Phillip's Natural World

View from the top of Mount Harrison (above Gatlinburg) looking toward Clingman's Dome.

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Ober Gatlinburg

I always wondered what this resort was like. Its kind of a Disney-esque tourist trap atop the mountain overlooking Gatlinburg. One rides a skyway tram up several thousand feet then if you want to go higher (I always want to go higher), you pay an additional $7 to ride the ski lift to the very top. The course below the ski lift is a no-show bobsled ride (another $7).

Burkas in the Smokies

Look closely at the photo above and below. Yes, those are completely unedited photos of burkas in the Smokies. We encountered a lot of burkas and even more saris on a recent Saturday afternoon.

The pair below were interesting as the men accompanying the burka-clad women were twins with twin boys. Made me wonder if the women might also be twins. One couldn't see even the women's eyes as their faces were completely covered. Of course one always wonders if they voluntarily submit to such subjugation but I resisted the urge to ask them to pose with the hillbilly band performing just outside of this frame.

As open-minded as I am, it will always be a little unnerving when someone completely clad in face mask and black comes up behind me. I'll never get used to that, and in such an unlikely place.

Below, the view of Gatlinburg from atop Mount Harrison

The tram only takes passengers as high as the mall, skating rink and little circus. If you want to go higher there is a ski lift and another charge. The entire time I was in the Gatlinburg area it felt like everyone had their hand out for more money.

Tall Goldenrod

(Solidago altissima)

Solidago altissima (Tall Goldenrod, Late Goldenrod, Canada Goldenrod). Goldenrods are notoriously difficult to identify to a particular species, so make sure you don’t rely on a single source for your identification information. This could easily be S. canadensis but because of where I photographed it (Sevier County, Tennessee) and after consulting the USDA Plants Database, I decided that this late blooming goldenrod was Solidago altissima.

Tall Goldenrod grows in colonies (below) with several stems arising from a rhizome. The gray-green leaves alternate as they rise up the stem. The vein structure in its leaves is distinctive with three main veins. Tall Goldenrod’s flowers are secund (arranged on one side only) with each blossom normally having 5 to 7 disk flowers and 9 to 17 ray flowers.

Traffic and Smog Cloud View of Smoky Mountains

View from Clingman's Dome area. Of course I've omitted shots of the insane traffic and cars in ditches, etc. Something is wrong in Smoky Mountain National Park that the government is not charging entrance fees and there is no control on traffic into the park. On this Saturday afternoon it took about 3 hours to drive from near Clingman's Dome to Gatlinburg, less than 20 miles.

The other side of the Smoky Mountains north of Asheville is much less crowded and thus more pleasant (below). This is the Carl Sanburg National Monument in Flat Rock, North Carolina.

and in Florida

Golden Raintrees Bloom

(Koelreuteria paniculata)

Native to eastern Asia this noxious weed-tree now dominates the fall landscape in Florida where it was introduced sometime after 1763. The flowers start off yellow, with four petals growing in large terminal panicles. The fruit is a three-parted inflated bladder-like red-pink pod, each which contains 3 or more seeds, which seemingly all sprout making more of the trees. The copious seeds are edible when roasted.

And This:

With temperatures falling and fewer hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere, autumn colors are sweeping across the eastern United States and Canada. On October 20, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the annual transformation in this natural-color image.

According to The Foliage Network, fall colors were at or just past their peak in much of upstate New York and the upper peninsula of Michigan the day before MODIS captured the image. As seen in the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains in New York, peak color comes to high-elevation areas before surrounding lower-elevation areas.

Why Leaf-Peeping Season is Disappointing This Year

Are the autumn leaves drifting by your window? Probably not.

All along the East Coast, from Maine to Virginia, it’s been a balmy fall, without the overnight crispiness that helps produce the panorama of golds and reds that’s typically sketched on many trees this time of year. Some spots, New York’s Central Park among them, are pretty much still seas of summer-like green. Or brown.

Boston was 7.4° hotter than normal last month. Temperatures in Burlington, Vermont, were 10.5° above the 30-year average. Central Park had its warmest October on record. It broke a mark set in 1947 with an average that was 7.2° Fahrenheit (4° Celsius) above normal,.

Thus the foliage situation. The force at play is a high pressure ridge over the northern Pacific Ocean that has been keeping the western U.S. cool while warming the east. And though the forecast says New York will get chilly this weekend, the East Coast overall stands a good chance of remaining toastier than usual all this month, according to the Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

The trees are just following the rules. When the likes of an oak or a maple gets ready for winter, its chlorophyll production shuts down, robbing its leaves of their green tint. Then other chemicals, such as carotenoids and anthocyanins, are free to storm the stage with a display of yellows, oranges and reds.

Chlorophyll is the thing that allows trees to absorb light and turn it into sugar through the photosynthesis process. And there just haven’t been enough of the brisk nights that trap sugar in leaves and spur production of those other chemicals, according to Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry’s website.

Um. . . not that "Snow"

Father of Snow Theory Sees Polar Vortex Caged Until January

“The warmer nights can certainly delay and even mute the change,” said Richard Harper, a professor in the Environmental Conservation department at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In other words, when they do show up, the colors won’t be as intense as during a brisk autumn season.

Of course, different species react to the weather in different ways, said Marlyse Duguid, a research scientist at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in New Haven, Connecticut. “The introduced Norway Maple here in New Haven are all still dark green—while most of our native Sugar Maples and Red Maples have dropped their leaves.”

At some point, most leaves will turn. A trip to New Hampshire or Massachusetts will still be worthwhile, Harper said. “A less than stellar fall in New England is still pretty stellar by most folks’ standards.”

Sturgill Simpson Steals the CMA Show By Busking Outside

Instead of hanging out in the warm confines of Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, Sturgill Simpson decided to busk and answers question outside of this year's CMA Awards, and he did it all live on Facebook

Often talked over by a man in the background with a microphone, Simpson spoke favorably of his pals, or wannabe pals, including Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban ("We were homies, for like 5 minutes"). He also got political, speaking out in favor of LGBT rights, among other in-the-news topics.

A sign next to his guitar case noted that all donations would go to the American Civil Liberties Union, while inside country royalty took some jabs at President Trump.

The Kentucky-born singer and songwriter was nominated for album of the year at this year’s Grammy Awards for his “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.” While Simpson lost in that field to Adele, his work did take the top country Grammy.

Simpson, as should be apparent by his busker move, exists just outside the country mainstream, thriving in a rootsy, twangy corner of the world occupied by such critically acclaimed acts as Stapleton, Mumford & Sons, the Avett Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Rhiannon Giddens, the Lumineers, Rodney Crowell, John Hiatt and Alison Krauss, among others.

Whether watching the awards or not, social media reacted to the singer's candid, and sometimes explicit, comments.

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Damn! There's a spot on my tight red speedo.

@oliverbaggerman

"I always recline like this. Really. Its very comfortable."

Changing Colors of the North Georgia Mountains

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Tybee Island

Cockspur Island Light

Fort Pulaski National Monument

Tybee Island Lighthouse

Redstar (Ipomoea coccinea) on a bluff overlooking the Wilmington River in Bonaventure Cemetery

And this. . .

Lessons in Stillness From One of the Quietest Places on Earth

In the wilderness of Washington State's Hoh Rainforest, we search for the rare peace that truce silence can offer. The desire for less stimulation isn’t exactly new — it’s been afflicting Americans at least since the invention of the steam engine. Concerned about “the thousand intricate problems … which perplex those who struggle to-day in our teeming city hives,” the neurologist S. Weir Mitchell wondered “Have we lived too fast?”

GOP Swine

While we wait to see what becomes of Alabama Senate candidate and professional Christian Roy Moore, who is credibly alleged to have spent his thirties pursuing high school girls with the “I get older, they stay the same age” gusto of Matthew McConaughey’s character in “Dazed and Confused,” it’s worth doing a quick typology of the predators that flourish among the godly and moralistic and traditional.

New Delhi's Gas Chamber

Smog is so bad that UA has stopped flying there

Citing toxic smog that one official said has turned India’s capital city into a “gas chamber,” United Airlines has canceled flights to New Delhi until the air gets better. New Delhi’s air quality is consistently ranked among the world’s worst. But a perfect storm of problems is exacerbating the problem to potentially deadly levels. Farmers who have recently harvested crops in neighboring states are illegally burning their fields, sending smoke into the air. Construction projects and pollution from vehicles in a city that lacks adequate public transportation are making things worse.

New Delhi's Air Pollution Problem is so bad that some Diplomats are Leaving

It’s a life that many envy: plush salaries, international schools for the children and wine-soaked parties on weekends. But for New Delhi's diplomatic corps, the sweet life is missing one key ingredient: clean, breathable air.

Pollution levels in India this month are so bad that diplomats are fretting about whether to stay or leave. Some, like Costa Rica’s ambassador, have already left the city after developing respiratory problems. Others are calling in sick to work or worrying about their children’s health. Some missions, according to the Indian Express, have even moved nonessential staff to nearby countries such as Singapore.

F--k Trump Driver Arrested

Internet Firestorm Erupts

appears that local sheriff is harassing woman for exercising her 1st amendment rights

The woman responsible for the "F--Trump" bumper sticker has been arrested for a previous outstanding warrant, according to Fort Bend County jail records.

Karen Fonseca was booked into the jail shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday, November 16, 2017 for a fraud charge. Her bail is set at $1500.

Her arrest comes after Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls on Wednesday created a social media firestorm with a Facebook post threatening to bring disorderly conduct charges against the driver of a truck displaying a profane anti-Trump message on its rear window.

An invasive flower sometimes referred to as "Florida Snow" is blooming again this year along road medians, shoulders and in yards throughout Central and South Florida. Because the plant blooms better in drier weather it is very prevalent now as we've had almost 2 months with virtually no rainfall post Hurricane-Irma.

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The fast growing blizzard has started to cover grassy strips in large patches throughout Florida as the plant races north up the peninsula. Large numbers of the plants are now seen blooming as far north as Volusia County on the east coast, Ocala National Forest on the Central Peninsula, and Spring Hill on the west coast.

Impossible to control because of its tiny seeds it is best to admire this invasive species for its ability to thrive where just about everything else is wilted and brown.

The first three images posted here were taken in the most unlikely of places, a swale between two seaside dunes in New Smyrna Beach, where nothing else except the toughest sand oaks, saw palmettos, and other tough native dune plants thrive and most species barely survive, this Richardia grandiflora is covering the dunes.

Colloquially the flower goes by many names. Horticulturists call it "Largeflower Pusley." Others refer to it as "Rough Mexican Clover," a misleading term because the plant is not from Mexico and is not a clover.

The herb's botanical name is Richardia grandiflora. The plant is native to Brazil and elsewhere in South America.

It's uncertain when exactly it got to Florida, but the perennial weed now infests at least 40 counties along the central and southern Florida peninsula.

The plant resembles a Florida native, Richardia scabra, or "Mexican Clover" which is found as far north as Indiana, west to Texas and up the east coast to New Jersey. R. scarba's blooms are much smaller, whiter and less noticeable.

Above, the native and less shows Richardia scabra in extreme close-up. The flowers are maybe a 10th the size of the South American interloper.

Although often considered a nuisance on yards and pastures, the flower's spread has its upsides. Pusley provides a low-maintenance, drought- and cold-tolerant cohabitant with turf grass to help keep soil erosion in check. And it provides nectar for butterflies and bees, important pollinators. On the flip side it is obviously crowding out native species as evidenced by its proliferation.

Largeflower pusley is closely related to several tropical plants such as ixora, gardenia, penta firebush and wild coffee, according to a 2011 report about the plant by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Endangered Mint Only Grows in Brevard on ridge from Titusville to Mims (Dicerandra thinicola — aka Titusville balm or Titusville mint)

This pusley blanketing Florida belongs to a family of plants that includes three very common, look-alike weeds, distinguished by different-sized flowers and the texture of the leaves.

The flowers grow so low to the ground that mower blades often miss them. Cutting lawns low enough to get the pusley would damage and stress the grass.

The weed can live year-round and tolerate temperatures as low as 10° (-12.2° C).

While grass around it wilts during drought, the pusley perseveres.

The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council lists the plant as Category II, among the state's most invasive species. Category I are species disrupting native plants and causing ecological damage. Category II are invasive plants that show potential to disrupt native plants but haven't yet to a significant extent. We suspect Florida Snow will be moving up the list as soon as the Council notices the extent of its spread northward.

Some of the best images of Florida snow can be found at Pam and Richard Winegar's Naturetime Blog

(photos above and below by Pam and Richard Winegar)

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Having performed mind-bending athletic feats practically since birth. Falcons receiver Julio Jones has become a legend in his own time. Do you believe in superheroes?

Outtakes from SI's Cover Shoot with Julio Jones

Happy Thanksgiving

On Survivor Season 35 its Devon v. Cole for Hunk-of-the-Year

Devon far left, Cole 2nd from right

This season its 23-year-old Surf Instructor, Devon Pinto @devonthedoo v. 24-year-old Wilderness Therapy Guide, Cole Medders @cole_medders for best looking survivor man.

For personality, smile, and all that yoga Devon wins hands down. Eyes, its a tie. Body? Cole if you like brawn, Devon if you like lean surfer dude. Who’ll look best at 50? Definitely Devon. His looks will stand the test of time. So for personality and sustainability, we say Devon’s a lock for hottest Survivor Season 35 Hunk.

Cole looked great in early episodes, but, for eating with his hands, complaining about not getting his 8,000 calories a day diet, and general stupidity (telling everybody's secrets) we lost interest quickly.

At this writing we still don't know who will win Season 35. Amazingly both Cole and Devon are still in the running. Normally the strongest are voted off first.

Photo: Valley of the Gods near Mexican Hat, Utah, Jim Lo Scalzo

Photo: John Tlumacki, Boston Globe

When and How to See Decembers 'Full Cold Moon'

When the "Full Cold Moon" rises on Sunday night (Dec. 3, 2017). It will also be the first (and last) "supermoon" of 2017.

Supermoons happen when a full moon approximately coincides with the moon's perigee, or a point in its orbit at which it is closest to Earth. This makes the moon appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual.

The moon becomes totally full at 10:47 a.m. EST (1547 GMT) on Sunday (Dec. 3). It will officially reach perigee the next day (Dec. 4) at 3:45 a.m. EST (0845 GMT), when it is 222,135 miles (357,492 kilometers) away from Earth.

[Supermoon Secrets: 7 Surprising Big Moon Facts]

Photo: Castillo de Almodóvar del Río, Córdoba, Spain, Miguel Morenatti

What is a supermoon?

While the moon's average distance is 238,000 miles (382,900 km) from Earth, its orbit isn't perfectly circular, so that distance varies a small amount. When it reaches apogee, or its farthest distance from Earth, on Dec. 19, it will be 252,651 miles (406,603 km) away. That's a difference of 30,516 miles (48,110 km) — but the moon's distance from Earth can vary more than that.

The perigee for December's supermoon won't even be the closest this year; that happened May 25, when the not-so-super new moon was 221,958 miles (357,208 km) away from Earth. That date didn't coincide with a full moon, though, so it didn't qualify as a supermoon.

Supermoons don't happen every month because the moon's orbit changes orientation as the Earth goes around the sun. So, the long axis of the moon's elliptical path around the Earth points in different directions, meaning that a full (or new) moon won't always happen at apogee or perigee.

When to see the supermoon

In New York City, the full moon will rise the evening of Dec 3. at 4:59 p.m. local time. Moonset will be the morning of Dec. 4 at 7:50 a.m., according to timeanddate.com. The sun sets at 4:28 p.m. on Dec. 3, so the full moon and the sun will not be visible at the same time, at least in New York.

If you want to see both in the sky at once, you need to go below the equator. In Wellington, New Zealand, the full moon happens at 4:46 a.m. local time on the morning of Dec. 4, and sets at 6:10 a.m., half an hour after the sun rises at 5:41 a.m.

Look for the full moon in the constellation of Taurus. Though the moon is officially full on Dec. 3, it will still appear full to the casual observer the night before and after.

A lunar occultation

As it did in November, the full moon will pass in front of, or "occult," the bright star Aldebaran. This event will be visible from northern Canada, Alaska, eastern Russia, Kazakhstan, much of China and as far south as Bangladesh.

Photo: Almudena Cathedral (Santa María la Real de La Almudena), Madrid, Gerard Julien

In the continental U.S., residents of Washington state can catch the occultation; People in Seattle will see the predawn moon pass in front of Aldebaran at 6:09 a.m. local time, reappearing at 6:46 a.m. In Boise, Idaho, the occultation will start at 7:15 a.m., but skywatchers there won't get to see Aldebaran reappear from behind the moon, as the occultation ends after the moon sets at 7:43 a.m.

In Anchorage, Alaska, Aldebaran disappears behind the moon at 4:38 a.m. local time and reappears at 5:32 a.m. The moon becomes full soon after that at 6:46 a.m. local time, setting at 9:20 a.m. Canadian observers in Vancouver will see the occultation start at 6:06 a.m. and end at 6:46 a.m. (Full moon is at 7:46 a.m.)

Observers in Asia will see more of the occultation. In Beijing, the event starts at 7:54 p.m. local time and ends at 8:37 p.m. — better timed for those who'd rather not get up too early.

Photo: Rome, Alessandro Di Meo

How the Full Cold Moon got its names

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, the name of the full moon in December is "Full Cold Moon," and given the weather in December (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), that's not a surprise.

This is also reflected in the names from native peoples of North America. According to the Ontario Native Literacy Project, the Ojibwe called December's full moon "Mnidoons Giizis," the "Big Spirit Moon" or "Blue Moon." For the Ojibwe, it marked the 12th calendar month, and was a time for healing. The Haida of the Pacific Northwest called it the "Snow Moon," or "Ta'aaw Kungaay."

Among the Hopi, whose ceremonial life revolved around the lunar and solar cycles, the lunation just before the winter solstice was the "Sparrow-Hawk" moon, as noted by Janet Sharp of Washburn University in her study of Hopi mathematical concepts and teaching.

In the Southern Hemisphere, December is summertime. The Māori of New Zealand described the lunar months in November to December as Hakihea, or "birds are now sitting in their nests," according to the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

In China, the traditional lunar calendar calls the December lunation the 10th month. Called Yángyuè, or Yang month, it's named for the yang ― the masculine, positive principle of Taoism familiar to Westerners as part of the yin and yang.

AND THIS

How to Photograph the Supermoon: NASA Pro Shares His Tips

A massive and immensely popular protest statement is seen on the Crown Plaza Midtown Atlanta (590 W Peachtree St NW) if you want to run out and get your own photo. We don't know if the protest statement is in response to the great tax hoax under way in Congress, or the attempt to downsize America's National Monuments, or opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, or the effort to quietly skim billions from Medicare and Social Security or just run-of-the-mill douchebaggery and racism. But for whatever reason and to whomever is doing it we concur and we applaud your effort.

If you've ever spent any amount of time in Florida, you've undoubtedly encountered these prehistoric-looking reptiles running across sidewalks, leaping to and from plants and trees, and sneaking into dwellings.

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Florida lizards range in color from bright green to black, they munch on bugs, and they turn up in some unusual places (mailboxes, shoes, cars, etc).

Most anoles found in Florida are scientifically Carolina Anoles (Anolis carolinensis). These small lizards grow up to 8 inches long (20 cm) and weigh up to .25 ounce (7 grams).

Anoles have been around a long time. They've been found in fossils dating back at least 6,000,000 years. That's a couple million years before humans emerged.

Anoles are territorial. Stress in an anole can be identified by symptoms including a black semicircle behind their eyes and a darkening skin tone.

Anoles are curious. A healthy lizard patrols his territory. The males will fight with other males and defend their territory, often against intruders from afar like the Cuban Brown Anole (below). Also known as Anolis sagrei, this lizard is native to Cuba and the Bahamas but has become naturalized in parts of Florida. Larger than Carolina Anoles, this lizard grows to 8-10 inches (20-25 cm).

Breeding season starts in April and lasts through August. The dewlap (red throat) is sometimes a display used to entice a mate. Sometimes it appears to be used to defend territory from encroaching males. Empty egg shells are turning up everywhere along with little ones (below). If they are unfortunate enough to find their way into the house, they don't last long. The cats love nothing better than chasing anoles.

Baby anoles must fend for themselves. Solitary by nature, they are not cared for by their parents.

Some new—and much larger—cousins of the native anoles are turning up in Florida. Below, a Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) is a new invader from Cuba and the largest of the anoles. It can grow to 13-20 inches (33 to 51 cm). Also known as the Cuban Knight Anole they seem to prefer the dense thickets and I've only encountered a few of these large and aggressive reptiles.

And This

Trump Sued Over 'Unlawful' Shrinking of Utah National Monuments

(and you're paying for his defense)

Environmental groups hit Trump with a lawsuit just hours after he announced he’ll shrink two national monuments in Utah that contain stunning red-sandstone vistas, historic relics and energy resources.

The Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and seven other groups alleged that the president overstepped his authority in scaling back the 1.4-million-acre Bears Ears to about 220,000 acres, and the 1.9-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument to about 1 million acres.

The Antiquities Act of 1906, signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, authorizes presidents to create national monuments, according to the complaint filed Monday in federal court in Washington. “It does not authorize presidents to abolish them either in whole or in part, as President Trump’s action attempts to do.”

Former President Barack Obama designated Bears Ears as a national monument last December over the objections of Utah’s Republican political leadership. Former President Bill Clinton established Grand Staircase in 1996.

‘The President Stole Your Land’: Patagonia, REI blast Trump on national monument rollbacks

Anyone who visited Patagonia’s website on Monday night, December 4, 2017, in search of a warm winter fleece or a pair of snow pants was in for a surprise. Replacing the usual shopping choices were giant white letters on a black background offering a stark message: “The President Stole Your Land.”

The message continued in smaller letters: “In an illegal move, the president just reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. This is the largest elimination of protected land in American history.”

The page was referring to President Trump’s order Monday reducing the size of two national monuments in Utah by nearly 2 million acres combined.

Patagonia’s move was part of an ongoing fight in the West, one the company and the outdoor recreation industry generally has been waging against exploitation of the lands for fossil fuel, development and cattle grazing.

REI, another recreational gear company, devoted part of its homepage to a more modest protest. “Despite the loss of millions of acres of protected lands this week,” the company said, “REI will continue to advocate for the places we all love.”

Tens of Thousands Evacuate as Southern California Fires Spread on Santa Ana Winds

Photos: Ryan Cullom/Ventura County Fire Department

Cryptothecia rubrocincta is a species of lichen in the Arthoniaceae family of fungi. The species is prominent in Central Florida wilderness areas this month. It is distributed in subtropical and tropical locations throughout the southeastern United States, as well as Central and South America.

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Lichens exist in many forms, ranging from flat, smooth organisms to frilly species and those that resemble greenish Spanish moss (which is a flowering bromeliad and not a moss). In the image above the Christmas lichen is living in close proximity to the more common and abundant Cryptothecia striata (white-to-grey circular lichens).

Lichens are biologically interesting in that they are composed of symbiotic associations of fungi (called the mycobionts) and algae or cyanobacteria (the photobionts, the latter being blue-green algae). The fungus gives the organism its structure and a means of maintaining moisture, and the algae or cyanobacteria supply the fungus with nutrients.

Above and Below: These specimen are living adjacent to Bulbothrix laevigata (Eyelash Lichen) and Hyperphyscia pustulifera (Loop Lichen),

Lichen species are defined by the type of fungus, type of photobiont, and the shape the association assumes. Though some are distinct enough that they can be identified by their morphology, a student often has to apply certain chemicals to note color changes in order to distinguish among species.

The body of the lichen forms continuous, circular crust-like patches on dead wood, readily recognizable by the prominent red pigment. The older, central region is covered with red, spherical to cylindrical granules. Moving outwards from the center, zones of color may be distinguished, the first gray-green, the second white, and finally a bright red cottony rim. The red and green colors of this unmistakable woodland lichen give the appearance of a Christmas wreath, suggestive of its colloquial North American name, the Christmas wreath lichen.

“Rubrocincta” translates to “red wreath.” The central, oldest area of the thallus is often adorned by dense clusters of small red granules that look somewhat like isidia – one of the two types of reproductive methods employed by lichens.

The red pigment, called chiodectonic acid is one of several chemicals the lichen produces to help tolerate inhospitable growing conditions.

Cryptothecia rubrocincta is a crustose lichen, because it grows in the form of a surface crust. The thallus, or body of the lichen is spread out flat and can be either tightly to loosely attached to the growing surface. It is 0.15–0.30 mm thick, and can be smooth, or have low radiating ridges. The older, central region of the lichen surface has many reproductive structures called isidia; they resemble granules that are 0.1–0.4 by 0.1 mm.

The species relies entirely on vegetative means to reproduce, and is not known to have any sexual structures. From the center outwards, three color zones can be differentiated in mature specimens; the first grayish-green, the second white, and finally a bright red cottony rim.

All of these specimen were photographed within a 3 mile radius around the Florida Trail between the Black Hammock Wilderness Area (Lake Jesup) and the Little Big Econ State Forest (Econlockhatchee River) on the outskirts of Oviedo, Florida, an eastern suburb of Orlando.

These specimen were growing exclusively on hardwoods (live oak, hickory, magnolia, lyonia) and were found in thick hammocks mostly facing north or west away from the most punishing Florida sun and in areas that sometimes contain standing water.

Scientific description: The lichen has a distinct prothallus—fibers of whitish fungal hyphae at the edge that lack photobiont, and which project beyond the thallus onto the growing surface. The prothallus is red to whitish in the inner part, red the in outer part. The surface of the thallus does not have a well-defined cortex, an outer layer of well-packed hyphae. The medulla (a loosely arranged layer of hyphae below the cortex and photobiont zone) is whitish but the lower part is red. It has few to many calcium oxalate crystals that are 3–8 μm diameter. The hyphae of the medulla have many such crystals on the walls, that are 1–2 μm in diameter. The algal photobiont (technically a phycobiont, as it is a green algal photosynthetic partner) is from the genus Trentepohlia. Normally, the algae is long and filamentous; when in the lichen state, it is divided into shorter filaments. The alga has a large chloroplast that contains droplets of beta-carotene. The lichen is heteromerous, meaning that the mycobiont and photobiont components are in well-defined layers, with the photobiont in a more or less distinct zone between the upper cortex and the medulla. Cells are single or a few cells aggregated, with dimensions of about 8–15 by 5–11 μm.

The lichens geographical range extends northward as far as the extent of Sabal Palmettos, generally thought to be some of the southern islands of North Carolina.

As seen in many of these images Christmas lichen is often found with or alongside Cryptothecia striata (the white to grey round circular lichens). Cryptothecia striata is also an easily identified lichen with its white cottony prothallus and mint green thallus. A drop of ordinary household bleach on the surface produces a bright red color. This genus is unusual in that it bypasses the chore of producing fruiting bodies (apothecia or perethecia). Instead asci are apparently produced within the thallus and arise when mature.

For More on Florida Lichen go to

Field Guide to Florida Lichen

A small Boswellia sacra (Frankincence) plant at Miniatree Garden in Tuscon.

In the history of baffling Christmas presents, none may be stranger than the three gifts of the Magi: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gold, in traditional interpretations, represented God’s splendor and power. The frankincense, burned for purification, suggested divinity. Myrrh, a funereal spice, prefigured the crucifixion and the anointing of the dead.

Thus the holiest plant of the Christmas season may be a raggedy shrub with peeling bark that seems to grow best in the most inhospitable of climates. Boswellia sacra is better known as the Frankincense Tree. The shrub’s gum resin is one of the biblical gifts that the wise men bestowed on the infant Jesus.

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Until recently, Americans who wished to cultivate their own frankincense could only hope for another biblical house call. Marc Hachadourian, who manages the Nolen Greenhouses at the New York Botanical Garden, describes frankincense seed as hard to find and harder still to grow.

“In horticulture, there are a few plants that we joke about that have a miserable life,” he said. “Boswellia is only happy in its native environment. And even then, it’s not as happy as it could be.”

Flowers and branches of the Boswellia sacra tree, the species from which most frankincense is derived.

In the Frankincense family (Burseraceae) there are 19 species of the genus Boswellia Roxb. ex Colebr. Five or six of these species are endemic to theIsland of Socotra, Yemen, a Unesco World Heritage site, near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, which has a ban on botanical exports. The island is very isolated and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on earth. Other Boswellia reside in the anarchic hinterlands of Yemen and Somalia.

Boswellia sacra is not much of a looker. The paired leaves appear small and crinkled. But the exfoliating bark is something else again: ocher and papery, like a sheet of baking parchment scorched in the oven.

Some appreciate the plant less for its beauty than its deeper botanical riddles. It is said one can predict rain from the swelling of the nodes along the branches. When the barometric pressure drops, Boswellia take every opportunity to grow, flower, and to set seed.

Harvesters slash the trunk with a hatchet and collect the dried beads of sap. Researchers in Eritrea, writing in the Journal of Applied Ecology, observed that frequent resin-tapping in another Boswellia species (B. papyrifera) lowered the number of seeds and lessened their viability.

Accounts from the ancient world make frankincense sound like a cross between aspirin, penicillin, Xanax and Viagra, with a touch of duct tape and magic.

Burning Frankincense

When cut, a white bead of sap forms at the wound. Egyptians, according to “Plants of Dhofar,” believed this to be “the sweat of the gods, fallen to earth.”

The aroma hints at cypress and citrus and maybe witch hazel. But at the same time, it seems like nothing else in the American garden or forest.

Tips for Growers

If you want to grow Boswellia sacra at home it helps to have a desert in the backyard. Failing that, the best place to start might be Jason Eslamieh’s book,“Cultivation of Boswellia: Sacred Trees of Frankincense” (A Book’s Mind; $33).

Gardeners across the sunbelt — in Orlando, Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles — may be able to keep Boswellia outdoors year round. When the temperature falls below 40° (4½° C.) for a day or two, Boswellia drops its leaves. In colder weather, the plant quickly dies. Given a choice, it doesn’t like to be confined to a pot.

Pumice is the preferred soil medium, if you can find it. Some gardeners have had luck substituting Turface MVP (a baseball diamond supplement) and Oil-Dri absorbent (a garage cleaner). Make sure to change the soil every year or two, lest a buildup of salts and minerals starts to poison the pot.

It is possible to grow Boswellia under lights. But it’s easier to shut the plants down for the winter on a shelf in the bedroom.

Myrrh

(Commiphora myrrha)

The other plant-gift of the Magi is a rangy assemblage of vicious thorns, called myrrh (Commiphora myrrha). Also a member of the Frankincense family, Myrrh is probably harder to cultivate outside its native range. Myrrh is native to Oman, Yemen and the Horn of Afrida (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Northeast Kenya). It only grows at an altitude of between 800-4,000 feet above sea level (250-1300 m), with a yearly mean rainfall of about 9-11 inches (230-300 mm) in thin limestone soils.

Commiphora myrrha or Myrrh

Technically, myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum.

When a tree wound penetrates through the bark and into the sapwood, the tree bleeds a resin. Myrrh gum, like frankincense, is such a resin. When myrrh is harvested the gum becomes hard and glossy. The gum is yellowish, and may be either clear or opaque. It darkens deeply as it ages, and white streaks emerge.

Myrrh was so valuable in acient times that it was equal in weight value to gold. During times of scarcity, its value rose even higher.

Frankincense tree facing uncertain Future

Ecologists have warned that the production of the fragrant resin could decline by half over the next 15 years.

The festive fragrance is produced by tapping the gum of trees in the Boswellia genus.

The findings, based on a study carried out in Ethiopia, have been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

"There are several reasons why [the tree species Boswellia papyifera] it is under threat," explained co-author Frans Bongers, an ecologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

"The forests that remain are declining because the old individuals are dying continuously, and there there no new individuals coming into the system. That means that the forests are running out of trees."

"In places like Oman and Yemen, it is being cut down systematically. Now, in Ethiopia, it is being cut down as land is being turned over to agriculture."

The small trees, which generally reach a height of no more than five metres (16ft), grows in steepy, rocky habitats, providing cover for other plant species.

A SENSE OF FRANKINCENSE

Frankincense is an oily gum resin from 16 different species of tree of the Boswellia genus
Incense extracted from the resin is used in religious rituals, but has also been investigated for its medicinal properties. It is believed to be an anti-inflammatory
The name frankincense is derived from the old French "franc encens", meaning pure incense

Each year, up to about 3kg of resin can be tapped from an individual tree. After about five years of tapping, management techniques suggest that the tree should be rested for a similar period in order to maximise future yields.

The genus Boswellia, overall, is generally classified as Vulnerable as a result of habitat fragmentation and poor levels of rejuvenation, explained Prof Bongers.

"If the tree germinates, then there is a small plant coming out of the ground, but then in the next dry season it goes down again because it is too dry," he told BBC News.

Frankincense burning in a church (Image: AFP)

Rachel WebsterCurator of botany, Manchester Museum

Frankincense is tapped extensively wherever theBoswellia trees grow. Its high value comes mainly from the fact that it is used extensively in religious rituals, particularly in the Islamic, Hebrew and Christian religions.

The species focused on in this study, Boswellia papyrifera, grows in African drylands. It grows in arid areas so any small, deleterious change could have quite devastating effects on the regeneration of the trees.

In this case, it appears to be either fire or over-grazing, but with the general pressures of people and trees depending on the same land, trees tend to lose.

If these trees did disappear, it would be a great loss to the local people who tap the trees to sell the resin and to the ecosystem it grows in.

"Then in the wet season it comes up again. Yet in the next dry season it goes down again. That happens for a number of years, and we don't know how many years this happens - we know that it is at least six years.

"But it may be 10 years and we do not know what triggers what makes it come up above ground forever - maybe it is some sort of reserve, some sort of starch in the soil or root system.

"We are measuring this but we do not have real data, so it is complicated to manage the seedlings."

Prof Bongers added that the encroachment of more opportunistic tree species was also affecting the long-term survival of the frankincense forests.

"In the landscape, these tree has been the dominant species. That is why we can call it a frankincense forest, just like we can refer to beech woodlands in the UK," he said.

"In these woodlands, 80% of the individuals are frankincense trees. Yet some areas at the verges of the distribution of the species, there are other species coming in.

"What we are seeing at the verges of the populations we are following is that that the frankincense trees are phasing out and other species are coming in.

"All the young individuals in the forests are from other species, such asAcacia. We just see the forests running out of frankincense - other species are taking over."

'Alarming' decline

The study examined 13 two-hectare plots, which involve monitoring more than 6,000 trees and collecting more than 20,000 measurements.

Using this data, the team modelled the fate of the species, and found the current levels of frankincense production is set to halve in the next 15 years.

"Current management of Boswellia populations is clearly unsustainable," Prof Bongers warned.

"Our models show that within 50 years, populations of Boswellia will be decimated, and the declining populations mean frankincense production is doomed. This is a rather alarming message for the incense industry and conservation organisations."

He added that tapping the trees for the valued resin was unlikely to be the main cause of the decline. Instead, there were a number of other things affecting the long-term future of the trees.

"Frankincense extraction is unlikely to be the main cause of population decline, which is likely to be caused by burning, grazing and attack by the long-horn beetle, which lays its eggs under the bark of the tree.

In the areas they studied, the team found that older trees in the population were not being replaced because few Boswellia seedlings survived to become saplings.

"The number of fires and intensity of grazing in our study area has increased over recent decades as a result of a large increase in the number of cattle, and this could be why seedlings fail to grow into saplings. At the same time, a large proportion of trees we studied died after being attacked by the long-horn beetle," Prof Bongers observed.

In order to ensure future rejuvination, he suggested that areas should be set aside for up to a decade so young Boswellia trees can become established.

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Forecast for Christmas Day in Sydney is Mid-80°s (29°C) and sunny. Of course it might be hotter in Florida this year. Current forecast for Orlando area on December 25? Low 80°s (28°C).

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and no relation to the "Budgy Nine," looking

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Whether they are Budgy Smugglers or not seems irrelevant.

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A group of Australian tourists, branded the "Budgie Nine," were charged with public nuisance, which carries a fine but no jail time. The men were detained after posing in Budgy Smuggler swimwear decorated with the Malaysian flag to celebrate Australian Daniel Ricciardo's win in a Grand Prix Race.

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For years, mistletoe (Genus Phoradendron) has suffered from a split reputation: either the decorative prelude to a Christmas kiss or the tree-killing parasite that must be mercilessly excised for the good of the forests. At least 24 different species of Mistletoe grow in the United States.

Now a recent scientific study (Mistletoe as a keystone resource) has introduced a new paradigm of the evergreen plant: It is a key to keeping forest life healthy. Not only should it not be cut out of the forests it affects, but it could also be introduced in injured woodlands to restore them to health.

The mistletoe makeover stems from an experiment started in 2004 in a small woods surrounded by farmland in the upper Billabong Creek area of Australia’s New South Wales. David Watson, an ecologist at Charles Sturt University in Albury, New South Wales, reasoned that the only way to discern the role of mistletoe was to remove it from 17 woodlands and compare them with 11 woodlands where the mistletoe remained and 12 woodlands naturally devoid of the plant.

It was a massive task to eradicate the parasitic mistletoe, involving cherry-pickers, loppers, a dozen people and two seasons of work, made all the tougher because the Australian mistletoe mimics the trees it takes root on. Moreover, while mistletoe, with its 1,400 species in five families, lives on every continent except Antarctica, it is sparse within each forest. Dr. Watson found only a few plants in every acre in the woodlands where he worked.

In all, his team members removed more than 40 tons of the plant, leaving it on the ground for livestock to consume. Then they waited for three years.

Dr. Watson, known in academic circles as “the mistletoe guy,” had long suspected that his favorite plant was a keystone species, meaning it punches above its weight, ecologically speaking, but even he was unprepared for the results. He had supposed that creatures that fed or nested on mistletoe would be affected by its removal. Instead, he found that the whole woodland community in the mistletoe-free forests declined.

Three years after the mistletoe vanished, so had more than a third of the bird species, including those that fed on insects. Bird diversity is considered an indicator of overall diversity. Where mistletoe remained, bird species increased slightly. It was a similar story for some mammals and reptiles, but, in another surprise, particularly for those that fed on insects on the forest floor.

Analysis showed that species of mistletoe play an important role in moving nutrients around the forest food web. That has to do with their status as parasites.

Nonparasitic plants suck nutrients out of their own leaves before they let them fall, sending dry containers to the ground. But because the vampiric mistletoe draws water and nutrients from the tree stem or branch it attaches to, it is more nonchalant about leaving that nutrition in falling leaves. That means the fallen leaves still contain nutrients that feed creatures on the forest floor.

Not only that, but mistletoes make and drop leaves three or four times as rapidly as the trees they live off of. As evergreens, they also do it throughout the year, even when trees are dormant. It is like a round-the-calendar mistletoe banquet.

While no similar mistletoe excision experiments have been performed in North America, where fossil pollen grains suggest the plants have lived for millions of years, scientists in the United States say they, too, have noticed mistletoe's positive effect on forest life.

For example, van-sized “witches’ brooms” formations in old-growth Douglas fir trees in the northwest United States produced by dwarf mistletoe parasites were once pruned away. Today, the brooms are protected because they are important nesting sites for the endangered northern spotted owl.

Some scientists believe it is possible that introducing mistletoe into a damaged forest could help restore it to health.

But introducing mistletoe onto trees could prove controversial. While the parasites are like Robin Hood, stealing from rich trees to feed the forest poor, they can spoil individual trees for lumber. That is especially true of the deforming dwarf mistletoe. Mistletoe is still widely known as the “thief of trees.”

What is the Magic of Mistletoe?

Still, recent studies add a touch of science to the folkloric view of mistletoe as a tantalizer, inducing people to wait under it for a kiss at Christmas. The custom stems from the ancient Druids, who believed mistletoe could work magic because it grew high in bare oak trees in midwinter where nothing else did, seemingly out of thin air. They cut it down with golden sickles, never letting it touch the ground, and hung it in homes to foster fertility.

The Australian study suggests that the plant does seem to work ecological magic of a sort.

Where Can I Find Mistletoe?

In Florida mistletoe can be found on almost any deciduous hardwood just off the ground to the canopy of the tree. Most commonly it is found in Laurel Oaks somewhere in the canopy. 2016 and 2017 have been odd years. September hurricanes ripped all the leaves from trees and extremely warm temperatures have caused the trees to replaced the canopy in mid-winter whereas prior to climate change trees would have been expected to be somewhat bare this time of year. Still, look up and look for a particularly healthy round clump of vegetation, that is mistletoe. Also, take a look along hedgerows and low-hanging laurel oak limbs to find mistletoe barely off the ground (easy reach for harvesting).

And now this. . .

It is still hot in Florida with daytime temperatures staying in the 80s (29°C) but the shadows are long and there are some decent sunsets. Here a quickly changing sunset along the north shore of Lake Harris in Leesburg.

2017 was a year of dazzling highs and disheartening lows for science fans.

There were thrilling discoveries of planets that might be hospitable to life and major advances in DNA editing that could cure a range of genetic diseases.

We also endured the death of a beloved spacecraft and a series of attacks on the value of scientific research.

Read on to relive a remarkable year in science.

Witnessing the Great American Eclipse

A composite of the phases of the solar eclipse as seen in Salem, Ore., on Aug. 21. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

It was a simple quirk of geometry, a perfect alignment of the sun, moon and Earth. On Aug. 21, theGreat American Eclipse allowed skywatchers to witness a cosmic hiccup in the usual day-night cycle.

For the first time in nearly a century, a total solar eclipse was visible across North America. Millions turned out along the so-called path of totality between Oregon and South Carolina to watch the moon blot out the sun. They experienced an eerie darkness that caused the temperatures to drop, birds to fall silent and cicadas to burst into song. For many people, it was a life-changing experience.

For astronomers, the eclipse presented a rare opportunity toconduct solar science. During the 93 minutes it took for the moon’s shadow to travel from coast to coast, they gathered precious data about the sun’s corona, its magnetic field and the outflow of particles known as the solar wind.

“It was fabulous,” said Williams College astronomer Jay Pasachoff, who has now witnessed 34 total solar eclipses,more than anyone else on the planet.

The hunt for another Earth

This artist's illustration shows what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like, based on available data about the planets' diameters, masses and distances from the host star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The discovery of planets around distant stars has become fairly routine. But in February, astronomers announced a particularly tantalizing find: A solar system comprised of not one but seven Earth-sized worlds.

The star at the center of this system is known as TRAPPIST-1. An ultracool dwarf star, it’s much smaller and fainter than our sun. But its planets are close by, and scientists believe three of them are in the habitable zone where water on the surface — should it exist — would be stable in liquid form.

The TRAPPIST-1 system is 39 light-years away, and there is still much that scientists want to learn about it. Among other things, they don’t know whether the planets have atmospheres that would make them truly Earth-like. But astronomers think all seven of them are solid and rocky. The planet known as TRAPPIST-1e receives about the same amount of stellar light as Earth, and TRAPPIST-1f gets an amount similar to Mars. By August, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope had found signs that water may indeed be present on some of the planets.

“With the right atmospheric conditions, there could be water on any of these planets,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in February. “The discovery gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not just a matter of if but when.”

Gene therapy becomes a reality for American patients

Leukemia patient Emily Whitehead is seen in May, five years after she became the first pediatric patient to receive Kymriah. Her cancer is now in long-term remission. (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia via AP)

After years of disappointing setbacks, U.S. regulators gave gene therapy treatments their blessing. The Food and Drug Administration approved not one but three of them in 2017.

It began in August with the green light for Kymriah, a treatment for young cancer patients with an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Kymriah is not a typical drug but a personalized medical service that uses genetic engineering to fortify and multiply a patient’s disease-fighting T cells. In clinical trials, 73 of 88 patients who were infused with the engineered cells went into remission.

Yescarta, a similar drug to treat another blood cancer called large B-cell lymphoma, won FDA approval in October. And in December, the agency endorsed Luxturna for patients with vision loss due caused by an inherited form of retinal dystrophy. The drug replaces a faulty gene with a correct version so that patients can make a crucial protein that converts light to an electrical signal in the retina.

“Gene therapy will become a mainstay in treating, and maybe curing, many of our most devastating and intractable illnesses,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA’s commissioner, said when he announced Luxturna’s approval. “We’re at a turning point when it comes to this novel form of therapy.”

Marching for science

Tens of thousands of protesters walk along Constitution Avenue during the March for Science in Washington, D.C., on April 22. They were joined by hundreds of thousands of others in more than 400 locations around the world. (Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)

2017 was a year of political awakening for scientists, spurred by the election of President Trump and the diminished role of research in his administration.

This new degree of engagement was most visible during the March for Scienceon April 22. Hundreds of thousands of scientists — and their supporters — joined rallies across the country and around the world. They carried signs with slogans like “I can’t believe I’m marching for facts,” and “Society should worry when geeks have to demonstrate!”

Protesters said they feared fact-based research would take a hit in the Trump era. Indeed, the president’s 2018 budget included deep cuts for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. It also targeted spending for climate-related research at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Meanwhile, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employees were instructed not to use termslike “science-based” and “evidence-based” in budget documents.

Some scientists have gone so far as to run for political office themselves. More than a dozen have been endorsed by 314 Action, an advocacy group that named itself after the value of pi.

Gravitational waves keep making waves

MIT physicist Rainer Weiss receives the Nobel Prize for his work that led to the detection of gravitational waves. (Alexander Mahmoud / Nobel Media AB)

The more you look, the more you find — and that’s especially true when it comes to gravitational waves.

Scientists with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory first detected the waves in 2015. They were ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by the violent smashup of two black holes. They’ve repeated that feat five times since.

The most significant of these occurrences was on Aug. 17. The twin LIGO detectors in the U.S. and the Advanced Virgo Detector in Italy picked up the signature of two colliding neutron stars. Not only did scientists confirm that these powerful events forged heavy elements like gold and platinum, they were able to witness the collision using an array of traditional telescopes that can sense electromagnetic radiation.

That means astronomers will be able to study the same event using visible light, radio waves, X-rays, infrared radiation, ultraviolet light, gamma rays and gravitational waves. Scientists call this multi-messenger astronomy, and they’ve been anticipating its arrival for years. They announced it in October, two weeks after the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish for dreaming up and building LIGO in the first place.

Rethinking the history of humans in North America

Scientists demonstrated how the CRISPR gene-editing system could be used to treat conditions such as diabetes, hearing loss and muscular dystrophy. (Fotolia)

The folks who predicted big things for the gene-editing system known as CRISPR were on target in 2017.

Scientists used CRISPR to fix a faulty gene that leads to hearing loss in mice and corrected a mutation in human cells that causes sickle cell disease. In a twist, they used CRISPR to activate beneficial genes in order to counteract the effects of faulty ones.

The methods for using CRISPR improved as well. Researchers developed a new type of gene editor that can target and change a single errant letter in a string of DNA without having to cut it. Another group extended it to RNA, allowing scientists to turn the protein-production machinery of certain cells on and off at will.

Don Conrad, a geneticist at Washington University in St. Louis, described the progress like this: “We can control human biology.”

Cassini’s epic mission to Saturn comes to an end

An artist's rendering of Cassini shows the spacecraft diving between Saturn and its innermost ring. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

After nearly 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft vaporized in Saturn’s atmosphere. It was a dramatic end to a mission that revolutionized the search for life beyond Earth.

Cassini discovered plumes of water-ice particles emanating from Enceladus, one of dozens of moons in the Saturn system. Mission managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory steered Cassini through the plumes, allowing scientists to determine that Enceladus has a salty ocean beneath its frozen surface. That ocean may even be warmed by hydrothermal vents similar to those on Earth.

The spacecraft also made multiple trips to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and found that it has hydrocarbon lakes and seas. As far as scientists know, Titan and Earth are the only places in the solar system where liquid is stable on the surface.

If there is life elsewhere in the solar system, Enceladus and Titan are two of the most promising locales. NASA is now giving serious consideration to a mission, dubbed Dragonfly, that would make several stops on Titan’s surface.

Before its 13-year stay at Saturn ended on Sept. 15, Cassini witnessed the birth of mini-moonlets in the planet’s rings; spotted massive hurricanes on its poles; and found six new confirmed moons along with a number of faint rings. Some of the scientists and engineers who worked with the spacecraft over the years are still mourning their loss.

Getting to the root of CTE

CTE was found in a "shockingly high percentage" of former football players who donated their brains to science. (JAMA)

Scientists deepened their understanding of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the enigmatic brain disorder that afflicts some football players.

In a blockbuster study released in July, researchers from Boston University Medical School’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center examined 202 brains of deceased football players and found evidence of CTE in 88% of them. What’s more, of the 111 brains from athletes who played in the National Football League, all but one had the distinctive tangles, plaques and protein clumps that experts now recognize as hallmarks of CTE.

The large sample of post-mortem brains allowed scientists to discern certain patterns, including a link between years played and disease risk. Men who had mild CTE played football for an average of 13 years, while those with severe disease played for an average of nearly 16 years. That fits with the theory that the more concussions a player suffers, the greater his degree of impairment.

But mysteries remain, including why some of the men who had serious behavioral symptoms had only mild brain abnormalities. Scientists also are investigating whether a player’s age when he starts playing football — and when he first experiences blows to the head — are important factors.

Editing the DNA of human embryos

Human embryos are shown developing into blastocysts after being injected with a gene-correcting enzyme and sperm carrying a mutation for a potentially fatal disease of the heart muscle. (Oregon Health & Science University)

Scientists edited the DNA of human embryos to eliminate a mutation that causes inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that can kill its victims in the prime of their lives. The fix, announced in August, erased the mutation not only in the embryos themselves but in the DNA that was destined for their progeny.

The experiments marked the first time scientists had carried out “germ-line editing” in human embryos. By repairing DNA errors in sperm and egg cells, researchers hope to prevent the spread of debilitating or fatal diseases to future generations. Study leader Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University said the technique might someday correct mutations that lead to cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and certain cancers.

But others worry the advance will give parents the power to create designer babies with desirable traits, such as extraordinary musical talent or exceptional athletic skill. That is currently forbidden; the FDA allows germ-line editing for research purposes only (and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine recommends that such research be restricted to diseases that can’t readily be treated in other ways). Still, some bioethicists fear that doctors will find ways to offer this controversial service outside the U.S., beyond the FDA’s jurisdiction.

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There were 238 West Indian "Florida" Manatees in Blue Spring today, including this very inquisitive female that swam up to pose for the photographer. The first week of 2018 will provide prime viewing of Florida manatees at Crystal River and Blue Spring in Central Florida and at other warm-water locales as an arctic air mass promises to bring nighttime temperatures down into the 30°s prompting manatees to seek refuge in natural warm springs wherever they can find them. Most springs in Central Florida have a year-round water temperature of 72°, absolutely balmy on a cold January day.

Florida's Governor Rick Scott's Record: An Environmental Disaster

Scott has bulldozed a record of environmental protection that his Republican and Democratic predecessors spent decades building. He weakened the enforcement of environmental laws and cut support for clean water, conservation and other programs. He simultaneously made it easier for the biggest polluters and private industries to degrade the state's natural resources. While the second-term Republican who hopes to become Florida's next Senator attempts to transform himself into an environmentalist during his senate campaign, his record reflects a callous disregard for the state's natural resources and no understanding of how deeply Floridians care about their state's beauty and treasures. Including endangered Florida Manatees.

Republicans' attack on conservation law would shock their conservative predecessors

President Richard Nixon's signature environmental conservation law, The Endangered Species Act, is under vicious attack in Congress by anti-conservation zealots uninterested in working with their counterparts from the other side of the aisle.

Such is the state of our national affairs. The political climate makes it difficult to imagine a Republican president recruiting and encouraging a scientist to author progressive environmental legislation and help push it through Congress.

But that is exactly what Nixon did. At the time, nearly everyone in government, Nixon included, was worried about air and water pollution and environmental degradation from agriculture and development. Everyone wanted to save our wildlife and our natural heritage. They wanted to do what was best for the country.

In 1970, Lee Talbot, then-head of environmental scientists for the Smithsonian Institution was asked by the White House to write and help enact one of the country's most important environmental laws. He did, and the bill passed in a remarkably bipartisan way. Dr. Talbot was hired to help create the president’s Council on Environmental Quality and develop national environmental policy. Before this, he had dedicated much of his career to the study of endangered species, venturing through dense Javan jungles and arid Arabian deserts to observe some of the world’s most imperiled animals. When he entered the White House, he knew he had to make conserving endangered wildlife a national priority.

The law in place at the time — the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 — did little to protect animals on the edge of extinction, and states did next to nothing for threatened wildlife. So Dr. Talbot decided to create a new law to fill in the gaps.

When he unveiled the idea to Nixon’s chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, as a win-win initiative, he and Nixon’s advisors agreed. But Haldeman had a caveat.

The Republican Nixon administration was faced with a Congress wholly controlled by Democrats. Talbot had friends on the Hill on both sides of the aisle. Talbot told Haldeman that he needed the Democrats to get the legislative initiative passed.

The scientist asked if it was all right to work with the Democrats. Haldeman’s reply: Yes, do whatever you need to do to get our agenda through. His only proviso? Don’t ever appear with a Democrat on the front page of The Washington Post.

Now, the idea of putting national interests ahead of party politics doesn’t seem to even occur to the most anti-wildlife lawmakers in Congress, who launch attack after attack against the Endangered Species Act.

To date, the current Congress has introduced more than 63 bills that would weaken or gut the act. These efforts to undermine one of our bedrock environmental laws are entirely wrongheaded. The Endangered Species Act has saved 99 percent of all animals under its protection from extinction and has put hundreds more on the road to recovery. A report from the Center for Biological Diversity found that 85 percent of the North American birds listed under the Endangered Species Act have either increased in numbers or remained stable since being protected.

This is proof that our laws have preserved critical natural resources. But with a pro-fossil fuels and pro-development administration in the White House, and Republicans controlling Congress, this progress is under threat.

We cannot afford to have our crucial conservation laws weakened. Instead, we should hold politicians who would undermine environmental protections accountable, because, as Americans, we value our wildlife and wild places over short-term profits, and we want them preserved for future generations.

A version of this article appeared on December 28, 2017 in the opinion section of The Washington Post as "Republicans' attack on conservation law would shock their conservative predecessors," by Lee Talbot.

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Click on any image for a larger view

Manatees are large, intelligent, aquatic mammals.

Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) are a subspecies of the

West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus).

The Florida manatee is a relative of the elephant. They are grayish brown and have thick, wrinkled skin on which there is often a growth of algae. The manatee's front flippers help them steer, or sometimes crawl, through shallow water. They also have powerful, flat tails that help propel them through the water. Despite their small eyes and lack of prominent ears, manatees see and hear quite well.

Manatees are herbivores, with a diet consisting mostly of sea grasses and freshwater vegetation. There is no vegetation to speak of to feed the manatees in Blue Spring so they must venture into the cool waters of the St. Johns River to forage. Those waters are too cool at present to sustain these mammals so they spend much of their time during cool weather in Florida's warm water springs. Like other grazing animals, Florida manatees play an important role in influencing plant growth in the shallow rivers, bays, estuaries, canals and coastal waters where they live.

Despite the fact that Florida manatees are listed as endangered species throughout their range and protected by intersecting and overlapping Federal and State statutes, and notwithstanding the fact that Blue Spring is a spectacular natural feature, little has been done to protect the spring and its life-saving flow of warm 72° F (22° C), fresh water from relentless, reckless, and pointless development. Blue Spring is only accessible through one of the most sprawl-ridden cities in Central Florida (Orange City).

A ride into Orange City from I-4 along any of the access roads (SR 472, E. Graves Ave., Saxon Blvd., Dirksen Drive) is a ride through litter strewn roadways and back-to-back strip malls built atop sensitive sand hills that could barely support the springs before millions of humans flocked to the areas in the past 20 years. It is development for the sake of development. . . more sprawl to entice more development to induce a larger tax base. The natural environment does not figure into these political decisions.

A boardwalk through the hammock at Blue Spring.

The 2,600 acre park seems a world away from the strip-mall haven

of Orange City, only a few miles to the east.

Manatee Cleaning Station

This manatee was resting at a floating dock receiving a cleaning

from a school of hungry brim or bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus).

Sabal Palms (the Florida State Tree) along the Blue Spring Run.

Many species of fish had also sought refuge in the warm waters of Blue Spring. Here a school of tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) move toward the spring boil.

The boil at Blue Spring, or the cavern from which the water flows, hosted at least a dozen manatees who had made their way down the run to bask in the warmth and protection of this terminus of the Blue Spring run. The flow at Blue Spring remains high despite the lack of rain since Hurricane Irma in September. About 100,000,000 gallons of water per day are discharged from the spring according to the latest measurements (below). This provides plenty of life-saving warmth for the manatees.

Manatee Island

Above: In several places along the run the manatees were working together to dig holes in the shallow water. . .or were they just playing? Regardless, they resembled their close cousins, elephants, when grouped in masses of 10 - 20 individuals.

Manatees are capable of understanding discrimination tasks, and show signs of complex associated learning and advanced long term memory. They demonstrate complex intelligence similar to dolphins and all other marine mammals.

No humans are allowed in the waters of Blue Spring between November 15 and March 15 in order to protect the manatees. Humans are advised to check out the Manatee Cam at Save the Manatee Club if they wish to see what it looks like under the water:

SAVE THE MANATEE CAM

Above and Below: I am especially fond of the young manatees and their delightfully playful behavior.

Below: A family basks in the warm Florida sun on an otherwise cool day. The high temperature today was 53° F (11½° C). The sun only rose to a relatively shallow 42.1° in the southern sky. Still, that is a decent enough elevation to create some warmth despite the cool airmass. Consider that today the sun only rose to 30° in New York and 28.8° in Chicago.

The nearer the St. Johns River the more opaque the water. Still, many manatee were visible hanging out very near where the spring run flows into the cool river. Presumably they rush out for some fresh vegetation and then rush back into the warm waters of the spring.

Below: A sabal palm had fallen into the spring run and was a popular spot for passing manatees who completely stripped the palm fronds from the downed tree.

Very close to the St. Johns River a couple of manatees came up to gawk at the gawking photographer.

So how did I know there were 238 manatees in Blue Spring today? I could have checked out the latest manatee update at SAVE THE MANATEE CLUB, which counted between 277 and 328 over the past few days. But I referred to the big bulletin board at the park entrance which noted how many individual manatees park staff had recorded that morning.

Fire Cats and the Sonoran Angels Rescuing Them

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — When a firestorm swept down the hillsides of Sonoma County, bringing terror to this tight grid of thousands of homes, dogs tended to rush to their masters.

But cats went in the opposite direction, ignoring the pleas of panicked owners and disappearing amid the chaotic evacuation.

Finding the missing cats that fled the October wildfires has been an impassioned quest for Jennifer Petruska, an animal lover whose home, pets included, was one of the few in her neighborhood to be spared.

The Tubbs fire that tore through Wine Country in Fall 2017

from Marcus Yam one of our favorite California photographers, on twitter

Ms. Petruska has spent nearly every night since the fires tracking and trapping fire cats, as she calls them, the felines that for weeks have remained missing because of stubbornness, trauma, instinct, or a mix of all three.

Catching cats can be tricky in the best of circumstances but she and her team of volunteers have caught more than 70. They believe many dozens more are on the loose.

Jennifer Petruska, left, and Barbara Gray set a trap in Santa Rosa, Calif. Ms. Petruska is coordinating an effort to find cats lost during the wildfire. Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Pet Rescue and Reunification, as the volunteers call themselves, have set up night-vision cameras in storm drains and creek beds, where many cats went into hiding. Every evening at dusk they set traps baited with tuna and mackerel, checking them hourly until dawn.

“If you want to catch a cat you have to stay up all night — that’s just the name of the game,” Ms. Petruska said as she prepared for another dark and cold round of cat stalking. “I’ve been a horrible insomniac my whole life, so it suits me.”

Coffey Park, the neighborhood where Ms. Petruska is focusing her efforts, may as well have been struck by a bomb. Well over 1,000 homes were leveled. Ms. Petruska and her team say they realize that with nearly 5,000 homes destroyed in the Santa Rosa area alone their effort is ancillary to the grieving and massive effort of reconstruction that is only just beginning.

The bleak landscape of charred lots is still teeming with creatures stealthily crawling throughout the night, mostly unseen.

A cat that was found at the Journeys End Mobile Park in Santa Rosa.

Photo Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Ms. Petruska says she knows there are still many cats on the loose because her motion-activated cameras capture them nearly every night, along with a parade of other nocturnal animals such as skunks, opossums and raccoons.

To the families who lost everything, recounting how Ms. Petruska helped recover their cats often brings tears.

“I just wanted my cat — that was the only thing I wanted back,” said Kelly Stinson, whose home in Coffey Park was destroyed. “I spent hours every single day looking for her.“

Ms. Petruska located Evy and after an evening of coaxing returned a day later and grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck.

Sara Ratekin, a veterinarian who has treated many of the cats rescued by Ms. Petruska’s team, says the fires have shown the ability of cats to survive perilous circumstances. Captured fire cats often arrive in her office with burned paws, singed whiskers — and many pounds lighter than before the fire.

Unlike dogs, cats have an instinct to flee when they sense danger, Dr. Ratekin said.

Volunteers posted flyers of cats found in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.

Photo Jim Wilson/The New York Times

“I can explain why they ran away,” she said. “But I can’t explain why they became so wild so quickly.”

In August, during the flooding in Houston caused by Hurricane Harvey, cats were spotted by rescue workers swimming or floating on furniture and debris trying to find high ground.

When emergency medical workers showed up at flooded homes, dogs would often greet them at the door, tails wagging, said Katie Jarl, the Texas director of The Humane Society of the United States.

If cats were still home they would often be hiding — and when discovered would need significant coaxing to leave.

”No matter if it’s fires or flooding, or any type of natural disaster, cats will often hide,” Ms. Jarl said. “It can be days or weeks before they re-emerge.”

Barbara Gray, right, and her daughter Kelly searched through a burned property where cat traps had been set out earlier.

Photo Jim Wilson/The New York Times

To lure Santa Rosa’s fire cats back into domestic life, Ms. Petruska assembles personality profiles of each cat she stalks. One cat likes the sound of whipped cream fizzing from a can. She carries a can in her car. Another cat answers to the sound of the crinkling of a bag of a specific brand of cat treats. She carries the treats.

Unsurprisingly the most effective lure appears to be fish. Ms. Petruska soaks socks in the juices from cans of mackerel and hangs them from trees.

On a recent evening at dusk, she drove through the countless rows of burned out houses to a neighborhood near a small creek. In near freezing temperatures, she hauled a cat trap across the molten remains of a home, careful to step over pieces of roofing and other remnants jutting up through the rubble. She passed a random assortment of household items laid bare in the detritus — a solitary teacup, a blackened metal colander and the burned out remains of a washer and dryer — before setting up a metal trap.

The Tubbs fire that tore through Wine Country in Fall 2017

from Marcus Yam one of our favorite California photographers, on twitter

By morning the trap was still empty. But she has persisted, working through the holidays.

Around 10 fire cats have been found without any clues as to their owners; they are being kept at Sonoma County’s animal services department.

She has found cats even after owners gave up the search. Cindy Fulwider fled her home in the early hours of Oct. 9 as embers the size of golf balls rained down. She was convinced that her cat, whom she calls Sweet Baby, had perished. Then she got a call five weeks after the fire from one of Ms. Petruska’s team.

“I really thought we would never see him again,” Ms. Fulwider said.

A version of this article appears in print on January 2, 2018, on Page A8 of the New York Times New York edition with the headline: Skittish and Skulking, California’s ‘Fire Cats’ Prove Hard to Corral. The article has been paraphrased with additional photos and links.

Redneck, The Red-eared Slider Turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) is back, and moodier than ever. He seems to want me to know that he is both in charge of his destiny, and mine. That is to say he wants me to know I should arrive on time for afternoon feedings, daily.

Redneck and all turtles should be in brumation now (hibernation) but because of our warming climate we went from relatively cold, by Florida standards to hot and humid almost overnight first week of January 2018. The hot and humid gets reptiles and amphibians moving again.

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How do we garden in a time of climate change?

Very purposefully. So two weeks ago a big freeze was forecast for Central Florida. For the most part that freeze did not materialize but it was relatively cold for a week. Overnight the winds shifted from the south and the Florida peninsula instantly became warm and humid again. Next week there might be another flip flop of temperatures and humidities. This pattern, along with more frequent droughts, is becoming more prevalent with climate change.

Almost everything I do in the garden is now done in contained spaces with clay-enriched soils to hold moisture as our climate grows hotter and drier. It is impossible to have the expansive tropical gardens that we once enjoyed at this latitude without massive irrigation.

Above: Redneck, waiting for me to put down the camera and get the food out.

Redneck finds his food from below the surface of the water. His eyesight is poor out of water.

The essay intercut in italics with my Redneck-the-Red-eared-Slider-Turtle images was excerpted and paraphrased from James Barilla's

Gardening for Climate Change

It seemed to me that everything I knew about gardening, and much of what I enjoyed, was based on a set of assumptions about the climate. But it's different now. We have to figure out how to garden with new seasons, such as they are. Extreme gardening for a now extreme climate.

I’m just beginning to figure out the practical implications of this adaptive approach, but the point seems pretty clear to me: keeping things alive that won’t survive otherwise. Climate change is going to force us to work hard at something Homo sapiens have never been very good at: keeping other species around.

An urban garden is a good place to start. It’s the kind of place that already bears little resemblance to what might have existed before humans came along. Nearby parking lots absorb heat, while buildings cast shade, moderating temperature swings. Water flows along curbs and down drains. Even the soil is different; concrete sidewalks neutralize acidity, encouraging plants that wouldn’t grow here otherwise. New communities of species arise in these conditions.

Can you see Redneck in the photo above (hint: Look at bottom right)

One study conducted in Davis, Calif., found that 29 of 32 native butterflies in that city breed on nonnative plants. Thirteen of these butterfly species have no native host plants in the city; they persist there because nonnative plants support them. If we are seeking lessons about ecological resilience in a time of deep and unsettling change, the place to look is right outside our door.

Extreme gardening means making the yard hospitable for as many species as possible, without worrying so much about whether they originally belonged there or not. I used to think that tearing out turf and making room for native species was the best thing I could do. But things aren’t that simple anymore. It doesn’t make sense to think in terms of native and nonnative when the local weather vacillates so abruptly. A resilient garden is a diverse garden.

We face the peculiar irony of species that are disappearing across their native range but flourishing elsewhere. The peregrine falcon, which disappeared from the rugged cliffs of the eastern United States in the mid-1960s because of the effects of the pesticide DDT, is thriving today partly because of its affinity for nesting on bridges and buildings in our cities. This phenomenon of species movement and adaptation is likely to become commonplace as the climate changes.

Creating a resilient garden means paying attention to the life histories of individual species and how they interact with others in the community. What benefits, like nectar or shelter, do they provide? Are they likely to crowd out other species? What kind of help do they need from us to withstand wild fluctuations in temperature and moisture? A gardener who asks these kinds of questions mixes things up, leaving some parts of the yard untouched while weeding and enriching the soil in others.

Fostering localized diversity doesn’t mean ignoring what is happening outside our own neighborhoods. In fact, we can shape our yards to help address these bigger issues. For example, there’s a hot, sandy patch in front of our house that I’ve reserved for introducing sandhill milkweed, a favorite host for monarch butterflies as they migrate. Monarchs are being hammered by extreme weather and habitat loss across their native range.

James Barilla is he author of “My Backyard Jungle: The Adventures of an Urban Wildlife Lover Who Turned His Yard Into Habitat and Learned to Live With It,” and an associate professor of creative writing at the University of South Carolina. A version of these excerpts appeared in print on May 4, 2014, on page SR5 of the New York edition of The New York Times with the headline: Gardening for Climate Change, by James Barilla.

SANDHILL CRANES STRUGGLE
TO SURVIVE
HUMANS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The family of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) that nest behind our woods has been reduced by one in recent days. Above and below Mother, Father and two colts (babies) forage for food in our cul-de-sac. The babies were born months before 'normal.' We would not expect Sandhill Crane colts until March in our former climate.

A couple of days later I can only find one colt with the two adults in their nesting area about 500 feet from the berm of our lake. Note that the lake is mostly dry and the cranes are nesting in a swampy area of Sand Weed aka St. Johns Wort (yellow flowers) and swamp grass.

In the image below I've put a large blue arrow to point out the only remaining crane colt I see. While the cranes have excellent camouflage they are no match for hungry raccoons that prowl these areas. The juvenile crane cannot yet fly to flee predators.

The young cranes are vulnerable to many predators most notably raccoons and foxes. I spent a long time watching with long lens trained on the general area of the crane's nest and never saw the second colt.

Raccoons have been particularly troublesome this year. They have lost any real fear of humans and are extremely aggressive. We have taken extreme measures to try and control the raccoons in our area and are starting to see fewer of the menacing mammals.

Due to raccoons adaptability they have extended their range from forests into coastal marshes and urban areas.

Oprah for President

Oprah for president in 2020Here's everything you need to know."Their Time Is Up!"

Here is a full transcript of Ms. Winfrey’s spectacular speech:

Ah! Thank you. Thank you all. O.K., O.K. Thank you, Reese. In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee, watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history: “The winner is Sidney Poitier.” Up to the stage came the most elegant man I had ever seen. I remember his tie was white, and of course his skin was black. And I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that. And I’ve tried many, many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl — a kid watching from the cheap seats, as my mom came through the door bone-tired from cleaning other people’s houses. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation’s in Sidney’s performance in “Lilies of the Field”: “Amen, amen. Amen, amen.” In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B. DeMille Award right here at the Golden Globes, and it is not lost on me that at this moment there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award.
It is an honor, and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of them, and also with the incredible men and women who’ve inspired me, who’ve challenged me, who’ve sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible. Dennis Swanson, who took a chance on me for “A.M. Chicago”; Quincy Jones, who saw me on that show and said to Steven Spielberg, “Yes, she is Sophia in ‘The Color Purple’”; Gayle, who’s been the definition of what a friend is; and Stedman, who’s been my rock — just a few to name. I’d like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, because we all know that the press is under siege these days.
But we also know that it is the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice. To tyrants and victims and secrets and lies. I want to say that I value the press more than ever before, as we try to navigate these complicated times. Which brings me to this: What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I’m especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories. Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell. And this year we became the story. But it’s not just a story affecting the entertainment industry. It’s one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics or workplace.
So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault, because they — like my mother — had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic workers and farmworkers; they are working in factories and they work in restaurants, and they’re in academia and engineering and medicine and science; they’re part of the world of tech and politics and business; they’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military.
And they’re someone else: Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know, too. In 1944, Recy Taylor was a young wife and a mother. She was just walking home from a church service she’d attended in Abbeville, Ala., when she was abducted by six armed white men, raped and left blindfolded by the side of the road, coming home from church. They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her story was reported to the N.A.A.C.P., where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice. But justice wasn’t an option in the era of Jim Crow. The men who tried to destroy her were never persecuted. Recy Taylor died 10 days ago, just shy of her 98th birthday. She lived, as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. And for too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up. Their time is up.
And I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth — like the truth of so many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now tormented — goes marching on. It was somewhere in Rosa Parks’s heart almost 11 years later, when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery. And it’s here with every woman who chooses to say, “Me too.” And every man — every man — who chooses to listen. In my career, what I’ve always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film, is to say something about how men and women really behave: to say how we experience shame, how we love and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere, and how we overcome. And I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning — even during our darkest nights.
So I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, ‘Me too’ again. Thank you.”

Killian Belliard

Le barbu musclé

(the bearded muscle)

This 20-something bearded Frenchman has set instagram on fire with his sometimes titillating photo essays, and 350+ thousand followers.

@alexphotographe

Alexis Salgues Photography

Beillard is a model and personal trainer who is part of Summer Brothers. The group of 20-something French models produce visually-stunning and titillating images that appear in books, magazines and on the internet (link: @pascalpprl to purchase Summer Brothers books or prints)

Check out photographer

PASCALPPRL on the web

@pascalpprl

to buy the Summer Brothers Collection

and

on instagram to follow

@pascalpprl

A beautifully colored bird of southern and tropical wetlands, the Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinicus) can be seen walking on top of floating vegetation or clambering through dense shrubs. Its extremely long toes help it walk on lily pads without sinking. All of the photos here are from the large colony of Purple Gallinule's that live on the north shore of Lake Harris in the area around Venetian Gardens.

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Purple Gallinules are swamphen in the rail family, Rallidae. Also known locally as the yellow-legged gallinule. Some people refer to them as a 'Coot' because they do resemble a coot, only one that has much more elaborately colored plumage.

The species inhabits warm swamps and marshes in the southeastern states of the United States but is not widespread in Florida. It also inhabits the tropical regions of Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. This species is resident in Florida and the tropics, but most North American gallinules are migratory, wintering south to Argentina. Not so this flock which seems quite content on Lake Harris.

They nest on a floating structure in marshes. Five to ten eggs, buff with brown spots, are laid. American purple gallinules are omnivorous; their diet includes a wide variety of plant and animal matter, including seeds, leaves and fruits of both aquatic and terrestrial plants, as well as insects, frogs, snails, spiders, earthworms and fish.

The flock on Lake Harris is very vocal, playful and friendly, likely because they've been fed by humans for some time.

Where to See Purple Gallinules in Florida?

To get a good look at the flock pictured here arrive in Leesburg about an hour before dark. Just west of the Leesburg Regional Medical Center on SR44 take Dixie Avenue and park along Dozler Circle or Ball Park Road. This will be the beginning point of a mile long (each way) walk through the old amusement park gardens and lagoons.

Walk the trail from the north parking area at Venetian Gardens south to Ski Beach (on Lake Harris Drive). You won't be disappointed. In this little cove of giant Lake Harris you'll walk over many bridges and see all sorts of wildlife, especially birds, but most vocal and entertaining will be the Purple Gallinules. They are either mating or playing, chasing one another across the cow lilys along the nearshore of the lake. Some will walk up to you and demand food.

They talk. A lot. They sound more like a troop of moneys than birds, and that is part of their charm. Their awkward feet will remind you of a chicken's feet, only larger, and you'll be amazed at how they manage to swim without any webbing on their feet. Their swim is awkward, but effective.

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Oprah for President in 2020?

Here's everything you need to know.

Florida Governor's Shameless Political Play on Oil Drilling

. . .or not Oil Drilling

is he for it or Against it?

The Definition of Arbitrary and Capricious

Decision to exempt Florida from Offshore Oil Drilling Prompts Bipartisan Uproar

The Trump administration’s decision to exempt Florida from expanded offshore drilling kicked off a frenzy Wednesday, January 10, 2108, in other coastal states, with governors from both political parties asking: Why not us?

“We cannot afford to take a chance with the beauty, the majesty and the economic value and vitality of our wonderful coastline,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R), who backed President Trump in his state’s competitive 2016 primary, said in a statement.

“Not Off Our Coast,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) wrote in a tweet. “We’ve been clear: this would bring unacceptable risks to our economy, our environment, and our coastal communities.”

The Florida carve-out, announced Tuesday by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, created new doubts about the fate of the entire offshore drilling decision — and immediately became another challenge for Republicans as they work to hold off Democrats in the midterm elections. Nine of the 11 states that opposed the drilling order have gubernatorial races this year, and many of the most competitive contests for the House of Representatives will unfold in districts that touch coastline.

By Wednesday afternoon, state attorneys general, joined by environmental groups, were suggesting that Zinke had undermined the entire drilling rule with his high-profile visit to Tallahassee, where he heaped praise on “straightforward, easy to work for” Gov. Rick Scott (R) — a political ally whom Trump has repeatedly urged to run for the U.S. Senate.

“The Administrative Procedure Act requires there to be a reasonable rationale behind agency decisions, and that they can’t be arbitrary and capricious,” said Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, referring to a 1946 law governing major regulatory changes. “So, saying Florida is exempt because Rick Scott is straightforward and trustworthy? That Florida’s coastlines are unique? That seems to be the definition of arbitrary and capricious.”

This will be Governor Scott and the GOP's Environmental Legacy

#resist

The Story Behind

Amazing Race 30's

Team Well Strung

We're not sure what the real story is, but suffice to say you won't have to wait for the bathing suit competition on Amazing Race 30 to see more of at least one of this duo. Chris Marchant (right above and more exposed below) has been an underwear model, bartender, and musician in New York City for some time and there are plenty of images of him in much racier positions than he'll ever encounter around Phil on the Amazing Race. A few photos from his social media below.

@chrisjmarchant

on instagram

@chrisjmarchant

on twitter

@wellstrungnycon facebook

Fear of a Plastic Planet

We're Losing the War On Plastics

Despite all the fears about our oceans, the industry expects more demand.

T.V. naturalist Sir David Attenborough made his viewers weep last month with an exposé on how plastics are polluting the oceans, harming marine animals and fish. The World Economic Forum estimates that there will be more pieces of plastic in the world's ocean than there are fish by 2050. And last week, British prime minister Theresa May announced a slew of new measures to discourage plastics use, including plastic-free supermarket aisles and an expanded levy on plastic bags. A ban on microbeads in cosmetics came into force this year. Not to be outdone, the EU is mulling plastics taxes to cut pollution and packaging waste. Is this industry the new tobacco?

It's no wonder politicians feel compelled to act. About 60 percent of all the plastics produced either went to landfill or have been dumped in the natural environment (According to this studyin Science Advances "Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made."). At current rates there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 by weight (Seethis report on The New Plastics Economy.), much of it in the form of small particles, ingestible by wildlife and very difficult to remove.

Public awareness has increased in recent years, yet that hasn't led to falling consumption. More than half of the total plastics production has occurred since the turn of the millennium. Producers such as DowDuPont Inc, Exxon Mobil Corp, LyondellBasell Industries NV and Ineos Group Ltd, as well as packaging manufacturers like Amcor Ltd, Berry Global Group Inc and RPC Group Plc have been happy to meet that demand. They don't plan on it ending suddenly.

Plastic packaging is an almost $290 billion-a-year business and sales are forecast to expand by almost 4 percent a year until 2022, according to research firm Smithers Pira. Demand for polyethylene, the most used plastic, is set to rise at a similar rate, meaning total consumption will rise to 118 million metric tons in 2022, according to IHS Markit. In the U.S., the shale gas boom has encouraged the construction of new ethylene plants. Oil companies are counting too on rising plastics consumption to offset the spread of electric vehicles, as my colleague Julian Lee has explained.

The reasons for the bullishness are obvious. Growing populations, rising living standards and the march of e-commerce mean more demand. In developed countries, per capita polyethylene use is as much as 40 kg per person, whereas in poorer countries like India the figure is just one tenth of that, according to IHS Markit. Plastics are displacing materials like glass and paper because they tend to be cheap, lightweight and sturdy. That plastics don't easily decompose is an asset -- it prevents food going bad -- as well as a liability for the natural environment.

Cutting consumption will be difficult. While bioplastics are an alternative, they make up only about 1 percent of global plastics demand. Quality and cost issues have prevented wider adoption. "A lot of these materials aren't really competitive in a world of low to mid oil prices," says Sebastian Bray, analyst at Berenberg.

Plastic bag levies have proven effective. Britain claims its 5 pence charge means 9 billion fewer plastic bags have been used -- but bags account for just a couple of percentage points of global polyethylene consumption, according to Bernstein analyst Jonas Oxgaard. A tax on plastic packaging probably wouldn't achieve much, he says, because plastic is such a tiny part of the total cost of most products. Recycling technology is improving, but isn't always economic because of the low-value of plastic waste that's collected or the complexity of mixed-material packing (See "Stemming the Tide: Land-based strategies for a plastic- free ocean", page 23.).

That's not to say big changes aren't possible -- or necessary. Last year China said it would halt imports of plastic waste after its recycling industry caused too much local pollution. Unfortunately, one result will be more demand for new plastic resins(to replace what can't be re-purposed) -- a win for plastic producers. Still, China's blockade might prompt developed countries to deal better with their own waste. Europe has exported half the plastics waste it collects, much to China, arguably with insufficient guarantees it would be handled properly.

China is thought to be chief source of plastic pollution entering the world's oceans. About two-thirds of the total probably originates from just 10 emerging market nations (According to this study: "Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean" (Science, 2015). Pressing these countries to improve waste collection would doubtless be more effective in helping the oceans than the U.K.'s plastic-free supermarket aisles. That doesn't get the plastics industry off the hook though. Despite all the heady forecasts, the political tide is moving against it.

A version of this post original appeared as an article on Bloomberg.com, January 15, 2018. It has been paraphrased and revised with additional images here. To contact the original author of this story: Chris Bryant in Berlin at cbryant32@bloomberg.net

Ocean Plastic Pollution

Past, Present, and Future

The amount of plastic in our ocean can seem hard to fathom—it grows by millions of tons every year. But what exactly is the impact of so much plastic? And what can be done about it? The first crucial step will be understanding the effects in detail.

This issue is not unprecedented. We've dealt with persistent environmental pollutants before.

Plastic in the ocean can break down into tiny fragments that often become food for tiny sea creatures, like small fish. They become food for bigger fishes, which in turn ingest and accumulate the same plastic, carrying it on up the food web—and perhaps back to our dinner plates.

Mapping out future ways to deal with this present problem hinges on understanding the past.

What's often lacking in environmental management is a baseline of ecosystem health. To solve a problem you want to know where you've come from, where you are today and how fast you got there.

One way to set baselines is to gather clues from historical wildlife specimens. One current field of research examines the heavy metals built up in seabirds, using specimens dating back over 120 years. We can do the very same thing with plastics, using animals as ocean sensors.

Another key will be refining our knowledge of where ocean plastic pollution ends up, because places where it concentrates—like a subtropical gyre between Hawaii and California (known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch)—may not be the most vital to ocean health.

Rather, it's essential to monitor the ocean's biological hotspots, like a Pacific migratory corridor where cool and warm waters mingle, which is critical for many fish, whales, turtles and birds. We need to understand if there's any transfer of plastic contaminants between the gyres and animals in the hotspots.

Plastic pollution infiltrates the ocean's food web in various ways and can inflict harm both chemically and physically. Untangling these impacts is a complex challenge.

The ocean is full of life, from the surface all the way to the deepest seafloor. Animals are ingesting plastic at all levels.

Not all plastic is buoyant. Some sinks down into the water column. Knowing precisely what that means in terms of impacts and survival for marine animals will require a tremendous amount of scientific legwork.

That may mean ocean monitoring on a vast scale that hasn't seemed possible before. Robots may be part of the solution.

The challenge is finding a way to continuously measure plastic debris in a given part of the ocean, as well as any animals there that might ingest it. Having humans attempt this over a long period of time would be costly as well as exhausting. It may be unrealistic—but perhaps not for autonomous robots someday in the future.

We're Following

Doctor says Trump is 6-3, 239 pounds and the Internet goes wild. Check out these comparisons and figure out whose the liar.

Maybe its the Depends that make Trump look so shorter and fatter?

The results of President Trump’s first formal medical exam since taking office were announced Tuesday, and the big news was that the physician involved, Navy Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, said the 71-year-old president received a perfect score on a cognitive test. However, other announced results were also of interest, particularly to those who couldn’t help but notice that Trump was listed at 6-3 and 239 pounds.

Of course, sports fans are often very well-versed in athletes’ heights and weights, and they are aware that those listed numbers don’t always precisely correlate with reality. For example, Kevin Durant is famously taller than his listed height of 6-9, and toward the end of his playing days, Shaquille O’Neal was widely thought to be far heavier than his listed weight of 324 pounds.

Adding to some online observers’ skepticism that Trump’s measurements were accurate was the fact that 239 pounds, at 6-3, conveniently put his body mass index at 29.9 — just below the 30.0 threshold for him to be officially described as obese, rather than merely overweight. In any event, plenty of Internet users were happy to juxtapose photos of the president with those of athletes with similar listed heights and weights.

Obviously the WH doctor is just as deluded as the President. Nevertheless, some took issue not just with the president’s listed weight, but his height, as well. Photos were posted comparing Trump, at a purported 6-3, to his predecessor, Barack Obama, who was listed at 6-1. Hummm, you decide.

The Sunflower Trees (Tithonia diversifolia) that survived the January freezes have exploded into bloom in the past few days. They now sport thousands of huge flowers (5-6" across; 13-15 cm). The plants are very sweet and are attracting every insect imaginable. As temperatures are back to 'normal' around 80° days and 60° nights the insects are returning.

Don't get too comfortable, however. There is talk of another cold blast coming the second week of February 2018. The cold of January 2018 was unusual for its intensity and duration. Parts of the panhandle went for several days below freezing while the worst of the cold weather dealt a plant-damaging shot of cold air as far south as Lake Okeechobee, before quickly retreating.

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Galápagos Islands

February 2018

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Above: A male Monarch (Danaus plexippus) poses for the camera. Were this a Viceroy (mimic; Limenitis archippus) there would be a black stripe across the hind wings. Viceroys are also smaller than monarchs. I know this is a male because of the small black spot that appears on both of the hind wings. This spot doesn't appear on females.

More on this story
Migration of Monarch Butterflies Shrinks Again
Struggling to survive extreme weather and vanishing habitats, the yearly winter migration of monarch butterflies dwindled precipitously in December 2013, continuing what science say is an an increasingly alarming decline.
The Year the Monarchs Didn't Appear
Monarch butterflies missed the Day of the Dead celebrations for the first time in memory, straggling into Mexico weeks later than usual and in record-low numbers.
The Dying of the Monarch Butterflies
The winter monarch colonies found west of Mexico City are a pitiful remnant of their former splendor.

Below: Similar-looking to Monarchs but more common to Florida is the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae). These are easily identified by the three white spots on each forewing.

Below: There are many less-showy skipper butterflies (family Hesperiidae) swarming the flowers.

Below: A Gulf Fritillary shows its three spots in profile. I like the odd angle of this image.

Click on this image or any image
at Phillip's Natural World for a larger view

Below: The bees appear to become intoxicated by the nectar of the sunflowers. In many instances the bees appear drunk, laying on the petals of the blooms. Dazed, but not dead.

Below: While there are thousands of bees, yellow-jackets, wasps, etcetera swarming the giant sunflower trees, they do not bother me. They are completely focused on the flowers. Most of the flowers are atop the plants at about 20-feet. A few are blooming lower where I can come in close with the camera. Most of these shots, however, were made with a 300 mm lens to get the close-ups you see here.

More on this story

European Agency Warns of Risks to Humans in Pesticides Tied to Bee Deaths

European food regulators say that a class of pesticides called neonicotinoides (nicotine-derived pesticides) linked to the deaths of large numbers of honey bees might also harm human health, and they recommended that the European Commission further restrict their use.

Below: This is a very difficult shot. This is the Zebra Heliconian or Zebra Longwing Butterfly (Heliconius charithonia), Florida's state butterfly. It does not remain still for long and its coloring makes it incredibly difficult for the camera to focus on the butterfly. This pattern is likely an evolutionary adaptation that helps it survive predators as well.

More on this story

Butterfly Colony Evolution

Every night I check on this colony of Zebra Longwing Butterflies roosting on a dead branch of a large live oak tree.

Below: Three different kinds of stinging bees. The largest is likely a carpenter bee. The small green bee on which the camera focused is the most painful stinger, but as I said above, it was not interested in me.

Below: Another Gulf Fritillary.

Below: An incoming bee. Winter has been virtually non-existent in Central Florida this year. There have been only two nights with light frost, and no cool weather forecast for the foreseeable future.

Below: My favorite butterfly has returned in large numbers to feast on the sunflower trees. This is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus).

Below: A better shot of a Tiger Swallowtail. They prefer the very top blooms which are at a difficult angle for the photographer. Most of the blooms are stretching southward to face the sun while at an elevation of 20-25 feet (6-7½ meters).

Below: A Gulf Fritillary takes off, high in the canopy of blooms. The camera caught her just enough to show her deep orange color. The younger butterflies are a deeper color. Like everything else in Florida their color fades as it is baked by the relentless sunshine.

Seven charts that explain the plastic pollution problem

Marine life is facing irreparable damage from the millions of tons of plastic waste that ends up in the oceans each year, the United Nations has warned.

"This is a planetary crisis. . . we are ruining the ecosystem of the oceans," UN oceans chief Lisa Svensson says.

But how does this happen, where is most at risk and what damage does this plastic actually do?

Why is plastic problematic?

Plastic as we know it has only really existed for the last 60-70 years, but in that time it has transformed everything from clothing, cooking and catering, to product design, engineering and retailing.

One of the great advantages of many types of plastic is that they're designed to last - for a very long time.

And nearly all the plastic ever created still exists in some form today.

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In July a paper published in the journal Science Advances by industrial ecologist Dr Roland Geyer, from the University of California in Santa Barbara, and colleagues, calculated the total volume of all plastic ever produced at 8.3 billion tons.

Of this, some 6.3 billion tons is now waste - and 79% of that is in landfill or the natural environment.

Boycott Coca Cola:

Most discarded plastic bottles are produced by Coca Cola

This vast amount of waste has been driven by modern life, where plastic is used for many throwaway or "single use" items, from drinks bottles and diapers to cutlery and q-tips.

Four billion plastic bottles...

Drinks bottles are one the most common types of plastic waste. Some 480 billion plastic bottles were sold globally in 2016 - that's a million bottles per minute.

Of these, 110 billion were made by drinks giant Coca Cola.

Some countries are considering moves to reduce consumption.

Proposals in the UK include deposit-return schemes, and the improvement of free-drinking water supplies in major cities, including London.

So how much plastic waste ends up in the sea?

It's likely that about 10 million tons of plastic currently ends up in the oceans each year.

In 2010 scientists from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and the University of Georgia in Athens estimated the figure as 8 million tons, and forecast that to rise to 9.1 million tons by 2015.

The same study, published in the journal Science in 2015, surveyed 192 coastal countries contributing to ocean plastic waste, and found that Asian nations were 13 of the 20 biggest contributors.

China was top of the list of countries mismanaging plastic waste, but the US also featured in the top 20 and contributed a higher rate of waste per person.

Plastic waste accumulates in areas of the ocean where winds create swirling circular currents, known as gyres, which suck in any floating debris.

There are five gyres around the globe, but the best known is probably the North Pacific gyre.

It is estimated debris takes about six years to reach the centre of the North Pacific gyre from the coast of the US, and about a year from Japan.

All five gyres have higher concentrations of plastic rubbish than other parts of the oceans.

They are made up of tiny fragments of plastic, which appear to hang suspended below the surface - a phenomenon that has led it to being described as plastic soup.

And the hard-wearing qualities of most plastics means that some items can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.

However, there are moves to clean up the North Pacific gyre. An operation led by a non-profit organization Ocean Cleanup is due to begin in 2018.

How bad are things in the UK?

The Marine Conservation Society found 718 pieces of litter for every 100 meter stretch of beach surveyed during their recent Great British Beach Clean Up. That was a 10% increase on last year.

Rubbish from food and drink constituted at least 20% of all litter collected,the MCS reported.

The origin of a lot of the litter is difficult to trace, but the public contributes about 30%. "Sewage-related debris,"or items flushed down toilets that should have been put in the trash, amounted to some 8.5%.

Why is plastic so harmful to marine life?
For sea birds and larger marine creatures like turtles, dolphins and seals, the danger comes from being entangled in plastic bags and other debris, or mistaking plastic for food.

Turtles cannot distinguish between plastic bags and jellyfish, which can be part of their diet. Plastic bags, once consumed, cause internal blockages and usually result in death.

Larger pieces of plastic can also damage the digestive systems of sea birds and whales, and can be potentially fatal.

Over time, plastic waste slowly degrades and breaks down into tiny micro-fragments which are also causing scientists concern.

A recent survey by Plymouth University found that plastic was found in a third of UK-caught fish, including cod, haddock, mackerel and shellfish.

This can result in malnutrition or starvation for the fish, and lead to plastic ingestion in humans too.

The effect on humans of eating fish containing plastic is still largely unknown.

But in 2016 the European Food Safety Authority warned of an increased risk to human health and food safety "given the potential for micro-plastic pollution in edible tissues of commercial fish."

We've Read

Justin Timberlake savaged over forgettable Super Bowl 2018 performance

This should have been a triumphant week for Justin Timberlake.

His fifth album Man of the Woods - billed as a return to the singer's Tennessee roots - came out on Friday, and he played the Super Bowl Half Time Show two days later, making him the only artist to grace the coveted stage three times.

But both the record and his performance have been savaged by critics. Here's a sample of the comments.

On Man of the Woods:

"We are now approaching the 12th year of the national delusion that Justin Timberlake remains an essential pop star." [New York Times]

"A noncommittal shrug of an album."[Stereogum]

"There's no refuge from the lyrics, which in many places engender the same mix of emotions you'd confront upon walking in on your parents having sex." [Pitchfork]

Aesthetically and ethically, Timberlake's magic didn't take. It seemed like he'd cast the wrong spell, making himself invisible within swarms of dancers." [NPR]

"He was a man in the weeds, scrambling through his archives to find any moment that might connect with an audience that, in substantial part, hasn't lived with his music." [Time Magazine]

"The show is almost over. And then it is. And a feeling of togetherness washes over us, a feeling of certainty that we all just witnessed something unambiguously underwhelming." [Washington Post]

What Went Wrong

Timberlake must be wondering what went wrong. Because, truth be told, there's nothing egregiously bad about either Man of the Woods or his Super Bowl performance. They're just... disappointing.

The backlash feels bigger than a commentary on his music. There's a mockery and a cruelty that feels personal - as though people had a lingering resentment towards the star, and they've suddenly been given licence to express it.

For some, it goes back to his relationship with Britney Spears. After they broke up, he made music and videos that traded on their story and told several interviewers he'd taken her virginity - a personal detail that wasn't his to share.

For others, it's about his failure to support Janet Jackson after exposing her breast to millions of TV viewers at the 2004 Super Bowl.

Timberlake's half-hearted acknowledgement of that moment at this year's show did not go unnoticed.

"He chose to perform the song Rock Your Body, during which the famous wardrobe malfunction took place, and yet he didn't mention Janet: He didn't shout her out, and he stopped the song right before the line during which he ripped off her costume,"pop critic Ann Powers told NPR.

"It was almost like he was trying to erase what had happened in the past, but that is just not flying in 2018."

"The Super Bowl performance invited people to reflect on the time Justin threw Janet Jackson under a bus, and what that said about race and gender," agrees Peter Robinson, editor of Popjustice.

Timberlake 'stumbled through' nipplegate

Timberlake touches down at Super Bowl

Super Bowl: Selfie Kid's big moment

Timberlake has also been criticised for his fumbled response to the #TimesUp movement.

He starred in Woody Allen's latest film, Wonder Wheel, but appeared not to consider the moral implications of working with the director, who has been accused of sexual abuse by his adopted daughter.

"I chose to not get into it,"he told The Hollywood Reporter. "I really don't dive into any of that stuff with anybody."

He later appeared at the Golden Globes wearing a Time's Up badge, but appeared to miss the point of the movement, sharing a picture of himself and his wife Jessica Biel captioned: "DAMN, my wife is hot! #TIMESUP #whywewearblack"

"He's spectacularly misjudged this comeback in a lot of different ways," says Laura Snapes, deputy music editor at The Guardian.

"It's a terrible mess of things to do with racial signifiers and gender signifiers.

"At this point in time, we're expecting pop stars to be spokespeople on a certain level, and he's definitely not living up to that."

Last month, in an article for New York Magazine, the critic Molly Fischer dubbed this phenomenon "Pop Culture's Great Awokening".

It has become "impossible to discuss contemporary pop culture" without weighing such concerns as "racial, cultural, sexual, and gender identities", she argued. And what's more, we expect our artists to reflect that conversation.

It's a theme that derailed Katy Perry's album campaign last year - after making a gesture towards political activism on the single Chained To The Rhythm, she retreated to familiar territory with Bon Appetit, a cartoonish ode to oral sex.

"It's interesting how Katy was demolished for trying to be woke and Justin's being criticised for not trying at all," says Peter Robinson.

"In each of those cases, there's been a pack mentality in the media - once they sense blood, it's open season, and so for every pertinent article there end up being 20 that just exist for clicks, or as an exercise in young writers demolishing a previous generation's pop icons.

In Search of the

Galápagos Short-eared Owl

Búho campestre de las Galapagos

Morning wake up call is 6:00 am in the Galápagos because excursions onto these desert islands generally must end before noon when it becomes too hot to walk, hike or anything else (breathe) on the sun-scorched lava. Afternoon excursions begin around 3:00 pm. Everyone has to be off the islands around 6:30 pm (dark).

I'm sailing on the Silver Galapagos, a 4,000 ton (289 ft x 50 ft; 88 m x 15 m) all-suites, luxurious cruise ship. However, the luxury is kind of lost on me because of the 6:00 am wake up calls, the long hikes, and the miserably hot and humid weather.

From what I've seen thus far there are no deep water ports in the Galápagos so to get to the islands the ship drops anchor, twice a day, usually in a sea-filled caldera of an ancient, dormant volcano. Each island has this circular, deep-water feature. From the anchorage passengers disembark to small inflatable boats (zodiacs). From my penthouse suite it is 60-feet down to sea level. The last 20 feet are down a steep, swaying and rocking wooden ladder to a wave-splashed wooden platform. On the platform crew and guides grab and drop passengers to the zodiacs bobbing in the sea. This is the daily routine from the Silver Galapagos to whatever island we're visiting, twice a day, early morning and late afternoon.

For those thinking about this trip I'm in suite 603, Silver Suite Class, adjacent to the spa and gym. All of my dispatches will be referencing my experience in this suite.

According to the Galapagos National Park Rules (Parque Nacional Galápagos y Reserva Marina), visitors must be accompanied by a naturalist guide. Visitors must stay 6 feet from all wildlife, no flash photography, and no commercial photography unless so-authorized. What? Yeah. Lots more rules here: Galapagos National Park Rules. I never signed any release so my photos contain my standard copyright. Its worth mentioning that Silversea asks all the passengers to sign a photographic release so that passengers images can be used for promotional material and in films and videos that are being made during voyages. I did not sign that release either.

On our excursions the guides try to keep the groups to 12 visitors per guide, or less. The preferred language is English and it is spoken easily by most guides and most passengers from around the world. The crew and all guides are Ecuadorian.

The groups-of-12-or-less can be a real problem if you get paired with a group that you do not wish to spend hours with, as you are generally paired with them for the duration of your 4-hour excursion to and from the islands. I learned this early on and I try to position myself so that I get with groups that are less offensive to my sensibilities.

This is one of the drawbacks of a $15,000+ per person, excursion cruise. There are less than 100 passengers and an equal number of crew. If there are passengers who do not share your sensibilities it is difficult to escape them on such a small boat.

I'm a liberal, progressive, middle-class nature lover so if I get paired with a group of rich, boorish, obnoxious conservatives who won't shut up about politics, its a problem. Also I've been paired with some who are racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynist and rude. The pairings make for less than ideal cruising and exploring conditions. Silversea didn't mention the passenger grouping protocol in the brochures. There have been no fist fights so far but harsh words have been shared.

To be clear. There is no protocol. It is first-come-first on to zodiacs and whomever you get on the zodiac with you are paired with them for the next 4 hours. For the money I think they could do a 100-question survey for guests and gauge from the answers who might fit better with whom and so-group them.

Galápagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) are everywhere

Very few tourists. This was a good group. Some are not.

The guide-to-tourist groups quickly break apart when there is an injury, which happens. It reminds me of fish bait balls: small fish swarm tightly packed into spherical formations about a common center in a last-ditch defensive measure when threatened by predators. When the predator attacks, everything falls apart. Same thing happens with these human groups touring the Galápagos, tightly packed with guides until there's a problem then chaos and the group dynamic quickly falls apart. Soon there are smaller groups, milling around aimlessly, mixing with other groups. It is a sociological experiment that is fascinating to watch but one that was not anticipated by this traveler.

Located on the equator the Galápagos are hot year round. This year my visit should be during warm-wet season (January-March) but the wet has been delayed by La Niña so it is just warm and sultry, sticky hot and humid. Nothing will dry. Even aboard ship, in the air conditioning everything is damp. Kind of miserable weather like Florida in August.

Today's morning excursion is a search for the Galapagos short-eared owl.

The literature says the best place to see the owls is on Isla Genovesa in the far NE of the archipelago. The Silver Galapagos dropped anchor in the caldera of the island. The caldera feature is now called "Great Darwin Bay" and we are set to hike across a small peninsula (lacking any name that I can find) to the south-facing beaches where the owls prey on storm petrols.

Prince Philip's Steps

To get to the beaches we have to first land on rocks. Yeah. Rocks. Its not easy. We are hoisted ashore by crew members, one-by-one we take our position on the wet rocks. From there it is up an extraordinary steep path "Prince Philip's Steps" to the Nazca Booby rookery 25 m (82 feet) above sea level. Once there we hike through the seabird colony on very unstable lava. This lava is as unstable as you will find. Huge 1 ton slabs of lava shift underfoot. For this "hike" I use 2 hiking poles and carefully choose every step.

The Galapagos short-eared owl (Asio flammeus galapagoensis; Búho campestre de las Galápagos) is a sub-species of the short-eared owl, a bird which found on all continents except Antarctica. Galapagos short-eared owls are endemic to the Galápagos Islands and, as is frequently the case with Galápagos endemics, their coloration is darker and they are smaller than their mainland counterparts. They are not present where there are Galapagos hawks. The hawk and owl do not coexist peacefully.

Galápagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis)

I guess Thomas didn't sign the photographic release either.

The owl's name arises from the small ear tufts set near the center of their forehead. They have a wingspan of 85-100 cm and are silent fliers. The sexes are alike, with the females generally larger than the males, and immature plumage resembling that of the adults.

They are found in open areas of grassland or lava rock, and hunt by flying low over these areas, feeding on rats, lava lizards, and birds. Most owls hunt at night, however the Galápagos short-eared owl has adapted to hunt in the daytime as well, to avoid competition with the Galápagos hawk. They are able to hunt birds much larger than themselves, such as boobies, by striking at the back of the neck, taking the bird by surprise.

Nazca booby with newborn chick. The nest is minimalist.

The Galápagos short-eared owl has developed a unique hunting behavior on Genovesa island, at the storm petrel rookery. The petrels nest deep in tunnels in the lava rock, usually out of reach of the owls. However the owls have learned to stalk nearby, watching the petrels as they enter and leave the tunnels. The owls then wait close by for the petrel to leave the tunnel and catch them unaware. Another technique they use is to hide in the entrance of the tunnel to grab a petrel as it flies in.

They tend to nest under trees and shrubs, and have one clutch per year of two to four eggs. The eggs hatch in three to six weeks, and the young are ready to fledge at four weeks old. The juvenile birds are ready to mate and reproduce after their first birtday. Their population was estimated to be around 9,000 pairs in the 1980s, but further research is needed to calculate their current numbers.

Hiking across the barren plains of Isla Genovesa, Galápagos

Where to see them: The Galápagos short-eared owl is wide-spread throughout the Archipelago, and have been known to fly between islands. They are most frequently seen hunting in the seabird colonies of Genovesa. Above, one of my shots of the barren cliffs and caves of Genovesa Island. We hiked across this bleak landscape in search of the owls.

When to see them: They can be seen at any time of year. They are most active at night and early in the morning on most islands, and they can be seen in the day time on islands where the Galápagos hawk is absent.

Threats: The biggest threat to the Galápagos short-eared owl is the predation of their eggs by introduced rats.

Conservation action: None. IUCN Red List Least Concern.

I finally spot an owl. Now to get him to look my way.

In image I've drawn an arrow to the owl, some 100 m from my position.

Click on the image for a larger view.

We hiked for what seemed like forever across the lava, through a dead-looking "forest" of palo santos trees (no leaves due to drought), through the Nazca Booby (Sula granti) rookery.

The seabird colonies are exposed on the rock, nests of nothing more than a worn down patch of lava and dust. The owls are out there somewhere, but we're not seeing them.

My socks and boots are squishy wet with sweat. I duck behind a rock formation and remove my underwear, letting everything breathe for a few minutes before replacing my hiking pants, now commando.

With a 400mm lens I eventually found a couple of owls, preying on storm petrols. The owl pictured at the top of this post was at the end of the trail, in a cave, missing one eye. I imagined him to be old and not-long-for-this-world but the guides say he has been so afflicted for years and does just fine. The other two owls I find and photographed are larger and healthier-looking (below). They all appear sleepy-eyed.

Success: The owl looks kind of sleepy.

I'm amazed that he finally looked in my direction and I got a clear shot.

Mission accomplished. Despite the aggravation, angst, heat, and difficult hike we see the elusive owl. I consider myself lucky knowing that few will ever visit this place much less catch a glimpse of these magnificent owls.

I sit on a rock staring out toward the South Pacific contemplating the hike back. I've just been informed that the trail is not circular. We must hike back the way we came, the entire 2 miles? Back to Prince Philip's Steps. ARGH! I hear a scream, the guides go running. Another hiker falls victim to the lava. Red blood stains the dusty black lava. The hiking groups fall apart. The guide-to-guests protocol broken again on this excursion to Isla Genovesa as the guides help the injured hiker out.

I am not a group follower so I take off with my hiking partner. Together we accidentally get off trail and into a Nazca booby and Frigate Bird colony. The animals here are completely unafraid of humans. You'd think in the centuries since Darwin they would have learned that most humans are not their friends. They look at us as a mere curiosity. I continue to snap photos as we make our way out. My companion is worried we will miss the boat. I assure him that they won't leave without us, and they don't. On the Silver Galapagos every passenger has a credit card like ID hanging on lanyard around their neck. When you disembark the ship you scan, embarking the ship you scan. They do a good job of keeping track of everyone and they don't depart until everyone is back onboard.

We catch one of the last zodiacs off of this rock and prepare for lunch, siesta, then another 4-hour excursion this afternoon. More on that excursion in my next dispatch from Galápagos.

We're Following

Tom Ford's new collection is tawdry and vulgar and probably what our culture deserves

Where has Tom Ford been living? What cultural landscape, what tasteless void, what kaleidoscopic head space spawned a collection full of searing, raucous colors, patchwork coats, cutout dresses, leopard-print suits, sequin leggings and sparkling door-knocker earrings?

Why does Ford give his male customers a perfect balance of sexy, glamorous sophistication but tart the ladies up like a bunch of honeys, babies, sweethearts, dolls? Sorry, but no, despite a handbag that read “Pussy Power,” these women did not appear to be particularly confident or powerful or self-possessed.

Inside the mean-girls culture that destroyed 'Sex in the City'

Kim Cattrall accuses Sarah Jessica Parker of exploiting her family's grief

After siesta and lunch its time for another Galápagos excursion. This afternoon we're still on Isla Genovesa The Silver Galapagos is anchored in the volcano's massive sea-filled caldera. Around the ship are the 100-foot cliffs of the caldera. It is a very warm afternoon in the Galápagos (tarde caliente de Galápagos).

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Its a short zodiac ride to shore where we disembark onto a small, yellow-sand beach crowded with sea lions and seabirds. The wildlife ignore us. Animals in the Galápagos have no fear of humans. Most of these animals have few if any predators so their peaceful existence is guaranteed and they've learned no fear.

This afternoon's itinerary included a short hike, some snorkeling and a natural history lesson. I'm pretty tired, not being accustomed to getting up at 6:00 am, so the order of events is likely confused. I also don't remember much of the lectures. I know they were mostly about the birds that inhabit this island.

The sea lions move right into all of our crap and rest there, rolling around in the sand. The guides lecture, a lot, about the natural history of the islands and the individual species. I guess for one's $15,000+ most tourists expect educational seminars. Me? I would prefer a lot more hiking and a lot less talking. I can always open a book or search the internet for information on the species in the images I've made after I've seen it all.

It seems we spend an awful lot of time standing, listening to what at times is questionable science. Most dubious would be the argument of many of the guides that humans that inhabit these islands are as important as the other species. That type of argument is not based on scientific evidence. The best way to preserve these unique islands and their endemic species would be to remove all humans, forever, and allow only very limited tourism.

I can only assume the arguments we're hearing are because all of our guides are Ecuadorian and Ecuador is a largely Catholic country where most birth control and abortion are illegal.

Galápagos Sea Lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) and Galápagos Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) ignore each other, and the humans gawking at them. Marine Iguanas are my favorite Galápagos animal. There is something very cat-like about them. They are independent and strong and completely oblivious to humans. They also have a creature-of-the-black-lagoon kind of look that is very beguiling.

Red-Footed Booby

On this afternoon's "hike" we see mostly Frigate Birds and Red Boobies. It is more like walk 20 feet, get 20 minutes of lecture. . .walk another 20 feet. . . another lecture. We're really not covering much real estate.

There are many red boobies (Sula sula). We literally walk through the Red-footed Booby rookery where the birds are actively raising their newborns. It is a very unique experience and one like you won't have anywhere else in the world.

The obvious question is what advantage is there to red feet? What caused this peculiar twist of evolution? We know that the Blue-footed Booby with the bluest feet has a mating advantage. We can assume the same may be true for Red-footed boobies. More on that in a follow-up post. First why the brown morph versus white morph that you see in the image above? Those are both Red-footed boobies but they look very different.

The Red-footed booby is the only polymorphic member of its genus, and mong the three subspecies has five distinct adult color morphs; brown, white, black-tailed white, white-tailed brown, white-headed and white-tailed brown morph.

In the white morph the plumage is mostly white the head often tinged yellowish) and the flight feathers are black. The black-tailed white morph is similar, but with a black tail, and can easily be confused with the Nazca and masked boobies. The brown morph is overall brown. The white-tailed brown morph is similar, but has a white belly, rump, and tail. The white-headed and white-tailed brown morph has a mostly white body, tail and head, and brown wings and back. The morphs commonly breed together, but in most regions one or two morphs predominates; e.g. at the Galápagos Islands, most belong to the brown morph, though the white morph also occurs. We saw plenty of both on a short hike on Genovesa.

These are the smallest of the boobies and also the ones found furthest from land. The species also has the largest eyes of its family (Sulidae) which is likely an adaptation for nocturnal feeding on squid and flying-fish.

On take off Red-footed Boobies are clumsy, but they are strong fliers and agile swimmers often seen fishing many kilometers from land in the open ocean.

After the 'twig dance' a happy couple?

It kind of looks like he's looking at a white morph over on another tree.

Photo: Marion J.

As the day draws to a close we finish our hikes on Genovesa and leave the island for ship. In this image I made with a wide-angle lens from the zodiac, the ship looks tiny in the massive caldera (aka Great Darwin Bay).

We go from rocks (or beach) to zodiacs to ship. Then its time to shower, change and dine. . . and then get up and do it all over again tomorrow at 6:00 am on another island.

We've Read

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Presidential Greatness Rankings

Trump’s rating places him in an ignominious category (disgraceful), but dozens of presidents have had slow starts and have course corrected to improve their public esteem. Beyond his reputation or ranking, Donald Trump’s very presidency may alter perceptions of presidential legacies as his unique approach to the office continues to disgust the majority of Americans.

In ‘McMafia,’ Crime’s Tentacles (and a TV Show) Go Global

The thesis of the show is that gangs have become like corporations. And the gangsters can be transporters, politicians, businessmen, work for intelligence agencies; the lines between the underworld and the overworld have become quite blurred. An international cast and James Norton. Wow. Can't wait. USA premier is February 26, 2018.

The record #ridge pic.twitter.com/N191ZUfxmA
— Stu Ostro (@StuOstro) February 22, 2018

The Day After Tomorrow is Today

Heat Dome on North American East Coast

Bitter Cold Across Europe and the UK

ME and NH set new record highs for the month of Feb yesterday.

In NH the old record was 73 at Nashua on 2/24/2017. The new preliminary record is 77 set at Manchester. #nhwx
In Maine the old record was 68 at Sanford on 2/22/1997. The new preliminary record is 77 at Wells. #mewx pic.twitter.com/CSdWX7g9Z3
— NWS Gray (@NWSGray) February 22, 2018

Records were dropping on the third week of February 2018 amid what appears to be an unprecedented North American ridge of high pressure and all the heat that comes along with it.

Suffice it to say that temperatures have been downright hot for a lot of places across the eastern half of North America that are usually much, much colder. The most ridiculous record broken on February 20, 2018 was probably Pittsburgh’s all-time February warm temperature. In 1891, a big winter “heat wave” swept across the eastern United States. During that wave, a number of all-time records were set (including in the nation’s capital). On Tuesday, Pittsburgh broke that 127-year-old record when it climbed to 78° F (26°C).

ME and NH set new record highs for the month of Feb yesterday.

In NH the old record was 73 at Nashua on 2/24/2017. The new preliminary record is 77 set at Manchester. #nhwx

In Maine the old record was 68 at Sanford on 2/22/1997. The new preliminary record is 77 at Wells. #mewx pic.twitter.com/CSdWX7g9Z3
— NWS Gray (@NWSGray) February 22, 2018

On Wednesday, Maine saw its first 70-degree high temperature in February. No where in Maine had it ever reached 70 in February until yesterday when the city of Fryeburg broke that streak. Fitchburg, Mass., hit 80 degrees on Wednesday — the first time any climate station in Massachusetts reached 80 degrees in February.

This heat wave is breaking more records than just those at ground level. The heat is also significant in the upper levels of the atmosphere. It may even be unprecedented in modern record-keeping, though things get tricky when we start talking about extremes above our heads, higher in the atmosphere.

Here’s what we do know, though: Meteorologists (ourselves included) are stunned by the size and intensity of the high pressure over the Eastern part of the nation this week, which is inherently related to the warmth. The bigger the ridge, the hotter it gets.

“This is BANANAS,” tweeted Ryan Hanrahan, a meteorologist from NBC Connecticut. He was referring to data collected by weather balloon soundings over Long Island. It was indicating that this week’s ridge was the most intense not only for the month of February, but also for the months of December, January and March. It was also tied for the month of April.

“This is not normal,” Hanrahan wrote Tuesday night.

The same record-breaking data was collected by weather balloons all over the Northeast Tuesday evening, including DC, where it broke the 70-year record for December, January, February and March. Maps of the ridge shown in red, day-glow pink and white — because it was literally off the scale — look like someone dumped a can of paint across the Northeast. The most intense part of this ridge was out over the Atlantic, but even so it toppled records from New England to Virginia.

The amount of moisture in the air is extreme, too. Summer-like precipitable water, which is how we measure the moisture in the atmosphere, is present across much of the eastern United States this week. In particular, Detroit and Alpena, Mich., set records for that moisture metric. From Michigan to Maine, the moisture in the air was about four times more than what’s normal for Feb. 20.

This week’s heat wave and wild weather are certainly a symptom of climate change, which — according to an overwhelming majority of climate scientists — is caused by our fossil fuel emissions. The intensity of these high pressure ridges has increased significantly since 1960. “Bananas” heat waves, even in the winter months, will become more common due to climate change.

A look at the loss of thicker (usually older) #Arctic sea ice in Octobers from 1979-2016 (PIOMAS, ice < 1.5 meters masked black) pic.twitter.com/BtHCwVUdKk
— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) November 14, 2016

Arctic temperatures soar 45° above normal, flooded by extremely mild air on all sides

While the Eastern United States simmered in some of its warmest February weather ever recorded, the Arctic is also stewing in temperatures more than 45 degrees above normal. This latest huge temperature spike in the Arctic is another striking indicator of its rapidly transforming climate.

On Monday and Tuesday, the northernmost weather station in the world, Cape Morris Jesup at the northern tip of Greenland, experienced more than 24 hours of temperatures above freezing according to the Danish Meteorological Institute.

Long conveyor belt of moisture feeding the intense poleward intrusion event - characteristic of anomalous wintertime warming in the #Arctic

Graphic from @UWCIMSS at https://t.co/Qi01csSdlW pic.twitter.com/1wICqufojT
— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) February 24, 2018

“How weird is that?” tweeted Robert Rohde, a physicist and lead scientist at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit organization that conducts analyses of the Earth’s temperature. “Well it’s Arctic winter. The sun set in October and won’t be seen again until March. Perpetual night, but still above freezing.”

The Danish Meteorological Institute wrote that only twice before had it measured temperatures this high during February at this location, in 2011 and 2017. It is a mere 400 miles from the North Pole.

This thaw occurred as a pulse of extremely mild air shot through the Greenland Sea.

Warm air is spilling into the Arctic from all sides. On the opposite end of North America, abnormally mild air also poured over northern Alaska on Tuesday, where the temperature in Utqiaġvik, previously known as Barrow, soared to a record high of 31 degrees (minus-1 Celsius), 40 degrees (22 Celsius) above normal.

February? This is crazy. Retreat of sea ice in the Bering Sea continues - well below the previous record low in the satellite era. pic.twitter.com/9UoqZvaFr2
— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) February 21, 2018

The warmth over Alaska occurred as almost one-third of the ice covering the Bering Sea off Alaska’s West Coast vanished in just over a week during the middle of February, InsideClimateNews reported. Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist based in Alaska, posted that the overall sea ice extent on Feb. 20 was the lowest on a record by a long shot.

The lack of ice has real consequences for villages along the Bering Sea whose shores are normally protected from big storms and their giant waves. Without the ice as a buffer, waves can hammer the coastline and damage homes and buildings.

“Scary stuff, on many levels,” tweeted Rick Thoman, an Alaskan meteorologist.

Temperatures over the entire Arctic north of 80 degrees latitude have averaged about 10 degrees (6 Celsius) above normal since the beginning of the calendar year. These kinds of temperature anomalies in the Arctic have become commonplace in winter in the past few years. “[T]he *persistence* of the above average temperatures is quite striking,” tweeted Zack Labe, a PhD candidate in climate science at the University of California at Irvine.

As of Friday, the whole region had spiked more than 35 degrees (20 Celsius) above normal, which Labe called a “truly remarkable event” and the warmest in February ever recorded.

Some of the most extreme warmth of the year so far is forecast to flood the Arctic February 23-25, 2018, with a number of areas seeing temperatures 45 to 60 degrees (25 to 34 Celsius) above normal. The mercury at the North Pole could well rise above freezing.

This next batch of abnormally warm air is forecast to shoot the gap between Greenland and northern Europe through the Greenland and Barents seas. Similar circumstances occurred in December 2016, when the temperature at the North Pole last flirted with the melting point in the dark, dead of winter. Comparable jumps in temperature were documented in November 2016 and December 2015.

An analysis from Climate Central said these extreme winter warming events in the Arctic, once rare, could become commonplace if the planet continues warming. A study in the journal Nature published in 2016 found the decline of sea ice in the Arctic “is making it easier for weather systems to transport this heat polewards.”

Arctic sea ice was at its lowest extent on record this past January, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“I have sailed boats through [the Arctic Sea] but never this time of year,” tweeted David Thoreson, an Arctic photographer. “It’s amazing to watch this unfold.”

The record-setting temperatures and lack of ice is exactly what scientists have projected over the Arctic for years and it’s fundamentally changing the landscape.

“Arctic shows no sign of returning to reliably frozen region of recent past decades,” NOAA concluded in its Arctic Report Card, published in December.

Correction: This post originally incorrectly identified Robert Rohde as a physicist at the University of California-Berkeley. Rhode completed his Ph.D. there but is presently employed at Berkeley Earth. The appropriate text was modified.

Meanwhile:

Europe braces for 'beast from the east' cold snap, potentially the most severe cold in decades.

A bone-chilling, frigid air mass will soon stretch from Ireland to Siberia, as a record-shattering weather pattern establishes itself across the North Atlantic Ocean. The cold will cause temperatures to plunge well below freezing in London, where snow is likely to fall during the next 1 to 2 weeks.

Bahia Darwin Beach

The Silver Galapagos anchored in the caldera of Isla Genovesa

as seen from the small beach. The bones are of a sea lion.

On Day 1 of our Galápagos expedition cruise aboard the Silver Galapagos (Silversea Cruises) we quickly learn what expedition cruising is all about. The ship is smaller than what we are accustomed to. It is the smallest of the Silversea ships with only 100 guests. There are at least 100 crew to service those 100 guests and it offers plush, all-suite accommodations.

This is an all-inclusive cruise event. There is no out-of-pocket expense on this cruise unless you choose to shop in San Cristóbal or Baltra, or take extra excursions in Quito or Guayaquil on either end of the cruise.

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View From Suite 603

Zodiac Prep in Darwin Bay

The zodiac pilots wear light blue shirts. Here they prep the zodiacs before sunrise for the morning's expedition to Darwin Bay Beach

A 7:00 am wake up call is our first expedition shock. While we were sleeping the ship dropped anchor in Bahia Darwin (Darwin Bay, Genovesa Island) for a full day of hiking and wildlife viewing. Everything here has to be done early morning and late afternoon due to the excessive heat, year round. We are at or near the equator for the entire cruise. Isla Genovesa is located at 0°19'00"N (a few miles north of the equator). So, we rise early, hike, swim, snorkel, explore then return to the ship before the mid-day sun withers us.

Zodiac Boarding

Zodiac boarding can be a little chaotic depending on how high the seas are as both ship and zodiacs are moving. There are multiple pilots (light blue shirts) who hoist the passengers from ship to zodiacs. A dry bag is essential for cameras and iPhones. Every passenger must wear some sort of shoes and an auto-inflatable life vest when boarding a zodiac.

After a quick breakfast we line up to board small inflatable boats (zodiacs) to head for Darwin Bay Beach, a small yellow-sand and coral beach on one side of the bay (caldera) that is surrounded by steep, forbidding cliffs and swarmed by tens of thousands of seabirds. Only 10-12 passengers at-a-time are allowed onto zodiacs and its a heave 'ho to get most of us on there and situated for the short sail across the bay to the beach.

Darwin Bay Beach at Sunrise

The small beach is the only easy landing site in the caldera. It looks especially tiny from our penthouse perch atop the ship about 60-feet (20 m) above the sea.

We quickly learn that the 10 passengers we're paired with on this ride are the passengers we're supposed to stay with for the duration of the morning's expedition. So, if you know you do not want to be paired with another passenger (yes, this happens), you need to position yourself in line so you're on a different zodiac. We decide for afternoon excursion we will drop to the back of the line and ease into a favorable group.

Darwin Bay, Genovesa Island

The zodiacs line up to load passengers, 10-12 at a time. There is a zodiac pilot and a Naturalist Guide on each zodiac. The weather looks grim but it is a mirage. The sun is beating through that fog and low clouds and will quickly heat up everything below.

Each zodiac is captained by a Guía Naturalista certified by the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve. The guide will talk and hike us through our expedition. There really is no choosing guides, it is whomever one ends up with. They are all very competent and knowledgeable about the wildlife we encounter. The guide-to-guest ratio stays at about 10-to-12 individuals until there is an injury (an event we will explore in our next post).

The crew have a very rehearsed zodiac boarding and departing routine which works great until seas become too high, surf too rough, or landing too precarious.

When we reach Darwin Bay Beach we land in moderate seas topped by 3-foot waves. The guides and boat pilots do their best to steady the zodiacs so we can disembark directly into the water. It is a sloppy landing and a little scary but something we will become accustomed to. Once ashore we're greeted by the wild sights and sounds of Genovesa Island. Sea lions lounge on the beach, Sally lightfoot crabs crawl up the rocks, and thousands of massive Frigatebirds circle overhead.

We're (mostly) wearing wetsuits on this first day in the Galápagos but soon will find them more bother than they're worth. My own fitted wetsuit that I brought along is a pain to get on and off and becomes very hot, very quick in the tropical sun.

The sea lions move in and camp atop all of our beach crap. Very fun.

The ship provides wetsuits and snorkeling gear to those who don't have their own. Its a choreographed operation. The water is 68-75° F (20-24° C). Chilly, but not cold enough to need protection.

It doesn't take long for the morning clouds and fog to burn off and the day quickly becomes hot and sunny. By 10:00 am everyone is burning in the Ecuadorian sun.

After an hour of beginner's snorkeling class I realize that its like riding a bike, you never forget. Sea lions move in on all our crap on the beach which we find very amusing. Our first encounter with the tame wildlife of the Galápagos is these Galápagos Sea Lions that we will see on every other island we visit over the next two weeks.

Yield for Sea Lions

Sea lions are remarkably agile and turn up in the most unexpected places. We're supposed to stay 2 m (6-feet) away from the wildlife. The wildlife can do whatever they want. This sea lion walked through our group a little closer than 6-feet when we disturbed his resting place amongst a thicket of prickly pear cactus.

February-March is hot and humid in the Galápagos and it should be kind of rainy, but so far it is only hot and humid, kind of like August in Florida. Next up on the morning's agenda is a short hike along a trail that heads west along a tidal lagoon and then up a rocky hill that leads to a point overlooking the cliffs and Darwin Bay.

Along the trail near the tidal lagoon, we see pairs of Swallow-tailed Gulls—the only nocturnal gull species in the world—Lava Gulls, and Yellow-crowned and Lava Herons. The trail continues through Palo Santo trees, Opuntia cacti, and Saltbushes inhabited by Great Frigatebirds and Red-footed Boobies.

We must carefully watch where we walk, so as not to step on any Swallow-tailed Gull eggs.

This is one of the few places in the islands where visitors are guaranteed to see Red-footed Boobies, with their bright red prehensile feet and contrasting blue bills.

Red-footed Boobies are the smallest of the three booby species in Galapagos, and two plumage forms can be found: 95% of the birds have brown feathers and the other 5% have white feathers. It is estimated that more than 200,000 Red-footed Boobies live in the trees and bushes of Genovesa.

Brown or White?

The two morphs of the red-footed booby, side-by-side on Genovesa. This appeared to be a breeding pair, one brown, one white.

Great or Magnificent?

Frigatebirds are present in numbers too large to count. Distinguishing one species from the other is difficult. Both species are huge, with wingspans of nearly 9-feet (3 m).

There are five species of frigatebird found across the world all found in sub-tropical and tropical oceans. The frigatebird’s distinctive shape, a strong silhouette in the shape of a ‘W’ allows them to soar with minimal effort; flying without flapping their wings for hours and even days at a time on the warm, equatorial air currents and cumulus clouds.

The Galápagos is home to two species of frigatebird: the great frigatebird and the magnificent frigatebird. Similar in size, shape and appearance, the long, smooth shoulder feathers of the frigatebird are the most noticeable difference between the two. The subtle difference of color of the sheen on the plumage on their backs distinguishes the great frigatebird from the magnificent; the great has a green sheen while the magnificent has a purple iridescence in the sunlight.

The magnificent frigatebird is the larger of the two Galápagos species with a wingspan measuring between 217 and 244 cm (85-96 inches; 8 feet), compared to the great frigatebird’s wingspan of between 205-230 cm (81-91 inches; 7½ feet). So subtle a difference that they look alike until one studies the morning images.

The Science Behind Frigatebird's Ability to Fly for Weeks Without Stopping

The frigatebird’s most unusual trait is displayed by the males. During the breeding season the males regularly inflate the thin, red, gular sac on their throats with air. These fleshy, red balloons are used to show off to and attract females during the mating season. The display of courtship for the frigatebirds is to sit in groups with wings spread, sacs inflated and heads tilted back. Clattering their bills, shaking their heads and quivering their wings they call to females flying by in order to win a mate. These birds exhibit sexual dimorphism, with the female being larger than the male.

Genovesa Island is a small (14 km² or 5 mi²) horse-shoe shaped island located in the northeastern region of the Galápagos Archipelago. Its distinct shape was formed from the eruption of a shield volcano and the eventual collapse of one side of the caldera.

The resulting submerged crater formed Bahia Darwin, which is surrounded by steep cliffs that provide homes for many seabirds. Lake Arcturus, a salt-water, crater lake, lies in the center of the island and contains sediment that is less than 6000 years old. No eruptions have ever been recorded for Genovesa, but there is evidence of young lava flows on the outskirts of the volcano.

Bird Island

This image is not edited or photoshopped.

The numbers of frigatebirds circling overhead was astounding.

Genovesa has developed a reputation as “The Bird Island” because of the numerous and varied bird species that nest here. We are impressed with the abundance of frigatebirds, Nazca and Red-footed Boobies, Swallow-tailed Gulls, storm petrels, Red-billed Tropicbirds, finches, and mockingbirds, among other bird species. Genovesa is one of the few places in the Galápagos Islands where Red-footed Boobies are found en masse. The marine iguanas found along the shoreline are the only reptile on Genovesa and are the smallest in the archipelago.

This sea lion seems to be bidding us a bon voyage

I'm one of the last to board a zodiac back to the ship for some rest before doing the other side of the caldera.

After the snorkeling and a few hours exploring the area around Darwin Bay Beach we are exhausted and it is time for a return to our ship for lunch.

Afternoon promises an even more challenging hike up the opposite side of the caldera onto Prince Philip’s Steps. The steps begin an extraordinary steep path that leads through a seabird colony full of life, up to cliffs that are 25 m high. It is a bird-watchers paradise with Nazca and red-footed boobies always in sight. The storm petrels here are different from any others in the world because they fly around during the daytime. To avoid predators they only return to their nest holes at night. If you have time (it takes at least 3 days to get here from USA) and are a wildlife enthusiast, this island is a must see!

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