Spices Keep You Healthy

At some point, after three years in Thailand, I was convinced that science had ignored the health benefits of capsaicin - the part that makes hot peppers so spicy.  Surely, I thought, this heat helped to preserve foods, in a different way than salt does.  

Today this 24 year old paper popped up on Twitter that confirms my assumption.  What I didn't recognize was that garlic and onions are even better at the killing and/or inhibiting the growth of microbes.  Though I did assume the high use of garlic in hot climates had some health benefits too.  

The authors write in the overview:

"We wondered if there are any predictable patterns of spice use and, if so, what factors might underlie them. In this article, we summarize the results of our inquiries. We found that spice use is decidedly nonrandom and that spices have several beneficial effects, the most important of which may be reducing foodborne illnesses and food poisoning."

Prediction 1. Spices should exhibit antibacterial and antifungal activity.

And this chart shows that 

Prediction 2. Use of spices should be greatest in hot climates, where unrefrigerated foods spoil especially quickly.

They looked at cookbooks from 36 countries to see what spices were used, how many recipes included spices, how many spices per recipe, and which spices.  The used a climate atlas to rate the climate in each of the 36 countries. 

Prediction 3. A greater proportion of bacteria should be inhibited by recipes from hot climates than from cool climates.  

". . . the mean fraction of recipes that called for each one of the highly inhibitory spices used in those countries increased significantly (Figure 8a). However, this correlation did not hold for less inhibitory spices (Figure 8b). There was also a positive relationship between the fraction of bacterial species inhibited by each spice and the fraction of countries that used that spice, indicating widespread use of the spices that are most effective against bacteria."

There are a number of other things they looked into (ie. cost of spices, lemon/lime juice increases anti-microbial power of spices).  

So one question I have relates to the fact that our bodies rely on microbes to keep us healthy.  My awareness of this came well after 1999 (when the spice article was published) and I'm not sure how well it was known in 1999 or by the authors.  Do spices harm the gut biome?  

The article is written in clear language that should be easy for most people to understand most parts.  It also has pictures of spices as well as straightforward charts.  

Darwinian Gastronomy: Why We Use Spices: Spices taste good because they are good for us 

Paul W. Sherman,   Jennifer Billing  Author Notes  BioScience, Volume 49, Issue 6, June 1999, Pages 453–463, https://doi.org/10.2307/1313553   Published: 01 June 1999

They use' microbe' in some places and 'bacteria' in other places.  Since I wasn't completely sure about what each term meant, I found this American Society for Microbiology page "What Counts As A Microbe?"

Dissemination of Info: ISER Talk; SD Library Shutting Down Depository; The Library Book And Libraries

Here are three connected short discussions.

1.  ISER Discussion on Red Dog Mine One Week From Tomorrow.

Long-Term Benefits to Communities of Extractive Industry Partnerships: Evaluating the Red Dog Mine

Matthew Berman, Bob Loeffler, and Jennifer Schmidt
Mining and oil and gas companies developing resources on land historically occupied and used by Indigenous peoples have faced criticism for offering few benefits to local communities while inflicting environmental damage. The Red Dog Mine -- a joint venture between Teck Resources, Inc. and the NANA Regional Corporation -- has often been cited as a counter-example for developing extractive industries in a way that benefits Indigenous communities. Although the mine has unquestionably brought significant financial benefits to the area, questions persist about its long-term benefits to local communities. We report on a study that assessed the long-term benefits of the Red Dog mine based on findings from a unique 14-year panel dataset. The analysis addressed the following set of questions: what percentage of the mine workers live within the region, and what percentage of the total payroll do local workers receive? How long do most local residents hired to work at the mine keep these jobs, and how does landing a job at Red Dog affect workers' mobility and long-run earnings? The findings illustrate the strengths and limitations of industry partnerships in rural Alaska, and offer insights relevant to communities across the arctic and around the world. When: Friday, March 6, 12pm - 1pm
Where: ISER Conference Room,
Third Floor, 1901 Bragaw Street, Suite 301
Note: This will not be streamed or recorded

2.  Online v Hardcopy Documents

Here's an LA Times headline today:

 "Library to end U.S. document duty
San Diego library says its depository role is unneeded when most docs are online."

I understand the librarian's concern for space.  I'm concerned though, that if these documents are only available online from the Government Printing Office, then documents can disappear.  Documents can be edited and even changed.

Given that Dr. Fauci was told he had to clear all his public announcements through the White House today, I think you get my drift.  Given all the documents the House subpoenaed but never got, you get my concern.

I first started thinking about this when I saw that the online Anchorage Daily News didn't match the print version.  That edits were made after publication and the reader couldn't tell what was changed. (It would just say, "Updated dd/mm/yy")


3.  Libraries As Depicted In Susan Orlean's A Library Book 

The genesis for this book was the 1986 fire that destroyed hundreds of thousands of books in the Los Fahrenheit 451 (which is the temperature when paper ignites).  She also discusses the wonderful memories she has of going to the library with her mother as a child, but that the internet cut her off from libraries until she rediscovered them with her son.  It's an important book.
Angeles Central Library.  But it is much, much more than that.  It's an homage to libraries and their role in maintaining culture.  It's a hands on look at what happens behind the scene at LA's central library.  It's a look at the burning of books (she even forces herself to burn one to experience it herself.)  There are details of the heat of the fire.  But also the tradition of book burning and library fires around the world - some accidental, many intentional.  She looks at how many and which libraries were burned by the Nazis in WW II and how many by Allied bombing.  She talks about people for whom the LA library was important, like Ray Bradbury, who read books there voraciously in lieu of going to college, and eventually wrote

So, given all the fires, libraries alone can't protect the government archives, but especially now, we should be preserving government reports in hard copy all around the country so that online versions can be checked for omissions and changes.


All three posts are about information dissemination about important topics.  Whether a University's research unit, a library's holdings of government documents, and the cultural and historical significance of libraries.

The 1964 Alaska Earthquake & Northern Acorn Barnacles - Why Knowing Lots And Integrating What You Know Is Useful

I'm reading Henry Fountain's The Great Quake:  How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet.  It's for my October book club meeting.  We're actually discussing David McCullough's  The Johnstown Flood at our next meeting, but it wasn't in the library and Quake was.


The whole Quake book is about figuring things out - basically, how the field of geography was still resisting the idea of earthquakes being caused by shifting tectonic plates.  I took geography at UCLA in 1963 (a year before the Alaska earthquake), and I don't recall anything about plate tectonics in that class.  Fountain argues that what the learned from the Alaska earthquake moved the field to accept plate tectonics.

But I want to focus on a tiny part of the data collected after the earthquake.  Fountain focuses particularly on a field geologist with the US Geological Survey - George Plafker, who had done a lot of summer field work in Alaska.  The USGS sent him and Arthur Grantz and Reuben Kachadoorian to Anchorage immediately after the quake.  They did a lot of flying around, taking pictures, talking to folks, and generally documenting changes in the landscape immediately after the quake.  (I'd note the turned out a report on the earthquake on April 27, 1964, just one month after the quake.  I can't imagine too many government agencies pulling that off today.  It was a preliminary report with lots of qualifications, but still, it was out there.)

Pince William Sound Google Map 

He came back up again for the summer to study uplift and subsidence in Prince William Sound.  Fountain writes that so much of the land to be studied was on the water where things were easier The Don J. Miller -  at their disposal.  (Don Miller was an old mentor of Plafker who had drowned in Alaska.)
to see and measure.  He points out that Prince William Sound (about 100 miles from east to west - Cordova to Whittier) has about 4000 miles of coastline.  But they had an agency flat-bottomed motor barge -

"The Don J. Miller, Plafker realized, would make most of [the coastline] easy to reach.  And measuring the changes in elevation along it would be made easy by something else:  the barnacle line.

Plafker had first learned of the barnacle line during his two weeks in Alaska immediately following the quake and had talked to marine biologists then to better understand how barnacles fit into the environment of the Alaskan coast."

Newfoundland Rock Barnacles - *see note below

Barnacles had been used to measure uplift and subsidence after a previous earthquake, but Fountain says that Plafker and his crew perfected the technique.

"The concept was relatively simple.  Because northern acorn barnacles establish themselves at a certain spot on rocks and pilings - at or close to mean high water - they could be used as a reference point to measure both uplift and subsidence.  In an area where the land had risen up, the prequake barnacle line would now be higher than it was before, and out of the water.  After a few weeks the barnacles would have died, but their white- colored plates remained, firmly cemented to the rocks or wood.  For ears where the land had sunk, the barnacle line would now be underwater most or all of the time.  Either way, to determine the amount of elevation change, in most cases all that was needed  was to know the stage of the tide - which the US Coast and Geodetic Survey had been busy recalculating all over Alaska after the earthquake - and them measure from the waterline to the top of the barnacle line."

Fountain explains it's a little more complicated than that and gives details, then writes:

"Later in the summer the work became easier and Plafker found that often he didn't need to worry about the tides at all.  Late summer was when juvenile barnacles, which had hatched after the quake and developed, settled down for good - at the new, post-quake mean high-water line.  Then Plafker would have two barnacle lines - before and after - and determine the elevation change was simply a matter of measuring the distance between the two."

There were, Fountain points out, areas where there were no barnacles, such as where the rocks were exposed to strong waves.  But there was a type of seaweed - Focus distichus, or Rockweed - that offered a similar mark that could be used.


I'm writing about the norther acorn barnacle here because I think it's cool, the way that these scientists used knowledge in one field to assist them in this difficult task of measuring how much the land had risen or sunk due to the earthquake.   The more we know, or communicate with people who know other things, the more we are able to integrate that knowledge to know more.  I also have to think about Alexander von Humboldt, about whom I wrote not long ago, who had this incredible breadth of knowledge across different fields that enable him to see what most people couldn't.


*Newfoundland Nature calls this a 'northern bar 'acorn barnacles' AND '  balanus balanoides.  I found other pictures labeled 'northern acorn barnacle' but also called semibalanus balanoides.  The Effects of Land Level Changes on Intertidal Invertebrates, which references George Plafker's use of the barnacle line, his barnacles are identified as balanus balanoides.  Other northern acorn barnacle pictures I found were also labeled semibalanus balanoides. They also required permission to use.  But I'm sure these are very close, if not the exactly the same sort of barnacle. I was hoping to find some pictures of the barnacle line - I'm sure I have my own somewhere from pictures I took kayaking in Prince William Sound.  If I find one I'll add it.

Gunnar Knapp and Steve Colt 'Retire'

Gunnar Knapp has been an important participant in Alaska public policy as an economist at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  He's
studied any number of issues, but his focus was on fisheries.  He became one of the world's experts on the economics of fisheries.  This last year he's played an important role in presenting the facts of the Alaska budget in clear and understandable ways.   I'm afraid that effort has been lost on the key players in the legislature.   But a lot more Alaskans understand the seriousness of our problem and the most reasonable options for dealing with it, thanks to Gunnar's work.

While I never worked for ISER, there was a period of years when my office was in with the ISER faculty and staff.  Not only were all the ISER faculty very sharp and very hard workers, but they got along with each other productively.  Few of the ISER folks are naturally outgoing, but all had very high professional standards, they understood that they worked for the public, and they found ways to make each other do their best.   Music was a common denominator.  Many of the ISER faculty and staff are excellent musicians.  Gunnar has a strong and beautiful singing voice (he's sung for the Anchorage opera) that sometimes floated through the office suites.  I'm not sure he always was aware he was singing.  You can see more about him at this link.

The ISER faculty have always had the challenge of only being partially funded by the state.  They
had to make up the rest of their salaries through contracting studies.  This offered additional challenges - they had to be out soliciting work, yet they had to resist clients' desires for favorable outcomes.  As university faculty, they had to publish work in academic journals while getting enough contracted work to get their salaries paid.

But their reputation for impartiality and technical excellence has made ISER one of the most respected and influential parts of the University of Alaska.  The data they've collected over the years has played a vital role in understanding the state budget and economy, in understanding the welfare of Alaska's children, and understanding Alaska's fisheries, to name just a few areas.

And they are all thoroughly decent, caring people.  Well, a few may not seem like they are, but once you get past their shyness, they are.

Steve Colt came to Alaska from MIT and has had an interest in energy across the state.  You can get a sense of the many projects he's worked on at the link on his name.  Steve said he'll be teaching full time at APU in the fall.  

Today there was a retirement gathering at the UAA library for these two important Alaskans, and a number of notables were there.  Vic Fisher, who created ISER some fifty years ago in Fairbanks.  Lee Gorsuch, who took over from Vic and eventually became Chancellor at UAA.  Scott Goldsmith, a professor emeritus from ISER.  Lots of other important people were there - the staff that makes it possible for the researchers to get their work done and distributed, other faculty from ISER, former Regent Chancy Croft and former Borough manager Jack Roderick.  I was able to get a few pictures, but I had a 5:30 commitment and since this event was scheduled until 5pm, I didn't pay attention to the time.  It was close to 5:30 when the last speaker spoke.  But I did try to catch a few faces.

Former ISER IT guy Jim Kerr juggles his tribute to Knapp and Colt

ISER has a whole set of younger faculty who have come along over the years and have had the benefit of working with these faculty, so the tradition will carry on.  ISER is one of the better known units at the university because so many of their reports are cited in public policy debates, yet the humanity and professionalism of this group is probably not well understood by the general public.  But I can attest to the good work they do.

Here's a link to the list of ISER publications, most of which are available online.  They've monitored so many important issues over the years.

Cutting 40% Of Legislative Research Office

Today's Alaska Dispatch News had a headline story about how the Alaska Legislature had cut its own research office by 40%.  There are a lot of questions to ask here.  Like, "WHY?!"

The obvious scapegoat is the budget shortfall.  But some things, in theory anyway, ought to have a higher priority.  And the ability to research before you make legislation would seem like one.  Just one stupid mistake because the legislature didn't have good research on a new bill, could wipe out whatever savings this makes. [I have to note that, yes, the price of oil dropped, cutting a big chunk of state revenues.  But we also have $50 billion in the Permanent Fund and monies in other reserve funds.  And our legislative majority have no interest in raising new revenue.  Their only interest seems to be cutting.]

But there are also questions about the efficiency of the agency and of the efficiency of how it is used by the legislature.  How many legislators use the office?  Are a few taxing its limits while others never use it?  How much does the average report cost?  How have the reports been used to help the legislature make good decisions?

I couldn't find any good tables that listed any of that information.  The best I could find was a list of reports with short summaries for the 2015 Fiscal Year.  (July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015.)  To find out who requested the report, you have to click on each report.  Didn't have time for that today.  I did have time to post a copy of the list of summaries at SCRBD and below.

The overview divides the reports into 15 categories.

• Commerce
• Criminal & Civil Justice
• Demographics
• Education
• Employment and Labor
• Energy Production and Consumption
• Environment
• Government
• Health Care
• Natural Resources<
• Property
• Public Finance
• Social Services
• Transportation
• Miscellaneous 

A lot of the reports are just one page, but good short reports take longer than longer reports.

Here are the research summaries themselves.

Alaska Legislative Research FY 2015

When I blogged the legislature in 2010, I spent a fair amount of time over at Legislative Affairs, getting reports. These folks are good and impartial. As much as some might think that in this fact-free political era, that legislators might not want a lot of facts interfering with their ideology. I doubt that's true of most legislators.