Things I Learned This Semester #29

Water, water, everywhere, right?  We're all taught that something like 70% of the surface of the Earth is covered in water.  And when you take a look at an image of our "blue planet" from space, it does look more "blue" than anything else.  But this stunning image puts a whole new perspective on it.  Or, at least, it did for me.

Earth, with all it's water locked up in a bunch of huge marbles.  Illustration by Jack Cook of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, from the USGS website.

Things I Learned This Semester #28

Spanish moss is a lie.  I guess I'd never thought about it, because I'd never encountered this puzzling plant before.  But we crossed paths for the first time when I went to Florida this semester.  As it turns out, Tillandsia usneoides is neither Spanish, nor moss.  It's actually a bromeliad, and it is more closely related to a pineapple than it is to any moss or lichen that it resembles.  Like many other bromeliads (Bromeliaceae), it is an epiphyte or "air plant", and grows by absorbing nutrients and water from moisture in the air as it hangs form the branches of its tree cousins. It's important to note that it doesn't directly harm the trees it clings to, and doesn't take anything from the tree.  But it can reduce the amount of sunlight that reaches the trees leaves, or potentially break branches as water absorbed weighs them down.

Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) blows in the southern breeze at Blue Spring State Park in Florida.

Things I Learned This Semester #22 - 27: Energy Edition Part II

Now, where did we leave off last time?  Oh, right, alternative energy sources. I touched briefly on the potential that solar technologies have to offer.  But there are a number of other alternatives to the currently fossil fuel driven system we use.