Humboldt State University today announced that its Natural History Museum will re-open to the public next week. The museum was closed to the general public just over a year ago as a result of drastic state cuts to education funding. (School children were still admitted to the facility.) The closure was expected to be permanent […]
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Killer Airborne Fungus Alert
A “hypervirulent” new strain of fungus has been discovered in Oregon. It is unpreventable. It is airborne. It’s killing people and animals. And it’s headed here. As much as this sounds like a setup to a cornball late-night sci-fi movie, this thing is (gulp) sci-fact. It’s pants-wettingly real, folks. And according to a National Geographic story […]
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Dead Blue Whale Report: Permit Violations
Remember the dead blue whale that washed ashore near Fort Bragg in October, after having been hit and mortally gashed by a research vessel? The vessel, “Pacific Star,” was mapping the sea floor to gather habitat data for the state’s Marine Life Protection Act implementation process. Well, reports Dan Bacher of the San Francisco Bay […]
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Iced Tea Party
The Humboldt Tea Party Patriots, perhaps inspired by the wide-ranging scope of ideas recently exhibited by member/Fortuna Councilman Dean Glaser , are expanding their horizons: taking on the nefarious myth of global warming. This Sunday evening at the Veterans Hall in Fortuna, the HTPP will screen Not Evil Just Wrong , a documentary by Irish […]
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Attack of the Copepods
Hardcore! Photo by Alessandro Catenazzi From National Geographic News comes this: Once the parasitic crustaceans enter the gills of a tadpole victim, they feed off the tadpole’s tissues until male and female parasites mate. The male dies soon after. Meanwhile the fertilized female bores her way partially out of the tadpole. Yes, and then the […]
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HSU Natural History Museum to close
HSU today issued the following press release announcing the upcoming “permanent” closure if its Natural History Museum at G and 13th streets in Arcata “due to this year’s severe and unprecedented state budget cuts”: Humboldt State University will be forced to close its Natural History Museum permanently by the end of August. The closure is […]
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Food Freedom! Laundry Liberation!
Because what could be more liberating than financial independence? Oh, sure, life and liberty and the whole pursuit of happiness thing factor in, but have you priced them lately? Well, I can’t solve your big problems – refusing to save, spending more than you earn, insisting on indulging in those optional treats like education, health […]
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Bottled Owl
In a story in Discovery News online, scientists say habitat loss related to development and logging, as well as the encroachment of barred owls from the north, have likely combined to depress the Northern Spotted Owl’s population to the point of creating a genetic bottleneck. And that can lead to inbreeding. Or loss. Says Robert […]
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State of the Bird
Western Meadowlark. Photo by Donald Metzner, courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology The news is not good for the avian bunch. According to The U.S. State of the Birds , a report released today on bird populations, almost a third of the 800 species of birds in the United States are in deep shit. Said […]
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NASA Scientist Maurice M. ‘Mel’ Averner, 72, Dies
NASA Scientist Maurice M. ‘Mel’ Averner, 72, Dies: The WaPo eulogizes a Fieldbrook resident who died last month. Our neighbor, it seems, authored an early and influential scientific paper on the possibility of colonizing other planets. It’s maddening how often this happens — quiet genius retires to Humboldt County, then passes away without a proper
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The Pope and the Professor
As long as we’ve got you reading the College of the Redwood’s Board of Directors’ agenda for Feb. 3, you may have noticed in the documents packet (p. 42) that CR prof Dr. Jon Pedicino is asking for a little out-of-country travel cash ($1,800) so he can go to the Pope’s summer digs at Castel […]
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A Post-Dams World
In some people’s nightmare’s, ya take down the Klamath Dams and a world-engulfing blob of hell-deep muck that’s accumulated around that dam for too many years will engulf the downriver world, smothering all salmon, salmon fry, lamprey, lamprey younguns, and everyone else silly enough, in that scenario, to call the Klamath River home. And, oh, […]