Gateway to elfin kingdom found at BGSU's Steller Field

I was driving past Warren E. Steller Field on my way into work this morning, and I noticed an amazing natural phenomenon growing inconspicuously in the lawn. It's a fairy ring, a portal to the whimsical netherworld of elfin kingdoms!

Ok, so fairy rings like these aren't really magic gateways. Rather, they are the outer edge of large underground fungi with mycelia growing out from a central point. This entire circle is one organism with multiple fruiting bodies poking through the grass, which creates the illusion of individual mushrooms placed in a strange pattern.

Without prior knowledge of the larger network of mycelia beneath the grass, or the fact that this is actually one organism growing out from a central point, it's no surprise that 12th Century Europeans would assume the rings were created by dancing elves and fairies. I mean, what else could it be, right?

Seth MacFarlane and Neil deGrasse Tyson working on the same project, sounds promising!

This post on The Rogues Gallery informed me of news from earlier this month: That Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) and Neil deGrasse Tyson (NOVA scienceNOW) are both on-board for a Cosmos revival, "Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey."

Also contributing to the new 13-part series is Ann Druyan, a collaborator on the original Cosmos mini-series, and former host Carl Sagan's widow.

Because educational programming is outside his typical portfolio, MacFarlane considers himself the "least essential person" on the project, but as Evan Bernstein correctly points out, MacFarlane's role stems from his clout with Fox, which is the network set to broadcast the new project in 2013. Neil deGrasse Tyson will host the show, but will provide more input than a mere talking-head considering his PhD in Astrophysics.

There's no mistaking that MacFarlane gets it, however, as evident by his quotes in the New York Times:

“We’re obsessed with angels and vampires and whatnot,” Mr. MacFarlane, 37, said in a telephone interview, “when there are many more exciting and very real and much more spectacular things to be excited about, that are right in our own planetary backyard.” (source)

I just hope they don't screw it up! I have high expectations, especially since Seth MacFarlane is a member of what I consider the atheist media Triforce comprised of himself, Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park), and Ricky Gervais (The Office). Blast those atheists and their incredibly successful television programming!



I was going to make an "atheist media Triforce + Neil" but it just doesn't look right. Don't mess with the Legend of Zelda. Sorry Neil!

Subjectivity may not freely reign

This video is the first of a 16-part series narrated by the late Carl Sagan and produced as a tribute by Callum Sutherland. Sagan's voice is magical, and the vintage quality of the audio recording is nostalgic while bringing a sense of history.

There are a lot of misconceptions about atheism, and people often assume that we don't believe in ANYTHING. Where can the concept of hope exist when the world seems so confined to a physical existence?

While I don't have "faith" that there are things bigger than myself, I still believe in a universe that is massively mysterious and fascinating. This video, and others in the series, are a perfect example of where my sense of awe comes from. My mind is blown, and I struggle to grasp the vastness of the universe and my insignificant role in the cosmos - yet I am proud to acknowledge that I am in fact a piece of the universe, I am made from the universe, and that my story is part of the larger story.



Every word in this video is so concise, so painstakingly selected to carry the precise meaning that was intended. Religious views aside, I think the transcript itself, as a written work, is magnificent.

Identifying insects with simple internet searches

Nature walks are a great social activity, and our College Student Personnel organization (BGSDA) decided to add a photography contest to the hike. By taking the extra step to identify insects in the photos, you can use the internet to explore a personalized biology lesson.

As part of the Summer "Cruise" of pre-planned social events, the summer CSP grad students went to Wintergarden Park in Bowling Green, OH to snap some pics during a hike.

Here are a few more of my favorite shots (below). Basically, the micro-lense is my "thing" when it comes to nature photography. It's a lot of fun! The contest album is on Facebook where you can Like your favorites.

I thought it would be fun to try to identify the insects I spotted by using my favorite tool: the internet! In my experience, a lot of people don't realize just how powerful internet searches can be. They view Google as a portal for typing keywords to call up a specific site. I view it as more of a process, and if you want to find something, try being as blunt as possible.

Oncopeltus fasciatus

Here's the image search I used to identify this orange and black insect: "orange and black insect in Ohio" which produced a page full of images. I selected this image because it was a pretty good match to my own photo, however the pattern on the wing wasn't quite right. Turns out the image in the image search was a "false milkweed bug." Well if the false milkweed bug is pretty close, let's try searching for "milkweed bug." Bingo! The large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) is a perfect match.

Eristalis transversa

Let's try it again with the next insect. This one is a black and yellow fly, so let's search "black and yellow fly in Ohio" which brings up this photo. Looks good to me, this is a black and yellow hoverfly. Well, it turns out there are 6000 species of hoverfly covering over 200 genera. Thankfully, this gallery of North American Hoverflies was able to help me narrow the list to my best guess of Eristalis transversa.

Sigmoria sp.

Ok, I'll do one more. How about this photo of what is apparently a centipede. Based on an internet search for "black and yellow centipede in Ohio" I came upon this site with photos of what the author calls the cherry millipede. Looks pretty close, and the bugger is identified as a Sigmoria genus of millipede. It is, in fact, a millipede and not a centipede because millipedes have two pairs of legs per body segment.


Below are the rest of my nature walk photos. Looks like some wildflowers and yet another species of hoverfly. The hike itself was a fun way to socialize with my grad student peers, but taking the time to identify what I actually saw was an interesting self-taught lesson in insect species. By taking the next step and learning more about these buggers, I have a greater appreciation for my own photographs, and I learned something along the way!

What I learned: The Internet is a powerful learning tool, but it's not going to do all the work for you.

Beyond the Headlines: $315,000 NSF-funded FarmVille study

One of my friends posted a link to an article on FoxNews.com with the headline: Senate Report Finds Billions in Waste on Science Foundation Studies. One of the major criticisms in the story is that the National Science Foundation funded a $315,000 study of the FarmVille game on Facebook.

Wow, I agree that a study of FarmVille sounds like a waste of money. But that doesn't make sense, why would the NSF fund a study like that? Well let's see...

The Fox News article's main source is a watchdog report released by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) titled "National Science Foundation: Under the Microscope" (PDF). This report attempts to blow the whistle on excessive government spending through funding unnecessary science projects. On the topic of FarmVille, the Senator reports:

A $315,000 NSF study suggests playing FarmVille on Facebook helps adults develop and maintain relationships. The NSF-funded study, “The ‘S’ in social network games: Initiating, maintaining, and enhancing relationships,” has determined that many adults “are playing games such as Facebook’s FarmVille to help initiate, develop, and maintain relationships.” (source)

The report correctly cites the source of their information regarding the amount of NSF funding, which can be found in the award abstract (HCC 0916019). The Senator is correct that the NSF award is for almost $315,000 (actually $314,863), however the award does not provide funding for a solitary study. The award is a continuing two-year grant addressing the role of social network sites in facilitating collaborative processes.

So while the Senator's report is correct that the publication "The S in Social Network Games: Initiating, Maintaining, and Enhancing Relationships" (PDF) was funded by the National Science Foundation, this was not the sole publication resulting from the grant.

In fact, the same grant (HCC 0916019) funded studies that led to no less than 5 published articles on the topic of the role of social network sites in facilitating collaborative processes:

1. Student use of Facebook for organizing
2. Reciprocity in social network games and generation of social capital
3. The S in Social Network Games: Initiating, Maintaining, and Enhancing Relationships
4. The Ties That Bond: Re-Examining the Relationship between Facebook Use and Bonding Social Capital
5. Coordinating the ordinary: social information uses of Facebook by adults

These are merely the studies that came up in a Google Scholar search, and acknowledge the NSF funding source in the text. Considering five publications resulting from the same two-year grant (and presumably two-year salary and research expenses), this research doesn't seem as wasteful as Senator Tom Coburn and Fox News would have you believe.

In fact, upon closer inspection, the study about FarmVille is the only publication funded by this grant that did not pay the subjects anything for their participation. The total amount paid to recruit participants for the other 4 studies totals $2,170. So of the studies funded by the grant, the study involving interviews of 18 unpaid subjects is surely the least wasteful in terms of recruiting participants. 

Finally, the study that involved FarmVille was by no means a study ABOUT FarmVille. In fact, according to the published article, the interview protocol originally "focused on general questions about Facebook use as well as specific questions about relationship management" (source). After participants brought up games in their discussion of Facebook use, the researchers later added standard questions to more thoroughly probe the phenomena. In other words, the researchers did not set out to study FarmVille.

What I learned: Nobody reads beyond the headlines anymore.

How many Frappuccinos does it take to fail an NCAA drug test?

As all NCAA athletes are warned, caffeine IS on the NCAA list of controlled substances. That is to say, it’s not banned outright, but acceptable maximum levels are set to control for possible performance enhancing effects.

I couldn’t find acceptable testing levels directly from the NCAA, (should it be this difficult to find?) but WebMD, among other sites, seem to agree that the NCAA maximum acceptable level is 15 mcg/mL (micrograms per milliliter) in urine. All I could find from the NCAA’s drug testing program website are a list of banned drug-classes, not specific testing levels.

Ok, so we know 15 mcg/mL is the upper limit for caffeine levels in urine. Now how much caffeine can you drink before you reach that level, and what does that mean in terms of Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos? WebMD says coffee has around 100 mg/cup, and that it would take someone around 8 cups to reach the limit. So according to WebMD, 800mg at once is the limit. I’m guessing that means within an hour or so – since it takes around 45 minutes for caffeine to be absorbed into the bloodstream – but WebMD doesn’t really specify. Therefore, according to Starbucks beverage nutrition information, it would take 4.85 Venti Mocha Frappuccinos within an hour to fail an NCAA drug test. By the way, all those Venti Fraps adds up to 2,424 Calories and 82 grams of fat.

The Richard Stockton College Athletic Training website provides some more specific information. According to their site, 500 mg of caffeine in one hour is enough to fail the drug test. That’s only 3.03 Venti Mocha Frappuccinos! I have 3.03 Venti Mocha Frappuccinos for breakfast!

But wait, according to their own calculations, the Stockton College site says that 100 mg of caffeine equates to 1.5 mcg/mL in urine, and 200mg of caffeine equates to 3.0 mcg/mL, etc. Following this trend, you would be allowed 1000 mg of caffeine before reaching the 15 mcg/mL level. If this is correct, you could drink 6.06 Venti Mocha Frappuccinos (3,030 Calories, 103 grams of fat) in an hour before failing your drug test.



Play it safe
Based on numbers found on the web, you could probably drink somewhere between 3 to 10 Venti Mocha Frappuccinos in an hour and still pass an NCAA drug test. You might consider just having one Venti Mocha Frappuccino – I mean, come on, it’s a Venti.

A note about half-life
Caffeine is metabolized in the liver. The half-life of caffeine – the time required for the body to eliminate one-half of the total amount of caffeine – varies between individuals. According to Wikipedia, the half-life time depends on age, liver function, and other medications taken. The estimated half-life for healthy adults is 4.9 hours, and up to 10 hours for women taking oral contraceptives. That means you can have 6 to 20 Venti Mocha Frappuccinos as long as you take a break 10 hours before your test. 20 Venti Mocha Frappuccinos would contain 10,000 Calories and 340 grams of fat.

This article is a cross-post from Kast-A-Way Blog

The only reason a town this small has a planetarium

It's exciting to think about living near a college campus for the rest of my life. College campuses are generally more liberal than the surrounding areas (with some exceptions), and have a slew of activities, lectures, and facilities just begging for your patronage!

I finally convinced my partner, Chris, to take me to the planetarium at Bowling Green State University for a show on celestial bodies on national flags.

I hadn't been to a planetarium since I was 9 years old. Since I've been watching the Science Channel non-stop for the last 18 months or so, the planetarium is the obvious choice for a romantic date with someone who fancies himself a scientist!



After the show, the host offered to take the audience up to the observatory on the roof, but it was a bit chilly and partially cloudy (and Chris had had enough of this science stuff), so we called it a night.

What I learned: The stars are projected through tiny holes punched in metal discs that can accurately recreate the sky from any location at any point in time. How could a town this size have all this cool stuff going on!