The Windy City and the 1893 World's Fair

Hello from the Windy City!

Two weeks on the job and I'm loving what I do.  I'm working in the Anthropology Conservation Lab at The Field Museum and I'm helping to enter artifacts into their new online database system.  The Museum has been collecting since 1893 and has over 26 million artifacts; at any given time, only about 1% of them are on display.  What this project will do is make the collections available so that they can be searched and studied by any researcher or museum who has access, thereby giving a new life to these priceless pieces.

I've also had a chance to tour the 1893 World's Fair exhibit currently at the Museum.  After the 1871 Chicago Fire, the city cleaned itself up, applied for and was granted the space to host the World's Fair.  It was originally supposed to open in 1892 to commemorate Columbus' arrival in the New World, but due to the size and budget it opened in May of 1893.  After the Fair was over, various leading businessmen floated the idea that there should be a museum built to house the artifacts that had been on display.  Marshall Field (the department store tycoon) donated the largest amount of money and The Field Museum was born.

Among the artifacts were a 600 gallon ceramic tea vessel from Japan, troglodite fossils, some of the first taxidermed animals to be put on display, and Inuit and South Seas natives who had been "relocated" to give visitors a look into how they lived.  This was also the first large-scale use of electricity.  The entire Fair was lit by it using Nicola Tesla's lightbulb designs.

It is fascinating to look back at these artifacts.  Not only do they give us a glimpse of what the mindset was like in the late 19th century but many of them are still today providing us with scientific information to help scientists do things like rebuild species' populations.  However, it does make me glad that we live in a scientific world that recognizes the importance of studying an animal in its native environment, whether beast or human.  The advance of the study of Anthropology has a good deal to do with this fact.  As the discipline was progressing in the 1920's and 1930's, the realization that knowledge and learning came easier when the subject was relaxed promoted the idea of studying different cultures in situ, or as they lay.  I.e., the less disturbance you make, the more accurrate an idea you can glean of how the civilization in question actually functions.   Anthropology has taken this up as its guiding principle ever since.

It's a Bug's Life! Adventures with the creepy-crawlies

Greetings, fellow wayfarers,

You know, insects really get a bad rap.  They are among the most numerous species on the planet, they perform multiple useful functions, serve as inspiration for medical and military developments, and eat other things that we wouldn't want in our houses, just to name a few.  And yet, whenever we see them, we shriek and squish them.

This past week, I was fortunate enough to go on a tour of the Entomology Department at The Field Museum, led by Dr. Jim Louderman.  Not only is Dr. Louderman a distinguished scientist -- he travels through Latin America studying beetles and is working to restore the natural habitat of the Indiana sanddunes -- but he was an enthusiastic and knowledgable guide as well.  Of the many things I learned, here are a few of the highlights:

- Tarantulas are not lethal to humans.  It takes 2 days for them to store up the venom again from biting other animals they eat for food and 1 week to restore it from biting us, and a tarantula doesn’t get a meal out of us.  It therefore has no incentive to bite.  

- There is no known species of tarantula that is native to either North or South America that is poisonous to humans.

- Tarantulas smell with their feet so from you holding them on your hand they are able to get your taste and know that they are not in danger.  

- Male tarantulas only live for about 5 years, whereas the females can live for 28.  The sex organs of the male are outside his body and he needs to deliver them to the female in order to impregnate her.  Once he does, since he cannot reproduce again, his job in the biological sense is complete.  He stops eating and dies. 

- Females can store the semen from one male in their bodies for up to 7 years and have it still be viable. Many females only need to mate once or twice in their lifetimes.

- Make sure you buy any insect pets from PetSmart or another reputable source.  This ensures that the animals were bred in captivity and not sourced from native populations.  If the mom-and-pop stores can guarentee this, so much the better.  Unfortunately, many of them cannot.

- The verdict is in!  General pesticides are what is killing the bees.  Farmers and many others used to use specific pesticides but the general ones are cheaper.  Please buy insect-specific ones that target the bugs you want to destroy.  In addition, the anomaly of a drought followed by a long winter in the Midwest left the bees here with not enough food to survive the winter.  Elsewhere in the world, this was not a problem.  

 - Scorpions glow in ultraviolet light.  They can see in this light as well and the different colors they emit make it possible for them to distinguish between others of their species.  It also warns predators to stay away.

- Horned beetles in Costa Rica are higher in protein than lobster, have the same consistency when cooked plus a slightly nutty flavor, and have 0% fat.  We should all be eating these bugs.

- Another reason for the decline of the bees as well as many other insect species comes from humans introducing invasive species to the area that have no natural predators.  News flash - Just because the animal lives in water does NOT mean that you can safely release it into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  (Purveyors of East Asian remedies that require live animals and are not regulated - I'm looking at you.)

- Invasive species can be brought in on the wood from untreated crates.  All wooden crates should be heat-treated first to kill any invasive wildlife.  China does not do this. 

- Museums are where a large part of the most up-to-date research is currently happening.  When you see something strange, call your local museum or science center.  Leave the USDA out of it.

It continues to astound me how humans wound up being the dominant species on a planet where we have no natural defenses, no outer exo-skeleton, no venom and a very fragile reproductive system.  Biology is truly a fascinating science.

The Living Museum is waiting!  Open your eyes and dive in!