Abode: Sciencewatch!

If you are an Elfquest fan, then naturally you have a subscription to Sendings! It is the fan newsletter par excellence. The information page is here: Sendings Home Page.

I have a regular column for the newsletter entitled "Abode: Sciencewatch". Each essay is a treatment of a scientific topic which is of relevance to the world of Elfquest or its fans. I'm going to do the best I can to avoid writing up "Big Birds Can't Fly", * but I won't make any promises, in case I run out of more fruitful topics ;-)

What are my qualifications for this, you ask? Well, I have a Master's Degree in Science. (OK, actually in Computer Engineering. But it's a "Master of Science" degree, isn't it?) Also, I have a subscription to Scientific American and I read every issue cover to cover. But the most important qualification is that no one has tried to stop me yet. :-)

The latest issue of Sendings is #20 (Autumn 2004), which came out in November 2004. Next time, for Sendings #21, I am planning to finally tackle a subject of prime importance to the wolfriders: wolves.

The columns that have appeared in the past are posted here:

The Grand Tour (or, The Intoxicants of Abode, part 2) - as appeared in Sendings #20 (Autumn 2004)
Dreamberry Errata and Addenda (a sequel to The Intoxicants of Abode, part 1) - as appeared in Sendings #19 (Winter 2003)
All About Berries (or, The Intoxicants of Abode, part 1) - as appeared in Sendings #18 (Spring 2003)
Dromaeo-Swordfeet! - as appeared in Sendings #17 (Winter 2003)
Abodean Tides, Part 2 - as appeared in Sendings #16 (Summer-Autumn 2002)
Abodean Tides, Part 1 - as appeared in Sendings #15 (Winter 2002)
Plague of Anachronisms? - as appeared in Sendings #14 (Autumn 2001)
A Question of Orbits - as appeared in Sendings #13 (July 2001)
The 'Way' of the Wavedancers -as appeared in Sendings #12 (Winter 2001)
The Wandering Stars - as appeared in Sendings #11 (Autumn 2000)
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About DOLPHINS* (*but were afraid to ask) - as appeared in Sendings #10 (Spring 2000)
Managing Multiple Moons, Part 2! - as appeared in Sendings #9 (Winter 2000)
The Inevitability of the Longtooth - as appeared in Sendings #8 (March-June 1999)
Managing Multiple Moons - as appeared in Sendings #7 (November-February 1999)

Miscellaneous links of interest, where "Elfquest" meets "Science":

It is said that Sun-Toucher lost his eyesight by "staring at the Daystar for too many years." We've all been told not to stare at the sun, and it is commonly reported that Galileo's blindness was due to his observations of sunspots. Andrew T. Young, on his meticulously researched page at http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/vision/Galileo.html, debunks the Galileo myth and discusses whether it is safe to stare at the sun.
Remember the Tunnel of Globes leading to Winnowill's chambers in Blue Mountain - those expoding hollow spheres that Petalwing called the "noisybad bubblebangs"? I always wondered how realistic that particular booby-trap was... well, I wonder no more. Take a look at what happened on November 12, 2001 in Japan: "Particle physics telescope explodes" (BBC News Online). The Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Detector was an underground cavern filled with photomultiplier tubes - basically giant evacuated glass balls. Suddenly a chain reaction began in which bursting spheres caused neighboring spheres to shatter. When it was over, 7,000 of the 11,000 tubes had been destroyed. A scientist in the control room over the detector compared the sensation to being over dynamite blasting in a mine. Luckily no one was injured.

Note that links to Amazon.com are presented in association with Mike Knauer's Elfquest Trading Post Bookstore. Referral fees from books purchased via these links go to support the wolves of Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana.

* "Big Birds Can't Fly" refers to the observation that no species of bird, bat, pterosaur, or other flying creature on Earth has ever had a mass of more than about 50 kilograms (100 pounds). It's quite likely that powered flight is impossible for heavier animals, given the constraints of Earth's gravity and atmospheric pressure, and the muscle and tissue properties of Earth's animal life. The giant hawks of Blue Mountain are evidently larger than this purported limit, and every so often a discussion arises among Elfquest fans as to whether the giant hawks are impossible, or if the properties of Abodean life or Abode itself are somehow different from Earth. It's a legitimate topic, actually, I'm just teasing because it has come up so often in the past, and in so many other arenas, such as the Dragonriders of Pern fandom.