Tangled Bank 53: Go climb a tree!

"OK, science bloggers, it's time for a walk! Let's go."
"Look at that tree—what a beauty!"
"Who can get to the top?"
"I wonder what we can see from there?"
Everyone heads for the tree, while Bankelele explains why trees are a great investment in Kenya.

This tree has survived a lot, including floods and drought. GrrlScientist at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) shows us Timothy Egan's book, The Worst Hard Time, about the Dust Bowl days—a drought that made the 1930s the Dirty Thirties in the U.S. and Canada.

"Just thinking about it makes me thirsty." Wandering Visitor heads for a nearby stream and is soon playing with a beluga whale.

Then P.Z. wanders over to the stream and sees some odd-looking fish. "I thought they were extinct," he says, "but here are some naked anaspids."

Under the tree, Jenn from Invasive Species settles down with a digital book from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Library and its new online repository of digital documents.

Jenn notices some large bugs crawling around the roots of the tree. They're curiously hard to make out. Mona from Science Notes asks, "Are they trilobites or isopods?"

"Trilobite!—Three-lobed one!" Jeremy Cherfas says: "I love Latin!"

So, it seems, does Martin Rundkvist at Salto Sobrius. He has an idea for nanotech excavation methods in archaeology.

Just then, Pooh Bear floats by under a sky-blue balloon, looking for a bees and honey. "Jeff Perado," The Big Picture guy, explains how to fly a lead balloon. It's all in the laws of physics!

Colblinder notes that we call the balloon sky blue. "Language affects color vision," and tells us about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that our language influences our experience of colour.

IndianCowboy presents How the wiring of the brain shapes the way we think, posted at OK so I'm not really a cowboy.

"Wait a minute! Winnie the Pooh belongs in a story-book!" says Hsien-Hsien Lei of Genetics and Health. Next we'll be seeing ghosts. "Let's talk genetics, health, and the supernatural."

The thought of honey is making Cathy Davies hungry. She passes around some mint patties, explaining about menthol and its effect on our sense of taste. As we reach for our sandwiches, Charles from Science and Reason reminds us that a high-fat diet can lead to diabetes.

Rigor Vitae sees a lizard stalking the bugs and explains "It takes a good eye to spot a new species." DNA analysis helps.

Up in the top branches, Scientias est potentia is looking as far as the eye can see, and comes down with the story of How physicists probe the world.

From another branch, Evolgen asks: "Is it possible you're more closely related to a chimpanzee than to another human?"

"Look, there's a farmer in his field." David Ng, of Terry at UBC, contributes "Old Macdonald speaks to a Geneticist".

And he has some pigs. Tara C. Smith at Aetiology tells us that a novel recombinant influenza virus has been found in swine. There's a lot of interest in studying those changes because people worry that H5N1 serotype virus might mutate or recombine into a virus that can spread from human to human.

Mike at 10,000 Birds is listening carefully to the birdsong all around and sorting out the subtle differences between Seiurus-species wood-warblers.

The Scientific Activist takes a deep breath of fresh air. He tells us about "open access and the democratization of science."

We can see some hills in the distance. They inspire Chad Orzel of Uncertain Principles to ask, "Who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Science?" Any suggestions from the Tangled Bank?

"Don't wander off, now!" Orac of Respectful Insolence offers a two-part tale of scientific cluelessness. And Dave Munger at Cognitive Daily chimes in with a tale of Scientific ignorance and the doctor-patient relationship.

The sun is setting on a distant Disco Institute. Diane Kelly of Zygote Games tells us how Science Made Cool writer Jim Cambias got an inside look at the Kitzmiller vs. Dover case when the Honorable John E. Jones spoke at Smith College.

"It's getting late—time to head back." On the way home, Neurotopia tells us about Ambien and sleep-walking.

We trail off home, stretching our tired muscles and wondering why we don't climb trees more often.

Tags: science, evolution, Tangled Bank, science writing, medical writing, natural history, organisms