Spanish Flu

Lasting from June 1918 to December 1920, the Spanish flu killed between 50 and 100 million.  This made it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.  This doesn't include the 500 million that were infected.  While we cannot pinpoint one certain location that it originated in we know that it spread all around the world.  Some sample tissues were saved in order to recreate this infection.  When this was done it was discovered that it kills via a cytokine storm, meaning an overreaction of the body's immune system, which would explain the target age (young adults) and the severity of it.  Modern transportation was the cause of its wide spread reaction. 

ENB in the woods

We had a nice hike through the woods this past Tuesday at Hitchiti Forest!  Hitchiti Experimental Forest, ran by the Southern Research Station and the Georgia Forestry Commission to showcase pine management for nonindustrial land owners.

Ocmulgee National Monument

Just this past week we visited Ocmulgee National Monument for lab on Tuesday.  While I was there I found out that there were two wars fought in Macon dring the civil war. Both battles were fought on the monuments grounds. 

What Type of Rock?

These rocks are a type of rock formed from the solidification magma or lava.  They can be formed above ground and underground. These types of rocks are classified igneous rocks and there are two types: intrusive and extrusive.  Intrusive is formed when the magma cools and solidifies within the earth’s crust and extrusive cools and solidifies outside the earth’s crust and does so at a much faster rate.  Igneous rocks are the oldest classification of rocks.  The earth’s crust is composed of over 95% igneous rock with the rest being split between sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. 

These rocks are transformations of existing rocks, meaning that these rocks must be classified as metamorphic rocks.  They have been subject to some kind of high pressure or temperatures causing chemical or physical changes to the rocks.  Metamorphic rocks are classifies my chemical and mineral assemblage know as metamorphic facies.  These types of rocks are often formed when tectonic processes occur, such as continental collisions. 

Extremophiles

Extremophiles are organisms that thrive in the most extreme environment, conditions which would be detremental to any other life form on earth. A good example of an extremophile is a thermophile ( an organism that can thrive at temperatures between 60-80 degrees celcius; 113-176 degrees fairenhight).  These type of extremophiles are also archea, a type of bacteria. These bacteria are responisble for the bright colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring; as you see in the picture above. 

Testing your soil by hand

To diagnose your soil with your own hand you must follow these simple steps.  First take a handful of moist soil, move it around between your fingers.  If it is sticky and changes your hand colors is is clay based, if it is gritty and falls apart it is sandy and if it is slippery and contains small particles it is silt.  At the end of this testing if you ball it up and try to form something and it sticks it is clay, if it just falls apart it is sand. 

Soil texture diagnosis key

The three main components of testing soil are sand, clay and silt.  The realative proportion of these minerals is what determines the soil texture.