02 July 2004

Amateur science and homeland security

Editor,

I enjoyed last week's editorial on Citizen Science and Homeland
Security (The Citizen Scientist, 25 June 2004). These are truly difficult times in which we strive to strike a balance between freedom and security. One aspect that has not been sufficiently discussed, in my view, is the question of how citizen scientists might actually contribute to the general security. For example, it is not widely known that during World War II a group of amateur opticians made pentaprisms for use in binoculars used by troops
overseas. They not only ground, figured, and polished these
specialized components, they came up with some innovative ways to make the job easier. You can read about their efforts in "A Hobby Goes to War," Scientific American, May 1943.

Then there is the more recent example of Josh Pfluger, a fifteen-year-old Boy Scout who last year invented a clever shoe scanner
for airport security as part of his Eagle Scout service project. The
device allows someone to have their shoes scanned for metal simply by standing on the device. This removes the need for passengers to remove their shoes as part of security procedures. You can read more about Josh and his friends' invention at
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/07/25-ord-scout.htm.

The thought occurs to me that an excellent way for amateur scientists to avoid being unfairly targeted by well-meaning but ill-considered security laws is to make their usefulness clear. The US Government has long recognized the value of the small-time inventor and innovator, as evidenced by our patent and copyright laws, as well as tax advantages for small-scale innovators. No doubt our very clever membership can come up with more ways that citizen scientists can do their part.

Sheldon Greaves
Managing Editor, The Citizen Scientist

Threats to amateur science

Forrest,

You did not mention [in the editorial on homeland security, The Citizen Scientist, 25 June 2004] what may also be a challenge to science interested persons now that we have the Patriot Act. That is the fact that it may be dangerous to your personal liberty to just read whatever you want, either checked out of the library or purchased through your local book dealer.

The Patriot act allows the government to go through library records and bookstore records on a secret warrant looking for who might have read some particular book. I know some libraries immediately purge records of a borrowed item upon it's return just to protect our privacy from what truly is unreasonable search. Could checking out books put ones name on a secret list for secret investigation with secret warrants? I don't know, but the government has laws now that could allow that to happen.

Thanks,        

Jeff  Pasour

Sand storm from space and the ground

Forrest,

I am glad to see you reporting pictures of sand storms as rare
events. Fifty years ago in southwest Oklahoma they were common.

Larger equipment, different farming methods, removing some ground from cultivation and farming crops that are genetically modified to make them resistant to herbicides that makes no till much more practical have practically put an end to the walls of blowing sand that would come across the landscape 2 or 3 times a year in the 1950s.

Sand storms are now so rare in Oklahoma that the last one in the 1980's was written up in National Geographic.

My neighbor tells me his wells are as low as they were at the height of the dust bowl in the 1930s, and the National Weather Service is comparing this drought with the dust bowl years. However, we are doing a much better job of farming, using the moisture and preventing erosion by wind and water. Our wheat crop was well above average this year, and some farmers using the most aggressive moisture conservation have been making average dry land cotton yields during most years of the ongoing drought.

Keeping the plows and tillage tools out of the soil saves moisture for the crop and prevents the soil from washing away. The crop that is left standing protects the soil from the ravages of the wind. For the first time in my life, my soil tests are coming back with higher organic matter than the year before.

Unfortunately, Asian sand storms are not on the decline. The deserts in Africa and China are growing at an alarming rate. China is making an effort to stop them, but in Africa they may not have the resources for food, let alone to protect the land. As observations at your Geronimo Creek Observatory show, sand storms know no boundary, and the problems in Africa and China end up in our back yard.

The dust that arrives in the U.S. from Asia and Africa may be accompanied by pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, animal waste and viable bacteria and fungal spores. This is an area ideally suited for observations by citizen scientists, and The Citizen Scientist will provide detail in a future article. Editor.

Contrail feedback

Forrest,

Where I live we seem to be in a crossroads of the air and you almost never see a blue sky without contrails. In the days after 9-11, it was rather weird seeing the sky without contrails. I seem to remember seeing some comment that some scientists were able to see an effect in the weather due to this.

Jim Hannon

For information about monitoring aircraft contrails, see "Announcing Citizen Science Challenge 2: Monitoring and Studying Aircraft Contrails," The Citizen Scientist, 28 May 2004. Editor.