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| Snail Weather in Nighttime Garden |
US and UK news is dominated by Hurricane Irma hitting Florida as reports of storm surges, floodings and damage begin to come in.
Perhaps the most ludicrous acts are those of news crews working outside in the storm, whilst repeating official warnings to stay inside, because of the hazard of flying debris. Roofs, signs and even cars can become missiles in hurricane force winds.
A facebook event "Shoot At Hurricane Irma", gained 45,000 expression of interests. Whilst bullets typically travel at about 1000 mph, their trajectories would be unpredictably altered by the storm winds and gusts. Hopefully no people (apart from reporters - see above) would be outside to be hit.
The greatest lethal hazards are the storm surges and floods, resulting in more than 80% of hurricane deaths.
I traveled to a meeting in Northampton today, at the premises of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society and Field Club. The session was on fluorescence microscopy, run by the Northampton society in conjunction with the Quekett Microscopical Club. Somethings in nature autofluoresce when UV or blue light is shone on them. Green plants will glow red and scorpions green. There are also commonly available dyes that can be used to selectively bind to cellular components. Rotifers in dilute acridine orange looked spectacular. I came away from Northampton with a dark light torch from a pet shop. They are used to trace where dogs have widdled. However, we found that they were excellent safe and easy to use light sources for fluorescence under the microscope.
Also discovered that Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, came from Northamptonshire and is honoured with a statue in the town.
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