Barcodes are derived from the CO1 gene that produces ATP, an energy carrying molecule found in  every multicellular organism on earth. The barcodes are made up of sequences of 4 colors, one for each of the DNA bases (G,T,C and A, you all remember Gattaca, right?) that make up the unique 600+ character chain of the portion of the CO1 gene that Hebert selected for its commonality.

Some scientists are concerned that the project, which has earned the support of the UN as part of the 2010 year of biodiversity, will draw scarce resources away from the more pressing concern of finding and describing unknown species.

It is just as important to give scientists studying biodiversity in shrinking ecosystems quick and easy ways to identify species genetically. This is especially crucial in rainforests and other biodiversity hotspots where thousands of similar critters all represent unique evolutionary pathways. And the potential commercial applications of this technology (for tracking shipments of food, in exotic animal trade, etc.) mean much of the cost of developing field technology that will enable research will be picked up by companies, rather than foundations or governments (at least theoretically).

Monsanto executives have got to be practically drooling over a hand-held species barcode reader. The faster and easier it is for them to identify their proprietary genetic material in the field, the simpler it’ll be for them to punish farmers who “steal” their Roundup ready GE seed.

Of course, the really important thing coming out of all of this is the iPhone or Android app that will scan the genetic barcode of that fish on your plate, or the bird in the cage at the petstore. You’ll never buy a cod or cockatoo by mistake again.

Hour by Hour Wind Power Generation in CalISO service area, April 22nd, 2010.

The graph pictured above, showing the hour by hour fluctuation in wind energy flowing through California’s electricity grid, is updated hourly. Another graph shows the previous day’s energy sources, in megawatts, and appears each day for the previous 24 hours of electricity generation. Both graphs make the increasing role of renewable energy in California’s total energy portfolio evident in clear data on the web.

John Muir in 1907

The San Francisco Bay Area is replete with Muir-related sites, and if I was going to go visit them all in a day, I’d do it in this order, with these fantastic activities and restaurants mixed in:

Start at the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. If you’re a public-transit-bound person, this is the most accessible of the Muir sites, just a short bus ride from the Walnut Creek BART station. Muir’s family home and orchard sits at the foot of Mt. Wanda, named for Muir’s oldest daughter. The site is especially fun to visit in late summer, despite the heat, because the fruit from the very productive fruit trees in Muir’s historic orchard is available to anyone who pays the small fee to enter the park. Bring a bag and you can feast for days on one of the National Park Service’s tastiest landscape features. The apricots and figs, from trees Muir himself planted, are especially delicious, based on a visit last July.

After a morning visit to Martinez and Muir’s historic home, where you’ve hopefully packed away some natural snacks for a picnic/hike and taken in Muir’s inspiring biography, head west across the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge towards the flanks of Mt. Tamalpais. Here you’ll find Muir Woods, one of the last remaining stands of old growth coastal Redwood trees in the Bay Area.

The park has an interesting history: the park was a gift from Marin county congressman and landowner William Kent, for whom the town of Kentfield is named. Kent donated nearly 300 acres of virgin redwood forest along Redwood Creek to the federal government as a national monument. Theodore Roosevelt accepted the gift and suggested naming it after Kent, but Kent insisted it be named Muir Woods, after his friend (see this incredible exchange of letters between Muir, Kent and Roosevelt after Kent’s gift here). Muir and Kent had met numerous times and worked together on the establishment of a national park service and other conservation projects before and after Kent became a congressman in 1911.

But the defining struggle of the early conservation movement in America would rend their friendship irreparably. Kent supported the Hetch Hetchy reservoir project that would provide San Francisco with a reliable and seemingly endless supply of drinking water from within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park in the high sierra. Muir vehemently opposed the project, saying “Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well as dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man! With Earth Day and Muir’s birthday upon us, now is a perfect time to reflect on this struggle.

Finally, after some exercise on a short hike through Muir Woods, head over the hill further west to Muir Beach for sunset. Muir Beach may only be connected to Muir by name, but it completes this journey nicely. Redwood creek, which you strolled along in Muir Woods, empties into the mighty Pacific here. Take in the sunset and then head to the incomparable Pelican Inn, on the way back Highway 1 to San Francisco, for an delicious dinner and/or a tall pint of local brew (or Guinness). While I’m at this traditional English Tudor style pub and inn, I like to reflect on Muir’s Scottish heritage. Or something.

If you would like to see a simple itinerary of this trip, download the John Muir Birthday Tour pdf I made on Nileguide.com. Or you can click here to see it online.

Humble Louis' Restaurant outlasted these icons on this spectacular stage. photo credit: NPS

It was a well written article, balanced and sympathetic, so my only gripe with the writing is in the statistics. Author Peter Fimrite must have looked at the online petition to save the Hontalas’ restaurant before the story appeared on this blog, because his quote of “nearly 1800 people” was surpassed early last week. The petition had more than 2000 signatures by April 12th. The count as of this posting, April 18th: 3,483 signatories!

The NPS spokeswoman (Alexandra Picavet) in the article definitely did her best to keep the situation at arm’s length. The Park Service has to have an impartial bidding process. But impartial does not mean, as Picavet (or Fimrite, perhaps taking liberties in paraphrase) implied, that the Park Service must ignore Louis’ history, reputation, and the sustained quality of service Louis’ has provided. In fact, according to the law that required open bidding passed in 1998 (my emphasis added):

[...] (A) In selecting the best proposal, the Secretary shall consider the following principal factors:

(i) The responsiveness of the proposal to the objectives of protecting, conserving, and preserving resources of the unit of the National Park System and of providing necessary and appropriate facilities and services to the public at reasonable rates.

(ii) The experience and related background of the person, corporation, or entity submitting the proposal, including the past performance and expertise of such person, corporation or entity in providing the same or similar facilities or services.

(iii) The financial capability of the person, corporation, or entity submitting the proposal.

(iv) The proposed franchise fee, except that consideration of revenue to the United States shall be subordinate to the objectives of protecting, conserving, and preserving resources of the unit of the National Park System and of providing necessary and appropriate facilities to the public at reasonable rates.

Additionally, the Hontalas’ restaurant predates the incorporation of the GGNRA by the National Park Service. A strong case can be made according to principles of historic preservation the NPS employs, that the restaurant’s historic character makes it one of the resources the park protects. Similar arguments have been made for preserving the historic character of concessions in many of America’s most famous national parks, like Yellowstone and Yosemite. Nobody seems better suited to “protect, conserve, and preserve” the historic character of Louis’ restaurant than the Hontalas family.

It sounds like the Hontalas’ aren’t panicking just yet. Our government is good at screwing things like this up, however, so now is a really good time to write to the GGNRA or call the Pacific West Region of the NPS at (415) 561-4700. Let them know that you consider Louis’ part of the historic landscape the park was established to preserve!

And if you haven’t signed the petition yet, do it here.

Danielle Zurovcik demonstrates her suction pump that promotes healing. photo credit: Melanie Gonick/MIT

Scientists aren’t sure why suction helps promote healing for open wounds. Until now it was a surprisingly costly medical technique, especially in developing countries where electricity is often spotty. A portable suction pump costs more than a $100 a day to rent, and batteries only provide 6 hours of use at a time.

Inventor Danielle Zurovcik tested the device in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake there. Partners in Health invited Zurovcik and her invention to help, so 50 pumps were put into use in the field, and data on the effects of their use will be reported to Zurovcik. Hopefully this nifty gadget has the effects doctors foresee. Infection of flesh wounds is a major problem following disasters, and this pump stands to have a major impact.

Specifically, he’s wrong about clean coal. This amazingly durable boondoggle has been a buzzword for “free money” to interest groups and “jobs” to unions and workers in the coal states. States where presidential elections have been won or lost the past two decades; Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Montana (the latter two were closer than you might think in the last election). The one thing clean coal definitely isn’t, however, is good for coal miners.

West Virginia Coal Miners in 1908.

Coal mining is one of the most dangerous, dirty, unhealthy jobs on the planet. Thousands of people die around the world every year in coal mining accidents. Admittedly, most of those deaths are in China, which has 19th century worker protection.

Sadly though, America’s per capita coal deaths (deaths per coal miner) make mining the most dangerous job in America. If you’re a coal miner in the U.S. you have about a 1 in 2600 chance of being killed in an accident at work this year.(In China the best estimates make you ten times more likely to die in a mine accident there, 1 in 250 mine workers died in 2007, according to this story.) None of these figures takes into account the many thousands of people who die of coal related diseases like lung disease and various cancers each year.

The President should do everything he can, everything government can do, to protect mine workers. We do need an emphatic culture change in the Mine Safety and Health Administration, so that mine workers interests, rather than mine company interests, are at the heart of decisions there. We do need better oversight, more inspection, and stronger prosecution of negligent mine operators. But most importantly, we need fewer mines. Fewer mines are the surest way to fewer mine deaths. We have to move beyond coal eventually, or we’ll destroy the ecosystems that support our civilizations. Experts have been telling us this for years.

So… if the President really wants to do everything he can to protect mine workers, he should drop the “clean coal” talk immediately. He should use this moment to direct government money, energy and time into moving workers in coal states into cleaner, healthier, greener jobs. We are not starting from scratch in this regard. There are wind energy projects in West Virginia, solar projects in Pennsylvania, green technology manufacturing plants in Ohio.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was supposed to begin this transition. But thanks to “clean coal” language and the massive coal industry lobby, we’re still propping up this deadly dangerous and disastrous 19th century technology. It’s time our government really protected workers, by helping to make every job safe and sustainable.

Louis' Restaurant, by Rosencruz Sumera at Panoramio

The GGNRA should be in the business of protecting America’s best traditions and locations. As anyone who has ever been to Louis’ knows, that definitely includes this legendary diner with spectacular views of the California coast. Sign this petition to tell the GGNRA how much Louis’ means to you!

A personal note:

In the past few months I’ve taken visiting friends to hike around Sutro Baths and Lands’ End, and we stopped at Louis’ for a bite. It’s always become a highlight of their trip. The restaurant’s family-owned atmosphere is a critical part of this experience: The warm greeting, the home-cooked food (including some of the cities’ best pancakes) and the intimate setting make the place a perfect summary of a fantastic morning in one of San Francisco’s truly special landscapes.

With visitors, whether we stop in at Louis’ after visiting Lands’ End or not, I always share the story of how my father and I used to go for Saturday or Sunday morning bike rides from our house near Lake Merced, up the Great Highway, and then cranked up the hill past the Cliff House. The reward of a big stack of Louis’ pancakes made sure I kept pedaling all the way up that big hill. We were always so stuffed when we rolled back down toward the beach, I was glad I didn’t have to pedal for the first half mile of the return trip.

Protecting places like Louis’ should be what America’s urban national parks are all about. Sign the petition! Write or call Nancy Pelosi, Jackie Speier, and Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco’s local representation in Washington. They’ve all eaten at Louis’ or know the Hontalas’, I promise you. They just need a reminder that their voice on this issue matters, to the NPS, and to you. For a few more stories about the glory that is Louis’ (and how it has survived other attempts to push it off the remarkable real estate it occupies) from the San Francisco Chronicle read here and here.

Credit: Julia F. Storm, MSPH North Carolina State University

Consumers are at risk too from direct exposure to at least one of these toxic chemicals, since one of the linked pesticides, carbaryl, is marketed as Sevin (manufactured by Bayer) for home garden use.

Researchers did not study the links between rates of melanoma and consumers of pesticide treated produce. Nonetheless, notice how the Sevin product website advertises its “wash-off resistance”… worrisome for the average consumer of vegetables, fruits and nuts treated with Sevin.

Meanwhile in the developing world, particularly Africa, population growth continues at a rapid pace, with populations growing 2 or 3% every year. But people in the developed world still consume the majority of the world’s resources and create the majority of the world’s waste.

In other words, its not our population growth that is unsustainable, its our consumption growth. By looking at per capita consumption, you realize that not having a baby in America or Europe does indeed have a huge impact on the resources of the world. In fact, for every baby prevented by a condom in America, the planet could support an additional 5-6 Africans.

So today, do the planet and your fellow humans a solid, and do it with a rubber on.