Research Blog : science

Endangered species: where to find current information

googler@evpl — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:44:00 GMT

We've always found it difficult to collect print items that have current lists of endangered species. Thanks to the internet, we no longer have to.

For species that reside in the United States, the definitive source is the US Fish and Wildlife Service (the agency that enforces the Endangered Species Act). To access its list, which also includes threatened species, click on the "endangered species" list at the top of the front page. This list can be searched by location and species name.

For international coverage of threatened species, the most comprehensive list is from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, who maintain a "red list" of threatened species, both plant and animal. The list currently includes information on about 45,000 species, which means some searching is necessary -- there's no A-Z of everything here. You'll probably do a keyword search (such as birds, or hawks), and then on the left, you can narrow by a number of options. Each option will open to list more, which you see by clicking on the plus signs.

The most important option in the left-hand menu is "assessment," because that's where designations of "vulnerable," "endangered," "critically endangered," etc. are listed. You can choose more than one category. The numbers after each category in the plus-sign menus are the number of species that option entails. (As an example, perhaps a depressing one, there are 562 species of birds that are either endangered or critically endangered.)

Another website, Earth's Endangered Creatures, is more user-friendly and makes an excellent effort to be current and accurate, but is not as official, and only lists animals.

For a smaller selection of endangered species, instead of a comprehensive list, you might be able to use the World Wildlife Fund's focus on "flagship species," which they define as the most iconic of the threatened animals.

The Library is adding new books and videos to the collection on endangered and threatened species on an ongoing basis, of course, but none that make a claim to being exhaustive. So websites like these perform an invaluable service.

Reasons why the world won't end in 2012

googler@evpl — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:22:00 GMT

There's a lot of hype right now about the Mayan calendar, but it's interesting to note that none of it is coming from experts in Mesoamerican studies. In fact, it all seems to be coming from people trying to sell something, from books to movie tickets to emergency supplies. A couple of sites out there might help you rest assured there's nothing to be worried about.

An article in USA Today explains that "Part of the 2012 mystique stems from the stars. On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that 'whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time,' journalist Lawrence Joseph writes. But scholars doubt the ancient Maya extrapolated great meaning from anticipating the alignment — if they were even aware of what the configuration would be. Astronomers generally agree that 'it would be impossible the Maya themselves would have known that,' says Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. What's more, she says, 'we have no record or knowledge that they would think the world would come to an end at that point.'"

The news site of the Discovery Channel has an article titled "Top Ten Reasons Why the World Won't End in 2012" with a nice summary of arguments against the most frequently proposed doomsday scenarios.

NASA has a FAQ about 2012, in which they explain, "Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar."

I'm fond of The Skeptic's Dictionary, and they've come through with a nice entry that explains the complexities of the Mayan calendar in some detail (and which many doomsayers seem to be ignorant of). They also fail to find any reason to think that the Mayans were making a prediction at all, and ask the question, "what is the likelihood that a civilization that couldn't use its vast knowledge to save itself from self-destruction was concerned with predicting what would happen in a future millennium? The Mayan leaders couldn't see far enough into the future to plan for and solve the human problems they faced: too many people on too little land, destruction of their own environment, farming techniques and deforestation that depleted soil nutrients, droughts (partly brought on by their deforestation programs), and so on."

You have to give Hollywood credit -- they've timed the release of the big-budget disaster film 2012 just about perfectly. If nothing else, it certainly looks like an impressive bunch of special effects. I love how Roger Ebert calls it "the mother of all disaster movies (and the father, and the extended family)."

The Best Medicine

wag.mado@evpl — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:56:00 GMT

Every three weeks we have a Lobby Book Display at Central Library on a different theme or topic. Some topics are naturally more popular than others. However, "Laugh Out Loud" in the month of March was such a favorite that we found it difficult to keep books on the display. The books were fiction and nonfiction titles that were generally written to make people laugh.

Now, I've always known about the importance of laughter since I first saw the "Laughter is the Best Medicine" section in Reader's Digest as a child. And as an adult, I learned about the psychology of laughter while studying Norman Cousins in my college psychology classes and later in a cancer support group I attended. But none of this prepared me for the speed at which those humorous books flew off the book display.

Just about the time I was preparing the book display, I heard that the economic recession was having an effect on the demand for humorous speakers.

Then, about two weeks ago came a news story regarding a new scientific study by Dr. Lee Berk which shows that "mirthful laughter" can raise good cholesterol, reduce inflammation and reduce levels of three detrimental stress hormones in high risk diabetic patients. And, according to a 2006 study by Dr. Berk, just the anticipation of laughter can boost health-protecting hormones and reduce potentially harmful ones.

Next, I discovered that May 3 was World Laughter Day and that it was being promoted by a group who practices Laughter Yoga. Who knew!

So, this got me thinking. Are people attracted to humorous things because they feel better just thinking about that funny stuff? Do they subconsciously know that a laugh is just what they need to get them through these stressful times we live in? Well, I think so.

So my proposition is this: Why not pull a humorous book or movie off the shelf every time you visit the library. Hold it in your hand and look at it often. Even if you don't ever get around to reading it or watching it, just the anticipation alone should be enough to make you feel better. And if you do read or watch it, just think of all those health-protecting chemicals that will be floating around inside you for the next 12 to 24 hours.

"Everyday Mysteries" answers interesting questions

googler@evpl — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:20:00 GMT

"Everyday Mysteries," subtitled "Fun science facts from the Library of Congress," is a great website for reading interesting articles on a variety of topics, getting ideas for research papers, and submitting your own questions. Each article includes both links to related websites and a bibliography of written materials, so it's a great jumping-off point for further study.

Some of their articles include "What does it mean when they say the universe is expanding?" and "Who invented the automobile?"

LibGuides from HowStuffWorks

seeker@evpl — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:29:00 GMT

I've always been a sucker for dropping by HowStuffWorks to see entertaining how-to's. After all, you never know when you might be called upon to build a straw bale house or explain to your 7-year-old how a Star Wars light saber appears to be real in a movie but she's not going to see a working version in Wal-Mart any time soon. Certainly not in time for Christmas! The short articles offer a clear picture of how something functions, is put together, or its history. Designed by Discovery Channel and its spinoffs, the information is sound, the speculations are reasonable, and the information is presented in an entertaining way. (The accompaning ads that allow it to be a free site are clearly marked and easy to skim over.)

On the other end of the spectrum, I enjoy exploring the more serious LibGuides collection of guides by research librarians, whether they're subject guides, information portals, or focused research tip sheets. These reliable explorations were originally written for their individual library, so not all resources listed are available for free, but there always seems to be some valuable content in each topic I've opened so far.

Now How Stuff Works has joined the LibGuides community with their own collection of research guide topics at HowStuffWorks LibGuiides . They combine HowStuffWorks' entertaining outlook with LibGuides' research orientation. The topics run from cooking to dinosaurs to elections & politics, each with videos, articles, questions and links to other informative sites. One of the features I particularly liked is the ability to pull up the most recently written guides. For an intriguing introductory meander through a new broad topic area, browse through HowStuffWorks' LibGuides.

Physics got you down?

E-Ville Librarian@evpl — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:54:00 GMT

I came across this little bit of interesting hip-hop this morning and had to share. It looks as though some intrepid internet diva has decided to lay out in detail what the CERN-operated Large Hadron Collider is intended to do. The only thing missing is the button that commences total global annihilation.

Follow this link to check out the video.