Asian Giant Hornet. Credit: Yasunori Koide (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Officials in Washington state are working to stop an alien invader—the Asian giant hornet. Individuals of this species have been spotted there and to north, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, over the past couple years. Workers are setting traps in an attempt to prevent the species, nicknamed the “murder hornet,” from gaining a foothold and potentially devastating North American bee populations.

The Asian giant hornet is the largest hornet in the world. Workers grow up to 1 3/4 inches (4.5 centimeters) long. Queens may measure 2 1/5 inches (5.5 centimeters) long and have a wingspread of about 3 inches (7 centimeters). Asian giant hornets are aggressive and venomous (poisonous). They are found throughout Japan and Southeast Asia. The hornet’s head is light orange with dark antennae (feelers). The insect has a dark brown thorax (middle section). Its abdomen (hind section) has dark brown, black, and orange-yellow bands. Asian giant hornets build their nests underground, often in abandoned burrows made by other animals.

Asian giant hornets have piercing jaws and a 1/4-inch (0.5-centimeter) long stinger. They prey on such large insects as beetles and praying mantises. After the prey is stung and killed, adult hornet workers take the insect carcasses back to the nest. The hornets grind up the dead insects and feed them to their larvae (young). The larvae, in turn, produce a nutritious liquid for the workers to eat. Adults also sometimes feed on tree sap or rotting fruit.

Asian giant hornets are also known to swarm and attack beehives to eat the honey. A scout hornet will locate a beehive and then lead groups of other giant hornets in an attack. Asian giant hornets also attack people if their nest is disturbed. Multiple stings from the hornet can cause injury or death.

April 22, 2020

Australia on Earth as seen from space.
Credit: © Harvepino/Shutterstock

How are you going to improve the world today? On this date, 50 years ago, an estimated 20 million Americans, both young and old, took part in the very first Earth Day. The number of people who participate in Earth Day grows each year as the world becomes more connected via social media and internet access. This year, public Earth Day celebrations in many areas will be curtailed as a result of social distancing measures undertaken to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. However, billions of people around the globe will take time examine human impacts on the environment.

Perhaps the most serious issue facing the environment today is climate change due to global warming. Global warming is an observed increase in Earth’s average surface temperature, driven by human activities. Global warming drives changes to the climate that can damage ecosystems, drive species to the brink of extinction, and increase the frequency and severity of such disasters as wildfires. 

Earth Day began in the United States on April 22, 1970. In 1969, U.S. Senator Gaylord A. Nelson of Wisconsin suggested that a day of environmental education be held on college campuses, similar to the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called “teach-ins.” The following year, the lawyer and environmentalist Denis Hayes, then a recent graduate of Stanford University, led hundreds of students in planning and organizing the observance of the first Earth Day. 

While working around colleges’ academic schedules, Earth Day was also a tip-of-the-hat to another notable environmental action day, Arbor Day. Nebraska newspaper editor and politician Julius Sterling Morton began Arbor Day once he realized how much trees enrich and conserve moisture in soil. Through his efforts, April 10, 1872, was set aside as Nebraska’s first Arbor Day. The Nebraska Legislature later made Arbor Day a legal holiday and changed its date to April 22, Morton’s birthday. Today, however, National Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of April.

The observance of the first Earth Day helped alert people to the dangers of pollution and stimulated a new environmental movement. That same year, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set and enforce pollution standards. Congress also passed the Clean Air Act of 1970, which limited the amount of air pollution that cars, utilities, and industries could release. Other new environmental laws soon followed.

April 1, 2020

Today is the first day of April, the fourth month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar, which is used in most of the world today. In the Northern Hemisphere, April is the first full month of spring. (In the Southern Hemisphere, April occurs in autumn.) Many flowers bloom in April, including the pink phlox, a type of garden plant with brilliantly colored blossoms. The profusion of blooming pink phlox gives April’s full moon its name. The “Pink Moon“—the second of three consecutive supermoons—rises on April 7. A supermoon occurs when the moon is at perigee, the point when it is nearest the Earth and thus appears slightly brighter and larger in the sky.

The full moon of April is known as the “pink moon” because of the widespread blooming of pink phlox during the month. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration

The name April comes from the ancient Roman word for the month, Aprilis. This name might have come from a word meaning to open, or from the name of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love (called Venus in Roman mythology). April was the second month in the early Roman calendar. However, it became the fourth month when the beginning of the year was moved from March to January. On the first of April, April Fools’ Day, people all over the world cause mischief and play tricks on each other.

Many cultures celebrate the arrival of spring, or other aspects of the natural world, in April. Walpurgis Night is a spring celebration held in Germany, Finland, and Sweden on April 30. People there welcome spring with bonfires, singing, and parties. The Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival Sakura Matsuri takes place in April. In the Netherlands, flower parades are held toward the end of April, when the tulips are blooming. Many people plant trees on Arbor Day, which occurs on different dates in different countries. Many nations celebrate Earth Day on April 22. This holiday was organized in 1970 to raise awareness of the environment. The Angolan Feast of Nganja, a celebration of the corn harvest, always occurs in April.

Some cultures welcome the New Year in this month. Nava Varsha, the Nepalese New Year, falls on or near April 13. Several countries in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, also celebrate the New Year at this time. In Thailand, the holiday is called Songkran.

Chakri Day, April 6, marks the date in 1782 when King Rama I took control of the government of Siam (now Thailand). Matatirtha Aunsi, Nepalese Mothers’ Day, also falls in April. The Christian celebration of Easter often occurs in this month, as does the Jewish festival of Pesah, also known as Passover.

March 13, 2020

This Sunday, March 15, is the bicentenary of the northeastern state of Maine. Throughout 2020, bicentennial celebrations and events are commemorating Maine’s entrance to the Union as the 23rd state in 1820.

The beautiful, rocky coast of Maine attracts thousands of vacationers to the state each year. The Portland Head Light, in Cape Elizabeth, is one of the best-known American lighthouses. It was built in 1791. credit: © Shutterstock

A special bicentennial flag is flying above Maine’s public and government buildings in 2020. This Sunday, Statehood Day celebrations in Augusta, the capital, include birthday cake, music, poetry, and speeches. Events later in the year include a bicentennial parade, a sailing ships festival, and the sealing of a time capsule. Special bicentennial programs include a “Maine in the Movies” series, which celebrates the state’s role in Hollywood films, and the mass planting of white pine saplings in new or existing public parks. The state is even publishing The Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook to showcase the state’s unique culinary traditions.

Maine state map. credit: World Book map; map data (c) MapQuest.com, Inc.

The Maine region was the home of Native Americans for thousands of years before English colonists first settled the area in 1607 (13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock). Such difficulties as cold weather and a lack of leadership, however, forced the settlers back to England in 1608. Colonists, primarily fishermen, returned to make permanent settlements in Maine in the 1620′s. Maine was a part of Massachusetts throughout its colonial history and for 44 years after the Declaration of Independence established the United States in 1776.

The Maine quarter features a lighthouse on a granite coast and a schooner. The lighthouse is the Pemaquid Point Light, northwest of Portland. The lighthouse dates from the 1820’s and is a popular tourist attraction. Granite is a common feature of Maine’s coastline and one of the state’s leading mined products. The schooner resembles one of Maine’s famous windjammers (sailing ships). credit: U.S. Mint

In 1785, a movement began for the separation of Maine from Massachusetts and for Maine’s admission to the Union as an individual state. Many people in Maine protested heavy taxation, poor roads, the long distance to the capital city of Boston, and other conditions. But before the War of 1812, most voters wanted Maine to remain a part of Massachusetts. The separation movement grew much stronger after the war. Many of those who favored separation won election to the legislature. They swayed many voters to their side. The people voted for separation in 1819, and Maine entered the Union the next year.

The name Maine probably means mainland. Early English fishermen used the term The Main to distinguish the mainland from the offshore islands, where they settled. New Englanders often refer to Maine as Down East. They call people who live in Maine Down Easters or Down Easterners. These terms probably come from the location of Maine east of, or downwind from, Boston. Ships from that port sailed down to Maine, and ships from Maine traveled up to Boston.

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is from Portland, Maine’s largest city, and the American Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain is from the town of Brewer. The author Stephen King, a native of Portland, sets many of his novels in Maine.

March 6, 2020

Last week, on February 24, the 1 millionth variety of seed was added to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault located on Spitsbergen, an island off the coast of Norway. The facility was designed as a “doomsday vault” to store seeds from millions of plants, including nearly all the world’s food crops. These seeds may be needed in the future to reestablish crops destroyed by major disasters.

Snowy hills surround the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on Norway’s Spitsbergen Island. credit: Mari Tefre, Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The newest additions that put the vault over the million mark included samples of beans, corn, and squash from India, Mali, Peru, and the Cherokee Nation in the United States. The new contributions also included clover, grass, and herb seeds from the United Kingdom’s Kew Gardens.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the largest seed storage facility in the world. The vault can hold up to 4.5 million seed samples from wild and domesticated plants.. Many of the seeds come from crop varieties that are not widely grown, as well as from staple food crops. The genetic diversity in the stored seeds may help scientists develop new crop varieties that can thrive in climates and soil conditions different from those that exist today. The Svalbard facility opened in 2008.

Seeds are stored in boxes in the cold, dry environment of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. credit: © Mari Tefre, Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The plan for a doomsday vault originated with the United Nations International Seed Treaty of 2001. The site at Spitsbergen was chosen because it is an unlikely place for a disaster to occur. The site is remote, largely uninhabited, geologically stable, and naturally cold. The seed vault was built in an abandoned coal mine about 490 feet (150 meters) deep in the side of a mountain. The vault lies within permafrost, a layer of earth that remains frozen the year around. The vault is kept at a temperature of –0.4 ºF (–18 ºC). The low temperature keeps the seeds viable—that is, able to germinate under proper conditions—for long periods.

There are many smaller seed vaults in other parts of the world. Such facilities, often called gene banks, help preserve genetic diversity in food crops. The Svalbard facility serves as a global reserve gene bank. In 2015, researchers removed some seeds from the Svalbard vault for the first time. They used some of the seeds to replenish the supply at a gene bank in Aleppo, Syria. Some of that gene bank’s seeds had been lost during Syria’s ongoing civil war.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is owned and administered by the government of Norway. Daily operations are overseen by the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre, a Scandinavian organization dedicated to the sustainable use of plants, farm animals, and forests. Sustainability is the ability of an activity or way of life to continue over the long term without exhausting resources, damaging the environment, or harming people. The Crop Trust, established by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, helps fund the operation of the seed vault. The seeds stored at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault are owned by the gene banks that have deposited them there.

January 20, 2020

Yesterday, January 19, was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a nonpartisan organization devoted to defending the rights and freedoms of people in the United States. The ACLU works mainly by providing lawyers and legal advice for individuals and groups in local, state, and federal courts. ACLU officials also testify before state and federal legislative committees, advise government officials, and conduct educational programs. The chief goal of the ACLU is to protect the fundamental rights of individuals as described in the Constitution of the United States.

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ACLU logo. Credit: © ACLU

In 1917, a group of social activists founded the National Civil Liberties Bureau (NCLB) to support the Bill of Rights. The NCLB was led by Roger Baldwin, a social worker and civil rights champion, and Crystal Eastman, a lawyer and leader in the woman suffrage and equal rights movements. The NCLB became the ACLU in 1920, the same year that women in the United States won the right to vote.

The ACLU has defended the constitutional rights of a wide range of individuals and groups. It played an important part in Supreme Court rulings that guaranteed legal aid to poor people. The group has supported fair treatment of conscientious objectors, people whose conscience does not allow them to take part in war. The ACLU urged the desegregation of schools and promoted the African American civil rights movement. One of the current goals of the ACLU is the abolition of capital punishment. The group also calls for further restrictions on government investigative agencies and for stricter separation of church and state. In addition, it seeks greater protection for the rights of immigrants who enter the United States without the required papers and for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The ACLU has played a significant part in some of the landmark civil rights cases in American history. The ACLU backed both biology teacher John Scopes and attorney Clarence Darrow in the Scopes trial of 1925, which challenged a Tennessee law that outlawed the teaching of evolution in schools. During World War II (1939-1945), the ACLU fought against the internment of Japanese Americans. In 1954, the ACLU joined with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to challenge racial segregation in public schools. The ACLU defended individual freedom of speech in 1968 and women’s reproductive rights in 1973. In 1978, the ACLU famously defended the free speech of an American Nazi group who wanted to march in Illinois. The ACLU believes that constitutional rights apply to everyone regardless of individual ideology.

January 13, 2020

Earth has been a particularly dangerous place in recent weeks. Airplane crashes, military clashes, terror attacks, and political unrest have taken a toll on human life and happiness lately, but it is a series of natural disasters that has caused the most trouble. A typhoon ravaged the Philippines, deadly flash floods hit Indonesia, bushfires continued to rage in Australia, a measles epidemic continued to kill in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a series of earthquakes rattled Puerto Rico.

Firefighters confront a bushfire near the Blue Mountains town of Bilpin, New South Wales, on Dec. 19, 2019. Credit: © 1234rf/Shutterstock

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Typhoon Phanfone (also called Ursula) struck the Philippines, producing high winds and flooding that killed 105 people in the Visayan Island provinces of Biliran, Capiz, Iloilo, and Leyte. Phanfone was a Category 2 storm (moderate strength) with sustained winds of more than 90 miles (150 kilometers) per hour. Storm surges and deadly flash floods hit communities just as families were gathering to celebrate the Christmas holiday. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed.

On New Year’s Day in Indonesia, abnormally heavy monsoon rains caused flash floods that killed 66 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others in Jakarta, the capital. Some 14.5 inches (37 centimeters) of rain fell on New Year’s Eve, causing the Ciliwung and Cisadane rivers to overflow. Floodwaters submerged more than 150 neighborhoods and caused landslides in the Bogor and Depok districts on the outskirts of Jakarta. Flood water levels in some areas peaked at more than 13 feet (4 meters). Electric power was cut off, and closed schools and government buildings were converted into emergency shelters.

On January 7, the World Health Organization announced the 6,000th death from measles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since an epidemic began there in 2019. More than 300,000 suspected measles cases have been reported in the DRC—a nation also troubled by recent terror attacks. The epidemic has continued and grown because of low vaccination coverage, malnutrition, weak public health systems, outbreaks of other epidemic-prone diseases (such as Ebola), and the difficulty of getting health care to people in remote areas.

In Puerto Rico, after several smaller earthquakes, a 6.4-magnitude temblor struck the southwestern part of the island on January 7. The earthquake, the strongest to hit Puerto Rico in more than 100 years, killed one person, toppled hundreds of structures, and forced a state of emergency. Many people lost their homes, the island briefly lost electric power, and schools and public offices were closed. In the 10 days before the 6.4-magnitude earthquake, the United States Geological Survey recorded hundreds of temblors in Puerto Rico—including 10 of 4-magnitude or greater.

A number of major bushfires have lately devastated southeastern Australia. Since September, the wild fires—mostly in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria—have burned more than 25.5 million acres (10.3 million hectares), an area the size of South Korea. The bushfires have destroyed more than 2,100 homes and killed 27 people and hundreds of millions of animals. On January 8, the Australian government ordered the mass slaughter of thousands of wild camels and horses that have invaded rural towns looking for water. Many people are without electric power and telecommunications in Australia’s southeast, and some were without drinking water and other supplies. Smoke has obscured the city skies of Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney. The bushfires followed a three-year drought that experts link to climate change.

December 23, 2019

Saturday, December 21, was the winter solstice in the United States and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere—which includes Australia, New Zealand, and other lands south of the equator—the solstice marks the beginning of summer. In Australia, summer is a season known for bushfires. Such wildfires are common in Australia, due in part to the country’s hot and dry climate. Many wildfires start in the remote countryside known to Australians as the bush. Bushfires can be extremely destructive, especially if they reach urban areas. The fires often kill people and destroy property and farmland. They also devastate forests, along with the koalas and other animals that live there.

Police in Jimboomba, Queensland, rescued this koala and her joey from a bushfire in late November 2019. Many other koalas were not so lucky. Credit: Jimboomba Police

A number of major bushfires have plagued Australia in 2019. Late last summer, in February, bushfires consumed more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of land in northern New South Wales. Far more destructive bushfires ignited again in New South Wales in September, burning nearly 5 million acres (2 million hectares) there and in neighboring Queensland. Some of those fires lasted for weeks, while others continue to burn, turning skies black or orange, causing severe damage, and killing a number of people. The bushfires also killed thousands of vulnerable and slow-moving koalas trapped by the rapidly spreading flames.

Bushfires are relatively common in Australia. These fire-damaged buildings are seen alongside a house that survived Christmas Day bushfires near Melbourne in 2015. Credit: © Julian Smith, EPA/Landov

Koalas live only in the forests of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, in eastern Australia. They are found in significant numbers in only a few areas, and the animals are protected by law. Bushfires, however, ravage the koala’s natural habitat and its population. Koalas cannot escape the fast-moving fires, and their only defense is to climb to the top of a tree, curl into a ball, and hope the flames do not rise to reach them. Koalas sometimes survive this way, but they often burn their paws and claws descending charred trees, leaving them unable to climb properly again.

Koalas are not officially listed as endangered, but the population in New South Wales and Queensland has decreased by more than 40 percent since 1990. The animals are threatened by deforestation and habitat loss, as well as the effects of climate change, which is causing longer and more intense heat waves and droughts, leading to more frequent, intense, and longer-lasting bushfires. Beyond the flames and smoke of the fires, many koalas die from lack of water or exposure to prolonged periods of high temperatures. Australia just suffered through the driest spring in its history, and a brutal heat wave peaked on Dec. 19, 2019, when the highest ever nationwide average temperature—107.4 °F (41.9 °C)—was recorded.

November 18, 2019

Tomorrow, November 19, marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Zion National Park in southwestern Utah in 1919. The park covers nearly 150,000 acres (60,000 hectares) and has many colorful canyons, some of which are extremely narrow and have steep, plunging walls. The Zion National Park Forever Project’s “We the Keepers” centennial campaign included a benefit performance featuring the rock artist Sting and the Utah Symphony. A centennial film also encouraged the park’s 4.3 million annual visitors to care for Zion’s delicate habitat.

A hiker splashes through a fork of the Virgin River in the Narrows, a popular site within Zion National Park. Credit: © Galyna Andrushko, Shutterstock

Zion Canyon is the main feature of the park. It is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) long and from ½ mile (0.8 kilometer) to less than 50 feet (15 meters) wide. Its walls tower as high as 3,000 feet (910 meters), in some places almost straight up and down. Rock formations at Zion National Park range in color from dark red and orange to light purple and pink. These colors change continuously as the light changes. Wild plants and such animals as mule deer and bats flourish there.

Steep cliffs rise behind the visitor center at Zion National Park. Credit: National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The park was originally set aside in 1909 as Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 1918, the park was enlarged, and in 1919 it became Zion National Park. Zion National Monument, a vast area of rugged land adjoining the park, was added in 1956.

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Zion National Park lies in southwestern Utah. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

October 28, 2019

In September, scientists from the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., announced the discovery of a new type of electric eel that has the strongest shock of all bioelectric animals: Electrophorus voltai. A native of South America’s Amazon River, E. voltai generates a powerful 860 volts, more than seven times the voltage of a typical American wall socket (120 volts). The eel is named after Alessandro Volta, the Italian physicist who invented the battery.

Electrophorus voltai, seen here, is one of two new electric eel species recently discovered in the Amazon. Credit: © L. Sousa

From 2014 to 2017, the Smithsonian team studied Amazonian electric eels with researchers from Brazil’s University of São Paulo. They tested the eels’ voltages and studied their muscle structures, body shapes, and DNA. To their surprise, the Amazon electric eel—long thought to be a single species, Electrophorus electricus—turned out to be three distinct species. E. electricus remained as the main type, but the team named E. voltai and another electric eel, Electrophorus varii, as new species. The three species differ in voltage as well as in head shape, sense organs, and distribution. E. electricus lives in northern Amazon basin waters, while E. voltai inhabits waters further south. E. varii swims among the slow-flowing lowland Amazon basin waters.

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The Amazon River, the world’s second longest river, is 4,000 miles (6,437 kilometers) long. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The new findings reemphasize the incredible diversity of the Amazon River and rain forest, much of which is still unknown to science, as well as the importance of conservation and saving the region from deforestation, logging, and fires.

The electric eel stuns its enemies and prey with a powerful electric shock. The electricity-producing organs take up most of the body. The other inner organs lie just behind the head. Credit: © Andre Seale, Alamy Images

Electric eels are a long, narrow fish that produce strong electric discharges, or shocks. The animals are not true eels, but rather a type of knifefish.  An electric eel discharge can kill a fish and stun such potential predators as caimans (large reptiles) or humans. However, electric eels rarely harm people in the wild.