WILL INSECTS OUST MAN FROM THE EARTH?
Paine, Robert F.
Will Insects Oust Man From the Earth? Smithsonian Biologist Predicts That Bug Pest Will Battle for Land Domain; Freak Storms Visit the World. BY ROBERT F. PAINE Robert F. Paine, director of the...
...Freak Storms RAIN STORMS such as the recent "shower of blood," in France, are not altogether unusual...
...Yet, birds evidently hold no aversion for the empty skins of their devourers...
...What methods do scientists employ to tag whales...
...But its hermit-like qualities have put a fascination on the "noble-white" that its more common relatives can never know...
...Hence, where New Orleans is now must once have been deep water...
...Several explanations have been offered...
...Everest, the highest point on land...
...The difference between the deepest and the highest points on earth is only a matter of eleven miles...
...Hubbard credits the use of the centimeter-gram-second system of measurement and the powers-of-ten expression of large numbers, with prime parts, in the onward march of the science of measurement...
...Other colored rain storms have been the result of similar phenomena...
...However, a larger one is now under construction in Italy and the next "Majestic" may well be a motor driven vessel...
...They can be built that large, if necessary...
...When they were stolen he was able to identify them in court by their voices...
...Can the heat from a star be measured...
...R. AUSTIN H. CLARK, eminent Smithsonian biologist, has raised an interesting problem with his declaration that man's continued domination of the Earth may some day be contested by insects...
...The heat of any star can be measured, although so small as to be barely perceptible...
...Some say the cast-off skin is so unlike a snake that birds do not associate it with their enemies and look upon it merely as a dry object easily manipulated into a nest...
...Many other species are likewise marked...
...Skins in Nests FOR SOME TIME, scientists have been interested in the explanation of the use of snake skins in birds' nests...
...No other living thing can threaten man's control...
...Clark's statement has been seriously received by scientific minds...
...Strange as it may seem, Dr...
...Northern and southern bullfrogs have different tones...
...The marked whales will bear the date and place of tagging with them until they are slain...
...The river gradually filled up this bay, or most of it, with soil from the north, which built banks on each side and narrowed the bay down during the years to something like a river in size...
...Since the days of Izaak Walton, men of science have tagged fish in order to learn more of their travels...
...How much of the earth is covered with water...
...Live snakes are deadly enemies of nearly all birds and no small number of eggs and young birds find a last resting place in some reptile's gullet...
...Insects have greater "brain power" than most people believe and, after all, that is the controlling factor...
...N. S. Shalcr, of U. S. Geological Survey, to believe that the Mississippi was, during the glacial age, say 25,000 years ago, a bay of the gulf of Mexico as far north as where the Ohio enters...
...Thus far 57 "deeps" have been recorded, the big majority being in the Pacific Ocean...
...Depths OF THE total surface area of the earth, seven-tenths is covered by the sea...
...A period of time no longer than one-hundred-billionth of a second can be recorded...
...For example, the visible universe of a quarter century ago has been enlarged 800,000 times...
...The increase in measuring power since 1900 is almost unbelievable...
...Others declare the shining skin attracts birds as do other objects that glitter brightly...
...Many species of our feathered friends use the snake slough, or cast-off-skin, but no one has yet explained just why...
...Motorships Next...
...Thick white dust has been known to cause a "shower of milk...
...Fish live only in water and trees and plants lack the power of movement...
...But all these freak storms can be explained by a little scientific study...
...the Black-eyed Susan and also the Daisy, the Edelweiss' ancestry is common enough...
...Edelweiss ONE OF the most fascinating of all flowers is the tiny Edelweiss, which will be forever associated with the high reaches of the Alps, although it grows elsewhere...
...for, only those who dare its haunts are entitled to glimpse the Tare beauty of such a plant...
...Volcanic ash has, more than once, been the cause of colored rain, and soot has likewise blackened common rain water on occasion...
...As a result, it has been dubbed "The most dangerous flower on earth...
...STATISTICS begin to make it appear that another era in ocean travel may soon be reached...
...The quest of this snowy, white plant has caused many a mountain climber to fall to his doom...
...These are spots whert the bottom lies more than 18,000 feet below the surface...
...Every once in a while the proverbial "rain of cats and dogs" seems literally to come true...
...Certain very deep portions of the ocean are known as "deeps...
...Nearly all of the deepest !'deeps" are near land...
...Measurements THE remarkable progress of Science is nowhere more obvious than in the realm of measurement...
...The Pacific also harbors the deepest spot in the world, which is near Japan...
...But insects exist in great numbers, readily adapt themselves to almost any environment, and, in the event of man's downfall, might easily dominate the Earth...
...How many miles difference is there between the deepest and highest points on earth...
...For example, a serious climatic change on Earth could destroy man, but many insects would withstand much greater heat or cold...
...It will be interesting to the layman, as well as the scientist, to note in what regions of the Seven Seas they are captured...
...posited them some distance away, amid a gentle shower of rain...
...Percy Viosca, Jr., of New Orleans, had a bunch of bullfrogs from the north, valued at $462, in his laboratory for experimental purposes...
...What has caused rain in France to appear like a "shower of blood...
...Showers of bugs" are comparatively common, being caused by rain beating upon a flight of insects who cannot gain cover in time...
...Probably, the strangest storm on record consisted of a rain of frogs, which was later accounted for as the result of a cyclone which sucked aloft the inhabitants of a pond and deTen Questions Answered What showy plant lures many mountain climbers to death...
...Where are the deep spots in the Pacific ocean...
...There is one near the Philippines and another near Guam, both of which are farther from sea level than the crest of the highest mountain in the world...
...The motorship needs no funnels, although they are usually equipped with at least one for appearance sake...
...The accuracy of the scientific world is of the greatest importance in the practical application of newly discovered principles, and measurement is vitally essential to accuracy...
...Related to...
...Later, when the leviathons fall prey to the whalers, the tags will be carefully preserved and a check on the animals' travels made...
...For, motorships are now being produced in greater numbers than steamships...
...Where is the highest mountain...
...What is the length of the largest steamship...
...Making a River BORINGS at New Orleans show mud deposits of the Mississippi river several hundred feet below the city...
...The depth of this water area ranges all the way to 32,63G feet, or a trifle over six miles...
...Whether or no Science can state the reason, birds will continue to use snake exuviae for their nests...
...Which is as it should be...
...As steamships ousted sailing vessels from dominance, so motorships may replace ships of steam, if they continue to grow in favor as at present...
...It* so scarce and so greatly sought after that Swiss laws now protect it...
...Mammals, once ascendent, have been thoroughly mastered and are on a steady decline, numerically...
...This fact, and others, leads Dr...
...BY ROBERT F. PAINE Robert F. Paine, director of the Paine Service, has prepared a series of observations on science and subjects of world-wide interest...
...The new Italian "Saturnia" will be without even this and the space usually occupied by the smokestack will be utilized for airplanes...
...So many of these discussions refer to problems of everyday life, to new discoveries and to findings by government officers that it is believed that a presentation of his observations will prove of timely interest.—Managing Editor...
...Tagging Whales WITH the aid of a crossbow and arrows, Norwegian scientists have recently "tagged" a number of whales with permanent metal discs...
...An arrow, with tag attached, will remain in a whale's thick side indefinitely...
...The U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, for example, tags thousands of salmon each year, in the attempt to discover more concerning the unknown cycle in the lives of these odd fish...
...Henry D. Hubbard, of the Bureau of Standards, brought this fact out in forceful terms, at a recent meeting of the Metric Association...
...As yet no motorship of the proportions of our largest liners has been built—the largest being only (555 feet in length...
...The Edelweiss grows far up in the high places and is considered an'emblem of purity...
...Such progress is, therefore, of tremendous importance to the entire world...
...The red rain in France was found to have been colored by red dust blown from the Sahara desert...
...In other words, it is farther from sea level to the bottom of the sea than to the peak of Mt...
...Why do birds put snake skins in their nests...
Vol. 19 • August 1927 • No. 8
