All posts by Sabeena Ramnanan

AMNH

If Only People Liked to Read

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On the trip to the American Museum of Natural History, I realized that not everyone takes advantage of the plethora of knowledge that awaits for them.

As a visual learner myself, I immediately gravitated towards the video that was playing and sat on one of the three (unoccupied) benches provided. The video being displayed was part of the Bio Bulletin, which “covers stories about ongoing research related to biology and conservation” and had a duration of 12 mins. I found the video very interesting and informative, and it covered 2 topics. I watched a clip of researchers in Madagascar taking samples of the native creatures (mainly reptiles) in order to find out why speciation has been occurring so much in the area. The other clip was a map of the world which then zoomed on the U.S. and demonstrated how fire season is now starting earlier, lasting longer, and causing more destruction. Despite this video being engrossing and very easy to understand, not a single person passed by to watch the video.

 

I then moved to the Resource Center, which included interactive and non-interactive videos. This section was in the rear of the Hall of Biodiversity, so I decided to stay a little longer in this section to observe who walked by. In a span of about 25-30 mins, only a small family came into the area. There were 3 children about ages 6-8, and their father. The video being played was on overharvesting of oceans. The children gazed in awe of the images of the hundreds of dead fish, and the dolphins and birds that get caught in the enormous nets. The father explained to them that “they aren’t using the right methods to fish and are overfishing”.  The children watched the video and were able to observe this themselves. “They’re killing the dolphins! They’re fishing, but the dolphins are getting killed!” one of the boys said. The children seemed excited to watch more of the video, but unfortunately the dad said they were “taking too long” and they moved to another display. The total time they had spent there was approximately 4 mins. Given its location further back in the Hall of Biodiversity, the Resource Center was not as popular as I thought it would be.

I then decided to visit the “Rainforest room”. It was a beautifully decorated room and there were quite a few people coming into this area. First saw a teacher and 6 students of hers. They were fascinated by how the room was decorated and spent a few minutes, maybe 5 or 6. There were flip books that classified different species, but I think the kids enjoyed the motion of flipping through it as opposed t o actually reading what was on the pages. Two of the children stopped for a moment to look at one of the videos that was being displayed on a small screen. The teacher began guiding them out of the room and said “they aren’t really reading it”. After the small class leaves, 8 couples varying in age came into the rainforest room, but only one couple actually took their time to observe and read the information that was being relayed in the Ecotourism video.

Overall, videos seemed the best way to make the information more accessible to patrons, because very few people stopped to actually read any text that was provided. Also, the lighting in the Resource Center and Rainforest room was quite dim and even I had a hard time reading some of the text, so that may have contributed to my findings. The message of conservation was definitely there – even the child watching the fishing video noticed it. All in all, if one takes the time to look at everything provided in the Hall of Biodiverity, they would see that it is quite effective in educating patrons about biodiversity and conservation.

What is Science?

Pollution and Autism

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Although it may not be on the headlines, autism is becoming a disorder of concern. I am currently taking a psychology class that focuses on childhood developmental disorders, so of course, we spent quite a bit of time studying autism. Over the years, the autistic spectrum has widened to include both low functioning, and high functioning, such as those diagnosed with Asperger’s. It is currently estimated that 1 in 68 children has some form of autism, which is quite alarming. Therefore, there is much debate over whether we are “over-diagnosing” autism, or if we are simply getting better at detecting the signs of autism.

It is currently unknown why autism occurs at all, so when I came across a particular article that discussed the connection between autism and pollution, I decided to keep an open mind. The author seemed to stick to the facts and did not strike me as being biased. The article detailed a study done by a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee whose findings suggest that there is link between pollution and autism. Previous studies conducted in California proposed that women in their third trimester that were exposed to more pollution – especially that from vehicles – were more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism. It could be argued that the environment in California cannot be used to represent the U.S. as a whole, but that concern is addressed in the rest of the article.

Researcher Amy Kalkbrenner and her team followed on 87,000 children in North Carolina from pre-conception until the first birthday (signs of autism can be seen even in the first few months of life) and measured the pollution around the homes of the expectant mothers during certain weeks of their pregnancy. Despite being on the opposite side of the country and having a totally different environment, the results of the study done in North Carolina were similar to that of the California study, suggesting that there is indeed a connection.

The author goes on to declare that it has not been determined exactly why pollution and autism are connected, but that there is research to indicate that they indubitably are. To assume that the author is wrong means to throw out years and years of studies. However, in accepting the author’s conclusion, I ended up doing a little research and found that the most head and brain development occurs during the final months of pregnancy, so perhaps the quality of air has some connection to the fetus’ brain development in utero. If the author’s implicit advice is followed, I see no harm being done, as it will only allow for more research to be done on autism, and the effect pollution has on the planet and on our future generations.

Article can be found here.

Bioblitz

Manipulative Birds

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I once visited the Queens Botanical Garden and recall it’s beauty, but mostly remember the vast greenery, flowers, and bugs (I definitely wish there were as many birds as there were bugs). As a bird lover, I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to see what birds I’d find at the New York Botanical Garden. Although I was not formally told so, having combined my own experience with birds, and having participated in Bioblitz, I concluded that birds are skilled at manipulating our senses.

As soon as we entered, I was shocked to see a red-tailed hawk sitting on a post, out in the open! Even from as far as we were, our guide was able to easily identify it, which I found incredible. Overwhelmed by our find, we all looked through our binoculars to see the hawk, only to take our chances moving closer. We were able to get considerably close, and when it flew away, it was so sudden, and so majestic, I unfortunately froze and stared instead of snapping a picture like I intended too. It’s wingspan was at least 3-4 feet, making the hawk so much more intimidating than how it looked simply perched on the post.

After that, it was quite hard to spot other birds. In total, with the help of the bird watching guidebook provided for us and our experienced birdwatcher, we identified a total of 10 types of birds: a Red-tailed hawk, Blue jay, Northern flicker, Chimney swift, American robin, Song sparrow, Grey catbird, Ruby-throated humming bird, Canadian goose, and the Great blue heron. Although it sounds like a lot, it was not nearly equivalent to the amount of birds we heard, and the number of them that were too far for us to identify. While walking through the more woody parts of the Botanic Garden, there were so many different birdcalls. However, when we looked in the direction of the sound, we’d see nothing, then suddenly hear it coming from a totally different direction. Our guide informed us that it’s completely normal, because birds have the ability to throw their voices, which makes their location very difficult to pinpoint.

I was fascinated by how much I learned, and just how hard it was to go bird watching! It was definitely a great experience, and an eye-opener on just how long it must have taken to identify species of birds – and how many species are probably still unidentified.