A human female is diploid, having paired maternal and paternal chromosomes. She is born with over a million haploid eggs with unpaired chromosomes. Each egg has the potential of being fertilized by a haploid sperm. A fern’s life cycle is more complex. It alternates generations between a large diploid “sporophyte” plant that produces haploid spores and a small haploid “gametophyte” plant, grown […]
Life + Outdoors
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The Humboldt Answer
I’ve lived in Humboldt County for seven years, and it’s taken me all this time to adopt the standard Lost Coast response to the question, “What do you do?” Where I come from — and this basically applies to anywhere south of Garberville, north of Orick or east of Willow Creek — everybody has an […]
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A Yurok Mushroom Hunter
Winters are horrible back East and I used to dread them. Here in Humboldt, though, the first rains of fall bring out the mushrooms, and the rest of the season is an Easter egg hunt. I love to disappear into the damp green woods while the rest of the nation freezes. It’s a thrill to […]
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Basic Birds & Bees
I had intended to write about ferns and their shady lives, but realized that I should first review the fundamentals of reproduction. The diagram shows the basic concepts, under the assumption that each parent provided one chromosome to form a diploid cell with a pair of chromosomes. (Further simplification is my equating cells with nuclei.) […]
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A Counting Problem
This Holiday season deserves a fun project: Count the seeds in one cattail. I estimated the number to be half a million, but every scientific claim should be verified before acceptance. I suggest you share the fun and check my result. A source of cattails is just east of Bigfoot Gas in McKinleyville. The cluster […]
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Dunewalker
When I moved to Humboldt County 15 years ago I spotted what I am convinced was a ringtailed cat crossing Samoa Boulevard past the Sierra Pacific Mill. The long, ringed, fluffy tail was unmistakable, though I have yet to verify this sighting. This is part of the mystery the Pacific dunes hold for me. Now, […]
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What Is Geologic Time?
Geologic time was involved in my previous articles on earthquakes, marine terraces, photosynthesis and changing climates. I contend that grasping the immensity of geologic time is a prerequisite to a real understanding of our planet and its life. Twenty thousand years ago, Canada was buried under three kilometers of ice and sea level was 140 […]
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Dear Landlord
The smoldering issues around Arcata’s marijuana business — grow houses and medical marijuana dispensaries — will be rekindled at Wednesday’s (Dec. 19) City Council meeting. The council’s agenda includes continued discussion about establishing a working group to explore standards for the regulation of personal marijuana growing in residential zones and the regulation of medical marijuana […]
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Meet The Neighbors
With the hubbub about Delta Airlines considering flying planes in 2008 between Arcata and Salt Lake City, perhaps it would be nice to become more acquainted with our potential new "sky neighbors" in Utah. Fry sauce. Liquor laws. Powder snow. Utah, despite being only a daylong drive or two-hour flight from Humboldt County, seems like […]
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Mine, All Mine
Last week, I called my brother in LA and told him that my husband Scott and I were buying an antiquarian bookstore. He considered our occupations — magazine editor, author, and now bookstore owner — and said, "Wow. Books, magazines — you guys are really getting into a growth industry up there." "Yes, we believe […]
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Go Outside and Eat
I realized recently that I don’t write nearly enough about vegetable gardening. The reason for this is simple: I don’t have one. I understand very little about what’s happening in my own garden, so how could I be expected to have anything at all to say about what’s not happening in my garden? But in […]
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Is Mycology Mushrooming?
Yes, interest in fungi is expanding. However, few of us are aware of their strange life cycles and the valuable contributions they make to the health of our forests and fields. Begin with one spore produced by a typical mushroom. It is haploid, meaning it has only one set of chromosomes (like a sperm). The […]