A Little More Land

Today the first particle beam was successfully sent around the Large Hadron Collider! This utterly amazing piece of equipment, the largest, most powerful, and most expensive scientific experiment ever undertaken by humanity, will undoubtedly result in many profound revelations about the structure of matter and the universe.

Some breathtaking statistics:

• 27km circumference, located underneath France and Switzerland
• Over 1200 magnets (each 15m long!), and hundreds of smaller magnets, keep the beam of protons (smaller than a human hair) tight and focused
• The magnets are cooled to just a few K. Colder than space.
• According to the LHC site, the accuracy needed to get the beams to collide “akin to firing needles from two positions 10 km apart with such precision that they meet halfway!” And at nearly the speed of light no less!
• Total cost: €3.2 - €6.4 billion ($4.5 - $9 billion)
• Over 10,000 scientists are working on the project

Check out the live webcam feed for a view of the control room.

Tags: physics

It has been many years since I have been to the National Zoo. Much has changed, not just in the exhibits, but also how I think and feel about things such as zoos. There are several aspects I find undividedly positive. One is that the placement of such amazing creatures within the reach of so many people gives them a chance they would otherwise almost definitely never have to appreciate more of the wonders of the natural world. Such visibility also provides a way to raise funds and gain support for important projects such as studying, breeding, and re-introducing endangered species.

This aside, it was still quite painful to see creatures, especially the more intelligent ones, confined in such a small, unnatural area. They will live out their lives behind fences and walls, unable to fully live according to their abilities. And this saddens me deeply. It was difficult to think through and explain what about it bothered me at the time, but it was an undeniable sensation. Before long, I simply wasn’t able to stand it any longer, and we had to leave.

While I am still thinking through the experience, I think that most of my anxiety and anger came from a combination of causes, centering around mankind’s thoughtless wasting of resources each day. We destroy complex ecosystems and organisms that took millions of years to develop, and that will never develop in the same way again. It is difficult for me to imagine a greater pain than knowing that a beauty, an order, a supremely economical and ingenious creature or relationship is gone. And gone forever, not simply until we fully comprehend the import of our actions. And gone not for a great purpose, to complete some noble action. Simply in the production of everyday items and products can this destruction enact itself. And thus the pain also contains an element of self-loathing, for I know I too am part of and act to further the same system of waste and stupidity that seems so untenable at times like this.

Such thoughts will have to be continued at another time, after I can put more consideration into them. Let me finish with a few of the beauties we encountered in our trip (view them all in this Flickr set). I also put up two videos, one of some Golden Lion Tamarins grooming, and one of an Asian Elephant taking a swim in a pool in the same set.

Red Ruffed Lemur (Varecia variegata)

Stone Crab

Asian Elephant

Today I took my first trip to the Jug Bay Natural Area, one of a number of parks within the Patuxent River Park. While there was a lot more to explore than I got a chance to see, what I did see was pretty amazing! The trails are very well kept, my favorite part being a series of boardwalks that go right through the marsh. Walking surrounded by reeds and cypress, a lazy breeze carrying an occasional tang of brackish water and the distant calls of the ospreys, it was thoroughly enjoyable. I also captured several photographic firsts (for me). See this slideshow for all the goodies, but here are some of my favorites:

Five-Lined Skink (Eumeces fasciatus)

Little Glassywing (Pompeius verna)

Robber Fly (Asilidae)

Last weekend, I got to hike around Cooper’s Rock State Forest. It’s a pretty amazing park, with a wide variety of terrain, from sprawling vistas, to rapids, to strange small canyons and fallen rocks. Check out this Flickr set for images taken at the park.

I came across an insect I had not seen before (at least not in this form):

Wheel Bug nymph (Arilus cristatus)

It’s pretty amazing how different the nymph appears from the adult, which is itself a uniquely odd bug. I saw the adult form once, and was quite surprised by what appears to be a cog sticking out of its back. It was also extremely slow-moving. Despite their speed, these bugs are quite the killers, and are also known as assassin bugs.

While not in the park itself, we spotted another beautiful bug:

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Tags: Entomology

Today we took a trip to Wheaton Regional Park. We intended to check out the “Wings of Fancy” live butterfly exhibit, but after visiting the Brookside Nature Center, we decided to hit the trails instead. It was unbelievably perfect weather. This, combined with strolling through beautiful forests, made for an amazing experience. Aside from a good time, we came back with several hundred photos. The survivors of culling the myriad botched attempts are available in this Flickr set.