urban beekeeping and it’s getting a ton of buzz.
Pre media blitz prior to pre CCD beekeeping was a hobby taken up by retired white blue-collar guys for the most part. The demographic immediate became a lot younger, a lot more female.
They got a good home, they got lots of comb. Before I started, I, I was nervous because of all the diseases but as a community across the country we’re eventually going to figure it out and being part of that process I think that is for the common good.
There’s been a couple of silver linings on the CCD story. One is just public awareness about the role that pollinators play in the food supply. It’s also brought new researchers from other areas.
Scientists are attaching tiny back packs to honey bees in order to study them.
These radio frequency ID tags track bees as they move through the landscape.
To help better understand the causes of colony collapse disorder, at Harvard University scientists are taking a different approach. They’ve engineered the robo-bee. It’s still in working progress and there are several other potential uses, but these miniature robots could one day assist with crop pollination. But the dire predictions of falling bee populations leading to a food crisis have not come to pass. Beekeepers replace their dead hives, so there are just as many honey bee colonies in the US today as there were in 2006.
We are not worried at all the bees are going to go extinct in this country or in the world. What we are worried about it is that we will have the beekeepers.
We are buying bees to keep our head above water. It’s not the basic beekeeping that I remember as a kid, then as a young guy running bees, you know. It’s….There’s a whole lot of things that have changed. There’s lots of days I would like to pull the plug and I would just walk away but I like what I’m doing, I mean, you know. It’s something that gets in your system and doesn’t go away.
Today honey bee colonies continue to die off in large numbers but the CCD mystery has a new twist.
We haven’t seen as much CCD over the past few years. The classic symptom of CCD has changed, or disappeared but we’re still losing a lot of colonies, and that can be for a variety of reasons. Parasitic varroa mite, pesticide exposure, poor nutrition, nutritional stress and in particular we’ve been seeing a lot of queen loss. So we’re doing some queen experiments here so there’s a multitude of things that beekeepers are facing to try and keep colonies alive in addition to CCD
miércoles, 15 de abril de 2015
Talking point: The natural world
This week's talking point is the natural world. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas flow more easily when you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.
- Would you describe yourself as an animal lover?
- Have you ever had a pet?
- What do you like/dislike about pets and pet owners in general?
- Are there any endangered species in your country?
- Is anything being done about it?
- Has global warming affected your country? If so, how?
- Have you ever heard any stories about animals being traded or cruelly treated (vg. hunting, overfishing, fur, exotic pets, animal fighting for sport)?
- What else are organised gangs involved in?
- Do you know any environmental groups that are trying to protect animals?
- Would you ever consider joining one?
viernes, 6 de febrero de 2015
Students Kill Invasive 'Phrag'
An invasive species of marsh reed has taken over a wetland in New York, and high school students have joined with biologists to try to destroy it without using chemicals.
Self-study activity:
Watch this National Geographic video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 150 years ago the phragmites were already in the marsh.
2 100 years ago the phragmites covered 90% of the marsh.
3 Phrag is a native plant in the marsh.
4 Phrag doesn't smell good.
5 There has been a great loss of birds as a result of the superabundance of phrag.
6 There is widespread agreement on how to deal with phrag.
7 Phrag is essentially a damaging species of plant.
8 It will take a very long time to find a solution to the problem of phrag.
This marsh, if you were here 150 years ago, it was like a patchwork of all different kinds of micro-environments and you had sedges and a few bushes and some phragmites and some spartina, just really, a dozen different major species.
And in the last hundred years, it's become essentially a monoculture. Over 90% of the surface is covered by one plant, the species called Phragmites australis, which is simply common reed.
For some reason, this Northern European subspecies that came into Connecticut about 200 years ago has just taken off up and down the East Coast, from Maine to Florida.
Phragmites can hold the waste and stuff, but, too much of it, is not needed. Especially where you have other native plants that are trying to grow. And, the smell too, it's like, horrible.
The central issue with this invasive is that it disrupts the balance that is at the heart of the existing food chain. And, can often lead to a tremendous loss in biodiversity.
What got me involved in the marsh, was working with these kids. But what came out of that was a ten year ecological study of the marsh that is really unique in terms of how much real data it’s produced, and we've had some discoveries about the extent to which the marsh has become a monoculture agriculturally and the extent to which we've really seen a loss in diversity in the fish species as a result.
There's been a big controversy in the last year plus, in Piermont, about whether to try to remediate this invasive plant, and if so, how. The cost effective solution is to spray with a chemical. A lot of people are opposed. So, this summer is trying to look at non-chemical ways to help to manage the phragmites invasion.
So the idea that we're working on is if you roll black plastic out, over this thing, we think we can get the sub-surface hot enough to actually kill the phrag roots by heat.
The way we started doing our experiment was we collected rhizome samples from different plots that we have. We brought them back to the lab to boil them at different temperatures. And they stayed there for 24 hours, just to determine how we can cook the rhizome, which is the root, to kill off phrag.
We replanted them again, today, to figure out how do they grow. But most of them are pretty dead by now, so I doubt they'll grow.
This plant is not a monster. This plant's not an evil thing. It's a very productive plant; it provides some important ecosystem services. It is sequestering carbon. It is holding the marsh together. It is keeping up with sea level rise. It is providing a home for muskrats, but you have to, at the same time, have a perspective on what's been lost.
This is not something you're going to fix in a year or ten. It's all up and down the coast. It is going to reinvade a number of times and unless you create the human infrastructure required for that kind of long-term management, then you really haven't done much.
Key:
1T 2F 3F 4T 5F 6F 7F 8T
Self-study activity:
Watch this National Geographic video and say whether the statements below are true or false.
1 150 years ago the phragmites were already in the marsh.
2 100 years ago the phragmites covered 90% of the marsh.
3 Phrag is a native plant in the marsh.
4 Phrag doesn't smell good.
5 There has been a great loss of birds as a result of the superabundance of phrag.
6 There is widespread agreement on how to deal with phrag.
7 Phrag is essentially a damaging species of plant.
8 It will take a very long time to find a solution to the problem of phrag.
This marsh, if you were here 150 years ago, it was like a patchwork of all different kinds of micro-environments and you had sedges and a few bushes and some phragmites and some spartina, just really, a dozen different major species.
And in the last hundred years, it's become essentially a monoculture. Over 90% of the surface is covered by one plant, the species called Phragmites australis, which is simply common reed.
For some reason, this Northern European subspecies that came into Connecticut about 200 years ago has just taken off up and down the East Coast, from Maine to Florida.
Phragmites can hold the waste and stuff, but, too much of it, is not needed. Especially where you have other native plants that are trying to grow. And, the smell too, it's like, horrible.
The central issue with this invasive is that it disrupts the balance that is at the heart of the existing food chain. And, can often lead to a tremendous loss in biodiversity.
What got me involved in the marsh, was working with these kids. But what came out of that was a ten year ecological study of the marsh that is really unique in terms of how much real data it’s produced, and we've had some discoveries about the extent to which the marsh has become a monoculture agriculturally and the extent to which we've really seen a loss in diversity in the fish species as a result.
There's been a big controversy in the last year plus, in Piermont, about whether to try to remediate this invasive plant, and if so, how. The cost effective solution is to spray with a chemical. A lot of people are opposed. So, this summer is trying to look at non-chemical ways to help to manage the phragmites invasion.
So the idea that we're working on is if you roll black plastic out, over this thing, we think we can get the sub-surface hot enough to actually kill the phrag roots by heat.
The way we started doing our experiment was we collected rhizome samples from different plots that we have. We brought them back to the lab to boil them at different temperatures. And they stayed there for 24 hours, just to determine how we can cook the rhizome, which is the root, to kill off phrag.
We replanted them again, today, to figure out how do they grow. But most of them are pretty dead by now, so I doubt they'll grow.
This plant is not a monster. This plant's not an evil thing. It's a very productive plant; it provides some important ecosystem services. It is sequestering carbon. It is holding the marsh together. It is keeping up with sea level rise. It is providing a home for muskrats, but you have to, at the same time, have a perspective on what's been lost.
This is not something you're going to fix in a year or ten. It's all up and down the coast. It is going to reinvade a number of times and unless you create the human infrastructure required for that kind of long-term management, then you really haven't done much.
Key:
1T 2F 3F 4T 5F 6F 7F 8T
lunes, 12 de enero de 2015
El Niño
The weather phenomenon known as El Niño can cause dramatic effects around the world. Henry Fountain explains where it comes from.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and fill in the missing words in the transcript. The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
The phenomenon called El Niño can (1) ... weather (2) ... around the world. In 1998 it caused devastating floods and (3) ... in California. Around the same time, it also caused these floods across the south. But it all started thousands of miles from either location.
Picture the equatorial Pacific. That’s South Asia / Australia on the left and South America on the right. Pacific (4) ... ... normally blow from east to west, pushing warm surface water with them. The warm water evaporates, adding (5) ... to the air and bringing the annual Monsoons to the region.
In the Eastern Pacific, as the surface waters push westward, cold water (6) ... up from the deep to replace it. The cold water helps keep the air and the South America coast dry.
But sometimes the (7) ... ... stop. Scientists don’t know precisely why, but when they do, the warm water moves back east. That’s when El Niño (8) ... ... . The pattern for rainfall is reversed. Australia and South Asia suffer (9) ... and coastal South America is hit by storms. But warm water in the Eastern Pacific causes other changes as well.
High atmosphere winds called jet streams circle the planet. El Niño can alter the (10) ... of those winds, driving Pacific storms to California. As the jet stream winds continue across the continent, they can keep the colder Arctic temperatures at (11) ... . That can make for a warmer winter in the North East and North West. That’s why in 2010 when El Niño once again brought flooding to California, farther up the west coast in Vancouver the Winter Olympics were (12) ... by unusually warm weather. It was all thanks to El Niño.
Key:
1 disrupt 2 patterns 3 mudslides 4 trade winds 5 moisture 6 wells 7 trade winds 8 takes hold 9 drought 10 path 11 bay 12 hampered
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and fill in the missing words in the transcript. The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
The phenomenon called El Niño can (1) ... weather (2) ... around the world. In 1998 it caused devastating floods and (3) ... in California. Around the same time, it also caused these floods across the south. But it all started thousands of miles from either location.
Picture the equatorial Pacific. That’s South Asia / Australia on the left and South America on the right. Pacific (4) ... ... normally blow from east to west, pushing warm surface water with them. The warm water evaporates, adding (5) ... to the air and bringing the annual Monsoons to the region.
In the Eastern Pacific, as the surface waters push westward, cold water (6) ... up from the deep to replace it. The cold water helps keep the air and the South America coast dry.
But sometimes the (7) ... ... stop. Scientists don’t know precisely why, but when they do, the warm water moves back east. That’s when El Niño (8) ... ... . The pattern for rainfall is reversed. Australia and South Asia suffer (9) ... and coastal South America is hit by storms. But warm water in the Eastern Pacific causes other changes as well.
High atmosphere winds called jet streams circle the planet. El Niño can alter the (10) ... of those winds, driving Pacific storms to California. As the jet stream winds continue across the continent, they can keep the colder Arctic temperatures at (11) ... . That can make for a warmer winter in the North East and North West. That’s why in 2010 when El Niño once again brought flooding to California, farther up the west coast in Vancouver the Winter Olympics were (12) ... by unusually warm weather. It was all thanks to El Niño.
Key:
1 disrupt 2 patterns 3 mudslides 4 trade winds 5 moisture 6 wells 7 trade winds 8 takes hold 9 drought 10 path 11 bay 12 hampered
jueves, 13 de noviembre de 2014
The Corpse Flower
Here is the famous corpse flower in full bloom at the US Botanic Garden. While many visitors expected to smell the flower's powerful scent, a few were a little disappointed.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions about it.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
1 Why is an Italian explorer in Sumatra mentioned?
2 When does the peak smell usually come?
3 What does the smell attract?
4 How long does the plant release the smell?
5 What gets trapped inside the plant?
6 When does the plant produce the most stinking smell?
You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.
I'm interested to see the stinky, corpsy smell.
According to this brochure, it's a stinky plant.
Well, they said rotting meat. So I'm going to assume if it's in bloom it's going to stink.
We're display a titan arum. The latin name of this plant is Amorphophallus titanium. It's a really awesome plant that was first discovered to Western scientists in the late 1800s by an Italian explorer in Sumatra, Indonesia (1).
It's got this crazy, disgusting smell. In fact, the Indonesian name for the plant directly translates as 'corpse flower' and it smells like a rotting corpse.
The peak smell usually comes within just a couple of hours of opening (2). So as soon as it is open enough, it starts generating the stench and that peaks within three to four hours later.
The way the flower works is it has two runs of flowers down in its base, and the female flowers are the first to start. And their strategy is to put the cattle call out to every carrion fly, beetle, sweat fly [insects (3)]...
They think they are going towards a rotting corpse which is what they love. They love to eat them. They like to lay eggs in them. They like to have a great time in them.
So it pulses that smell out to get insects in that hopefully already have pollen on them from a previous plant that was in the male cycle somewhere in the area. So they come in, the heat generates the smell. It's just overwhelmingly wonderful for them.
The plant only releases the putrid smell for two nights (4). The insects actually get trapped inside the plant (5).
And then the male flowers open up. It's already got the pollinators inside. It doesn't need to make any more smell. So after that first twelve hours, its got what it needs in there, it starts raining pollen down on them and then it can let them go. It kind of starts easing up after the flower's been open about 24, 36 hours. And the beetles can escape, again with pollen on them.
It didn't smell that bad, actually. I didn't smell any really bad odor but I guess it was if you got close enough. We weren't that close.
It wasn't as strong as I thought it would be. But I could kind of smell it. It smelled like a mixture of maggots and really smelly feet.
Fortunately for the public, the plant produces its most odoriferous emissions the middle of the night from about midnight to 4am (6). So nobody will be around. So during the day when the visitors come in, it's just going to be a bit less of that smell. And so people will smell it. And the plant is in a rather large greenhouse and that will dilute the smell a little bit but people should be able it, no problem.
Every now and then, I could a little whiff and went, 'Whoah!.' Also, I don't really, we don't really smell rotten flesh all that often. Just alone it was cool to look at.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions about it.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
1 Why is an Italian explorer in Sumatra mentioned?
2 When does the peak smell usually come?
3 What does the smell attract?
4 How long does the plant release the smell?
5 What gets trapped inside the plant?
6 When does the plant produce the most stinking smell?
You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.
I'm interested to see the stinky, corpsy smell.
According to this brochure, it's a stinky plant.
Well, they said rotting meat. So I'm going to assume if it's in bloom it's going to stink.
We're display a titan arum. The latin name of this plant is Amorphophallus titanium. It's a really awesome plant that was first discovered to Western scientists in the late 1800s by an Italian explorer in Sumatra, Indonesia (1).
It's got this crazy, disgusting smell. In fact, the Indonesian name for the plant directly translates as 'corpse flower' and it smells like a rotting corpse.
The peak smell usually comes within just a couple of hours of opening (2). So as soon as it is open enough, it starts generating the stench and that peaks within three to four hours later.
The way the flower works is it has two runs of flowers down in its base, and the female flowers are the first to start. And their strategy is to put the cattle call out to every carrion fly, beetle, sweat fly [insects (3)]...
They think they are going towards a rotting corpse which is what they love. They love to eat them. They like to lay eggs in them. They like to have a great time in them.
So it pulses that smell out to get insects in that hopefully already have pollen on them from a previous plant that was in the male cycle somewhere in the area. So they come in, the heat generates the smell. It's just overwhelmingly wonderful for them.
The plant only releases the putrid smell for two nights (4). The insects actually get trapped inside the plant (5).
And then the male flowers open up. It's already got the pollinators inside. It doesn't need to make any more smell. So after that first twelve hours, its got what it needs in there, it starts raining pollen down on them and then it can let them go. It kind of starts easing up after the flower's been open about 24, 36 hours. And the beetles can escape, again with pollen on them.
It didn't smell that bad, actually. I didn't smell any really bad odor but I guess it was if you got close enough. We weren't that close.
It wasn't as strong as I thought it would be. But I could kind of smell it. It smelled like a mixture of maggots and really smelly feet.
Fortunately for the public, the plant produces its most odoriferous emissions the middle of the night from about midnight to 4am (6). So nobody will be around. So during the day when the visitors come in, it's just going to be a bit less of that smell. And so people will smell it. And the plant is in a rather large greenhouse and that will dilute the smell a little bit but people should be able it, no problem.
Every now and then, I could a little whiff and went, 'Whoah!.' Also, I don't really, we don't really smell rotten flesh all that often. Just alone it was cool to look at.
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