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The Human Genome Project cost taxpayers $3 Billion.
Within one decade of completion, it had already generated a staggering return on investment of $1 Trillion, with benefits in medicine, agriculture, energy, the environment, & more.
If you want to boost the economy, funding science is one of the best things you could do.
So today, a group of elementary school children paraded through my neighborhood. I knew they were there because they were quite loud and energetic, and honestly I was very confused about what was happening. I mean, what on earth kind of field trip are they doing, wandering around from house to house?
I tried to see what they were up to, and I couldn’t really tell.
But after they’d passed, my husband opened the door to our back porch because it was a lovely day and the sun was out. And hanging on the doorknob was a handcrafted paper plate basket of paper flowers.
And it struck me—they were celebrating May Day.
And I got a surge of nostalgia. Growing up in the midwest of the US, my family celebrated the first of May as a sort of polar opposite to Halloween. We’d make paper cups and fill them with flowers and candy, deliver them secretly to the neighbors we loved, and run away quickly before they discovered them. No notes. No indication of where they came from or whom they came from.
And here, in Eureka, CA, 40 years later, was an entire elementary school class doing it as an organized activity.
I took that paper basket, and I put it on a hook on my refrigerator, to remind me of a different kind of sustenance than food.
Caring for others with no expectations.
I really really hope that elementary school class teacher knows how much they touched me. Because they restored a bit of my faith in humanity today.
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@ai6yr
6 min
Spend a few moments taking stock of the goods you might need in the face of a supply chain disruption.
Medications, medical gear.
In addition to expanding your pantry with staples, like rice and beans, consider also cash of nuts, dried fruits, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables.
You probably don’t wanna go to crazy but imagine riding over a weekly or monthly supply chain disruption for the sorts of things you need
Contacted by a french journalist looking for the original of a photo I took may back in 2005 of #glacierMice. #joklamys
The glacier itself (Breiðamerkurjökull) has retreated so much, I wonder if the poor mice are still there? I fear there home may have vanished. Maybe it's worth an expedition to go and look...?
Perhaps we should even consider transplanting them to save the species?
@Ruth_Mottram How fascinating is this! 🤩
I'm just producing a double episode of my podcast #NatureMatchCuts about #mosses, and I had never heard about these little tribbles before.
I have to read your links. If I have any questions later, may I ask them?
Would they survive a transplanting? Mosses are tough but very sensitive to habitat changes ...
@NatureMC Yes of course - though I'm not an expert on the biology, there's a nice conversation piece about them too.
They haven't really been studied that much, but they are really intriguing. I would be very interested in having a student look into them in more detail in fact. We weren't on the glacier to study them, but arguably that photo has been used much more widely than any oof my other research!
@Ruth_Mottram Great, thank you very much! 😊
Their form reminds me of the Marimo balls which are not mosses but algae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo
They have different forms but on sand ground and with waves, they become round balls.
Okay, so they are warm on the inside, but they also put shadow on the ice, so... might they have a protective effect? And if so, could the 'breeding' of glacier mice on glaciers that don't sport any have merit?
@Ruth_Mottram I read some studies for the podcast that moss in arctic regions and on permafrost ground slows down thawing but that was only for mosses attached to the ground.
@tine_schreibt This: https://mastodon.online/@NatureMC/114422037357516161
The 2nd problem is ecological: If you introduce a foreign species (in this case it's even a micro habitat) to another habitat, you can disturb the ecosystem. From "mild" consequences until the complete breakdown of this ecosystem. And glacier ecosystems are extremely fragile. https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/glaciers-fragile-mirrors-climate-change
Dr. Lucky Tran 
Thomas Zimmer
Coreyartus Imagery
David Ho
Tim Mak
Costa Samaras
GhostOnTheHalfShell
Ruth Mottram
Petra van Cronenburg
Christine Schuhmann
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