History Scene: June 2009

Friday, June 26, 2009

Crop circles: the secret's out

We historians often get so wrapped up in trying to discover the causes of things and the motivations of people that we lose sight of the simple fact that in time, most things come out of the woodwork. Such is the case with crop circles.

Now, I'm not exactly the kind of person who lies awake at night and wonders what causes crop circles. I have been curious from time to time but never seen one and sort of figured that if the explanation was anything consistent at all, it was probably nationally occurring results of freaky weather patterns or one-of-a-kind atmospheric conditions or something scientific like that. I know that many people that alien life forms are making these circles; I am not one of those people.

Now, it turns out, we have proof of what causes crop circles. That proof is wallabies.

Yep, those kangaroo-looking things found in Australia are the cause of the world's crop circle infestation. Turns out the lovable creatures get high on opium and start jumping around in circles, mowing down crops in their wake. It's too early to tell at this point exactly how much opium is needed in order to send these marsupials over the opiate edge and into crop-spinning condition, but scientists Down Under have definitely confirmed this behavior by, of all things, witnessing it.

What does this have to do with crop circles in the United Kingdom and the United States and other countries that just happen to be far away from Australia? Good question. One thing at a

Image via Wikipedia

time. For now, all we know for certain is that Tasmania, which is home to much of the world's natural opium production, has this kind of thing happening more than occasionally. (They've seen it happen with deer and sheep as well.) What we've still to find out is what kind of mathematical degrees those animals have, since some of those crop circles are darn near perfect spheres and other shapes. Still, you have to start somewhere.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Stone Age musicians? Who had the time?

History is nowhere near being an exact science. Too many variables will spoil the party there. Historians write about what they know or what they have read, quoting facts and figures and sources to bolster the case. But as with exact science, the more the evidence, the surer the conclusion – or the more you have to rewrite your conclusion.

That latter bit is the case with a new find out of Germany – that of a Stone Age flute.

The common perception that most people have of Stone Age people is that they spent the vast majority of their time just surviving, or looking for food or caring for their family or making weapons to aid in conquest or doing other important things like that. When did Stone Age man or woman ever have time to do art? Isn't that an optional thing, that people do when they have time? Didn't these people have more important things to do, like chisel out knives and hammers and other implements of war?

Yet comes the announcement of the discovery of a bone flute that dates to the Stone Age, in the middle of an ice age. The flute was found, along with a couple of ivory flutes, at the Hohle Fels Cave, near Ulm. The flute is 8.5 inches long and has four holes in it. Archaeologists firmly believe that the flutes date to the initial settlement of the region. Surely those people, having just moved in to the area, had to focus entirely on things like food, shelter, and security. When did they find time to do music?

Apparently, they found the time. This was long before the time when people who lived near Lascaux took time out to draw on cave walls. That was a mere 16,000 years ago. No, these flutes prove that people nearly 40,000 years ago not only had the time to play music but also had the patience to painstakingly construct a musical instrument. Playing such a flute didn't move anyone toward getting more food to eat or building a better fire or structure or weapon, but musical entertainment was obviously good for the soul and the well-being of these ancient people.

This discovery isn't necessarily proof that the people were settling down into long-term relationships with the land at this point in time, since such a portable musical instrument as a flute could be put into a pouch and carried from home to home. What this discovery does tell us, though, is how important music and its appreciation were to these people. Perceptions of ancient culture need revisiting, it would seem.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Bifocals: Thank you, Ben Franklin

Sometimes, you have to see things from more than one point of view.

That was the case with Benjamin Franklin, who needed two pairs of glasses in order to function.

See, Franklin had rather bad eyesight. He wore glasses nearly all of his life. He came to be known as the man with the spectacles and the quick wit. He uttered all these pithy sayings and capture them in a book (or Almanack). He was an adventuresome chap who liked to see the world and spent many years in France, England, and other places in Europe. He also spent much of his time figuring out why things were the way they were and then improving on them.

This was definitely the case with his eyeglasses. Eventually, Franklin needed two pairs of glasses – one to see things up close and the other to see things far away. Under the conventions of the time (meaning that's what had been invented), people with such eyesight difficulties were forced to switch back and forth between two sets of eyeglasses, each with a different prescription. Franklin changed all that, inventing what we now call bifocals.

One of Benjamin Franklin's many famous sayings is this one: "Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late." He did manage to get old too soon, before other more exciting things were invented to stimulate his own love of invention and inquiry. But he certainly wasn't wise too late. On the contrary, he spent his whole life being wise. And his bifocals helped bring everything into focus.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Don't forget about this superbug

Image via Wikipedia

It cannot be denied that swine flu (or H1N1, as many people would like it to be termed) is a problem. It might become a pandemic before long. It cannot be denied that hundreds of people have died from it already. It cannot be denied that immunity to H1N1 might be ineffective for awhile yet. We would do well to remember that, for many countries in the Southern Hemisphere, it is already flu season and that, for many countries in the Northern Hemisphere, flu season is on the way still.

However, this strain of flu isn't the only nasty bug out there. History is full of viruses and bacteria that have laid waste to populations too worried about one particular vexing problem to keep both eyes on another. One such superbug that should be on the radar of health care professionals is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This particularly troublesome bacteria strain has been around for a few years and no longer has any trouble fighting off antibiotics. Worse, MRSA has been found to be able to move back and forth between people and their pets. That's right: If your cat bites through the skin and deep into a couple layers of your skin, you might get it checked out. Most cases of MRSA cause mild skin infections, resulting in pimples or boils. At best, that's uncomfortable. And, because it's a superbug, it can't be treated with normal antibiotics.

(It should also be said here that MRSA is now resistant not only to methicillin but also other common antibiotics such as amoxicillin, penicillin, and oxacillin.) And, the more of these kinds of drugs doctors throw at MRSA, the more it adapts and "perfects" itself. The superbug has become so common that it now makes up 60 percent of staph infections in U.S. hospitals.

A recent study has confirmed the suspicion that animal bites can be the cause of a person's catching the superbug from his or her pet dog or cat. Children have been found to be particularly susceptible to this superbug transmission.

It's not just normal domestics, either. Horse bites have been found to have transmitted MRSA from quadriped to owner.

It's also not just at home or on the farm that this superbug can get hold of you. MRSA has been found on beaches. This last fact should be especially filed away in the conscience of the thousands of people who are looking forward to a nice holiday at ocean's edge in the coming days and weeks.

Doctors have struggled to adequately treat patients with MRSA, mainly because the superbug itself is resistant to one of the most common anti-infection drugs, methicillin. (Go back and read the full name of the superbug.) The best way to treat it, apparently, is not to get it in the first place.

Awareness is always the best medicine in cases such as these.

Zero-G Wedding One for the Ages

Talk about having your head in the clouds.

Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan, two New Yorkers (naturally), got married in the weightlessness of space – aboard a plane modified to simulate the zero-gravity environment. They exchanged their vows, rings, and kiss and even had witnesses to the blessed event – all at $5,400 a person.

For the happy couple, though, it was worth it. They certainly have a story to tell – to their children, their future coworkers, and the millions of people who have yet to hear this novel tale of wedded bliss among the clouds.

This wasn't the first time wedding vows were spoken in space: Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko did just that in 2003; his bride-to-be, however, was back on Earth. This New York couple, though, did it up right. You can write that date in your diary: June 20, 2009 – the day of the first wedding in space.

They had a few difficulties, of course. The hair and clothes had to be, well, attached in spots so as not to float around and ruin the photos. Then there was the ring, which just refused to go where it was supposed to. The kiss was a bit of a struggle as well, since both the bride and groom found it very difficult to hold still long enough to connect lips.

But connect in the end they did, and get married in space they did, in front of a special 10 friends and family who will surely have a story to tell for a very long time – until this sort of thing becomes commonplace.

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