In the past month, I have gone from 371 Common Milkweed observations on iNaturalist (17th in the world) to 678 observations (9th).
Previously, I had not tried the “Identify” feature, but now I am up to 3,602 identifications.
Category: Science
New discoveries, the scientific method, and all matters relating to the scientific study of the physical world
Bloom times
Up to 470 iNaturalist observations
Late spring flowers
Flowers are coming up gloriously across Toronto. I have been enjoying the rich red and alien shape of Canada Columbine and, in the last few days, seeing the pink of Common Milkweed flowering, with flowers emerging in clusters. Black Cohosh cultivated on campus is already producing flower wands, just still green instead of white, and it is spreading in rhizomal clusters around where flower wands appeared last year.
I am checking iNaturalist daily for when the Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) bloom begins, at which point I will be leading a city-wide search to improve the data on where this plant is present.
Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) shoots
A starting point in grass identification
Grasses create a special challenge when it comes to identifying native plants, and even experienced experts have told me they have trouble with it.
I recently got a useful start from Natasha Gonsalves’ presentation for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA): “Getting to Know Grasses“.
I’m still an absolute beginner, but at least know I know a bit of the relevant anatomical vocabulary and have a sense of the difference between grass and grass-like plants like sedges and rushes.
Phages for treating pathogenic bacteria
I have been deeply worried about antibiotic resistance for ages. Last night, Paul Turner’s Martin Lecture on leveraging evolutionary trade-offs for phage therapy was very encouraging.
Professor Turner, who is Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale, provided a fascinating account of how bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria) can be used in synergy with antibiotic drugs to avoid the development of drug resistance.
His Martin Lecture doesn’t have a public recording, but he suggested his TEDx talk for people interested in the subject. Though he was not featured in it, he also recommended the documentary “The Good Virus”.
Inscription in Katherine Hayhoe’s Saving Us
Related: Hopeful messages from McKibben
The war to end all wars?
Perhaps one way to interpret the global situation is that World War Three is happening, except that it is not between states but against the state itself as conceived in the Westphalian system, insofar as it pays no regard to ecological reality.
Open Process Manifesto
This document codifies and expresses some of my thinking on cooperation on complex problems, for the sake of the benefit of humanity and nature: Open Process Manifesto
It is based on the recognition of our universal fallibility, need to be comprehended, and to be able to share out tasks between people across space and time. To achieve those purposes, we need to be open about our reasoning and evidence, because that’s the way to treat others as intelligent partners who may be able to support the same cause through methods totally unknown and unavailable to you, across the world or centuries in the future.