The Shocking Electric Eel

credit: Flickr

For a species that has a prominent place in the lore of science--Alexander Volta designed the first synthetic battery inspired by the eel's body design, and Michael Faraday placed his bare hands on the animal to understand the phenomenon of electricity--the electric eel or Electrophorus electricus, has some shocks in store for modern researchers. First, the eel is not an eel at all, but a type of knifefish, (Gymnotiformes) which have a flattened body, use gills to breath, and employs electric impulses for navigation and communication. The eel is unique in the order because it breaths air, has a thick cylindrical body shape, and has a organ that can produce shocks of more than 600 volts, strong enough to incapacitate a horse or human being. Its electric organ stretches 80% of its two meter body length with a positive pole in the head and a negative pole in the tail.  The organ contains thousands of specialized muscle cells called electrocytes that can generate electric potential of about 150mV each. [see chart]

credit: Schroeder et al / Nature

But the oddities do not stop there. Thought to comprise a unique species in its own genus for two hundred and fifty years since the famous taxonomist Linnaeus named it, the electric 'fish' is actually three distinct species according to Brazilian researchers. Carlos David de Santana of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum says his research based on museum specimens and live captures shows the three species have distinct genetics, physiques, habitats and electric power. Their DNA suggests they diverged from a common ancestor seven million years ago, before lions and tigers, brown bears and polar bears, humans and chimpanzees.

One of the species retains the original name of E. electricus. (Linnaeus' eel) The others are now known as E. voltai after the Italian battery builder, and E. varii after Peter Vari, a famous ichthyologist who was a member of Stantana's research team until be died in 2016. Santana can now identify the species by sight, but to make scientifically significant distinctions, his team focused on ten important genes. They found little variation in the genes within a group, but much variation between the three. These genetic differences express themselves in subtle physical characteristics such as head shape and the number of touch sensitive pores along the flanks.

In the wild, the eels live in distinctly different habitats. E. vari lives in muddy, oxygen-deprived lowland streams. The other two live in highland rivers with fast flowing, clear water that is well oxygenated. This difference in habitats probably occurred when the Amazon River reversed its westerly flow about 2.5 million years ago, the same time frame when Volta's and Linnaeus' eels variegated into two separate species. Murky water quality allows E. Vari to hunt stealthily alone, using weaker shocks to paralyze its prey. The clear water species hunt in groups and use much stronger shocks because clear water is less conductive. Volta's eel can discharge up to 860 volts, the strongest shock emitted by any electric fish, and strong enough to kill a man. Eels have been known to leap out of the water in order to stun potential prey with maximum effect by creating a short circuit through their target. Alexander von Humboldt, the German naturalist, described this behavior in 1807.

Recently Ken Catania from Vanderbilt University discovered that eels use their electric battery power for more than just hunting. They release 400 volt pulses to cause their hiding targets to twitch with muscular contractions. Eels can then detect distortions in the weak electrical field that surrounds them with electrosensors in their head, and use them to track their victims. They share this ability with other electric fish, which use weak fields to navigate and communicate. But eels take it up a level by immobilizing their prey using their electric superpowers  to transmit high voltage pulses. Helpless prey is then sucked up by the Tazer-equipped monster. What other stunning discoveries await researchers in Amazonia? We may never know since the eels' habitat is rapidly being destroyed by humans..

COTW: A Nation Underwater

This is a topographical map of Grand Bahama Island:

The areas in green are elevations between 0-15 feet, yellow 16-30 feet, red above 30 feet.  Dorian's estimated storm surge was 18-23 feet, so almost the entire island was inundated by the sea. As a reporter on the island said, "The level of devastation is breathtaking..."  Only 35 hurricanes in the Atlantic have attained Category 5 status since record keeping began--five of those have been in the last four years .  Catastrophic storms used to be once a decade, but in the 'new normal' brought to you by the oil industry, they could be three to 15 times each year in low-lying Bangladesh, a country literally disappearing into the Bay of Bengal.  While in the Mekong Delta, which has an average elevation of less than a meter, flooding could displace more than 12 million people. The Vietnamese government shielded the actual elevation information from researchers for years.  Tuvalu archipelago in Oceania is sinking according to natives.  Two of nine islands have already succumbed to rising ocean levels. Home to just 11,000 people, Tuvalu is the fourth smallest nation in the world, but it is nevertheless home to them.  Scientists predict the island chain could become uninhabitable in 50-100 years; meanwhile residents helplessly watch the waves consume their world.

'Toontime: The Many Crimes of Il Douche

Update: It seems the politically advantageous impeachment strategy long advocated by US Person is finally being recognized by Democratic pundits. A trial in the Senate of Il Douche puts the despicable bourbon Senator Mitch McConnell in a very embarrassing squeeze during an election year: publicly defending the least popular and probably criminal 45th President. Acquitting a president that is so obviously guilty of multiple "high crimes and misdemeanors" is a political liability that even the residents of Kentucky could not stand.  To make impeachment a lock in the House and send the case to the Senate, caucus leaders need 87 more public commitments from Democrats by the end of the year, otherwise it will be too close to the election.  Its worth the effort because the process may not rid US of the Malignant One short of loosing re-election, but it might unseat 'Moscow Mitch' as collateral damage.  Jonathan Alter writing at the Daily Beast suggests, "Despite his acquittal, impeachment—a convenient shorthand for all of his despicable qualities—would hang around Donald Trump’s neck all the way to Election Day. And he would be stained forever in history, his just deserts.” 

credit: John Cole, Scranton Time-Tribune
BC Idonwanna sez: Orangeman get what he want, big time!

{7.09.19}The list of particulars against Il Douche has grown since Robert Mueller dropped his bombshell report.  It seems every other day the media uncovers another instance of his blatant financial exploitation of public office¹.  It is nothing new for the serial bankrupt from Queens: his inherited real estate empire was built on his father's cronyism and political influence peddling².  His criminality is now so obvious that even cautious Jerry Nadler (D-NY) will resort to holding a hearing for a vote on a formal impeachment inquiry.  Reports are that the vote is is scheduled for mid-week.  Nadler has already told federal judges reviewing congressional subpoena requests that his committee is conducting such an investigation, but a formal vote will undoubtedly help clarify Judiciary Committee's legal position as it battles the regime's scorched earth resistance. The Judiciary and six other committees investigating the Malignant Donald have faced a stonewall attempting to obtain testimony and documents.

Apparently some Democrats on recess in their districts encountered difficulty explaining the "fake impeachment" process to constituents too.  The formal impeachment measure is expected to delineate the parameters of the official inquiry.  Repugnants on the committee complained loudly that any impeachment inquiry requires a formal vote.  They will undoubtedly get their demand fulfilled. More than half the Democratic caucus in Congress support impeachment of the wannabe fascist occupying the Very White House.

credit: Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune
Wackydoodle sez: Use the one marked "emoluments"! 

1"But now, miraculously, now that Donald Trump is president, American military cargo planes have started refueling at that [Prestwick] airport, at a significant price mark up. Right. It’s much cheaper for them to get their fuel at military bases [Lakenheath]. That’s part of the reason they always stop at military bases. Also, they’re the military. They’re no longer stopping at military bases,” TV journalist Rachel Maddow noted.  “Instead they’re stopping at the airport that Trump needs to prop up to keep his Scottish golf resort going and paying full freight commercial airport rates for that fuel. And then they’re sending the aircrews to go stay at the president’s resort,” she explained.  Where by the way, their per Diem is not enough to pay for drinks and food at the pricey Turnberry resort.
2 Amazingly troubadour Woody Guthrie was a tenant of the elder Trump.  He sung of Fred Trump's racial discrimination in housing: “I suppose/Old Man Trump knows/Just how much/Racial hate/He stirred up/In the bloodpot of human hearts/When he drawed/That color line.”

Real Socialism

the owners react

Senator Sanders identifies himself as a democratic socialist, but his announced policies so far are basically progressive left.  However, Sanders is set to announce a policy proposal that actually qualifies as socialist.  Academically socialism is characterized by worker control of the means of production.  The Green New Deal nor Medicare for All does this.  However, the Senator from Vermont's most ambitious economic plan to date is his employee ownership plan. According to the Washington Post under the plan for which details have yet to be revealed, big corporations will be required to invest 2% of their stock per year in a fund to be owned by employees, and that would pay out regular dividends to those employee-owners. The employee equity position could go as high as 50%, giving them effective control of corporate policy. As such this ambitious shift in ownership from capitalists to workers is a democratic redistribution of wealth, and socialist by any generally accepted definition of the term.

What is perhaps more surprising is that polling done on the subject of employee stock ownership shows that a majority of 'Mericans support the idea of becoming corporate "stakeholders".  A policy research group in DC said that its polling shows 55% of respondents support the idea and only 20% opposed it. [chart below]  The idea is not a new one.  The British Labour Party proposed similar, “Inclusive Ownership Funds" in a 2017 manifesto.  That plan is capped at 10% of a company's capitalization, but enough to give control to workers in Britain's fragmented company ownership structure.  The Labour proposal goes farther than just employee ownership; the Party plans to bring water, energy, the railways, and the Royal Mail back to public ownership.  Sanders' plan harks back to the 1976 Meidner plan which failed in Sweden because the Social Democratic Party backed out fearing the proposal was too radical. The key difference between the original Bernie's current proposal and the Meidner Plan is that it contemplated worker investment funds across entire industry sectors, not just individual companies.[flow chart, above] eventually resulting in collective ownership of the stock market within a few decades.  Both the Meidner and Sanders' plans have the redistribution of wealth and worker participation in corporate control as goals, which will make other egalitarian reforms such as universal health care, public higher education, and debt forgiveness more viable.

The Meidner Group found that, "the modern economies of the west are filled to

growth in top incomes, credit NYT

the brim with measures against monopolies, cartels or trusts. But nonetheless, nobody denies that the direction of economic development is essentially controlled by and for owners of capital, and their interests."  The is undeniably the situation in the US. [see chart, right]  The average 1% person has an annual income of $21 million from capital. The average hourly wage has grown a niggardly $2 even though per person income has doubled in the last forty years. As Beto O'Rouke might say, that is certainly F***ed Up! 

Nevertheless, employee ownership does exist in some forms in the United States.  Several large companies are majority owned by their employees: Publix Supermarkets, WL Gore & Associates (the makers of Gore-Tex), and Norton Publishers.  Basing worker participation at the company level does lock in inequalities since some companies perform better than others.  Social research reveals that companies that have worker ownership have fewer layoffs, and modestly higher wages.  Shareholders may argue that allowing workers to own shares will dilute their value.  Spoiler: shares are regularly diluted by corporations to give senior management stock options as compensation. The average annual dilution for chief executive and senior management pay is 2.5 percent. So why not allow dilution to give workers a voice in managing the company?  What is good for the goose is good for the gander.  And that, dear readers, is class politics.

 

New Monkey Species Found in Amazonia

In a part of the Amazon being rapidly deforested, a monkey new to science has been found. A type of marmoset, Mico munduruku, named after the indigenous group with which it shares habitat, lives between the Tapajós and Jamanxim rivers in the Brazilian state of Parà.  It has distinct white tail, white forearms, feet and hands with a yellowish pelage on the elbows and saddle, and was described by researchers in the journal PeerJ after ten field studies to the region. Species distribution of marmosets in Amazonia are currently not well understood and the region between the two rivers poorly studied. Consequently its conservation status is data deficient.

White tails among South American primates are very rare.  Only one other species, the white saddle back tamarin, has this characteristic. To confirm that M. munduruku is a separate species, researchers treked in the forest and canoed rivers to observe troops attracted by the recording of marmoset long calls.  Five specimens were taken in the field under permit and muscle tissue genetically analyzed in the lab. The researchers stated in their journal article that, "more studies are urgently needed in order to generate the information necessary for science driven conservation initiatives".   Munduruku marmosets live entirely within the arc of deforestation of the Amazon rain forest.  They may not survive man's wanton destruction of their home to allow scientists to study them further.

COTW: 'Merica's War Machine

The chart shows a current dollar growth rate in war mongering is 5% per year, regardless of the status of foreign relations.  Spending is clearly driven by  considerations other than national self-defense, the only morally acceptable reasons to spend public money on weapons.  Pentagon spending is ethically challenged, out of control and produces extremely expensive systems that are not fit for purpose, or meet no legitimate need. See e.g., F-20 Tigershark vs F-16 Falcon. This is the case because weapons spending is based on politico-economic factors--military Keynesianism is the predominate economic mode today:

Which explains why no Democratic candidate mentions defense spending as a problem, or as a source of cuts to an exploding federal deficit. This situation is merely accepted as the status quo, for fear of accusations of not 'supporting our troops'.  US Person thinks that is 'stinking thinking'.  The US is now spending more in inflation adjusted dollars on weapons that at any other time in its history, except for the 2010 peak reached under 'neoliberal' Barack Obama, and despite the much acclaimed, but delusional "end of the Cold War".

Four separate studies by experienced, respected authors have recommended cuts to the 'defense' budget, but have been totally ignored by the candidates.  The studies recommend Pentagon budget cuts from $1.25 trillion to $3.5 trillion over ten years.  The fact that no candidate will address the issue does not attest to the quality of the studies, but to the compromised status of the national political debate.

Major Win for Elephants

Baby in jail, Humane Society Inter'l

The delegates to the latest CITIES meeting in Geneva narrowly voted to ban sale of baby elephants to zoos.  The vote was 87-29 with 25 abstentions; miserably the US delegation voted against the original ban proposal and its amendment. Once again, the Trumpillini regime exhibited its fundamental the hostility to life on the world's stage.

Infant in Kenyan orphanage, S. Begin

Since 2012 Zimbabwe has captured more than 100 baby elephants and sold them to zoos in China.  Poaching has caused an epidemic of orphaned elephants; these infants are sold into what amounts to slavery--a life in captivity. Elephant scientists are adamant that elephants are intelligent and emotional creatures that suffer physically and psychologically from captivity. A host of animal welfare organizations petitioned the conference to impose a ban on baby elephant trade.  After emotional backroom negotiations with UK officials from DERA, the EU did a U-turn and voted for the ban, but with amendments that would allow captured elephants from Botswana and Zimbabwe to go to zoos, but only if approved by the CITIES animal committee and IUCN elephant specialists.  The IUCN has already gone on record as opposing wild elephant capture as a genetic supply source for zoos.

Besides protecting elephants, the 183 CITIES delegates took a number of significant conservation actions during the plenary session on August 28, 2019:

• 18 shark species were added to Appendix II, the list of species vulnerable with extinction without trade controls;
• rare timber trees were protected including Malawi's national tree, Mulanje cedar, the slow-growing mukula tree (a type of rosewood) and all cedar species in Latin America were added to Appendix II;
• giraffes were added to Appendix II significantly, two species were upgraded from their Appendix I listings due to improvement in their population status: the American alligator in Mexico and the vicuña in South America.
• in recognition of the growing exotic pet trade, the conference listed a number of lizards, turtles and geckos to the Appendices.

The conference also urged Mexico to mobilize its legal authorities and navy to prevent fishers and vessels from entering the refuge for vaquitas, a near-extinct porpoise,{28.03.16} and mandated the secretariat to assess the effectiveness of these measures by the end of 2019. Costa Rica will host the next CITES conference in 2022.