Sam Kneller's Blog, page 55

July 5, 2016

Living Plants – Evidence of Their Pivotal Role on Earth

Living plants are everywhere but do realize the essential role they play in the overall mineral, inanimate kingdom and the living animate kingdom. Living plants are the hinge of life.

Living plants are everywhere but do you realize the essential role they play in the overall mineral, inanimate kingdom and the living animate kingdom. Living plants are the pivot of life.

We’re into living plants and it’s time to resume our work for the fall harvest.

Galacti operates his own mechanical harvesting machine. We use

our scythes to harvest half the field of grain, while Galacti’s

mechanical reaper cuts the grain stalks efficiently and carefully.

(chapter 5.7-8)

Fall Harvest

The work is intense, hard, and laborious, and it’s doubly

so in the rice paddies, where some of our travelers have chosen

to work.

They compete with our grain harvesters as if they were

reenacting a recent episode of The Amazing Race, even

though we have hours of daylight ahead and a harvest moon

to lengthen the day as we gather the wheat. The wind rustles

past and there is a slight crispness in the air. We cut swaths

through the wheat with our large grain scythes while the

mechanical grain combine is unloaded.

Time seems to stop, and yet we’re somehow aware when

it’s lunchtime (it’s not just because of hunger). After we

eat, we are back at work. Half of our travelers thresh the

cut wheat with a chiseling mallet, a small-scale threshing

machine, or the larger farm equipment Galacti brings now

that he and I are done with the harvesting.

The equipment is used to remove the wheat berries, from which

our bread comes. Meanwhile, the travelers that are harvesting by

hand work diligently. The same principles apply in the rice field,

although picking rice by hand is among the hardest jobs on

Earth. We combine traditional rice-picking and threshing

with mechanical methods.

In any case, our time among the living plants has ended, and our

work is finished. We’re grateful that we can rest. The soybeans

will be harvested in our absence, since we have much more to

see on our tour.

A white film has appeared on the fallow third field. An

early frost, perhaps, and a sign of approaching winter. The

change of the seasons, which is sometimes an annoyance,

sometimes a reminder to change our routines, and sometimes

ignored, has never been more present in our adult lives. We

have the flora to thank for this.

Life Hinges on Flora – Living Plants

From space, the supernova produced the elements that

congealed to form the sun and planet Earth with its tilted

axis. The axial tilt gives us four distinct seasons in both the

northern and southern hemispheres. In the atmosphere, we

have the filters that allow the penetration of light and heat.

Water serves as the liquid that both dissolves and transports

the constituents that come from the earth—the inorganic

minerals that are the essential elements of life.

All four of these suppliers of basic life material are brought

together by the flora. Living plants, both those that grow on land

(which we’ve emphasized in this chapter) and aquatic ones

in the form of phytoplankton, use a process called photosynthesis.

This process uses the sun’s energy to combine carbon

dioxide, nitrogen, and other inert inorganic elements into

living organic life.

Only plants use sun-space, air-atmosphere, water, minerals-earth to produce organic life.
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Photosynthesis - The carbon dioxide and oxygen cycle that takes place. 50% by plants and trees on land and 50% by phytoplancton at sea.

Photosynthesis – The carbon dioxide and oxygen cycle that takes place. 50% by plants and trees on land and 50% by phytoplancton at sea.

We can’t see phytoplankton with the naked eye because

they’re too small, but they live close to the surface in all oceans

and bodies of freshwater. They’re actually miniscule algae that

produce 50 percent of the renewed oxygen we breathe, and

they form the base of the food chain for both aquatic and

terrestrial life.

The flora kingdom of living plants is interlocked with

inanimate minerals and the animate living kingdom. In fact,

in many ways it bridges the gap between the inanimate and the animate in

that flora absorbs the former and bequeaths it to the latter for

their and its own growth and well-being.

Flora links the inanimate and the animate. it absorbs the former and bequeaths it to the latter
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We cannot evoke the inanimate without the help of the animate

in The Explanation.

Without living plants, we wouldn’t be able to write the next

chapter, which deals with fauna.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

Below is a video by botanists and scientists who have the comprehension of our living plants within our entire living system. No plants, no biodiversity, no oxygen, no food. If you want to hear where how flora is central to mankind and our planet take a look at this short video.

Play a round of Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game based on … Both viewing the videos and using the tags at the end of this blog will give you dozens of ideas for The Game … it’s up to you to adapt it to the age level you’re working with.

Dig Deeper into The Explanation

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This post is an excerpt from chapter 5.7-8 of The Explanation. Since you read all the way to here… you liked it. Please use the Social Network links to share The Explanation with your friends.

See the index of the book Inventory of the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online .

Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Use the tags at the end of this post as ideas to prepare your next challenging and instructive game.

Purchase the paperback edition at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Barnes@Nobles (Paperback and Nook) – Google Play – Kobo – iBooks app on Apple devices.

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Published on July 05, 2016 06:00

June 28, 2016

Spring Wheat Harvest – How do Seasons Schedule its Growth?

Spring and Fall Wheat Harvest … one of the biggest domesticated crops in the world and we don’t realize how the seasons schedule its growth.

“Before I tell you about the wheat lifecycle, which has two

harvest seasons (one early in the spring, and a much larger one

in the fall), let me tell you why that third field was left empty,”

Galacti says.

(chapter 5.6)

Spring and Fall Wheat Harvests ... do you know or realize how the seasons schedule their growth?
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Our farm expert has an idea why. It’s because of crop

rotation, which is a planned order of crops alternating on the

same field. For example, our barley field previously contained

wheat, and now several of our volunteers are planting wheat

on the harvested barley field. The ripe spring wheat field previously

held corn or soybeans, perhaps. In addition, the fallow

field was planted last year with soybeans or turnips to restore

the nitrogen in the soil and provide food.

“But now it supports that World Demonstration Garden,”

the farm expert says. “Even though that’s unusual, most crop

rotations work efficiently: they decrease disease, increase food

production, and provide the nitrogen advantage. You can also

plant both warm-season and cool-season crops. Farmers have

practiced this for centuries as a way to manage farms, and they

plant by the rhythm of the seasons.”

Plants practice crop rotation (if anything without a brain

can be said to “practice”) on their own, without the extensive

planning that humans undertake. For example, if there is a

flood in a forest in Europe that devastates the flora, weeds

take over the soil to protect it from wind and rain.

After the weeds die, berry plants (usually with protective brambles

or thorns) rise up due to seed dispersal from birds. For

example, fruit-eating birds in Denmark may have dropped

seeds into the flooded or weedy areas. Berries provide food

for the forests that will regrow through the efforts of seedcarrying

birds and animals such as badgers, mice, and even ants.

Throughout this process the plants are participating in

the water cycle and taking carbon dioxide out of the air. An

amazing automatic regeneration, natural and complex at the

same time.

It takes concentration to watch as the farm expert plants

the wheat seeds. They will sprout in the seedling stage and

put down the tangle of roots, which will sprout shoots called

“tillers” in the second stage. Next, each tiller grows its own stalk

and seed head. We watch Galacti accelerate the growth of one

plant so that the tillers will develop hard “nodes” in the third

stage, from which the plants will continue to grow upward.

In the fourth stage, the “booting” stage, wheat heads emerge

from the sheath of the stalk and immediately progress into

the fifth stage, in which they develop flowers. Blowing winds

scatter pollen from the male to the female parts of the flowers.

Moist and ripening simultaneously, embryos and endosperms

(wheat buds) form and develop into hard wheat kernels. In a

remarkable display of timing, all the wheat ripens and matures

at the exact same moment. Water evaporates from the leaves

and the kernels.

“These stalks are ready to harvest at last,” the farm expert

says, but we are too busy scything and harvesting the spring

wheat harvest.

The spring wheat harvest is actually considered winter

wheat, as it’s planted in the autumn to take advantage of the

season’s moisture, which helps the seeds germinate and sprout.

However, the seeds require only moisture when they’re planted,

so they are well suited to a cold, dry winter. Cold temperatures

slow the wheat’s maturation until after the barley harvest.

Spring sun and rain help the winter wheat mature in order to

prepare for the April-to-June wheat harvest we’re currently

observing. Most of us have never taken time to consider how

one of the first domesticated food crops grows or how seasons

schedule its growth, yet wheat is grown on more land area than

any other commercial crop. Much of what we eat, including

foods we’ve consumed on this journey, contains wheat.

We breathe the air, the purity of the air, and we note that

the wheat we’re harvesting thrives on the carbon dioxide we’re

breathing out. The wheat conducts photosynthesis and adds

biomass in order to grow.

The wheat we’re harvesting thrives on the carbon dioxide we’re exhaling.
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As we harvest the winter wheat we notice that, while the

work is hard, we’re learning, so we don’t notice the passage of

time. Galacti sets aside some of the fruits of our labor.

“It’s a reminder of what we’ve accomplished here today,”

he remarks.

In addition to our discussion on farming, we’ve planted

flora that thrive particularly on the carbon dioxide in the

air. Even as the teak trees are cleansing the air and using the

carbon dioxide for their own photosynthesis, the rest of the

World Demonstration Garden is participating in the cycle.

The wheat is turning golden brown as the processes

within the plant transfer the water and nutrients up through

the plant stalk.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

This video follows the fascinating journey of wheat from the field to your table, closet, car, medicine and other places you have never realized.

Dig Deeper into The Explanation

Join The Explanation Newsletter to receive information and updates. Total privacy and you can unsubscribe at any time... but you won't want to!

TheExplanation.com

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This post is an excerpt from chapter 4.6-7 of The Explanation. Since you read all the way to here… you liked it. Please use the Social Network links to share The Explanation with your friends.

See the index of the book Inventory of the the Universe to find a specific chapter and read it online .

Learn how to play Take Inventory – The Game (free) that nourishes your neurons and is taking the world by storm. Use the tags at the end of this post as ideas to prepare your next challenging and instructive game.

Purchase the paperback edition at Amazon – Purchase the Kindle version

Barnes@Nobles (Paperback and Nook) – Google Play – Kobo – iBooks app on Apple devices.

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Published on June 28, 2016 06:00

June 21, 2016

Pollination and Chronobiology in Flora – How it works

Pollination and Chronobiology in Flora. Amazing reproduction methods in brainless plants and flawless internal time-clocks to boot.

Pollination, see the pollen on the bee as flora and fauna work together to make our environment.

“Many of these plants—including the figs and cassava along

with worldwide food staples like barley, wheat, and rice—are

food crops with their own seasons and their own internal

chronobiology,” Galacti says.

“They have their own internal biological rhythm, their

responses to light and changes in temperature and seasons,” I

add, and our farm expert from the last chapter understands this.

(chapter 5.4-5)

“Let’s speed up the annual growing cycle to see how this

works. It’s called the circadian rhythm, meaning it lasts about

twenty-four hours, or about the length of a day,” suggests Galacti.

Internal timing in organisms is necessary for the survival of a

species and is adapted to its natural habitat. It’s even adaptable,

as the Southern and Northern hemisphere plants illustrate in

our demonstration garden.

You’ve noticed that the leaves open up during the day and

close toward sundown. This daily exposure to light is the time

for stem growth, and when biochemical processes like photosynthesis

are in sunny action. This is also when gas exchange,

carbon dioxide to oxygen, and water transpiration take place.

The next is a “circamonthly” rhythm, which isn’t very obvious in

plants. However, experience has shown us that planting according

to the full moon promotes growth. Then there’s the “circannual”

rhythm, with which our visitors are all familiar.

This annual seasonal rhythm holds true for the dormancy of

certain seeds, regulating germination, flowering, emission of a

fragrance to draw insects for pollination, and abscission (the shedding

of leaves, flowers, or fruit). I have a hazelnut tree, and each year

I am amazed to see how the cup of the hazelnut releases its

nut on maturity.

Some bamboo species have lengthier cycles and flower

only once every seven, sixty-five, or 120 years. The longest

known cycle is 130 years for phyllostachys bambusoides,

also called madake. This bamboo is common in China and

Japan, but also worldwide. Its chronobiology is such that no

matter where it grows, whether north, south, east, or west, or in

a tropical or cold zone, all the plants flower at the exact same

time. This reveals just how far the “internal alarm” goes.

Whether this bamboo grows N, S,E, or W, its cycle is all the plants flower at the exact same…
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Pollination

We stand underneath the Middle Eastern/Mediterranean fig

trees. A swarm of large wasps deters us from inspecting the

trees, but Galacti provides protective beekeeping gear so that

we can observe the wasps closely and safely. Guarded from

stings, we witness the wasps land like a squadron of mini

fighter planes on the figs and pierce them. They crawl inside,

lay their eggs, and sweeten the “delivery” by depositing nectar

carried on their bodies or in a special pouch.

The F-15 fighter wasps that have not yet entered a fig

buzz around the fig trees. One fig cracks open at Galacti’s

prodding and we can see its inner flower hidden under the

skin, never having seen daylight until now. “This is why the

figs depend on the wasps for pollination,” Galacti explains.

“Why is the fig designed that way?” a traveler wonders. “It

seems counterintuitive.”

“Not to the wasps,” Galacti says.

“But every flower that’s pollinated usually needs daylight,

right?” someone else questions. “I know there are some nocturnal

food or flowering plants, but they’re rare, aren’t they? Unless

you live in Alaska, where it’s twilight all day in the winter.”

Targeting the fig, a female wasp (the squad is exclusively

female) drops eggs inside the ovules and pollen inside the

stigma, which are parts of the fig’s flower florets.

“See? They have their routine down,” Galacti says.

If the wasps neglect to provide pollen to one or two figs

that they’ve “impregnated” with their eggs, those figs will

drop to the ground within minutes.

“Uh-oh,” Galacti says. “The wasps didn’t reciprocate.

They didn’t fulfill their part of the contract, so the tree

is demanding a ‘nonpayment penalty,’ to put it in human

terms.”

“You mean because the wasps wanted the fig to be a host

for their eggs, but then decided, (if decided is the right word)

not to pollinate the figs?” asks the visitor who first wondered

about the nature of figs.

“That’s right,” I say. “Cornell University has observed

this give and take, and now you are seeing this relationship

between figs and wasps for the first time. There is a season

for the wasps to lay their eggs, and there is also a season for

the figs to grow.”

The farm expert remembers something. “Actually, there

are two seasons for the figs: one in May and June and the

other in December and January, although in some climates

figs are grown throughout the year.”

“And the fig wasp mating season follows the same chronology

(or chronobiology), so the timing of both the fauna

and flora parties is just right,” I reply. “Fig wasp and fig tree

life cycles are intricately tied together.”

“Where do the male wasps fit in this cycle? I didn’t see

any,” our first questioner wants to know.

Galacti nods at the inside view of the normally closed fig.

The female wasp has died during our conversation (just hours

after laying her eggs), but the fig rapidly absorbs the body.

“It’s definitely a different process from your human childbearing,

but not so different from other species,” Galacti says.

“That wasp provides nutrients for the fig in addition to the

pollination.”

The eggs hatch before our eyes as we contemplate the

wasps. Wingless males are born, mate quickly with the

females, and then die just as quickly inside the fig after

a few hours. The fig is their short-lived home from which

they never emerge. On the other hand, the females join the

F-15 squadron. It’s a short life cycle, and someone remarks

that perhaps some of the females feel they’ve given enough

without helping the figs thrive.

“The fig trees’ instinct is to thrive,” Galacti says. “After all,

they are assisting the wasps with reproduction. This is their

season; this is their time. In addition, you miss another part of

the cycle without the ripening figs.”

We watch as the figs ripen in accelerated time. Animals

and birds arrive at the fig tree, eating the figs and discarding

the seeds. These “seeds” are actually tiny fruits that comprise

the whole fig. By eating the figs, the animals and birds guarantee

the existence of future fig trees. This is cross-pollination

at its most elegant, and the precision of the arrangement is

not lost on anyone.

Likewise, the complexities of the chain of events merit contemplation.

The wasps sacrifice themselves and die in order to ensure their own

reproduction and the figs’ existence. At the same time, the females

have a safe place for their eggs but the figs punish the wasps if

they don’t assist with the flower’s fertilization.

As Galacti says, this is a covenant conducted by beings without our

intelligence—the tree certainly does not have a mind, and the wasp

has a limited brain. Next time you eat a fig, realize that it is not a

fruit, but a flower that never sees daylight! As such, it needs to be

pollinated in this strange way.

Likewise, our wheat crop has its own pollination mechanism:

the wind. Inside the “spike” or the ear of the wheat plant,

humble, inconspicuous flowers wait for the winter, spring, or

autumn wind to blow pollen grains from neighboring plants.

These flowers don’t need elaborate color or the ritual mating/

pollination sequence of the fig trees because the wind provides

it. Wheat is not the only plant with this simple mechanism;

the crop in the rice paddies also benefits from wind pollination.

And yet there is separateness—an order to things.

The figs cannot be cross-fertilized with the wheat, and the lichens

have found their own way of reproduction. At the same time,

neither plant could reproduce through, say, a cinchona tree.

Even wheat and barley don’t cross-pollinate, nor do they use

the rice in their life cycles.

There are many fascinating relationships between plants, but pollination isn’t among them, no…
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.

As the wind gently blows through the wheat, we notice

the simplicity of the pollination process, specifically the way

grains of pollen are blown from wheat flower to wheat flower.

It seems to be chancy: why wait to be pollinated by wind?

What if there is no wind? There are windless zones near the

equator, but wheat does not grow in those areas.

We contemplate the unprocessed, raw wheat and grain as

well as the simple rice. “This is the spring harvest,” a woman

remarks. “I don’t know how I know. I can just feel it.”

The Explanation Blog Bonus

You need to listen to filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg who shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators. Here are some gorgeous high-speed images from his film “Wings of Life,” inspired by some of nature’s primary pollinators: honeybees, bats and humming birds.

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Published on June 21, 2016 06:00

June 14, 2016

World Flora Demonstration Garden

Our World Flora Demonstration Garden is abuzz with unique and exotic flowers, grains, spices cereals: Food, fertilizer, medecine, air quality control…

Flora: Flowers for beauty, oxygen. Spices for health, medecine and flavor. Cereal for food and fertilizer.

There are more pieces of the flora puzzle waiting as we

prepare to plant the African section beside South America.

Cassava from South America crosses the boundaries into

Africa, but we won’t stop there. We intersperse finger millet,

sorghum, corn, yams, maize, fonio (the Ethiopian grain teff)

and palm nut trees with the cassava. Fonio, which few of us

have ever seen, is a traditional cereal grain from West Africa. (chapter 5.3.2 )

In addition to being a highly nutritious and seemingly tenacious

dietary staple (it’s actually a relative of crabgrass), it is

perfectly suited to the semiarid, nutrient-poor soils in Africa.

It also provides inexpensive fodder for animals, and its straw is

mixed with clay to make stronger bricks. Most of our travelers

weren’t aware that this grain exists, since we’re used to thinking

of Africa as an undernourished continent. In addition, we are

just coming to learn about the Ethiopian grain teff, which is a

low-risk crop that can grow in drought-ridden or waterlogged

soils. Like fonio, it is an excellent food source for humans

and animals, especially during the dry season when there is a

shortage of feed.

We move on to India’s portion of the world flora

garden, where we plant coriander, cinnamon (originally from

Sri Lanka), aloe vera, and the turmeric plant. Basmati rice

serves as a border, since it adjoins the white rice field next to

our wheat field/demonstration garden. We again ponder the

diversity as we look at palm nut trees, coriander, and pepper.

We learn that the black pepper tree has flourished in India, its

country of origin, for centuries. How many of us ever thought

about where the pepper in the peppermills and pepper shakers

on our tables comes from?

Pepper is a spice that can help promote the production of serotonin

and endorphins (the sleep and feel-good hormones) in the brain and

also encourage our bodies to absorb nutrients faster. It has sprinkled

its way throughout the world, but its origin is India, where it’s

suited to the rainfall in the Western Ghats region.

We notice that the pepper plant is climbing up the teak trees Galacti

has just transplanted to give the black pepper room to grow. We

can again see a relationship in which flora support each other.

As an added benefit, black pepper repels animals, which is

why our travelers are grinding up the peppercorns (actually

the dried, unripe fruit of the tree) in order to sprinkle them

around our crops and repel animals.

“Middle East,” Galacti says, and we note that the Middle

Eastern garden has a touch of the Mediterranean because one

of our travelers has planted some figs. These also appear in

the Middle East. Another unique set of flora from this biome

includes oregano, dates, pistachios, eggplant, lentils,

chickpeas, thyme, and almonds.

We examine the bean sprout-like fenugreek, which serves as a medicinal

herb, a food, and also a spice. Several pigs that have made their way

from somewhere in our farm into the Middle East garden stop and eat

the fenugreek. One of our members is of Near Eastern origin

and remembers the farmers in her town feeding fenugreek to

animals that were “off their feed.”

The fenugreek can stimulate milk production in cows and relieve

symptoms such as fever, headache, and ear infections. It can also

soothe human stomachs the way it does animals’ digestion. It also

soothes the soil and is used as a fertilizer in nutrient-poor Middle

Eastern locations.

“Pacific Rim, Australia, and New Zealand,” Galacti calls.

We plant bananas, Kumera sweet potatoes, taro (also found in

Hawaii), papaya, peanuts, sugarcane, coconut, soursop, small

tomato, vanilla, and cocoa.

However, we are already achieving “plant overload,” and so we

combine the Pacific Rim flora with an Antarctic/Arctic demonstration

garden containing representatives of 350 species of mosses and lichens.

We are particularly intrigued by the color palette of the red, orange,

and yellow lichens.

These lichens from Antarctica are composite organisms that

combine fungi with two types of algae in order to make food.

As we learned from the nitrogen cycle, algae can take nitrogen

from the air and make simple proteins. We haven’t riddled out

the nitrogen paradox, however.

While other plant species all over our plot are competing for the

nutrients, lichens and their algae components thrive in limited soil.

This is a reason why they may be among the oldest organisms on Earth.

A woman in our group from a traditional society is excited to see lungwort

lichens and Iceland moss, which she views as natural dye for the

clothing she makes and as the medicine that cured the burns

on her arm. The lichens also help her husband hunt to trap

animals for food, but she most prizes the medicine, since it kept

her mother from dying of pneumonia.

As we’ve seen, cinchona bark produces quinine, fenugreek

and black pepper have medicinal uses, and even plants we

never would have thought to be beneficial (such as the hard

candlenut, or kukui in Hawaii) are used in oil to treat eczema

and other skin irritations.

Our flora demonstration gardens are a rich opportunity to

learn. Variety, climate, sunshine, water, soil conditions—so

many factors and processes come into play to produce food

for animals and mankind as well as greenery for fertility, air

quality, medicinal and industrial purposes with their beauty

and presence helping in health recovery and mood control.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

Below is a very controversial video. Not from the point of view of facts… but their interpretation. It talks about minds, sensations, sensitivity, (the effect of music on plants) conscience, intelligence and social skills of plants to control the population of animals in its area. It draws the conclusion that because rice has more genes than man… it is more intelligent. The argument used is: ‘Try standing in cold water for a season.’ Well, you need to figure out if such an argument is valid.

I submit to you a thought. The puzzle interconnectivity… all the pieces fitting together in the most incredible way. If, somehow, something upsets nature, flora (and other things as well) react. The question is does a plant react because of intelligence or is it already programmed to react. For instance at about 30′ into this video the question, ‘do plants sleep?’ comes up. We shall be discussing chronobiology. The 12 and 24 hour cycles that plants go through. (There are many other cycles as well as you’ll see). Is a plant intelligent or is it reacting to tampering with its natural cycle?

The Explanation, Inventory of the Universe. This video, with scientists and researchers, reveals some most outstanding ‘interconnectivities’ that we’re becoming aware of. It shows just how ‘pivotal’ flora is in its role as ‘life supporter.’

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Published on June 14, 2016 06:00

June 7, 2016

Plant Species in a World Demonstration Garden

Plant species are particular not only to continents, but to countries, areas and soils. Amazing biodiversity.

300,000+ Plant species worldwide are particular not only to continents, but to countries, areas and soils.

We examine the field. A soil sampling kit shows us that the

soil is full of essential minerals and is not depleted. Galacti has

cleared the field to make room for plant species from every region

of the world. Just as he brought a glacier into a desert, Galacti

has procured “flats”—(which are plastic divider trays of plants

used by garden shops and greenhouses) and pots of plants for

us to transplant into the soil.

5.3.1 A World Demonstration Garden

“North America section here,” Galacti shouts, and we

plant oranges, cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, pecans,

sweet corn, pole beans, squash, alfalfa hay, peaches, wild rice,

sugar maple, Kona coffee, loganberries, hazelnuts, and macadamia

nuts as well as North American “pawpaw,” or papaya.

We consider the sweet corn, pole beans, and squash, which

grow well together.

These three companion plants encourage each others’ development.

Corn plants support the bean vines trailing everywhere, while

the squash prevents weeds from growing. In addition, we can see

that the beans provide nutrients while fallen squash leaves become

a natural mulch to protect the soil and conserve water.

Think about the Native Americans who practiced farming these crops

as a team, sustaining themselves and growing these three plans unique

to the region. Simple interaction among the plant species seems incredibly

complex. How do they complement each other so well?

In addition, the pole beans provide the soil with nutrients. We

are now on the hunt for other examples of plant interactions.

“Mexico, Central America, and South America,” Galacti

says before we even have a chance to inspect the diversity of

vegetation. Instead we are planting coffee plants from South

America, maize from Mexico, avocadoes, chayote, yucca, navy

beans, potatoes, black beans, breadnut, tamarind, sapodillas,

and cassava as well as a host of plant species from the Amazon rainforest.

We have heard that one-quarter of all the medicines we

use in the world have ingredients from the tropical rainforests.

However, as we’re inspecting the cinchona tree, from which

the malaria drug quinine comes, we notice that the cinchona

trees do not grow close to each other. Rather, they may grow

next to a tamarind fruit tree or a papaya tree.

This is nature’s defense. We see when we cut into the cinchona

bark that it’s diseased and could spread the infection to other

cinchona trees, depriving people of malaria medicine.

One of our travelers, a woman, has had malaria. Intrigued, she remarks

upon the biodiversity that can save plant species and lives.

This arrangement seems particularly prevalent in the rainforest.

“Europe,” Galacti says, directing the plants from that

area to a slice of land surrounding North America and South

America. We plant lingonberries, peas, rapeseed, durum

wheat, quince, gooseberries, olive trees and pomegranates

from the Mediterranean as well as Russian apples and

Siberian tea plants.

We fixate on the European alpine plants in particular.

Around 13,000 plant species, which survive a short growing

season and even thrive in cold conditions, are native to the

Alps and nowhere else on Earth. These plants include edelweiss

(made popular by the song from “The Sound of Music”) and

Alpine dwarf orchid. Edelweiss in particular is fascinating

because it grows at altitudes from 1,500 to 2,500 meters in light,

porous soil.

The soil of alpine regions has both these attributes. Edelweiss

is a symbol, a song, and a food for the Alpine ibex, another species

that thrives nowhere else on Earth. We think of Europe as a place

of heather, shamrocks, English roses, and the bounty in my own home

country of France. The alpine plants change the picture in

our minds, however, as does another signature plant from the

Mediterranean.

Olive trees, which are originally native to Europe and

have since been transplanted to warmer climates in America,

among other regions, have a long lifespan. The olive is, in fact,

a fruit, but the trees are not noteworthy for that fact alone.

They’re among the oldest plants mentioned in literature.

Interestingly, the olive tree is associated with just a handful of

areas in Israel and the Mediterranean, and is originally thought

to have descended from fruit trees in Africa or brought by

the Phoenicians. The olive has been a symbol of peace and

civilization in Greek culture, and it provides food as well as

traditional medicine for humans.

Ancient Greek philosophers used to swear by a spoonful of

olive oil as a curative. What is especially noteworthy as we examine

the olives is that each tree bears two crops. There are fully ripened

olives that we can taste and touch, which alternate with budding

olives that will ripen next year.

This is an unusual arrangement, and it could only be

facilitated by nitrogen-rich soils of low-to-medium

fertility to nurture the olives (African and Mediterranean

soils are low-fertility). Again, how can the fruit of Western

civilization originate and take root in a soil that suits it best?

Asia occupies a corner next to Europe. We press into the

ground exotic specimens such as Japanese persimmon, mangosteen,

rambutan, lemongrass, lychee, longan, lapsang souchong

tea plants, white rice, ginseng, and orchids. We notice that the

orchids from China in particular give off a scent that attracts

dozens of hornets.

We as humans can’t smell the pheromones that are so tempting to

the hornets, but a beekeeper in the audience assures us that the

pheromones mimic the “alarm smell” that Asian and European

honeybees emit when they sense danger. A particular hornet species

native to Asia preys on both Asian and European honeybees,

feeding the honeybees to its larvae.

To locate the honeybees, the hornets of the island of Hainan in

China tune in to the pheromone alarm smell. Just as several orchid

species can make themselves smell like female wasps or bees in

order to attract male wasps and bees, the Chinese orchids know

exactly what scent signals to emit in order to gain the desired

result: pollination.

Surprise! How can these orchids with their appealing

petals and seemingly fragile appearance lure hornets efficiently

by producing a particular scent when the orchids

themselves look nothing like honeybees? Were it not for this

scent trap, the orchids would have a difficult time surviving.

We notice that several hornets visit the orchids from Hainan

and come away, taking the pollen with them on the journey to

seek other orchids. This ritual impresses upon us that plant species

in each region find different ways to continue their species!

The Explanation Blog Bonus

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Published on June 07, 2016 06:00

May 31, 2016

Plants & Water & Oxygen = Life on Earth

If it weren’t for plants and water, which produce our nutrients and oxygen, there wouldn’t be any life on Earth.
If it weren't for plants and water, which produce our nutrients and oxygen, there wouldn't be any life on Earth.

If it weren’t for plants and water, which produce our nutrients and oxygen, there wouldn’t be any life on Earth.

We’re standing in a field of barley plants next to another field of

green wheat crops and a third field of plain dirt on the

other side of the wheat. The order seems to be barley, wheat,

then fallow field. One of our travelers spots a rice field on the

left side of the barley field. Flowering shrubs and trees border

the perimeter of the croplands.

5.1-2 The Flora Pivot

Galacti, the farmer, and his farm-wise assistant from the

traveling group survey the rice and wheat crops with pride.

These are just two of the 1.7 million species of plants

classified by scientists.

Our adventure chronometers tell us that we have arrived

at the early April barley harvest. The barley, which was planted

in August, now ripens. It is an unusual winter/early spring

cereal crop. Now mature, the barley looks similar to the wheat,

but the wheat in the adjacent field is not yet ripened.

The term “Vernalization” in regard to plant seed means

the spring season, or the maturing and harvesting that follow a

dormant period, even through a freezing winter. This is essential

for development of mature kernels in grains. There’s a fall

to spring growing season, where thawing can actually trigger

sprouting. This method is much less known than the chief

spring-to-autumn plant development cycle, which is shorter.

We continue to catalog some of the extraordinary and

even contradictory elements of our surrounding environment.

We’re now into the “living elements,” starting with seeds that

contain an embryo of plant life. These seeds have enough

storage food for germination and first growth encased in a

protective outer coat. This seed can lie dormant for years, but

under the right conditions of heat and moisture it germinates.

Its roots push down to soak up water and nutrients and its

stem pushes up to bathe in light and energy. Welcome to the

world of flora. Let’s begin our exploration of life.

The barley crop draws our attention again. It looks humble

when planted in the soil we’ve explored, and yet it is necessary

for life. It is nutrient-rich and delicious as a cereal, and it is

also fascinating because of its natural design.

We harvest the ripened barley with scythes. Galacti digs

around in the dirt, burrowing eight to ten inches to expose the

barley’s root system: a wandering mass extending deep into

the earth and sucking nutrients and moisture from the soil.

Through x-ray glasses, we see inside the unharvested barley

as nutrients and water defy gravity. They make their way up

the barley stalk to the hard-shelled kernels and the nutrition

filled barley leaves.

How can this be, we wonder. Even our farm expert has

no Explanation for it. In fact, it never crossed his mind, even

during high school biology when he learned about plant

tissue. We know roughly how it works, but we don’t know why

it works.

Why do water and nutrients travel upward when the force

of gravity normally pushes them down into the soil?

Without the water traveling throughout the plant tissue, the

barley plants could not survive.

As we harvest the barley with scythes, we cut a barley stalk

and examine it under a microscope. We can see the xylem

cells that conduct the water through the barley. Rainwater or

groundwater from the soil gets absorbed into the roots through

tiny hairs, after which it travels through the roots that anchor

the plant in soil.

Inside the root tissue, veins called xylem form one continuous

pipeline to circulate the water upward into the plant.

The interesting part of the process is that the xylem

cells, many of which are dead, have a two-part task: in the

root, they must resist forces that can pull the plant out of the

ground through the flow of water, and in the stem they have

to push against the wind and the weight of the plant, which

compress and bend the stem. Osmosis steps in and makes the

concentration of water across the plant equal.

If the barley sheath and kernels are dry, osmosis forces water

through the xylem pipeline. Meanwhile, the water molecules climb

up the cells of the xylem because the water molecules are attracted

to the surface area of the xylem. We shine a laser pointer on

water, lingering in the cut barley stalk.

Having a fuzzy idea of how it works doesn’t stop us from

pondering. How can it be so? How can the process be so

precise when the water molecules are heavier than air and

gravity would normally keep them in the earth? And how do

these tiny tubes carry water up to the leaves? It’s a point to

stop and ponder. A tree does not have a brain that can solve

its difficulties, and yet it somehow manages to thrive.

Another question: where does the water go afterward? We

have a bit of a clue as to the answers, since one of our travelers

is mopping his face with a napkin from the Water Cycle Café.

In chapter 3 we talked about the transpiration part of

the water cycle and how water is released into the air.

We watch through our x-ray glasses as tiny pores in the leaf of a

barley plant seem to draw water drops up the plant stem, into

the barley kernels, and also out through the pores (which are

called stomata).

The water droplets fascinate us: one moment they are trapped in

the barley stalk making their way upward, and the next they

appear on the leaf as if through a nature made leak.

After a short time, they evaporate into the air.

Only a fraction of the water that passes through the barley is

actually stored in the plant. How does this happen? Our farm

expert notices an important clue: the sun is heating the barley,

supplying energy. This causes the water to rise, and then to

evaporate once it reaches the surface.

“I never thought about this before!” someone exclaims. “It

seems so simple, but there are so many steps to it. How do

they do that? Knowing how doesn’t take away the mystery.

Why do they do that?”

Galacti lets us in on an interesting fact while we’re considering

that question. “The rice and barley and trees are holding

back water loss from the soil,” he says. “Without the

barley and the trees retaining moisture, the sun might draw

all the water from the soil, where it would cause no benefit

to anyone and put a lot more water in the air.

However, the plants themselves benefit because they draw

more water. They release the right amount into the air for

the survival of life on Earth.”

We as travelers never stop to think about how or why

plants use water. It seems automatic, like the plumbing in

our homes. Consider that we humans have to be reminded to

water plants. It’s an efficient process, and one that we appreciate

as we feel the moisture in the air. Transpiration is also responsible

for that very air.

Plants, Water, and Oxygen = Life on Earth

While we’re harvesting, stop and take a minute to notice the

air we’re breathing. Notice the act of breathing and having

oxygen in our lungs. In large part, we owe this gift to the surrounding

trees as well as the barley and rice plants.

We talked about oxygen when we traveled through the

atmosphere, and we spoke about the trees above our heads

taking in carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen in return.

Barley, incidentally, can release carbon dioxide when malted

into beer. We won’t recap the carbon dioxide/oxygen cycle

here except to make one particular point: The natural atmosphere

is composed of just 21 percent oxygen. Where, then,

do our travelers get the oxygen that is traveling down their

windpipes?

Our farm expert literally holds the answer in his hands as

he clutches the cut barley.

“Without plants, we wouldn’t have any oxygen,” he

remarks. “I do believe that’s right.”

“Plants are responsible for renewing 50 percent of the

oxygen on Earth,” Galacti says. “In fact, if I were able to take

you back in time and show you the Earth before plants, you

wouldn’t be able to breathe. There would be no oxygen in the

atmosphere.”

“Plants control carbon dioxide as well,” someone else

points out.

“Then those plants, over there near the empty field, must

control a lot of it,” I say, seeing a unique assortment of plants

right by the fallow field.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

Below is a BBC documentary video commentated by Richard Attenborough. It reveals the ingenuity of the plant world. Worth a watch.

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Published on May 31, 2016 06:00

May 24, 2016

Earthworms: Natural Fertilization for Arable Land

Earthworms and healthy arable land go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other.

Everyone takes a moment to contemplate the earthworms. At

the best of times, they barely seem worth noticing, and yet our

travelers recognize that worms are good for the soil.

But how good are they?

4.6-7 Earthworms: Natural Fertilization

Worms feed on decomposing greenery, which contains a

wide variety of trace elements and minerals. During digestion,

an earthworm is equipped both chemically and physically to

produce a natural fertilizer that conditions the topsoil for the

best root growth.

Burrowing worms condition the Earth for correct proportions

of water and all the elements required from the Earth to be

absorbed by roots for optimum plant nutrition, and subsequently

animal and human health.

Although earthworms may not have ears or eyes, and

are simple creatures that breathe through their skin, science

acknowledges them as invaluable for working the land.

Galacti is our premier worm expert. “Imagine if you give them

an acre of land, like this field, and plenty of organic matter

like dying plants or compost.”

Galacti pauses and orders in a steam shovel. It scoops away the topsoil,

revealing countless earthworms burrowing in the next layer as

dead leaves slowly disappear into their stomachs. The body of the

earthworm is, in essence, one elongated stomach.

The earthworms shy away—they can sense light and

they’ll avoid it. Our travelers put up a canopy that shades the

field from the sun.

“When conditions are ideal with the right amount of

moisture, like they are here, there can be up to 4,400,000

earthworms per hectare (2.5 acres). These worms will bring

about twelve metric tons (about 12 tons) of fertile material to

the surface in a year,” Galacti finishes. “They’re called megadriles,

which sounds like ‘mega-drills’ but actually means ‘big

worms.’ They are just like the mechanical drill.”

The worms in the field burrow through the soil, leaving

behind balls of dirt called casts. One of our travelers, who

knows something about farms, says these casts contain higher

levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium than the

surrounding soil.

These trace elements, says our farm-friendly traveler, are the products

of digested organic matter and more trace elements brought up

from deeper levels. The casts help neutralize the acidity or alkalinity

of soils to grow plants, which is why farmers like to use worm casts

as a fertilizer and soil conditioner.

Galacti interviews one worm specimen that happens to be

burrowing next to a root and excreting castings there. After

consulting his worm translator device, Galacti says “The worm

has just eaten nutrients found in the deeper soil, or subsoil.

However, he’s also excreted what he doesn’t want. To him, the

dirt is ideal for his needs because the plants usually take all the

nutrients from the humus, so he has to tunnel deeper to find

nutrient-rich soil.”

What the worm doesn’t know is that every time he

consumes soil, he excretes nutrients and enzymes in the

castings. These enzymes and nutrients make their way to the

root of whichever plant is growing in the field in order to feed

the plant, assist its growth, and ultimately become absorbed

into our bodies when we eat it.

Grazing animals also benefit from this process because they

absorb nutrients. Remember, the sixty elements we’re composed

of come from the plants we eat or the animals that are part

of the food chain.

“Nutrients aren’t the only thing earthworms produce,”

Galacti says. “Look at them tunneling to different depths.

They’re mixing different types of soil so that there are more

nutrients. Also, if you water this field the way I’m doing, the

worms will aerate the soil so that the dirt filters and

absorbs the water.

Otherwise, this would all be mud and the minerals

would be leached away. Instead, it’s draining and the plants

are absorbing a quantity of it. The worms are like nature’s

irrigation system and soil doctors rolled into one.”

We have an agricultural researcher in the group to confirm

this. When asked why she has been silent, the researcher says

she is just enjoying contemplating the land, and points out

that this food-producing landform is much different from

the postcard “play ecosystems” we visited, but it is an important

landform nonetheless.

We’ve stayed quite a while giving respect to one of Earth’s most

underappreciated creatures, but the earthworm wouldn’t exist

without the ideal conditions provided by the land, and indeed,

vice versa. It’s another one of those “which came first?” conundrums.

We take down the canopy and the steam shovel replaces

the topsoil. The tools remain in case we need them again, but

for now we are off on our next discovery.

Arable Land

From a human perspective, arable land is the most essential

ecosystem. Along with oxygen from the atmosphere and

water from precipitation, food from arable land is vital for

man’s survival.

Farmland or agricultural land is used for growing

what sustains life. Its size is irrelevant and can be from a

small home plot to a multihectare industrial farm. Kitchen

gardens in the yard, on the roof, on a balcony, or beside high

rise apartment windows qualify. You can grow spring onions,

radishes, greens, or herbs like basil or mint.

A lot is possible depending on the arable space available.

While we think in terms of big farms, annual crops, and livestock,

Galacti reminds us that worldwide cultivation of the land is more

of a family activity with various community benefits.

These include much more interaction at local markets as well as

environmental benefits such as less transport, less storage,

and less waste. Other benefits include economic development

and better health.

Arable land, from the small plots made available to

retirees and families to the larger biological and environmentally

friendly farms, are welcoming back earthworms so that

one-tenth of the thin slice of the land-apple can support and

healthily feed the populous billions of this world.

Look at this arable field, this postcard biome. You see

an ear of corn, a blade of grass, flowering broccoli, needlelike

asparagus, and leafy lettuce. All of this depends on the

sun’s rays from space, the oxygen and carbon dioxide cycle in

the atmosphere, the water from the rain cycle, and the topsoil

cycle from the land.

They are the result of the universe and the pillars of life support,

with innumerable interconnected sophisticated systems all

working in harmony to give you the yellow-orange tulip, the

green sprout of wheat, or the majestic oak tree.

Imagine that and begin to think big. Think global now that

you’ve turned some of the jigsaw pieces right side up

and linked them together.

For now, Galacti notes, these puzzle pieces form a postcard

sent by the universe. After all the exciting “play and eat” postcards

about various worldwide ecosystems, the final one bears

the caption “Planet Earth—Continue the Journey!”

It’s an invitation we can’t refuse.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

Below are a couple of videos. The first one for kids and the second one is a documentary. At the end there’s a section showing the extraordinary power of some worm parasites to actually control other insects. Quite amazing.

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Published on May 24, 2016 06:00

May 17, 2016

Mineral Resources, the Only Reason We Humans can Work with Earth

Mineral resources, a majority of just ninety-two elements are the source of our work, play and existence here on Earth.
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Mineral resources that allow humanity to work and play on Earth. Without them not only would humans not have any activities … but they would simply not even exist.

4.4-5 Let’s Work with Earth: All Professions

Life isn’t all play. Most if not all adults work in one form or

another during their lifetimes, and their activity and employment

revolve around and include, directly or indirectly, “earthly

matter.”

We need basic mineral resources and elements to produce

the material things around us. Again, we’re talking basic needs.

Our spacecraft drill comes in handy once again as it moves

to an outcropping of solid rock. It looks like some mountain

areas in Afghanistan.

On land, we depend on mineral resources that allow us

to house our families in buildings fabricated from mud, tin,

brick, concrete, and grass. Our drill unearths tin in order to

create a roof for a farmhouse.

Other mineral resources provide heat for our homes and our

food in the form of coal, wood, gas, electricity, and uranium,

the last of which is transformed into electric energy in

nuclear power plants.

Everyday objects such as aluminium cooking vessels, clay or

porcelain eating vessels, iron farming tools, and glass or plastic

decorations come from the land. Other examples include steel

knives, iron fishhooks, silicon and carbon computer chips,

semiprecious jasper, and malachite jewelry stones, gold coins,

alloys of steel, iron, copper, and other metals.

These form the support networks for suspension bridges and

skyscrapers as well as ocean-going vessels and many other vehicles.

Galacti draws a periodic table with ninety-two elements

in order to refresh everyone’s memory about the chemistry

classes they’ve taken.

We don’t quiz everyone on the specific properties of each element or

which ones we use to create toasters, for example (iron, nickel,

and copper play a role). Nor do we detail how research and

manufacturing mix and match the periodic table elements from

chromium to magnesium to make all different types of compounds from

an array of mineral resources.

Another of our audience has just gone off duty as a police officer,

replete with a protective Kevlar vest. Sulfur, hydrogen, chlorine,

calcium, and sodium create this lifesaving material that can also be

used to make canoes, brakes, and even musical instruments.

All the elements that we know of in the Earth’s crust and

mantle, whether on dry land or under seabeds worldwide, are

the basis of every single object of work and play. Look at a list

of categories of industries, objects, and items in the Yellow

Pages or on eBay.

They’ve become so common and abundant to us that we don’t even

stop to think of their origin or the processes they undergo in relation

to other elements that bring them from the Earth to our hands.

Even those that work with people, such as counselors, teachers,

and health support, work with the basic elements of Earth because

that’s exactly what you and I, their clients, are composed of.

One of the reasons we’re taking Inventory of the Universe

in this first book of The Explanation is to see just how “down

to earth” life really is—to become aware of Earth and its

implications.

“You see, everything humans are and use on a daily basis

comes from the land and the mineral resources underfoot,”

Galacti says. “Earth provides and sustains our well-being, even

our food,” he says, grinning.

“Is anybody hungry?”

Let’s Eat from the Earth: Trace Minerals

Farmer Galacti, wearing work gear and boots, thinks he’d like

to sow seeds in the piece of arable land we’re on. After all,

humans living on the adjacent rocky land, which has become

an urban sprawl, would appreciate the crops. We depend on

harvested food supplies for survival, so human habitations are

often juxtaposed with their sustenance supply lines.

We could plant wheat here, and it would take four to six months

to grow (depending on soil temperature and whether it’s a spring or

winter crop), but future generations living in the rocky land

next door would appreciate having a direct line to food crops.

That’s why land is devoted to vital global crops, including

wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans as well as hundreds of others

in an endeavor to supply adequate foodstuffs. For example,

rice fields in Southeast Asia are located near water to irrigate

the crops and grow this staple of the Asian diet.

“We talked about trace minerals in the sea,” the police

officer says. “I read that they’re in the food we eat.”

Galacti offers cans (also made of elements from the Earth)

containing a fruit and vegetable juice blend. It’s healthy, of

course. It’s made of mixed vegetables and fruits. “This is for

later,” he says, “but for now I want you to look at the food

label; the ingredient list.

While you do, think about this: the fertile ground under your

feet contains trace elements your body needs, such as boron,

copper, and zinc.”

We read the ingredient list and notice that there is a space

to detail all the minerals in the juice: calcium, iron, phosphorus,

magnesium, zinc, manganese, and potassium.

While we drink the juice, a nutritionist in the group

remarks that all these minerals exist in infinitesimal amounts,

but they are abundant in soil, and can be absorbed by plants

that provide sources of food.

Today we know that these minerals are vital to human health.

For example, potassium helps control blood pressure, while zinc

boosts the immune system and can treat ear infections. Minerals are

only a fraction of our total body weight, if that, but they prevent disease

and deficiencies of them lead to serious conditions.

For example, one of our group members, a grandmother, has

osteoporosis. She knows she needs to eat calcium, but she’s surprised

to learn that a boron deficiency may also make her bones fragile.

In fact, we know that our bodies include about sixty

natural elements, six of which (oxygen, carbon, hydrogen,

nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus) make up 99 percent of our

weight, with another five (potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine,

and magnesium) representing a tiny 0.85 percent.

The rest are trace elements found in infinitesimal quantities,

including radium, strontium, and uranium (considered radioactive)

as well as mercury, lead, and arsenic (considered poisonous) and

even gold, among others.

“You humans are not the only ones that need nutrients and

mineral resources from the land,” Galacti says, turning over a layer

of soil and revealing several wriggling, squiggling earthworms.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

A very instructive documentary about mineral resources and their impact on humanity. From Ages past and their mysticism to our modern usages as the underpinnings of our material world.

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Published on May 17, 2016 06:00

May 10, 2016

Biomes, Ecological Biodiversified Playgrounds for Mankind

Worldwide biomes, diverse ecological communities of various vegetation and animal life living in symbiosis with the climate and terrain it thrives on.

Biomes are worldide symbiotic regions of flora, fauna, climate and terrain. These ecologically biodiversified areas are playgrounds for Mankind (Photo credit: Nasa)

4.3.2 We’re on Land, touring and inspecting our planet.

Our first postcard reads “Hot in the Desert.” Desert

biomes worldwide are formed when wind belts or cold

currents rob the area of rain. Our postcard shows that the

Western Desert basins in Egypt were formed by wind and are

now dry.

They do support plant life, however, including waterstoring

plants. Erosion exposes valuable mineral deposits and

abundant nutrients. In addition, erosion and winds make arch

formations. Valleys such as Badwater in Death Valley form

the lowest points on continents. Plants such as cacti, sagebrush,

and other endemic flora survive here. Desert animals

are varied and abundant.

Galacti has a sample of gypsum-rich desert sand from the

Vizcaino Desert in the Baja Peninsula as well as a sample of ice

from Antarctica. This may be puzzling, but icy Antarctica is a

desert because it receives less than 254 millimeters (ten inches)

of water annually.

A second postcard reads: “Greetings from the Yukon.”

Boreal forests or taiga found in North America and Eurasia

are characterized by numerous animal species and coniferous

plants, such as fir and pine. Snowy mountains and visions of

Christmas trees come from this area.

Most flora and fauna in the boreal forest can withstand the worst

cold of winter. Nutrients have been leached from the sandy

podzol soils (podzol is Russian for “ash”) by water runoff from snows,

so the plants that survive, such as black spruce and needleleaf

trees, are hardy.

Another postcard. This time we can actually smell the

scene in a 4-D sort of way. It has a chamomile-like smell. The

cheery postcard depicts a mountain sheep atop snowy Alpine

mountains and bears the slogan “Alp Slovenia.”

The alpine and tundra biomes (mountains worldwide) are found

in the coldest regions of the world and have few flowering plants,

although there are 1,700 kinds found in the Arctic type of

tundra. Inside the alpine tundra soil, where the drainage

process works well, there are plenty of nutrients from dead

lichens and plants. Bogs provide moisture for plants in the

Arctic tundra, but the soil is nutrient-poor.

The ever-present nitrogen helps the plant cycle, however.

Permafrost covers dark-colored humus in parts of Alaska.

The chamomile smell comes from a plant named sea mayweed.

Fresh grass scents waft from the next postcard, which juxtaposes

an image of horses grazing in an American grassland

with a photo of a cheetah sitting in tall savannah grasses. The

“grassland/savannah forest” biome, which is found in Africa,

Hungary, the North American plains, the Pampas in South

America, and the Russian steppes, features rich, organic soils

with good drainage.

Seasonal droughts and fires aid biodiversity by controlling the insect

population, for example. Decomposing organic matter provides nutrients

for prairie grasses, which have deep roots. A variety of animals, from

lions and antelopes to grouses and jackrabbits, exist in the grasslands

and savannah forests. Here’s a Galacti fun fact: Grazing elephants

can naturally clear a forest and produce savannahs.

A vintage postcard of a mountain in the American

Southwest bears the title “Desert Chaparral.” The chaparral

biome is familiar to viewers of cowboy movies, although

it’s also found in the coastal Mediterranean. Our audience is

interested to see the scrub oak, poison oak, and yucca that

grow in chaparral regions as well as the various animals in

Australia and the Caspian Sea.

Unusual creatures such as jerboas and sand marmots live there

and are able to survive in a region with coarse soils.

We can smell pinyon pines and Mediterranean sage.

The next postcard combines two biomes: marine and

tropical. The tropical biome is found in Central and South

America, Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Madagascar, West India, and

Australia. The scents of coconut palms, pungent red ginger,

orchids, and salt water emanate from the card.

The print reads “Maldives Tropics.” Tropical biomes in the

Indian Ocean, for example, are sometimes located on coral islands

such as the Maldives. Many of the forested islands are covered in

sandy soil, and some of that soil comes from yellow coral sand.

The tropical rainforest of Brazil draws our attention as well, since

Galacti has produced another postcard depicting the floor of

an Amazon rainforest.

When looking at the yellow soil of the Amazon and the red or

dark soils in which Thailand’s rainforest grows, we’re reminded of

how well rainforest trees can grow in thin soils thanks to the plant

matter that provides nutrients to thin tree roots in the soil,

which is moistened by annual average rainfall of 2,000 millimeters,

or 80 inches.

These postcards are more than just vacation souvenirs that

we buy and send. Instead, they are reminders to look at the

land differently. Each land type sustains different varieties of

life, plants, animals and insects, depending on soil and climate.

We muse on the fact that, whatever the season, geographical

location, or altitude, all land areas are sublime and accessible for

the staggering variety of man’s activities and lifestyles because

of our location in space and our atmospheric cocoon.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

Here’s a visual Introduction the Biomes of Earth, the many types of places that life calls home.

Here are the major Life Zones of Earth … beauty, challenge, variety, biodiversity … this is one of the keys to what Life is all about.

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Published on May 10, 2016 06:00

May 3, 2016

Let’s Play with Earth–from Volcanoes to Soil

Volcanoes spew out soil fertility and minerals from trace elements to diamonds. The screen you’re looking at is soil.

A volcano can be scary but it is at the origin of soil and mineral deposits that supply all of mankind’s needs.

4.3.1 In our land/apple analogy in the previous post, we “discarded” a

good part of the land because it is mountainous, snowy, occupied

by urban areas, or inhospitable like the land located in the vicinity of

the cold poles and hot deserts. Yes, there’s much less agriculture

going on there, but these so-called “discarded” areas

have other valid purposes. They are vast playgrounds for man.

They can be areas of both great hardship and immensurate

pleasure. Places of contemplation, of beauty, of discovery, and

of sporting ecstasy are always learning opportunities, since all

the natural formations on Earth never cease to amaze us.

We overlook the orange glow from a lava lake as we

gather at an observation point high above the Halema’uma’u

Crater in the Kilauea volcano, which is located on the Big

Island of Hawaii. Galacti consults with a ranger at the Hawaii

Volcanoes National Park and tells us that the plume of gas

and steam reaching from the crater up to the sky is coming

from a volatile 500-foot-wide vent. Many of us have read that

the Kilauea volcano, which attracts travelers from around the

globe, is the world’s most active volcano.

Thanks to a special telescope Galacti provides, we can see

the orange light from the lava lake inside the crater, but we

cannot get closer—not yet. Even with Galacti as our guide,

we dare not go anywhere in the lava fields without protective

clothes. We all find a private place to change into heavy

boots, jeans, long-sleeved shirts, heat-reflective jackets,

heatreflective gloves, helmets, and gas masks.

Now that we are prepared and equipped like geologists,

Galacti takes us to the other active region of the volcano, the

rift zone along the Pu’uO’o vent. We study and watch in awe

as the fountain of lava flows from this eastern lava tube, even

as we’re mindful of volcanic gases with high sulphur content

blowing our way.

“A volcano is the perfect place to visit to show you the

process of land being formed,” Galacti explains. “We can

visit other places, such as the Kalahari Desert, the African

savannah, the tundra in Siberia, the chaparrals in Mexico

and the American Southwest, boreal forests, and grasslands.

However, here in tropical Hawaii, in the thick of a tropical

rainforest, we can actually see basalt lava hardening into land.

As we watch, the slow lava flow hardens into fresh a’a,

one of two types of lava in the islands. A’a is jagged, uneven,

and sharp, while pahoehoe is generally wavy, smooth, and

flat—almost sculpted. When pahoehoe flows into the ocean,

it quickly cools into black glass, shatters, and accumulates at

the edge of the “submarine slope” along the coastline.

Other lava flows settle on the foundation provided by these

uneven fragments, and a new unstable lava delta is formed.

One of our trekkers sifts through black volcanic soil and

collects a sample. Galacti produces a snack of yellow mangoes

from the farmers market in the town of Volcano. As we bite

into the mangoes, we’re tasting the benefits of the nutrients

in the crumbly, fine volcanic soil.

Hawaiian lava is produced when heat wells up from Earth’s

core and melts crystals from the lower mantle and crust.

The lava contains nitrogen, iron, magnesium, phosphorous,

and of course sulphur (which we’re avoiding breathing).

As the group remembers, nitrogen is essential for plants,

including the mangoes we’re enjoying.

Returning to the crater overlook, we view digital images of

other volcanoes worldwide: Indonesia’s Mount Merapi (which

we can hike), Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, Stromboli in Italy, and

Uturuncu in Bolivia. We’re aware that we’re fortunate to be

at Kilauea, which is considered the “drive-up” volcano of the

world due to its relative safety and ease of access.

This volcanic zone is one of five on the island, although several

are dormant. One of our travelers points out that this island has

eleven of the world’s thirteen climate zones as well as different

landforms.

“It doesn’t have the African savannah,” Galacti notes as

we view picture postcards from the universe showing the

different biomes, or ecosystems. A lot of these correspond

to the inhospitable, variegated, and often spectacular parts

of the “land apple” where arable land is not the norm.

We’re witnessing the space, atmospheric, and water processes

from the last three chapters combining with the land processes to

give Earth its extremes and everything in between—from

the bitter cold at the poles to the ardent heat at the equator.

Extremes, yes, but very mild compared to interstellar bodies

and fully within man’s capacity to live on and visit, even for a

very short time, whether it be the world-record-setting sweltering

furnace of Death Valley in the United States (measured

at 56.7 degrees Celsius) or the biting iciness of Antarctica

at −89.2 degrees Celsius.

As we go about our daily business without giving it much of a thought,

land is indeed the ideal habitat for mankind.

The Explanation Blog Bonus

Volcanoes are as dangerous as they are majestic. Over 50 eruptions rock our planet every year. This video from National Geographic helps you understand what causes volcanoes to form and erupt—and shows where they are most likely to be found.

This next video about volcanoes unlocks the mystery of this worldwide majestic phenomena. They are part of the land piece of our puzzle: Inventory of the Universe

Take Inventory–the Game

Learn how to play here and here are some concepts to use: a’a, African savannah, basalt lava, black volcanic soil, boreal forests, chaparrals Mexico and the American Southwest, eating, geologist, grasslands, Halema’uma’u Crater, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, iron, Kalahari Desert, Kilauea volcano, lava flow, lava lake, life activities, magnesium, Mount Merapi, Mt. Kilimanjaro Africa, nitrogen, pahoehoe, phosphorous, playing, Pu’uO’o vent, rift zone, sleeping, socio-intellectual activities, Stromboli Italy, sulphur, tropical rainforest, tundra Siberia, Uturuncu Bolivia, working.

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Published on May 03, 2016 06:00

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