• The ALB is dangerous to trees. All four stages of the beetle’s life cycle damage the host trees. Most insect borers are considered “secondary pests” because they attack only after a plant has been weakened or killed by another stress. ALB, however, is a “primary pest” able to attack and develop in fairly healthy trees and kill them.
• The ALB prefers hardwood tree species like maple species—including Norway, sugar, silver, red, and box elder maple—and horsechestnut, birch, buckeye, elm, willow, and poplars.
• Most damage is done during the larval stages, when eggs are injected under the bark surface where they hatch into larvae. Larvae tunnel under the bark and destroy the tree’s vascular system, which disrupts the sap flow of infested trees. Older larvae tunnel into the heartwood where their feeding slowly destroys the structural integrity of trees. ALB-infected trees are slowly killed over a three to five year period, although it may take longer.
• The beetle completes most of its life cycle inside the host tree, with adults emerging in late spring. Adult beetles feed on twigs, leaf petioles, and primary leaf veins.
• Because the beetle spends most of its life cycle feeding on the dead heartwood of the tree—where chemical treatments can’t penetrate—the only known effective control method for ALB eradication is by the identification and removal of the infested trees.
Aspirin
(Acetylsalicylic Acid)
• Aspirin derives from the Latin word salix—which means willow tree. As far back as 400 BC, the Greek physician Hippocrates was advising patients to chew on the bark of the White Willow to reduce fever and inflammation.
• In 1899, Aspirin was the number-one-selling drug worldwide! Back then, Aspirin was a brand name, coined by Bayer (of course!), so the “A” was capitalized.
• In the Middle Ages, the demand for wicker furniture was so great that Europeans stopped using willow bark remedies. And get this: In some places, using willow bark for medicinal purposes was actually forbidden!
• It wasn’t until 1838 that the Italian chemist Raffaele Piria successfully converted salicin—the name of the natural chemical found in the bark of the White Willow—into salicylic acid in his laboratory. Piria also converted salicin into a sugar.
• Fifteen years later, in 1853, French chemist Charles Frederic Gerhardt synthesized salicylic acid into acetylsalicylic acid, albeit in a form that was way too impure and unstable for real-life application.
• • There has been controversy over which scientist was responsible for developing aspirin into a pure and stable form. Bayer maintains that a chemist named Dr. Felix Hoffmann holds that honor.
• Prior to the 1970s, we didn’t know aspirin’s mechanism of action. We had no idea how it worked—only that it did work! So how does aspirin work? In a nutshell, it works by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins.
Asteroids
• Asteroids are irregular or spheroid in shape and are essentially comprised of chunks of rock. They are thought to be remnants and debris from the original giant cloud of gas and dust that condensed—and ultimately created—the Sun, the planets, and moons in our solar system some 4+ billion years ago.
• There are over 100,000 asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. This is not the same belt as the Kuiper Belt, which is located in the outermost fringes of the solar system.
• Thousands of the biggest (known) asteroids in the Kuiper Belt have been given their own names, such as Hermes—which, at its closest approach, came within 482,805 miles (777,000 km) of the Earth. The largest known asteroid is named Ceres. It’s approximately 590 miles (950 km) wide. In 2004, an asteroid named Toutatis came within 961 miles (1.5 million km) of Earth. That’s about four times the distance to the Moon.
• Asteroids dramatically range in size from just a few feet to several miles in diameter. Small asteroids are called meteoroids. [See Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites.]
• Toutatis, which was discovered in 1989, is shaped like a potato and is 2.9 miles (4.6 km) long. It’s named after the Celtic god of war and growth.
• Many scientists believe that it was the impact of an asteroid hitting the Earth 65 million years ago that caused, or at least contributed to, the extinction of the dinosaurs. [See K-T Extinction.]
Axolotls
(Pronounced: ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl)
• A type of amphibious salamander, the axolotl’s physical genome—its genetic blueprint—is the largest of any known species on the planet, including humans. In fact, it’s ten times the size of the human genome!
• Injured axolotls have the amazing ability to regenerate fully functioning organs and body parts like their arms, legs, eyes, heart, spine, and even portions of their brain. How is this possible? Axolotls can dedifferentiate their own cells (yes, we’re talking stem cells) just like they did as embryos, still inside the egg.
• Scientists have been studying and publishing papers about axolotl biology since the 1800s. Understanding the mechanisms behind their regeneration capabilities would be the scientific breakthrough of the century (any century!). It would be truly life altering for millions of people.
• The axolotl was once an abundant species thriving in the ancient Aztec waters, but today the axolotl’s only remaining natural habitat is Lake Xochimilco (pronounced SO-chee-MILL-koh). The lake has been drained, and it’s now a series of meandering canals, partly comprised of untreated sewage water. (Yuck … that can’t be good for them.)
• Axolotls live up to 15 years (in captivity); average an impressive 12 inches (30.5 cm) long; come in a beautiful array of colors including black, pink, gold, olive, brown, gray, white (albino), and multicolored; and, are the only amphibian that can reach sexual maturity when still a larva.
• Bacteria are single-cell organisms. They’ve been around for billions of years and are the oldest living organisms on Earth.
• While the human body is made up of about one trillion cells, you have about ten trillion bacterial cells in or on your body at any given moment.
• Bacteria are instrumental in keeping us alive, digesting food, making vitamins, and educating the immune system to keep “bad” microbes out—these are “good” bacteria.
• “Bad” bacteria make humans sick, such as cholera, Lyme’s disease, and E. coli.
• Contrary to popular belief, while bacteria are primitive, “simple” organisms, they actually talk to each other via chemical languages!
• In fact, similar bacteria—referred to as intra-species bacteria—communicate with each other in their own language so they know who and how many are in the neighborhood, which dictates what they may or may not do. This is called “quorum sensing.”
• Different types of bacteria—referred to as “inter-species bacteria”—have a universal language (a five-carbon molecule) that allows all bacteria to communicate with each other! This helps them avoid duplicating jobs! (Very cool, and kind of scary.)
Big Bang Theory
• The Big Bang occurred approximately 13.75 (± 0.11)