Evolving Art Series: "Capture Ephemeral Nature through Painting"

 Evolving Art Series 

"Capture Ephemeral Nature through Painting"

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Remnants of termites mounted on apocalyptic background painted 

in acrylic by the author.  On display at Living with Nature Center,

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

High rise in ruins cower

to time, pest and weather,

their grandeur gone forever.

Will man ever remember?

Cave entrance reminiscent of Tabon Cave in Palawan, 

relief painting in acrylic by AV Rotor. 

Stalactite on the guard, 

stained by a fiery past;

home of man long before

he became an outcast.

Profile of a human face on our Milky Way galaxy, 

acrylic painting by AV Rotor.  

Images of human abound,

in living colors and sound;

 serendipity or providence,

captured as evidence.  

Treetop convergence in acrylic by AV Rotor

 Living with Nature Center

Trees make a community of their own,

they talk, sing, embrace each another;

designed by nature after they're sown,

living in unity and harmony together.

Microalgal colony in a pond in acrylic by AV Rotor

  Living with Nature Center

It's a world of the minutiae,

thru the microscope we see,

 but a shade of its entirety, 

much less its diversity.

Tree skeleton clinging on a rock cliff, by AV Rotor

 Living with Nature Center

It's counterpart of the sacred Cross;

let's save Mother Nature at all cost.

 

The Last Deer, wood carving against a dying waterfall 

mural by AV Rotor, Living with Nature Center

"Two symbols on the wall,

neither the fairest of all."

Edge of land and sea, detail of a wall mural by AV Rotor.

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

"It's a reflection of a scenery,

      opposite of a sweet memory." ~

Reference 

Philippine Literature Today
Copyright 2015 by C & E Publishing, Inc 237 pp
Abercio V Rotor and Kristine Molina-Doria

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - an unparalleled masterpiece

 The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 

- an unparalleled masterpiece

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

I have a friend, Dr Anselmo S Cabigan, who is an ardent disciple of the great Persian astrologer-poet – Omar Khayyam, and on lighter occasions in school where we taught, he would run several lines from Rubaiyat, keeping faithful to the rhyme-rhythm of a quatrain, and emoting the imagined feeling of the master. It is a rare experience today to hear one reciting from memory an ancient masterpiece, which, had it not been for providence, history may have missed conserving such great work.

Omar Khayyam (1048 - ca. 1132) Astrologer-Poet of Persia (Iran)

How distinct Khayyam’s style is, compared with modern poets, who like in painting, hide behind the curtain of abstractionism – vague and hollow, and often wanting of refinement and naturalness. Rubaiyat, of course has some abstract forms, but intellectual and cultural.

Omar Khayyam enjoyed popularity, but his works showed more of the inner man - his life must have been truly well-spent, not only in the sciences and the arts, but in the fulfillment of life itself in his country though tumultuous in his time, was nonetheless obstacle to leading a romantic and scholarly life, as gleamed from the writings of one of his pupils. (The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald.) To wit:

“I often used to hold conversations with my teacher, Omar Khayyam, in a garden; and one day he said to me, “My tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind may scatter roses over it.’ I wondered at the words he spake, but I knew that his were not idle words. Years after, when I chanced to revisit Naishapur, I went to his final resting-place, and lo! It was just outside a garden, and trees laden with fruits stretched their boughs over the garden wall, and dropped their flowers upon his tomb, so that the stone was hidden under them.”

Here are the first 15 stanzas or quatrains of Omar Khayyam’s masterpiece, Rubaiyat, a priceless contribution to the richness of world literature, and to think that Rubaiyat was written prior to the golden era of the Renaissance. The quatrain used has four equal lines, though varied, sometimes all rhyming, but more often as shown here, the third line does not. It is somewhat like the Greek Alcaic, where the penultimate line seems to lift and suspend the Wave that falls over the last. The Rubaiyat has an Oriental flair, and distinctly  musical so that it is important to read it aloud, preferably with an audience.

I. Awake for Morning is the bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.

II. Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the sky
I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,
"Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup
Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."

III And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The tavern shouted - "Open then the Door.
You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more."

IV. Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The Thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground auspires.

V. Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose,
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still the vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the Water blows.

VI. And David's Lips are lock't, but in divine
High piping Pelevi, with"Wine! Wine! Wine!
Red Wine!" - the Nightingale cries to the Rose
That yellow Cheek of hers to'incarnadine.

VII. Come. fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling;
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

VIII. And look - a thousand Blossoms with the Day
Woke - and a thousand scatter'd intop Cl;ay:
And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose
Shall take Jamshtd and Kaikobad away.

IX. But come with old Khayya, and leave the Lot
Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot:
Let Rustum lay about him as he will,
or Hatim Tai cry supper - heed them not.

X. With me along some strip of Herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown,
Where name of Slave and Sultan scare is known,
And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne.

XI. Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

XII. "How sweet is mortal Sovranty!" - think some:
Others - "How blest the Paradise to come!"
Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum.

XIII. Look to the Rose about us - "Lo,
Laughing," she says, unto the World I blow:
At once the silken Tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw."

XIV. The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes - or it prospers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two - is gone.

XV. And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd
As, buried once, Men want dug up again.

NOTE: Quatrain XI has a universal theme. This is the key to knowing Omar Khayyam's personality and life's philosophy - doubtless, Dr Cabigan and I agree.

"... and Thou beside me singing in the Wilderness - 
and Wilderness is Paradise enow."

About Omar Khayyam: The Persian astronomer, mathematician, and poet Omar Khayyam (1048-ca. 1132) made important contributions to mathematics, but his chief claim to fame, at least in the last 100 years, has been as the author of a collection of quatrains, the "Rubaiyat."

Omar Khayyam was born in Nishapur in May 1048. His father, Ibrahim, may have been a tentmaker (Khayyam means tentmaker). Omar obtained a thorough education in philosophy and mathematics, and at an early age he attained great fame in the latter field. The Seljuk sultan Jalal-al-Din Malik Shah invited him to collaborate in devising a new calendar, the Jalali or Maliki. Omar spent much of his life teaching philosophy and mathematics, and legends ascribe to him some proficiency in medicine. He died in Nishapur. (Acknowledgment: Thanks to Encyclopedia of World Biography; and to Internet for the photos)

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio, 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

Have you tasted Sea Urchin?

Have you tasted Sea Urchin?

(Echinus esculentus L

Esculentus means "edible" and sea urchin roe is used as food around the world. It is not actually the eggs that are eaten but the gonads or reproductive organs - which gives the popular belief that it is an aphrodisiac food.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

avrotor.blogspot.com

 

A harvest of sea urchin off the coast of Dumaguete, Oriental Negros. It is served in a floating restaurant while cruising to watch for whales and dolphins, a tourist attraction.

We call it in Ilocano maritangtang, referring to any species distinctly ball shaped with radiating spines, short or long, variegated of pitch black, some almost bald, while others covered with spikes that almost hide the real body.

And what an extreme impression we have about this enigmatic marine creature which occupies the highest rung of the evolutionary ladder of invertebrates. (Poriferans - the sponges, occupy the lowest rung). This means that the members of Phylum Echinodermata have well developed senses and organs, except for brain!

Luckily Nature has endowed the members highly sensitive senses to adapt to their environment - gregarious, wide range feeders, and armored with thick exoskeleton with radiating spikes and poisonous sting that few predators would dare to attack them. No wonder they live up to 5 years, and in the case of the pink sea urchin 200 years! It is one of the longest living creatures on earth!

Beware! Don't walk the sea floor barefooted. And where sea urchins abound in colonies, the sea floor appears like a beautiful tapestry with iridescent glow, so inviting you are seeing another world. In most places though, sea urchins live in small groups, often camouflaged by silt, seaweeds, sea grasses or simply by the coral reef on which they live.

As a professor in marine biology at the UST Graduate School I always emphasize never to underestimate the sea urchin. Getting a stab requires quick remedy, and if one steps of the black one (photo), medical attention becomes necessary, not only for the wound but possible allergic reaction.

So how do you treat the sea urchin other than not to touch it? Just observe, photograph, or ask a local guide to pick it up for you as specimen. Keep it in a jar of formalin or alcohol solution for your school laboratory.

And if you touch one and a spine is embedded in your hand, don't panic. Don't pry it with needle, it will only get deeper. Soak the wound with vinegar or calamansi juice. The spike is a calcium compound so that it readily dissolves in acid. Local folks have a more practical remedy - urine. Who could resist to answer the call of nature in severe pain and fear?

All these make the sea urchin a delicious treat, if you may. But there's one curious effect many people crave - increased sexual desire. Eating the gonads - testes and ovary - of the sea urchin (sea urchins have separate sexes - dioecious) delivers the Freudian drive for sexual expression and gratification. Whatever we eat as long its healthy food, the effect is possibly the same. And it is excellent health that keeps us on our toes always.

Study the anatomy of the sea urchin.

"The mouth of the sea urchin (known as the Aristotle's lantern), is found in the middle on the underside of the sea urchin's body and has five tooth-like plates for feeding. The anus of the sea urchin is located on the top of the body. As with other echinoderms, sea urchins do not have a brain and instead rely on their water-vascular system which is like a circulatory system and comprises of water-filled channels that run through the body of the sea urchin." Wikipedia.

What you are seeing in water is the adult sea urchin. Take a look at this illustration. The immature stages are almost invisible to the naked eye.

Sea urchins spawn during the spring (monsoon), and the female sea urchin releases millions of tiny, jelly-coated eggs into the water that are then fertilized by the sperm of the male sea urchin. The tiny sea urchin eggs become part of the plankton and the sea urchin babies (larvae) do not hatch for several months. The sea urchin young will not become large enough to retreat from the plankton and down to the ocean floor until they are between 2 and 5 years old.

Due to dredging on the ocean floor and pollution in the water, and the effects of Global Warming, not to mention the increasing appetite of people all over the world, sea urchin populations are declining.

Today, the edible sea urchin, Echinus esculentus, is a threatened species. Next time you order the delicacy, don't take too seriously the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation (Aphrodite, equivalent is the Roman goddess Venus). ~

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, [www.pbs.gov.ph] 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

Make your own transforms for teaching and decoration

Make your own transforms for teaching and decoration

Museum of Natural History, UPLB 

Mt Makiling, Laguna 

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Replica of whale attracts teachers on field trip.  On the left is a painting of the blue whale

 Giant outline of a damsel fly and a butterfly

 Scorpion on the wall; wooden exoskeleton of insect.

 Modern sculptural representation of an insect's exoskeleton 

 

Fairy tale mushroom; anatomy of a tree

 Sowbug, a relative of the insect - a terrestrial crustacean

A representation of a "new" species of  lizard.

Signature of time passing.

Signature of time passing

Mark the Passage of Time with our Growing Children  

Dr Abe V Rotor

How time flies, we hear people say;

     maybe, but it leaves something:

like first smile, first word, first step, ,

     each a signature of time passing.

                              Weaning leaves the infant behind.

                          First birthday is full of love and affection.

             From the confines of home to the open arms of Nature.

                               Bridging three generations in a row.

                        Youngest visitor suspends work momentarily.

Family reunion strengthens bonding up to the third generation (and beyond), keeps distance (even overseas) within reach, and gives a sense of comfort and security. ~

Malunggay is the most popular tree vegetable in the tropic.

Malunggay is the most popular tree

vegetable in the tropic.

                                                 Dr Abe V Rotor

Compound leaves of malunggay (Moringa oleifera); botanical description of malunggay; mature pods hanging on the tree. (Useful Plants of the Philippines by WH Brown; Wikipedia

In the province no home is without this small tree at the backyard or in a vacant lot. The leaves, flowers, juvenile pods and young fruits of Moringa oleifera (Family Moringaceae) go well with fish, meat, shrimp, mushroom, and the like. It is one plant that does not need agronomic attention, not even weeding and fertilization, much less chemical spraying. You simply plant an arms length cutting or two, in some corner or along the fence and there it grows into a tree that can give you a ready supply of vegetables yearound. What nutrients do we get from malunggay?

Here is a comparison of the food value of the fresh leaves and young fruits, respectively, in percent. (Marañon and Hermano, Useful Plants of the Philippines)

· Proteins 7.30 7.29
· Carbohydrates 11.04 2.61
· Fats 1.10 0.16
· Crude Fiber 1.75 0.76
· Phosphorus (P2 O 5) 0.24 0.19
· Calcium (CaO) 0.72 0.01
· Iron (Fe2O3) 0.108 0.0005

Owing to these properties and other uses, rural folks regard malunggay a “miracle tree.” Take for example the following uses.

· The root has a taste somewhat like that of horse-radish,

  and in India it is eaten as a substitute to it.

· Ben oil extracted from the seed is used for salad and culinary

  purposes, and also as illuminant.

· Mature seeds have antibacterial and flocculants properties

  that render drinking water safe and clear.

From these data, it is no wonder malunggay is highly recommended by doctors and nutritionists for both children and adults, particularly to nursing mothers and convalescents. ~

Moths: Masters of Camouflage and Mimicry

Moths: Masters of Camouflage and Mimicry

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sphinx Moths:

Polymorphism or Diversity?
These three Sphinx moths have strong basic morphological characteristics, including size and color that at first glance one would not suspect their differences. The shape and position of their antennae are different, so with their "hoods". Another difference lies in the markings on their bodies and wings. In some cases a pair of eyes (lowermost photo) appears real to a would-be predator.

Markings and Transparency

Two ways to mimic and not be seen,
opaque and part of canvas;
or translucent as if you're not there,
and let the enemy pass.


The Art of Taking Off

Either it flaps or glides on the wind that a moth flies. It can be both, Left photo shows a gypsy moth preparing for takeoff with wings drawn up. At this stage, the predator is puzzled of the sudden transformation into a bright and large abdomen, while the moth flies and escape. A hawk moth (right) spreads its wings side wise and prepares to glide. Without a favorable wind current it is a clumsy flyer. Because moths are nocturnal, navigation relies mainly on the sensitive antennae and two compound eyes.

From Dropping to Monster

This Geometrid moth lies prostrate like a dropping of a bird or rodent in order to escape its enemies. Then it begins to stir as it senses danger, its antennae now beginning to rise, and its wings start to split open ready for takeoff. There is a close relative of the moth (not in the photo) which has a unique defense mechanism. It twists its outer wings upward and inward, exposing a monstrous look to scare the intruder.

Convergence in Nature

Convergence in Nature

By Dr Abe V Rotor

 Convergence in Nature, detail of mural by A V Rotor

How many falls do you tumble all the time?

And songs you sing in rhythm and rhyme?

Oh, you are simply filled with awe and joy.

And I, I wish I were forever a boy -

I ride on your crest, plunge into your floor,

Inside your womb I'm a child once more,

Together we flow, and I'm weaned out to sea

To tell the world of a beautiful story. ~

Global Warming Breeds Super Bugs

Global Warming Breeds Super Bugs

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com)

Asked if the U.N. climate summit in Paris would mark a turning point in the fight against global warming, the pope said: “I am not sure, but I can say to you ‘now or never’. Every year the problems are getting worse. We are at the limits. If I may use a strong word I would say that we are at the limits of suicide." - POPE FRANCIS

The climate crisis has been hard at work throughout 2023. Wildfires in Argentina and Canada. Flooding in India, Cameroon, and Libya. Extreme heat across the US, Europe, and Asia. A cyclone in Myanmar. A tropical storm hitting Japan, Guam, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The list goes on.

Author explains to guests and students global warming using a model at the former St. Paul University QC Museum (c. 2005)

Leptospirosis, also called infectious jaundice, became known as a disease recently when Manila virtually remained underwater for days as a result of monsoon rains intensified by a series of typhoons. The disease’s symptom is yellow coloration of the skin. The causal organism is a spiral bacterium, hence the name, and is endemic where public sanitation and personal hygiene are neglected. One can contact the disease through infected rodent and other animal urine. According to reports, most of the victims acquire the disease from polluted drinking water or wading in flood streets. The suspected carrier is the Rattus rattus norvigicus or city rat, counterpart of the field rat, Rattus rattus mindanensis.

How do we know if a person has contacted the disease? At first, the symptoms are like those of an ordinary flu, which may last for a few days as the pathogen incubates in the body. If not treated immediately, the infection may lead to hemorrhages of the skin or mucus linings and eye inflammation. Extreme cases may lead to irreversible damage to the liver and kidney.

As floodwaters drive the rats out of their subterranean abode (such as canals, culverts, and sewers), they take refuge in homes, market stalls, restaurants, even high rise buildings and malls, bringing the infectious bacterium directly to its victims. The migratory nature of rats also explains how leptospirosis can reach people living far from the flooded areas.

Bubonic Plague or Black Death
This brings to mind the dreaded scourge of mankind in the Middle Ages, bubonic plague. Rats are the carriers of this bacterium-caused disease also called the Black Death. It was so deadly that it claimed the lives of at least 100 million people with 25 million in Europe alone. It stopped man’s progress that the period was appropriately described Second Dark Ages. It spread around crowded cities and towns, with the pestilence peaking with climatic upheavals, such as what we know today as the El Nino phenomenon. Historical accounts are usually laced with superstitious beliefs. With the arrival of Renaissance (Rebirth of Learning) in the 15th century the whole incident was shelved and filed away in archives. But scientists today are piecing up together evidences which may indicate that climate had something to do with long-term cycle of the disease.

The bubonic plague appeared in the United States at the start of the 1900 and then in India in the late 1970’s, but thanks to modern medicine the disease was effectively controlled even before it reached epidemic stages. Between 1941 and 1945, the Japanese used the plague bacteria in war, by rearing the germs clinically and using flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) as carrier. The idea is to sow pestilence, thereby defeating the enemy both in the battlefield and at home. After successfully testing the bubonic plague bombs on China, Japan aimed the new biological weapon against its number one enemy, the U.S. The attempt failed when the American forces dropped two atomic bombs in 1945 obliterating Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in the end of World War II hostilities.

Aedes egypti transmits dengue or hemorrhagic fever, a disease that can spread into epidemic in many parts of the world, including the Philippines. 

Adverse Weather and Common Ailments
Common ailments are usually tied to adverse weather conditions. Following are same examples:

1. The outbreak of boils for one is more likely to occur under hot, steamy weather. The same is true with many bacterial and fungal skin diseases.

2. Influenza outbreaks coincide with extreme changes in weather conditions, normally, towards the rainy season and start of the Siberian High (cold months).

3. Typhoid cases are higher during the rainy season, particularly when there is a flood.   It is the floodwater, mixed with sewage and other organic waste that carries the pathogenic bacterium, Escherichia coli.

4. Dengue Fever mosquito larvae, Aedes egypti may aestivate in the dry season. But once rains come it starts breeding in empty bottles, old tires, basins and clogged gutters. Rain and flood enhance the population and spread of mosquitoes, which spread not only dengue but malaria, too.

Global Warming Disturbs Our Climate
Here is a background on global warming and its impact on our atmosphere (air), lithosphere (land) and hydrosphere (water).

1. During the 20th century, the average atmospheric temperature went up by at least one degree Fahrenheit. Small as it seems, this rise in temperature is sufficient to activate tornadoes, hurricanes, rains and floods. It also helps widen temperature range to extreme levels, creating abnormalities in weather conditions. Scientists explain why the El Nino phenomenon (which comes every five or ten years) is becoming more and more erratic, causing much destruction, especially when it is too wet on one side of the globe, and too dry on the other.

2. The reason why our atmosphere is getting warmer is because of the so-called greenhouse effect, which means that more of the heat of the sun is absorbed and stays longer, causing increasing levels of heat-absorbing gases like carbon dioxide. Our cars and factories are the principal sources of these gases.

3. Rising temperatures cause pronounced atmospheric heating. Hotter air and water along with higher relative humidity altogether stimulate evaporation, cloud formation and eventual precipitation. When there is extreme cold and hot air, a wind system develops, growing into cyclones, hurricanes and tornadoes.

4. Hotter climates cause ice thinning on mountaintops, breaking down of icebergs and floes, melting of the polar ice. The law of displacement explains why our seas are rising, and because all oceans and seas are interconnected, the effect becomes a global one. The first to suffer are those living on low-lying areas. Unfortunately, most cities and town are found on lowlands, near seaports and along major rivers. Thus the next exodus will be ecologically caused. We can call it mass eco-migration. A very disruptive kind of resettlement is needed, dwarfing the kinds of settlement during the era of colonization and conquest. Today’s planners are revolutionizing the concept and design of human habitation that would be decongested and environmentally conserving.

5. There will be a major shift in farming systems where new frontiers will be opened, while others will be abandoned. Adaptation strategies of crops and animals, review of land use policies and programs are back on the drawing boards. Again, environmental conservation will receive special attention.

6. Wildlife migration patterns, niches and distribution, will be greatly affected as their natural habitats are destroyed or modified by changing climate. All living things, without exception, are affected by the man-induced phenomenon of global warming.

The Making of Superbugs
Global warming affects even the lowly and microscopic organisms. They are called gamu-gamu or simut-simut. These are the winged termites. These ordinarily shy, tunnel-dwelling insect suddenly take into the air at night in a swarm, attracted by light in our homes and towns. There is a new breed of super termite that has destroyed thousands of homes in Southern United States since the 1950’s after it was accidentally introduced from China. The insect continued to develop resistance to eradication despite U.S. advances in biology and chemistry.

We trace this superb resistance on two views. First, this super termite is the survivor of chemical spraying. Pesticides may have eradicated the weaker members of its population, but the survivors carry the acquired resistance. After several generations, and the super termite was formed. This genetic advantage may explain the species’ survival, but what about its successful geographic adaptation and distribution? This brings us to my second observation.

Frequent rains and floods predispose wood to soften or even rot, making it more palatable to the cellulose-eating insect. It prefers old wood and the southern states have houses as old as the Mayflower expedition. These conditions provide a perfect termite abode, and together with its symbionts, protozoa in its stomach and wood fungus as pre-digester, termite empires continue to spread from one house after another.

Then at swarming time (which now occurs more frequently than once a year), it is easy for a new termite swarm to start new colonies, which today can be as convenient in book shelves, wooden appliances, apparadors, and office files, as well as posts, beams, floors and walls. And by the way, according to Discovery TV channel, termites strangely eat twice as fast, given an ambiance of loud metallic music (or noise). Watch out for the floor!

The Case of the Fire Ant
We encounter red ants, Solenopsis geminata, in the kitchen, picnic grounds, and garden. According to old folks, when they emerge from their nest to seek shelter on higher grounds, carrying their young and food, they proclaim the arrival of heavy rain.

But it is not this kind of ant of which we are more concerned now. In Florida, a super red ant has spread all over the state and is still moving via floodwaters. A mass of ants, by the thousands, would simply float on water currents landing on a new territory, and then break into several colonies. That is how efficiently the ant is spread, a new adaptation that other ants do not possess.

The sting of this super ant contains a poisonous formic acid. A person who is allergic to it could die from just a single sting. While this ant may be beneficial in one way by devouring destructive insects on the farm, the very sign of its presence in such magnitude is alarming. The US Department of Agriculture even uses GP (Global Positioning) Satellite to monitor and identify the foragers’ locations and sizes of their colonies to assist in their eradication.

The Case of the Super Bacteria
In 1993, tens of thousands of people in Milwaukee suddenly got sick and the suspected culprit is a bacterium that lives in the cloudy waters of Lake Michigan which supplies the areas’ potable water. But Lake Michigan has long been polluted. From the view deck on Sears Tower, one can smell the foul odor of the lake.  I was among the visitors who witnessed this deteriorating condition of this huge lake as early as 1976.  What is surprising is that the pathogen has found a way to defy ordinary water treatment methods.

Such is how the Milwaukee pathogen has proliferated. During the El Nino of 1993, melting snow joined the floodwaters, washing down animal manure and other organic wastes from upland farms and homes, and dumping them into the lake. This has the effect of fertilizing the bacterium. Ecologists call this sudden bacterial upsurge “bloom”, which is similar to the algal bloom phenomenon.

To control the epidemic, drinking water had to be boiled, and water treatment methods intensified until the bacterium is eliminated. These procedures are necessarily very costly operations.

Deadly Dinoflagellates
On the estuaries of Maryland and North Carolina a strange disease has been harming humans and was only first observed 1993. For a time it baffled doctors and scientists until it was traced to Plasteria, a dinoflagellate - a microscopic unicellular organism that behaves like both a plant and an animal. It carries chlorophyll to enable it to manufacture food by photosynthesis, and being equipped with flagella and amoeboid form, it could live freely on the estuaries in huge numbers or as a parasite of fish and other organisms.

It attacks fish by ambushing it with neurotoxin. Once inside the fish body the amoeba-like creature enters the blood stream, and secretes an acid that dissolves tissues and internal organs, killing the fish. This explains the massive fish kill that occurred in these estuaries in 1991.

In turn, the toxin as well as the immature form of the dinoflagellate, enter the human body through infected fish. Even if a person recovers, he suffers permanent loss of memory, and adversely affected speech and coordination, as discovered by scientists from the University of Maryland.

Where did the dinoflagellate come from and how did it spread into the estuaries? From nearby pig farms, with the slurry flowing downward to the estuaries. Fertilizers, farm chemicals, and organic wastes, follow the same process. Flooding and poor drainage controls exacerbate the situation, favoring the growth of the dinoflagellates.

The culprit in Red Tide is another algal bloom, but is located at coves and harbors. Organic materials and wastes flow down the river during floods and onto the sea where they fertilize the red tide dinoflagellates. In the Philippines the red tide species is Pyrodinium bahamense compressa. (PHOTOS)  This happens when the water is warm and there is plenty of sunlight. The organisms multiply very rapidly that due to their enormous numbers, the water appears red, hence the term Red Tide.

Red Tide is caused by dinoflagellates in bloom. Pyrodinium bahamemnse var compressa as seen under light and electron 

microscope, respectively.  

The biblical story of the Nile turning red, as in one of the plagues of Egypt during the time of Moses, was a case of the Red Tide phenomenon. One would appreciate this better on entering Cairo coming from Sinai desert across the Suez Canal. From there one can see how near the Nile is to the Mediterranean Sea. During flood seasons the Nile deposits its load of silt and organic delta-building materials, consequently obstructing water flow. The area has become as a cradle of the Red Tide.

Hantavirus from Mice
In New Mexico that is a desert country, a strange kind of disease was discovered that affects the heart, kidney and liver. Dr. Ben Moneta, a descendant of Navajo Indians, and a graduate of Stanford University, came up with the answer. His findings may also re-open the puzzle of how the Navajo civilization suddenly perished.

Whenever the desert begins to get more rains, vegetation is increased, and so is the number of animals living in the area. The once barren area becomes suddenly fertile, causing the mice population to rapidly increase. Mice are carriers of a deadly hantavirus that adversely infect humans. Dr. Moneta found out that as early as in 1923 a medicine woman warned that if a mouse gets in contact with clothes or anything worn, these apparel should be immediately burned to prevent infection. This led him to believe that the hantavirus is not new. It must have existed for millions of years, but its resurgence is becoming clear.

Delphi Project
In the idle Los Alamos desert is a new center. Its Mission code name is Delphi Project. Here, scientists are studying killer bugs (organisms which can launch an attack and destroy many lives and properties). It is a race with time and as the clock ticks, man should be able to prevent any catastrophe reminiscent of the Bubonic Plague. AIDS (Acute Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) is already prodding us to move fast.

The message is clear. Let us restrict careless activities that favor the making of super bugs.~

Author’s Note on SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

According to Time Magazine, a more likely, and frightening, possibility is the unstable SARS coronavirus which has mutated since it left its origin in Guangdong, China. Now it has become a more virulent and contagious virus as evidenced by samples taken in Beijing and Hongkong. The spread in China and other countries is expected to rise, causing untold numbers of deaths. While there is no specific connection between global warming and SARS, it is established that unstable and unfavorable climatic conditions expose millions of people to health problems.

 
Left:  Water contaminated with microscopic algae, such as Euglena, may render a whole reservoir unfit for human consumption. Right: Green algae may “bloom” under intense sunlight and nutrient-rich water, the cause of fish kill. (Internet)

Algal bloom of the poisonous Caulerpa taxifolia on the Mediterranean seafloor is thought to be a result of global warming. Jellyfish outbreak is spurred by global warming.

“The world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill. ”- Keiji Fukuda, Assistant director-general, World Health Organization.