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Posts Archived Under Biology
John T. Scopes, the man
who caused all the fuss |
It started out as a publicity stunt designed to bring tourists to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. By the time it was over, it had brought together three of the most famous men in the world, killed one of them, and left ripples that we still feel today.
While the event we note today is the 85th anniversary of schoolteacher John T. Scopes being arrested for teaching evolution, the events that prompted that arrest go back to 1922, when the Tennessee legislature passed the Butler Act, which prohibited any teacher in a public school from teaching "any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." The law had been written by a Tennessee farmer, who had "read in the papers that boys and girls were coming home from school and telling their fathers and mothers that the Bible was all nonsense."
The law, which had a fatal flaw (the state's required biology text had a chapter about evolution) sat unchallenged for three years, while the American Civil Liberties Union hunted for a teacher willing to challenge the law, even announcing its willingness to pay for the trial and any fines (the penalty was $100). There were no takers.
Finally, in 1925, a group of Dayton businessmen were sitting around Robinson's Drugstore, trying to come up with a scheme to draw tourists to their town of 1,800. Someone mentioned the Butler Act, and before Scopes knew it, he had agreed to become the sacrificial lamb (or perhaps, "ape"). On May 5th, Scopes was "arrested" and all hell broke loose.
The local fathers, hoping to secure maximum publicity for the trial, contacted such notables as novelist H.G. Wells (who declined, stating that he wasn't a lawyer). The prosecution countered with William Jennings Bryan, the three-time presidential candidate who was America's most respected public figure. Spurred by Bryan's presence, Clarence Darrow, the country's most famous defense attorney and defender of civil liberties, agreed to head Scopes' defense. Drawn by not only the spectacle of those two giants going head-to-head in the courtroom, but by the circus that developed around the trial, H.L. Mencken, the reporter who was one of the country's sharpest social commentators, came to report on the doings -- along with hundred of other reporters, an unprecedented national radio hookup, newsreel photographers, trained chimpanzees, and tens of thousands of spectators.
The trial finally began on July 10 and things went badly for the defense. Witnesses were not allowed to testify and Darrow fought with the judge -- dodging more than one contempt citation. Finally, in a desperate stroke of genius, Darrow put Bryan himself on the stand -- or, rather, under the tree, since the judge moved matters outside to accommodate both the huge crowds and in an attempt to beat the stifling heat. Darrow cut him to ribbons, challenging his opponent's literal belief in the Good Book, and generally making a monkey of him. Bryan died five days after the trial, possibly the victim of his exertions.
It was all for naught, though. The jury, deliberating only nine minutes, found Scopes guilty, and the judge fined him $100. That verdict was overturned on a technicality, but the law remained (unenforced) on the books until 1967.
Even though no one else was every prosecuted under the Butler Act, its effects are felt today in controversies over Creationism, and the curricula proposed by the Kansas and Texas Boards of Education. And, for all the spectacle the trial provided, that kind of carnival atmosphere could never happen today... right?
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Scopes Monkey Trial, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, Evolution, Creation vs. Evolution |
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Archived under: 1920s, American History, Anniversaries, Apes, Biology, Clarence Darrow, Creationism, Education, Evolution, Law, Legal Cases, Primates, Religion, Science, Society and Culture, William Jennings Bryan |
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Spring is in the air. The snow is melting, crocuses are poking through the muddy ground, and
buzzards are circling over Hinckley, Ohio. No, there hasn't been a recent crime spree or zombie attack. The small township southwest of Cleveland has the distinction of being known for one thing and one thing alone: it is the home of strangely punctual buzzards.
Each year on March 15, as if on cue, large flocks of the ominous birds swoop into Hinckley to the delight of the assembled crowds of buzzard fans. We're not making this up, we promise: Hinckley's annual "Buzzard Day" celebration began in 1957 and draws tens of thousands of visitors each year. Maybe it's the festival's unique theme, or maybe people just can't resist a good entrance.
Though everyone calls the Hinckley birds "buzzards," the winged creatures in question are technically turkey vultures. It's a long, convoluted story of convergent evolution involving Old World Vultures (which are raptors, related to eagles and actual buzzards -- which are hawks) versus New World Vultures (which are, scientifically speaking, creepy, bald-headed carrion-scavengers that tend to freak people out). Things are further complicated by the fact that the same bird is also known as "John Crow" or "carrion crow" in some places. But Cathartes aura is neither turkey nor buzzard nor crow (and we can only assume they're not all called "John"). It is, however, an intriguing bird.
Want to learn more about these roadkill-loving charmers? Allow us to share a few exciting facts we've learned. Turkey vultures have a wingspan of about six feet. They're one of the only North American birds with a sense of smell and have been used to locate natural gas leaks. Turkey vultures' heads are bald so that they don't get their feathers caked with blood and decomposing matter when they stick their heads into carcasses (yum!). They intentionally defecate on their own legs because the strong acids kill any bacteria picked up while standing around in rotting corpses. And finally, a vulture's primary means of defense is vomiting semi-digested carrion at predators.
So... who's up for Buzzard Day? Hinckley, Ohio, here we come!
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Raptors, Birding, Bird Identification, Raptor Migration, Ornithology |
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Archived under: Animals, Biology, Bird Migration, Birds, Events, Ohio, Science |
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We learned last week that there's a population of wild beagles terrorizing Long Island.
Surely that was a typo. Eagles? No, you read that correctly: beagles. According to one story, "they look like Snoopy but act like werewolves."
Presumably if we were being tormented by a pack of feral beagles -- their long ears flopping menacingly, a ferocious glint in their big, brown eyes -- we'd find them more than a little intimidating. But from the safety of our beagle-free office, it sounds about as sinister as a ravening herd of free-range pugs, or a gaggle of untamed guinea pigs.
Of course, we looked into the peculiarity of formerly domesticated animals breeding in the wild, and it turns out that there are untamed guinea pigs out there. While it might be funny to think of a herd of guinea pigs running around the forest making that bizarre "woop-woop-woop" noise, they do, in fact, wreak havoc. Like any non-native species, they disrupt the ecosystem of their new-found home.
Even more common are breeding populations of exotic birds in decidedly unexotic cities. The parrots of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco gained some fame from the 2005 documentary about them, but they're just one of many metropolitan flocks. Feral parrots congregate in centers of commerce and industry from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles. Even chickens -- yes, feral chickens -- share our municipalities.
Though we scoff at wild populations of chickens roosting under highways off-ramps, some creatures (alligators and Burmese pythons, we're looking at you) really weren't meant for urban lifestyles, so we can't blame them when they end up in our sewers. Untamed humans, please don't release exotic pets into the wild, no matter how cute you think feral hamsters might be.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Invasive Species, Environment and Nature, Biodiversity, Beagles, Parrots |
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Archived under: Animals, Biology, Birds, Dogs, Environment, Pets |
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It seems there are still mysteries to solve on this planet. Following the recent discovery of the "Alaskan blob" (insert your own Sarah Palin joke here ... ), there's been a flurry of news stories covering the explosion of colonies of microorganisms on both sides of North America. The furry-looking slick located off the shores of northern Alaskan has so far baffled scientists as to why it's appeared where it has. It's something generations of locals have never seen before, and whether it will hurt the local wildlife and eco-systems or not is something they can't yet answer.
Just a simple news search on "algae bloom" gives you the skinny on who's dealing with harmful algal blooms (or HABs, for short) at this very moment. In June, there was an algae bloom in Tampa that stretched for more than a dozen miles, and which could still cause a large fish kill. And off the entire coast of Maine, a red tide has virtually shut down clam-digging and other local fishing industries. As of last week, the most current research vessels on the scene have concluded that the bloom is finally ending, though. And these examples represent just saltwater occurrences, we haven't even begun to touch on the freshwater bacteria that can wreak all sorts of havoc ... something that visitors to Vancouver Lake in Washington found out about last weekend.
And now that we've got you worried about that, what's up with those big globs of oil washing up on the beaches in Texas?
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Harmful Algal Blooms, Phycology, Microorganisms, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
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Archived under: Alaska, Bacteria, Beaches, Biology, Canada, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Mysteries, Nature, Science, Scientists, Underwater, Weird Stuff |
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Andre "the Giant" Rene Roussimoff
(From WWE.com) |
André René Roussimoff was a man of great size and stature; so much so, in fact, that he was sometimes called the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
It's no wonder then, that after leaving his hometown of Grenoble, France as a teenager to start a career as a wrestler, he would come to be known around the world simply as "André the Giant." André garnered fame challenging wrestlers across the globe, but his greatest success came in the U.S. as one of the WWF's (now WWE) most popular "faces" throughout the 70s and early 80s. His notable feuds with such wrestlers as Hulk Hogan and Big John Studd fueled his legend, but perhaps it's his career outside of the "squared circle" that cemented André the Giant's immovable place in popular culture.
Starting in the mid-70s, André branched out into acting on TV shows like "The Six Million Dollar Man" (as a Sasquatch) and "The Greatest American Hero" (as a monster), but he's most fondly remembered for his portrayal of the rhyming giant Fezzik in the immensely popular 1987 film, "The Princess Bride." Around that same time, graphic designer Shepard Fairey used André's image in a street art campaign called "Andre the Giant Has a Posse." Playing with the concept of phenomenology, Fairey printed images of André on stickers and posters that were adopted and disseminated by skateboarders worldwide. Eventually, the campaign would evolve into Obey Giant, a global brand offering clothing, prints, stickers, videos, and music.
André's exceptional size is attributed to acromegaly, a syndrome that causes the pituitary gland to excrete an overabundance of growth hormone. His actual height is still disputed, but estimates place him somewhere between 6'10" and 7'4". Doctors told him he probably wouldn't live to see the age of 40 and, unfortunately, they weren't far off. He died from congestive heart failure (most likely a result of the acromegaly) on this day in 1993. He was 46.
Today, we think you should take a moment to remember a truly big man. We mean it. Anybody want a peanut?
Suggested Sites...
- WWE.com: Andre the Giant - World Wrestling Entertainment's official page for Hall of Fame inductee André the Giant.
- Obey Giant - includes wheat pasting, guerrilla-style street art, stencil painting, stickering, and the "André the Giant has a Posse" campaign.
- Fezzik Fanlisting - for fans of the character André the Giant portrayed in "The Princess Bride."
- TheGiant.org - source for information on the Obey Giant campaign, by world renowned artist Shepard Fairey.
- YouTube.com: Andre: Heart of the Giant Trailer - trailer for the much maligned biopic written and directed by Rokki James Hollywood.
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Directory categories:
André the Giant (1946-1993), Professional Wrestling, The Princess Bride, Graffiti and Stencil Art |
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Archived under: 1970s, 1980s, Actors, Anniversaries, Athletes, Biographies, Biology, Celebrities, Contemporary Art, Dead Celebrities, Entertainment, Giants, Movies, Nicknames, WWE, Wrestlers, Wrestling |
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