Friday Random 10

• Dar Williams, "If I Wrote You"
• Jackson Browne, "Lives in the Balance". Written in the 80s but oh, so timely. "I want to know who the men in the shadows are. I want to hear somebody asking them why they can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are, but they're never the ones to fight or to die."
• Leslie Fish, "Grandma Went Out With a Bang". I know this one's come up before. One of the funniest songs ever written!
• Animaniacs, "Noel". Animaniacs take on the Christmas song. It's July? Oh well.
• Kathy Mar, "Daughters and Sons". Struggling for progress takes generations.
• Jackson Browne, "Rock Me on the Water". Getting through times of change.
• Karen Linsley, "The Challenge". A tribute to the astronauts killed in the Challenger explosion.
• Gaia Consort, "Every Sacred Thing". We live in a sanitized society.
• John Denver, "What One Man Can Do". Written in honor of Bucky Fuller.
• Animaniacs, "The Presidents". Yes, I like Animaniacs songs.

Time Won't Drive Us Down to Dust Again

Today is the 37th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Please listen to Leslie Fish's song, "Hope Eyrie". (The title is a bit of a pun -- "eyrie" means "eagle nest".) The lyrics are below:

Worlds grow old and suns grow cold
And death we never can doubt.
Time's cold wind, wailing down the past,
Reminds us that all flesh is grass
And history's lamps blow out.

CHORUS:

   But the Eagle has landed; tell your children when.
   Time won't drive us down to dust again.

Cycles turn while the far stars burn,
And people and planets age.
Life's crown passes to younger lands,
Time brushes dust of hope from his hands
And turns another page.

CHORUS

But we who feel the weight of the wheel
When winter falls over our world
Can hope for tomorrow and raise our eyes
To a silver moon in the open skies
and a single flag unfurled.

CHORUS

We know well what Life can tell:
If you would not perish, then grow.
And today our fragile flesh and steel
Have laid their hands on a vaster wheel
With all of the stars to know

CHORUS  That the...

From all who tried out of history's tide,
Salute for the team that won.
And the old Earth smiles at her children's reach,
The wave that carried us up the beach
To reach for the shining sun.

CHORUS  For the...

When Statistical Mistakes Don't Matter

The famous "hockey stick" reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere temperatures over the last 600 years has recently come under fire because of an error in using a statistical technique called principal components analysis. RealClimate points out that this really doesn't matter. At a Congressional hearing on the subject, "no-one (with sole and impressive exception of Hans von Storch during the Q&A) went on to mention what the effect of the PC centering changes would have had on the final reconstruction - that is, after all the N. American PCs had been put in with the other data and used to make the hemispheric mean temperature estimate. Beacuse, let's face it, it was the final reconstruction that got everyone's attention. Von Storch got it absolutely right - it would make no practical difference at all."

Tangled Bank #58

The new Tangled Bank is up at Salto sobrius. Check it out! I particularly like Daniel Collins' short but sweet post about erosion, carnivores and Aldo Leopold. Also, I want to welcome everybody visiting Perceiving Wholes for the first time. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Causes, Effects and Networks in the Genome

Carl Zimmer at the Loom has a great piece on
gene expression networks in E. coli. It turns out that a particular pattern of connections, called a feed-forward loop, is common in the E. coli genome. Since feed-forward loops act as noise filters, the scientists who originally found them in bacterial genes thought they evolved for that reason. That, however, may not be the case:

"A few days ago Dutch scientists launched another attack on the feed-forward loop, called simply 'Feed Forward Loop Circuits as a Side Effect of Genome Evolution'....

The Dutch scientists wondered whether an abundance of feed-forward loops could emerge spontaneously, even if natural selection was not favoring them... They built a network of genes, each of which had sites at which proteins could bind to them and cause them to be expressed. They then allowed the network to evolve according to rules based on what scientists know about how actual genes evolve. The genes could lose their binding sites or they could acquire an extra copy of a binding site. The entire genome could be accidentally duplicated. Genes sometimes disappeared, and sometimes proteins that switched on one gene began to switch on another.

Initially the model produced a random network, which came as no surprise... But over time, something odd occurred. Some genes began to get more and more connected to other genes. And after about 100 generations, a large number of feed-forward loops appeared in the network, in what the scientists liken to an avalanche... The scientists did not have to build in any advantage to feed-forward loops that could make them the object of natural selection. They emerged spontaneously from mutating networks. 'Selection on individual circuits,' the scientists conclude, 'is not needed to explain their abundance.'"

What interests me is not so much the origin of the feed-forward loops as their function. Even if the loops originated as byproducts of other evolutionary processes, are they useful to the organism that has them? Do they still work as noise filters?

These kinds of functional questions are important in the study of food webs, which almost certainly don't evolve by natural selection but do link the species in an ecosystem to each other. How does network structure affect ecosystem dynamics?

On World Government and Being an Oddball

"Hope and hardship and a worthy task
That's all I offer and it's all I ask"
--Echo's Children, "The High Frontier"

Yesterday, I came to the annual meeting of the Southern California chapter of Citizens for Global Solutions, which went rather better than I expected. CGS is a descendant of the World Federalist Association, which itself used to be known as the United World Federalists. During the movement's 1940s heyday, it counted Albert Einstein and E.B. White as supporters; Isaac Asimov was a world federalist until the end of his life.

Today, global government is not a mainstream issue. The overwhelming majority of people are neither for it nor against it -- they've simply never seriously thought about it. The basic idea is simple. World federalists believe we need a system of democratic global governance on top of (not instead of) national governments. Such a system would provide enforceable legal mechanisms for resolving conflicts, protecting human rights and safeguarding the environment. Present-day countries would be in a position similar to that of US states or Swiss cantons.

The idea may be simple but its consequences would be profound. The two that resonate most deeply with me are abolishing war and allowing freedom of movement. When speaking on the subject, my good friend Tad Daley likes to say, "It is within the power of the human imagination to envision abolishing war itself". Why not? When formerly independent, sovereign entities unite politically, armed forces beyond police become unnecessary. Their borders no longer need to be defended and people are free to come and go. It is from this freedom that World Beyond Borders, the global government website I co-founded with Eli Williamson-Jones, takes its name.

Although technology is bringing the world closer together, global government is a long way off -- a couple of decades at best, centuries at worst. Much of the work to be done is simply raising awareness -- trying to get the idea of global government into the public eye. The rest consists of changing international institutions such as the UN and working toward the basic levels of democracy and economic development that will allow a stable world democracy to exist.

Working on such a generational project is not for everyone. It takes courage, imagination and the ability to stand alone. I am reminded of physicist Charles Sheffield's words about space exploration:

"If you want to be on the leading edge of anything, you have by definition to be a couple of standard deviations away from most people. That makes you an odd-ball. The trick is to learn to accept it, then to like it -- and keep on making lots of noise for what you believe in."

Majoring in Organic Farming?

How does WorldChanging find this cool stuff? Today, they let us know that Washington State University is now offering a major in organic farming!

Virology with Attitude!

I've done some work modeling HIV infection, so I really enjoyed the rebuttals to HIV deniers on Moment of Science.

Mushroom Photos

Via Negativa has posted some truly artistic photographs of mushrooms. Check them out!

Friday Random 10

• Jackson Browne, "These Days". A simple, sad song. "Don't confront me with my failures -- I had not forgotten them."
• Bruce Cockburn, "The Coldest Night of the Year"
• Lonestar, "Mr. Mom". The trials and tribulations of a guy staying home with the kids.
• Johnny Cash, "Jackson". A sassy duet with June Carter Cash.
• John Denver, "The Flower that Shattered the Stone". Expresses a gentle sense of wonder.
• Jackson Browne, "Lawyers in Love" A song about yuppies? Very '80s!
• Gaia Consort, "Cry Freedom". One of their best. "Do you trust a creed that claims to set you free by spending half a lifetime begging on your knees?"
• Trisha Yearwood, "X's and O's".
• Alabama, "Dancin', Shaggin' on the Boulevard". Sweet beat!
• Jackson Browne, "The Naked Ride Home"

The Jellyfish Takeover

Off the southwestern coast of Africa, a current flowing from the east hits land and forms an upwelling that brings cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface. These nutrients, promote plankton growth and the plankton, in turn, supports a productive fishery. Or, at least, it used to.

In the 1980s, the Namibian sardine and anchovy fisheries collapsed from overfishing. With fish populations down, jellyfish thrived. Freed from predators and competitors, they took over the place to the point where a recent study estimated that the Namibian continental shelf supported 3.6 million tons of fish -- and 12.2 million tons of jellyfish!

The authors of the study credit the jellyfish population explosion to the removal of competitors, but I think predators may be playing a role. In their trawls, 99% of jellyfish (by weight) were one species, Aequorea forskalea. To me, this hints at the removal of a predator, since classic field experiments have found that predators help maintain biodiversity by keep superior competitors from getting too common. I do not know of evidence for a similar effect with competitors.

The difficulty with this idea is that not much eats adult jellyfish. I certainly don't think sardines or anchovies do. But what if these fish helped support a jelly predator? (Sea turtles?) Alternatively, it's possible that zooplankton-eating fish, which include the aforementioned sardines, consume jellyfish larvae, keeping populations under control.

To be fair, the authors' hypothesis is not impossible. If one or more kinds of fish competed mainly with A. forskalea rather than other jellies, then removing that competitor would have the observed effect. Alternatively, it could be that A. forskalea was just as dominant before overfishing began, although it would mean the other jellyfish species were extremely rare. Further investigation of this question could yield scientifically interesting results.

Jelly populations are rising from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Mexico to the Black Sea. The causes appear different in each place (although overfishing may have played a role in the Black Sea), but it looks like jellyfish have what it takes to take advantage of disturbed ecosystems. Somewhat worryingly, it looks like they may delay the recovery of fish stocks by consuming eggs and fry. While it doesn't look like much can be done with existing jellyfish blooms, preventing overfishing and bioinvasions should be priorities for keeping the gelatinous predators under control.

Paradoxical Screenshot

Seen while submitting a paper to the Journal of AIDS:
'

What's the proper response here? How about, "The following comment is not a comment"? 

Real Headline!

Isn't it nice when businesspeople know biology?
Rare flower found on site is a plant, says developer

Friday (OK, early Saturday) Random Ten

• Collin Raye, "A Bible and a Bus Ticket Home"
• Tim McGraw, "Drugs or Jesus". A weird, emotional song. Tim McGraw sings it like it's just a religious song... but it compares Christians to drug addicts! I'm honestly surprised it got much play on mainstream country radio.
• John Voorhees, "A Sad Man". Spare melody, poetic lyrics. Good stuff.
• Collin Raye, "One Desire"
• Jo Dee Messina, "You're Not In Kansas Anymore". As an Angeleno, I really like this one.
• Leslie Fish, "Grandma Went Out with a Bang". Grandma the radical and her plutonium-powered pacemaker...
• Rainbow Warriors, "Rainbow Warriors". Based on a Hopi prophecy, although I don't know how authentic it is. A bit preachy but otherwise good.
• Dar Williams, "When I was a Boy". How do we get stuck in narrow gender roles?
• the Wilkinsons, "26 Cents". Rather similar to today's first song.
• Paul Metsa, "Jack Ruby". A biographical story song.

Blog Carnival Update!

Perceiving Wholes is being featured on two blog carnivals! The Tangled Bank links to "Nature Green in Leaf and Shoot" and Carnival of the Liberals has "Left, Right and What?". I want to welcome my new readers and encourage the rest of you to check out these excellent compilations.

A Thought for the Fourth

We hold these truths to be self-evident,
  that all men are created equal,
  that they are endowed by their Creator
    with certain unalienable Rights,
  that among these are Life,
    Liberty
    and the pursuit of Happiness,

--That
to secure these rights,
  Governments are instituted among Men,
    deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

What if we applied this to the world?

EarthBall Ironies

"At a few hundred kilometers altitude, the Earth fills half your sky, and the band of blue that stretches from Mindanao to Bombay, which your eye encompasses in a single glance, can break your heart with its beauty. Home you think. Home. This is my world. This is where I come from. Everyone I know, everyone I ever heard of, grew up down there, under that relentless and exquisite blue." --Carl Sagan, Contact

I've long been fascinated by world maps and photographs of Earth from space -- and taking a geography class that put them in historical perspective didn't help the situation. So, when I saw the EarthBall, it was a must-buy.

An EarthBall is an inflatable photographic globe. The image on the ball is a composite of satellite photographs, since you cannot take a picture of the whole planet at once. This means there was never a moment when the clouds, oceans and continents looked precisely the way they do on my globe. Yet this depiction of Earth is much closer to reality than a conventional globe would be. There's a nice paradox here. In order to approach the truth, you have to lie.

Exact photographic veracity aside, the EarthBall is lovely. Subtle shades of brown, green and blue convey the rich diversity of environments on Earth. (Look at the African rift lakes in the photo.) Cloud patterns suggest air circulation. Although the cities on my EarthBall don't glow in the dark the way they're supposed to, you can still see clusters of human settlements. All in all, it's a wonderful globe.

The EarthBall comes with an edicational handbook that combines information, games and quotes, mostly from astronauts. My favorite part is the list of tips on caring for the globe:

• The EarthBall does not like extremes in temperature. A hot stove or very, very cold weather can be harmful. For optimum operating temperature try to maintain an average distance of 92 million miles to the sun.
• Toxic chemicals can also damage your EarthBall and pollute valuable groundwater supplies, lakes, streams, and oceans. Avoid exposure to these. An abundance of fresh, clean water is very beneficial.
• Excess radiation is extremely hazardous. Do not expose your EarthBall to unnecessary nuclear warfare or nuclear power plant accidents.
• Too much ultraviolet radiation can also be harmful. Avoid excessive sunlight and ozone depleting substances.

There's just one problem that I must discuss. Opening the package the EarthBall came in released a very strong chemical smell that clung to the ball for several days. I don't know what it is, but anything that smells that irritating can't be good for you. Worse, according to the packaging, the EarthBall is made of vinyl and while that word can refer to several types of plastic, it most commonly means PVC.

PVC is an environmental bad actor. Like almost all plastics, it's made out of fossil fuels. It is hard to recycle, releases poisons when burned and usually contains toxic additives. Worst of all, its manufacture and incineration produce extremely toxic chemicals known as dioxins. Dioxins disrupt hormones in the body and have been linked to cancers, reproductive problems and immune system dysfunction in humans and wild animals.

Ironically, dioxin is a truly global pollutant. Being stable and fat-soluble, dioxin that gets into the environment travels through food chains and ends up in top carnivores, particularly in the Arctic. Inuit people who eat fish and marine mammals are exposed to especially high dioxin concentrations.

I've come full circle in this post. Images of global interconnectedness are powerful and necessary, but we must act on the reality of that interconnectedness. (Here, that might mean using a more benign plastic or natural rubber.) I will continue to enjoy and learn from my EarthBall -- and hope that in the future, its message might change its medium.

Left, Right and What?

I just finished watching the 20/20 special on political polarization in the US and feel rather conflicted about it. On one hand, I understand the need for people with different political views to be able to talk to one another. On the other hand, this "meta" position isn't enough. I have strongly held political views myself, and most of them are quite liberal. I really think that we as a society would be better off with, for example, more social freedoms and a more equal distribution of wealth. People with views opposite mine are, for the most part, just as sincere. So where do we go from here?

The first thing that comes to mind is the inadequacy of the "left-right" political spectrum. The folks at the Political Compass have designed a two-dimensional system that rates a person as being more authoritarian or libertarian on separate social and economic scales. (I might add a "parochial-cosmopolitan" axis.) Science fiction writer and physicist David Brin has some great stuff on his blog about alternative models of politics and lots of provocative ideas about what modern societies need to prosper.

Unfortunately, the American political system enshrines the left-right dichotomy in its two major parties. The Democrats and Republicans present us with packages of issues that may be completely unrelated (what does gay marriage have to do with the war in Iraq?), but most of us feel we have to choose one or the other. In Europe and much of the rest of the democratized world, citizens have more choices in selecting a party that truly represents their views, but Americans appear to be stuck with two. I remember doing a short presentation on the Green Party in my high school government class. Greens are fairly left-wing on most issues, but my teacher pointed out that two of the party's Ten Key Values, decentralization and personal responsibility, are traditionally associated with conservatives, at least in the US. The Green Party is not centrist but it does take on elements of several philosophies.

While there are several reforms I could recommend, especially instant runoff voting (you rank several candidates in order of desirability) and the prevention of gerrymandering, I don't think it's enough in the long run. If voters are getting more polarized, why are there so few supporters of creative, potentially radical ideas in Congress? Why do so few Democrats campaign for universal health care or the Department of Peace? I don't know, but merely responding to the issues of the day is not going to get us through this century. This is where sites like WorldChanging.com come in.

WorldChanging is a repository of ideas, inventions, tools and projects for a better world. Reading it, you become excited about Brazil and India. You learn about green buildings, serious games and dialogue. WorldChanging's strength and weakness is that it's non-political, but there are websites with a similar spirit that include politics. Check out the Radical Middle and the Global Ideas Bank -- and start working for something new. In the end, we won't meet in the middle, but we may reach higher ground together.

Friday Random 10

Sorry for not posting much this week. I've been crazy busy but hope to make up for it next week and possibly this weekend. There's good stuff in the pipeline!

And now, without further ado, the random ten:

• Echo's Children, "How Far Back Does Music Go?". A neat a capella song from an unfortunately disbanded duo.
• John Denver, "Rhymes and Reasons". One of my all-time favorites.
• Alan Jackson, "Midnight in Montgomery". Talk about atmosphere!
• ARKA, "Tear Down the Walls". A Chilean rock group sings about "tearing down the walls" that divide us. Bury your chains! (In English.)
• Bruce Cockburn, "When the Sun Falls"
• Vince Gill, "Worlds Apart". Sweet, sad and wise.
• Larry Warner, "The Archivist". A filk song of a wasted life.
• Kathy Mar, "The Word of God". Evolution vs. creationism. "Humans wrote the Bible; God wrote the rocks!"
• Animaniacs, "Several Drops of Water". Remember Animaniacs? A cartoon take on the water cycle.
• Collin Raye, "Sweet Miss Behavin'". Fun!

Stars to Brains

Just a quickie tonight. There's a post on illuminating science about a "Stars to Brains" conference held in honor of physicist Paul Davies. If you have a moment, check it out.