We believe so. REH
----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 4:17 PM Subject: RE: [Futurework] The high life > You mean, you mean.......there is meaning and purpose to all this. Wow. > > arthur > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ray Evans Harrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 1:56 AM > To: Keith Hudson; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Futurework] The high life > > > We've always believed the sky was alive with life. Now you are proving it > for us. The next thing will be to discover conscious purpose and the third > will be relationship and balance of all life as a necessity and then you > will have reached Pre-Columbian science, thought and religion. > > REH > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Keith Hudson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 3:33 PM > Subject: [Futurework] The high life > > > > For those who don't want to think about a possible American invasion of > > Saudi Arabia for the rest of the summer, here's an article that might > > interest you. It's little to do with Futurework, but fascinating > nonetheless. > > > > KSH > > <<<< > > THE HIGH LIFE > > > > Scientists in America believe that clouds have a dark secret: they're > > created by viruses and bacteria as a means of global transport > > > > Fred Pearce > > > > Do bugs control our weather? Can viruses travel thousands of miles on the > > winds? Is there a whole ecosystem up in the clouds that we have not > > discovered? The answer to all three questions could be yes, according to > > scientists who are exploring the microbial metropolises in the skies. > > > > There is, they say, growing evidence that bacteria, fungal spores and > > viruses may spend large amounts of time -- even their entire lives -- in > > the air, riding clouds across the planet. And they don't just inhabit the > > clouds -- they may also be creating them. Certainly, many of the clouds' > > newly discovered inhabitants are exquisitely designed to create the > maximum > > number of ice crystals, the basic building-blocks of clouds. Some > Darwinian > > biologists even argue that the bugs may have evolved for that very job. > > > > "The ecology of the atmosphere is one of the last great frontiers of > > biological exploration on Earth," says Bruce Moffett of the University of > > East London. Within the next year, he hopes to conduct the first > systematic > > bug-hunt in the clouds above Britain. > > > > Until recently, nobody believed that bacteria and viruses spent much more > > time in the air than it takes to sneeze on your neighbour. Scientists > > assumed that if the material got caught up in the winds, it would quickly > > be killed by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. But Gene Shinn of the US > > Geological Survey in St Petersburg, Florida, who has examined their > > airborne lifestyle in detail, says that the bacteria seem to protect > > themselves from harmful rays by becoming attached to dust particles. In > > dust clouds, the amount of UV radiation will be lower than in "normal" > > situations. And one of Shinn's USGS colleagues, Dale Griffin, suggests > that > > bacteria might survive even longer if they get into cracks in the > > parades.`They can survive travelling long distances, and spread disease on > > arrival. > > > > Shinn has discovered that bacteria and fungi carried aloft on dust storms > > coming out of the Sahel region of West Africa can journey across the > > Atlantic in large numbers. So far, he has isolated more than 130 species > of > > African bacteria and fungal spores over the Caribbean. Not only that, he > > says that they are probably responsible for a series of dramatic epidemics > > among Caribbean coral reefs in recent years. > > > > One example is an African soil fungus called Aspergillus sydowii. It was > > first spotted in the Caribbean in 1983. That was a year of intense African > > drought. Huge clouds of dust billowed into the upper atmosphere and > > travelled west on the trade winds, forming a dense haze over the waters of > > the Caribbean. Since those clouds brought A. sydowii, says Shinn, the > > fungus has killed more than 90 percent of the region's sea fans -- a form > > of soft coral."Much of the decline in coral reefs in the Caribbean in > > recent years seems to be a result of pathogens transported in dust from > > Africa," says Shinn. > > > > Last year, Griffin dramatically raised the stakes when he suggested that > > the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain in 2001 may have arrived > > on winds from Africa. He noticed that the first case of the disease was > > reported in February 2001, just a week after satellite pictures had shown > a > > huge dust storm carrying sand from the Sahara to Britain. Saharan cattle > > are known to carry the same strain of the virus as turned up on British > > farms. The evidence is purely circumstantial. But it is not impossible, > > virologists admit. A previous outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Britain was > > traced to the > > -- virus blowing across the English Channel`from France. So why not a > > longer journey? > > > > Some researchers believe that bugs do more than hitch a ride in clouds. > > They may make the clouds, too. It turns out that many cloud-inhabiting > > bacteria are brilliantly designed for cloud-seeding: that is, for > > triggering the formation of ice crystals around which water vapour > > coalesces to create water droplets. They do this by producing a protein > > that mimics the shape of an ice crystal's surface, which could help growth > > to get started. > > > > Many bacteria seem to be able to form ice crystals, but the best equipped > > appears to be Pseudomonas syringae, which commonly grows on plant matter, > > aiding the decomposition process. A single gram containing a million > > bacteria could theoretically produce up to a million ice crystals. It can > > trigger the formation of ice at temperatures of 13C, higher than other > "ice > > nucleators". This ability is so well known that the bacteria are sometimes > > added to the water put into snow-making machines at Alpine ski resorts. In > > the atmosphere, the bacteria create clouds. > > > > All this raises some questions, which Moffett hopes to answer. "We want to > > discover if it is true that microbes play an active role in forming clouds > > and making rain," he says. "In other words, whether there is an active, > > self-sustaining ecosystem up there." > > > > One intriguing piece of evidence -- barely noticed by scientists at the > > time -- came in research done 20 years ago by Russell Schnell of the > > University of Colorado. Trying to find out why western Kenya had so many > > hailstorms, he stumbled on the fact that most of the hailstones there > > contained at their heart a scrap of R syringae. > > > > How do the bugs get into the atmosphere in the first place? On land, one > > major route is in smoke from forest and bush fires. Another is dust > storms. > > Schnell reckoned the bacteria in his hail stones were stirred up by the > > feet of pickers in the region's tea plantations. On the oceans, tiny > > bacteria and plankton on the water's surface may gain lift-off after > > getting caught in the air bubbles of whitecaps. > > > > And why would bacteria have developed ice-making skills? Or, to put it > more > > correctly, what is the selective advantage in Darwinist terms for bacteria > > to carry genes that trigger ice-making? This is the million-dollar > > Darwinian question. > > > > Most researchers believe that the skill first developed on the ground, to > > make frost that decomposes leaf Utter -- thus providing the bacteria with > > food. But why would bacteria living in the tropics retain ice-creating > > skills when temperatures are generally too high for frost formation? The > > answer could be in the clouds, where temperatures are cold enough for ice > > formation. What evolutionary benefit might the bacteria gain from this? > One > > argument is that the resulting rain helps plants grow, and makes more > > leaves for bacteria down below to eat. > > > > But there may be another Darwinian purpose, says Tim Linton of the Centre > > for Ecology and Hydrology in Edinburgh. Clouds are an efficient > > transportation system for the bacteria to spread themselves across the > > planet. Linton and the late William Hamilton, one of the world's leading > > evolutionary theorists, have suggested that cloud formation allows the > > bacteria to travel farther and to be "rained out" back on to the ground. > > > > Much of this is pretty speculative. But whatever the possible motives for > > bacteria to make clouds, one practical spin-off of their skills is that > > scientists might develop more efficient "organic" methods of seeding > > clouds, using bacteria instead of chemicals. That is one reason why > > agriculturalists and military strategists may be taking notice when, > > probably later this year, Moffett takes a device rather like a vacuum > > cleaner into the skies to capture and investigate the unknown ecology in > > the clouds over England. Hopefully, this experiment will i answer many of > > the questions raised by the intriguing notion of ice-generating genes and > > bacteria. > > >>>> > > Independent Review 20 August 2003 > > > > > > Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath, England, > > <www.evolutionary-economics.org> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Futurework mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
