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Learning from the Past: Using the Stars as Gateways

This week lecture was very interesting. I could perfectly see the the correlation between the theme of the course and the topic of the lecture. The lecture was all about how scientists could tell things about past galaxies by using aspects of the new galaxy. Some things that were mentioned was the theory of distance and reach and also the black hole theory and quenching. All of these help to distinguish parts of the past environment.

 

The theory of distance is very interesting yet simple. It basically states that the further away an object is, the longer it will take for its light to reach. In the lecture, we referenced difference objects such as the moon sun and stars. The moon takes only one second for its light to hit earth because it’s relatively close. However, the sunlight takes at least 8 minutes to reach earth because it’s so hot that it is not as close to the earth as the moon. Yet, it takes about 4 years for the light of the star to reach earth because it’s farther out than the moon and  the sun.

 

The black hole theory is the theory that discusses star formation quenching. It is the idea that when two galaxies connect, they feed the black hole. This causes gas to heat up as well as being pushed back.This theory connects closely to quenching and explains the formation of different galaxies thus connecting it to the past by using modern speculation to determine why certain galaxies were formed the way that they were.

 

The lecturer also talked about Halo quenching. This is a particular way that the galaxy has been suppressed. It is done in a circular motion. Quenching is a way to look into the past to learn new things about different and older galaxies that we would otherwise not know much about. This connects more to the theme of the course as a way to look into and learn from the past that is present and modern day things such as looking at the aftermath of the quenching effects.

 

The galaxies and all the other mysteries of outer space are cool learning topics. What’s even cooler is to see how how they connect to the past. It’s easy to use modern galaxies to make predictions on what the past may have looked like. These predictions can be made by looking at things such as theories like the black hole theory and the distance theories or by looking at quenching which is connected to formation. All of these aspects give a look into the past by telling what these galaxies could of look like or been made of years ago. Hence, this lecture connected nicely with the theme of the course because it shows that when we look into present galaxies we could use them to see the past as well. The past is not that far from the future in most cases. This lecture was a perfect way to end the course.

 

The topic of Professor Elizabeth McGrath’s talk last Monday called, “Using Distant Galaxies as Cosmic Time Machines” was truly fascinating, and one of the highlights of the speaker series.  In it she explained how we can judge the light that is given off by galaxies in our night sky, much of which is older than Earth itself, to determine how and why galaxies go through the changes they do and how they form.  I think that this use of the past to understand the present is probably the most literal version of the idea, which I believe makes it all the more interesting.

The main goal of Professor McGrath’s studies, at least as she presented it, was to determine how galaxies transform from disk shaped rotating galaxies to spherical clusters of stars with generally random motion.  In order to understand how this metamorphosis occurs, Professor McGrath explained that we must look at the light we are currently seeing from the galaxies that is actually billions of years old in some cases.  One of the most fascinating parts of the talk was when the professor put into perspective just how fast light moves.  She stated that light travels at about 300,000 km/s.  This means that light takes about one second to travel from the moon to Earth, eight minutes from the sun, four years from the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, and 2.5 million years from the nearest galaxy.  While this statistic alone is absolutely staggering, the most interesting thing about this idea is that our night sky is not up to date.  We’re seeing the universe as it was hundreds, thousands, millions, and even billions of years ago.  If today the galaxy closest to us was to randomly explode and cease to exist, we wouldn’t know for the next 2.5 millions years.

Another absolutely mind-boggling idea put forth by Professor McGrath was the concept of dark-matter.  Dark matter, as Professor McGrath explained differs from ordinary matter in that it does not give off any light.  It is essentially invisible, yet it is still affected by gravity like ordinary matter.  The halos of dark matter that were created by the big bang were essential in forming the galaxies of the universe because they trapped all of the ordinary matter in their center that would go on to be what those galaxies are comprised of.

While this is interesting in it of itself, I think the most compelling idea pertaining to the existence of dark matter is that there is still so little we as a species know about it.  Yes we know that it exists and has certain properties, but we have no idea what it looks like, how to find it, and how to harness it.  I think that I am so drawn to this idea because we as a people have come so far over our relatively short existence in the universe.  We have developed a vast, high tech civilization, explored parts of space, and yet there is so much out there that we have even begun to scratch the surface of.  It is a bit scary and is one of those ideas that makes you feel minuscule in the grand scheme of our universe.  However, I find it to be exciting there is still so much for us to learn.  I just hope that we as a people will be around long enough to unlock these universal secrets.

This weeks lecture was given by our very own Dr. Loren McClenachan. I have been fortunate enough to have taken a course with Loren during my sophomore year and I must say I was excited to see that she was participating in our lecture series. Dr. McClenachan gave a discussion on a new study that showed marine ecosystem health declining. As I know from the course I took with her, marine ecosystems have been heavily hit by impacts from climate change and continue to change on a yearly basis. The site that Loren used for her research was in the Florida Keys. Loren researched the history of marine ecosystem health in an attempt to formulate a better understanding of how the reefs and surrounding ocean in the Keys was in rapid decline. I especially enjoy Loren’s talks because I find that Loren does not only research very compelling topics but she uses images to draw contrast between timelines and uses figures that are easy to understand to all levels of audience. Loren focused on the smaller sizes of contemporary trophy fishes, the importance of coral reefs for the ecosystem, and the boom-bust fisheries.

Although Loren focused largely on marine ecosystem health, her talk had a resounding theme that focused on the rapidly changing environment that is now a reality we live in. An important aspect of environmental health research is the transparency and efficacy of policies that are made to ameliorate environmental issues. If we do not raise awareness of the harm that we are afflicting on the environment, we are going to continue to see the issue of a constantly shifting baseline, that will likely deteriorate the environment further. One fascinating thing that I learned during this talk was that the US only hold environmental history from the 50s forward. This is less than 70 years of environmental history and we have already done so much to destroy it. If we had more history recorded, we could be more informed about the failures of certain policies or decisions. Loren was able to illustratively describe the deterioration and destruction on our environment both in the past and present. She advocates for the use of intersectionality when considering policy decisions that will effect not only domestic life but life globally.

Loren’s talk was similar to themes seen in all environmentally related lectures. The earth is seemingly on a path to its destruction by the human race. We are literally going to kill ourselves off with the poor and greedy decisions we make as a species. Loren’s talk had some references of hope, though her topic shed a bad light on our treatment of marine ecosystems. She spoke about the Goliath Grouper and how we are still able to invest time and effort into protecting vital species and habitats.

Dr. McClenachan’s talk really highlighted some of the issues that are continuing to plague our world unnoticed. We as humans have continued to exploit the lands and resources that have allowed us to survive. We need to radically change the way we view nature and change the way that we as a global community have been treating it. Loren’s research is vital to this movement towards a more environmentally secure future. Her work on the conservation and protection of marine systems plays a key role in understanding how we effect the ocean systems. If I could pull one thing away from this talk I would say that we need to raise more awareness on the issue of environmental degradation as a whole. I am very happy that Loren was able to participate in this lecture series and think that she should continue to be included in this in the future.

Trophy Fishing: The Bad and the Good

Today’s lecture was very interesting. I really understood the point that the lecturer Loren McClenachan was attempting to make. While she spoke very passionately about her work, I took a lot of points from her focus on game fishing. Although there are both pros and cons, to game fishing, she gave a good lecture on how we should be mindful of doing such. Some of the pros was the the economy and travel to the area while the con was the dent that it was putting in marine life.

 

The first pro of big game fishing is the ability for it to boost the economy. One of the ways it boost the economy is with jobs. There are more fishers working. Also on land, there are people working to help with the fish that these fishers bring back or there are more waitresses needed to feed the hungry fishers at the local pub. In all of these small ways, big fishing is helping to increase the economy.

 

Traveling has also increased since the boom in fishing. When people catch big trophy fish, others see their game and want to fish in that area too. So, often, people travel miles to reach these often secluded fishing areas. Therefore, this brings money into the economy also in the form of tourism. Tourist stay at hotel and frequent the local places. Also, it brings awareness to that town. Someone who visited as a tourist and is very serious about there fishing craft would probably even pick up and move there which in terms help the population of this town.

 

However, there are obvious cons to big game fishing. One of those cons would be overfishing. It does not take much to deplete a population of fish over years. Therefore, this is a main concern of the fishing industry. However, the industry has accounted for this. In return, the government had put certain rules on fishing. For example, certain fish that you catch you have to throwback. It is because these fish are protected because they are of risk of becoming extinct. Therefore, in order to avoid certain fish from becoming extinct, they plan these rules.

 

The lecture from last class was very interesting. It taught me a lot about the fishing industry and also the pros and cons that come along with it.  I was mainly interested in these pros and cons. They range from helping increase employment and the tourist industry to the con of inflicting harm on the fish population from those who over fish. However, to combat this risk to the fishing industry, the government has introduced laws that fishers must abide by. One of these laws are throwing back certain fish that are on the verge of extinction if you so happen to catch one. With these measures in place, I believe that if done correctly then the fishing industry won’t have as big of a depletion on the environment then what we expect at the current moment.

Professor Loren McClenachen’s talk on the impact of the past in the study of marine ecology was an eye opening talk on the way we study natural ecosystems.  Most of her talk centered on the decrease in ecological diversity among the reefs surrounding Florida and its southernmost islands.

One of the most interesting parts of the talk was when she discussed and showed evidence of the shrinking size of fish, especially trophy fish that swim around the reef.  She showed pictures of the fish that she took while visiting a fishing boat and its captain.  The fish that they had caught on a “good day” looked big to me, but when she showed the pictures of the fish from the 70s they looked even smaller, and as she moved farther back in years the quantity of fish and the size of each fish was bigger and bigger.  This was especially startling.  We obviously always think of the cost that our actions impose on the life that we can see but not the life that we can’t.  While I am a fan of fishing, it was sad to watch what we as humans have done to an ecosystem that is so important and beautiful.

Another organism that we as a species have had an adverse effect on are sponges.  Professor McClenachen talked at length about how the growth of the sponging industry in the early 20th century has greatly depleted the abundance and types of sponges that exist in our reefs.  The industry started out being dominated by low tech spongers who used tools from the side of canoes to rake sponges off of the bottom of the sea floor.  As technology improved, however, spongers who could afford to were able to use new SCUBA technology to dive down and take greater quantities of sponges off the seafloor.  This caused massive competition in the industry and is the root of the cause for the depletion of the organism.

One of the major points of Professor McClenachen’s talk was the fact that we assume what we see as being “normal” when in reality we are only seeing a snapshot in time of what something looks like and how it should be.  Her example to illustrate this was our study of these underwater ecosystems.

The study and mapping of coral reefs only began 240 years ago, and since then, we have seen a 52% reduction in the amount of coral at those reefs.  While obviously this is not a good number, it is not as alarming as some may think.  However, scientists now believe that the original amount of coral that we believed existed was much, much greater than what was there when we began studying it all those years ago.  In reality, coral depletion is extremely high when we take into account how much coral there was on the Earth prior to onset of our study of the organism.  This is a classic example of us, as a people, assuming that what we know is correct or natural.  in reality, we must step back from what we know and take into account what was there before us.  Not doing so can be harmful and can be conducive to us making false conclusions about important topics

As a government major and someone who is extremely interested in the politics and ideologies behind the Cold War, Professor Streets-Slater’s speech about the Noulens affair was especially fascinating.  What occurred was the arrest of several communist operatives in Singapore sent by the Comintern , which is essentially the international council of the communist party, to Southeast Asia who were meant to act as missionaries, spreading the word of communism, and trying to rally support for the cause in Asia.  Upon the arrest, authorities discovered multiple lockboxes filled with comintern documents with names of a large amount of communists in Asia, their codenames, and all other pertinent information.

Following this, there was a crackdown by Chinese, French, and British authorities whose goal was to stem the spread of communism.  Many times, when a communist was captured by this coalition of anti-communists, the prisoners were sent to China to be interrogated rather than in Europe.  This was done because many of the Western European countries had many laws that restricted how “strongly” they could interrogate those that they held in custody.  China, however, did not have these restrictions, so much of the information was found out there before being sent back to Europe.

The discovery of such a wide-ranging network of communist conspirators, was a massive realization for the imperialist nations like France, China, and Great Britain.  It showed a major threat to colonialism, and led to great fear among colonial, capitalist countries, especially in Southeast Asia.

An interesting aspect of this incident is that it occurred in 1931, well before World War Two and the post World War Two period that many attribute to being the time period that led to the start of The Cold War.  If anything, this story shows us that the roots of the Cold War go much deeper.  It is a narrative that tells us that when we step back and look at a situation, the things that caused it are often times much more complex than what we thought.  In this instance, we let our Eurocentric view of the world convince us that the only true reasons for the beginning of The Cold War came out of Europe.  Instead, when we look at the bigger picture, events were occurring all over the world that led to one of the most infamous, and studied events in modern history.  As Professor Streets-Slater talked about, The Noulens affair is an event that is rarely talked about and to this day only has three articles discussing the situation, including her’s.  I believe that this illustrates this fact.  People are so focused on their preconceived notions of why something is or why something occurs that we fail to look at alternative causes.  History is no exception to this.

So far, I think that this was my favorite speech.  I really loved being exposed to an idea and an event that I, like many others, had never given much thought to.  That is essentially why I took this course, and this talk could not have been a better example.

The Noulens Affair: An Ordeal of a Lifetime

As someone who is not an expert in history by any means, I have not heard of the Noulens Affair before. In addition, I am not too well aware of the Cold War and all of its implications. However, it was interesting to see how the Noulen Affair pretty much set off a string of events that altered the world as a whole but also the Cold War. But what was most interesting about the case was the drama that unfolded between husband and wife. From Hilaire’s arrest and all of the incriminating objects he had on them, him and his wife’s anonymous identity, and also their hasty release after originally being tried for death. The Noulens Affair was a never ending sequence of drama and mystery and seemed like an episode of a soap opera.

 

The Noulen Affair consisted of a series of events that begin with the arrests of the Noulens. The Noulens included Hilaire Noulens and his wife. They were members of the Communist Party. They were arrested in China. When arrested Hilaire Noulens, who real name is Yakov Rudnik, had very important documents on him. These documents consisted of an address book that led to  other affiliates. Agents were then able to find these affiliates and arrest them.

 

After Hilair and his wife was arrested. It was then discovered that they did not know they’re real identity. They continued to claim to be from different countries, however, every time that they claimed to be from a country, that said country would then come forward and deny that they ever resided their. Their true identity was not released until years after their release and death. This is when their son came forward and proclaimed that the identity of his parents were Yakov Rudnick and Tatyana Moiseenko.

 

After the arrest of Hilair and his wife there was so much incriminating evidence that it is no surprised that they were found guilty. They were then subsequently sentenced by the Chinese Government to death in prison. However, they would not even come close to facing this demise. They were soon sentenced to just life in prison. They were then released in August 1937. The quick release was due to the Japanese invading  China. They had other things to be concerned with rather than keeping tabs on him. Shortly after their release, they fled to the Soviet Union in July of 1939.

The Noulens Affair is a relative important part of the Cold War but is also a relatively unknown event. There is so little information known about the people involved which includes Hilaire Noulens and his wife as the main characters. It was a mystery fueled  event of the War. Their real identities were not known until years later, Hilaire was arrested with all of the evidence that they needed to incriminate him. In addition, after being tried to death by the Chinese death and later commuted to life, they were released early because of Japanese invading China.

Shaping the Future: The Way We See Art

From this lecture, Bell was way ahead of his time in the way he thought and how he put this thought to action. We can understand just how modern his process was by looking at how we learn today. The same practices that we use in classrooms or in general to be understand are similar to the classroom practices of Bell. It’s important to for us to see just how Bell and his classroom practices help to create the implications of a world after Bell.

Bell was very concise in how he devised his classroom practices. One of his main ideologies was showing an important part of learning. It all goes back to the way we learn. Some people are hands on while others are visual learnings. Bell classroom methods encouraged people to incorporate both ends of a spectrum. You can be taught by a model and in return, to show that you have learned, you are expected to draw what you know. When you draw or create a physical model, your brain starts to turn gears because you begin to envision this thing in your head and you try to replicate it. Therefore, visual arts is a learning process for both sides. Hence, this saturated learning process has a lot of influence on modern classrooms and has even taken a hold in the classrooms of Harvard University.

Harvard is world renowned for its highly competitive programs and classes, hence, it is a great achievement and accomplishment to have Harvard following the ideologies of Bell. In Harvard classrooms today, specifically in its medical program, they are initiating Bell’s ways of learning. Harvard encourages training in visual arts among their future doctors. That might translate to those scholars who are on a completely different track than the arts to take a class or two of studio art or something related to that manner. This is because visual learning has been found to build visual literacy. When you are remembering something in your brain in order to translate it into a drawing on paper you begin to differentiate between what’s important and what’s not important and you depict what is important in your drawing.

Bell was a genius who was way ahead of his time in terms of his work and ideologies. His work has help touch our modern world and has made us see the world differently. We need to be able to touch and draw and just visually interpret things. I believe that when we try to visually learn a concept we light up are brain a lot more than with other ways of learning. This is why Bell tactics has withstand time and are being used in highly collegiate settings such as Harvard University. Bell has truly shaped the way we learn and how we see learning and his concepts will continue to grow and thrive throughout many more years to come because it produces such a solid understanding across universal realms of study.

Carin Berkowitz’s speech last Monday was about the relationship between art and anatomy, and that to understand a science it is often important to understand art.  Professor Berkowitz discussed Charles Bell’s beginning as a professor in London, a city where becoming a doctor was easy and those who came out of medical school there did not receive the same level of respect as those who went to school at some of the more elite, better renowned schools of the smaller towns and cities of Great Britain.

One of the aspects of the talk I found most interesting was the part of the discussion that focused on the importance Bell placed in not just looking at real, physical specimens, but illustrations of parts of the body when studying anatomy.  Bell was an illustrator himself, and he believed that the pictures in the book showed his students details of the body that they could not see when simply looking a dissected body or body part.  He felt this way for a few reasons.  For one, it was hard to acquire dissected bodies, and in their place sometimes needed to use drawings instead of the real thing.  Another major reason is that when observing a cadaver, it is not always easy for a student to know exactly what they are looking at.  A dissected body can sometimes be a bit messy, making it hard to identify certain body parts.  By supplementing this physical hands on learning with drawings, he made it easier for his students to learn about the different parts of the body.

In the same vein as this, I also found the actual content of his illustrations to be extremely interesting.  One of the most well known aspects of Bell’s illustrations was that he gave those who decided to donate their bodies to his studies dignity in his works.  One example of this was the drawing of a man of whom his skin was pulled back revealing the interior of his torso.  Instead of simply drawing the dead man’s face as it sat, he drew a cloth covering the mans face as a way to hide his identity and give him a final sense of dignity.  Similarly, when he did draw the face of his cadavers he often showed them with dignified expressions and in natural, human positions.  Bell’s brother, on the other hand, who was also an anatomist, drew the illustrations of his subjects with the expression of someone who had died on their faces, with their bodies and skeletons often being held up by hooks like slabs of meat at a butcher shop.  Obviously, no one wants their final depiction to be one that makes them look undignified or inhuman.  Bell made sure that he respected his subjects and that the people who studied his books knew that those who had donated their body to this study were people of great dignity.

Bell’s teachings had a lasting impact in the field of anatomy.  For example, medical students at Harvard must take art courses in order to receive their diploma.  This relationship between art and anatomy is one that has and will continue to evolve.