The landscape shown here is part of a vast and ecologically diverse ecoregion known as the Chiuahuan Desert. In the second image, a map shows its expansive territory, which encompasses about 250,000 square miles (647,500 km), making it the largest desert in North America.An unusual feature of this very young ecoregion (only about 9,000 years
Ecological Diversity of the Chiuahuan Desert Read More »
Here is the Tortugas Mountain in southern New Mexico, endpoint of a three-day religious festival among the American Indians of the region held from December 10-12 each year.The festival celebrates the Virgin Mary, but also the culture of the peoples from this area who trace some of their heritage to a mission called Señora de
Tortugas Mountains and Piro Indian Festivals Read More »
The Rio Grande is just a dry riverbed this time of year at La Llorona park in Las Cruces, New Mexico.The area is named for an old Latinx legend common throughout Mexico and the American Southwest: La Llorona or “the Weeping Woman” usually tells of a beautiful woman with dark flowing hair wearing white robes
The “Weeping Woman” of the Rio Grande Read More »
In the Organ Mountains of south-west New Mexico is a trail that leads to “la cueva,” home for some time to this famous hermit named Agostini-Justiniani.“El Ermitano ” as the monk was called locally, had been born of an aristocratic family in Italy around 1800. He became an ascetic wanderer by his 30s, foregoing his
The Famous Hermit Agostini-Justiniani Read More »
These ruins stand in solitude at the western foothills of New Mexico’s Organ Mountain range. Constructed in the late 1800s, they were part of a resort complex called “Van Patten’s Mountain Camp.” Even though it takes a while for hikers to pack into this area now, the buildings were isolated even when they were in
The Organ Mountain Ruins of New Mexico Read More »
The rocky vistas shown here include volcanic andesite and sedimentary limestone, deposited over two and a half million years ago. But it wasn’t until after the 1850s, when American Indians in the region had been mostly conquered, that the isolated and rugged terrain became interesting to investors for mining purposes.The image shown here includes the
New Mexico’s Modoc Mine Read More »
If only trees could talk . . . Here is a magisterial Alligator Juniper, so named because of the distinctive bark that resembles the reptilian skin of its namesake. Common from central Mexico to the American Southwest, Alligator Junipers are used to facing harsh conditions: they grow at relatively high altitudes (this one was around
Alligator Juniper Tree Read More »
The Ancient Maya idea of beauty differed radically from our own, as evidence from art and human bones show. Shown here is medical anthropologist Vera Tiesler, who has examined thousands of bones from the Maya Classical Era (250-900 CE) and found fascinating patterns in the practice of skull-shaping.The Maya used stiff boards to flatten their
Ancient Mayan Skull Shaping Read More »
Those who know me, know that each year in lieu of holiday cards, I write historically themed Christmas carols. And this year, I give you the following, sung to the tune of “Good King Wenceslas”.When the plague spread all about/ thirteen-forty seven.Buboes pussing, fevers out/ Time to bury your kin.Philip tried to find the cause/
A Bubonic Plague Inspired Christmas Carol Read More »
Oh those crazy Ancient Maya . . . They sure knew how to have a good time. In these two photos we see a terracotta figurine and a sculpture in relief, respectively, showing people happily getting enemas. The first statuette shows a woman giving herself one: she twists her face upwards, smiling in delight. The
Ancient Mayans Love of Enemas Read More »
My 700th post is another historically themed Christmas Carol. This painting is of the Islamic polymath, Ibn Abbad, who wrote many works of literature during the Golden Age of Islam, when the city of Baghdad had become one of the world’s top epicenters for intellectual life, trade, and cultural flourishing.“I’m dreaming of a lost city
An Islamic Inspired Christmas Carol Read More »
This week’s stories focus on a subject in science history which is indeed topical across the world right now: the discovery of how the human immune system works. And to begin, I am introducing the image of this young girl, named Myrtis by the Greek archaeologists who reconstructed her appearance after excavating a mass grave
The Plague of Athens and the Immune System Read More »
Today on December 14, 2020, a critical care nurse in New York became the first American to receive the COVID vaccine. This begins a period of highly anticipated vaccine delivery in the weeks to come. The photo here harkens to another moment in American history when folks waited with bated breath for a cure for
The “Great Race of Mercy” for a Diphtheria Cure in Alaska Read More »
Shown here are Doctors Pear Kendrick and Grace Eldering, and together they developed the first successful vaccine against the childhood disease pertussis, or Whooping Cough.Whooping Cough is of course characterized by the sound of the hollow, forced, and unremitting chest cough that mostly younger people endured until the 20th-century development of a vaccine: it killed
Doctors Pear Kendrick and Grace Eldering Read More »
This week’s posts feature great moments in the history of immunology. Although the death of Vizzini (and corresponding survival of the hero Westley due to his years of building up immunity to iocaine powder, among the deadlier and fictitious poisons known to man) in _The Princess Bride_ might be famous in terms of cultural history,
The Antibody Serums of Shibasaburo Kitasato and Emil von Behring Read More »
In this last post for the week to focus on great moments in immunology, I feature a rare time when biologists actually got their naming system right.Featured here is an Ancient Roman copy of a Greek statue featuring Artemis. Although usually known as the Goddess of the Hunt and wilderness, the moon, and female chastity,
Scientists Despina Moshous and the Artemis Protein Read More »
Since it’s Christmastime, I’m taking up related topics for my theme this week. The being featured here is of course not Saint Nick, but the Greco-Roman God Asclepius — whose birth, life, and death stories were extremely popular during Jesus’ lifetime. Turns out, the two deities had a lot in common.The story of the Virgin
Similarities of Greco-Roman God God Asclepius and Jesus Read More »
Tonight on December 21 we have a conflation of two celestial events: the winter solstice and the much-rarer conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. Although the fact that these events are both happening at the same time is super awesome, they are not causally related. Hundreds of years ago in the fourth century during
Relationship of Sol Invictus and the Christian Birth of Jesus Read More »
“What’s myrrh, anyway?,” declares the mother of Brian in the classic Monty Python sketch (see second image). Turns out, gold, frankincense and myrrh had a lot of meanings that modern readers might not recognize.The story of the “wise” men that visit the babe Jesus only appears in the Gospel of Matthew. The author does not
The Magi (Wise Men) of Christmas Tradition Read More »
Today’s Christmas-themed post is all about the mistletoe plant, which had special importance in pagan European times before it became attached to Christian holiday traditions.Mistletoe is a super fascinating species that evolved from sandalwood, and is a type of parasitic plant. It uses its host plant’s water and nutrients, but can also photosynthesize energy from
Christmas History – The Mistletoe Plant Read More »
