Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Brain Damage?

Clipart courtesy FCIT 

I found myself pondering this question this morning.  Is there something we can learn from woodpeckers that might help us prevent human brain damage?  I don't know how this got into my head (my own form of brain damage?).  I checked on BirdNotes to see if they talked about woodpeckers this morning, but, no, it was orioles.

In any case, a quick internet search found that I was definitely not the first person to ask this question.  There are lots of good responses.

Tetrapod Zoology (This post is delightfully detailed.  Did you know woodpeckers  "have an incredibly long, protrusible tongue anchored to hypertrophied hyoid bones that have grown backwards around the skull base and then up and over the skull roof"?  And just because his blog is called Tetrapod his interests wanders well beyond.)

How are woodpeckers able to withstand rapid, repeated percussion without sustaining brain injury? This was looked at by Gibson (2006), and the rather disappointing conclusions were that the small size of the brain and short duration of the impacts helped the brain withstand high deceleration, as did the shape of the brain (it's longest axis is arranged dorsoventrally rather than anteroposteriorly). I say that these conclusions were 'disappointing' as I imagined that woodpeckers had evolved some sort of unique, shock-absorbing, brain-cushioning specialisations. It has in fact been suggested that the muscles at the tongue base might serve this function, but this can't be true as these muscles wrap around the back and top of the skull and don't have any contact with the brain itself.

Chris, at The Naked Scientists gives another good, overlapping explanation in answer to someone's question.  Citing a 1979 study by Philip May, Joaquin Fuster, Jochen Haber and Ada Hirschman, he gives a number of interesting facts:

• the impact deceleration when a woodpecker's beak slams into a surface can exceed one thousand times the force of gravity (1200g). 
• a tame acorn woodpecker, did take the precaution of closing his eyes prior to each strike !
• woodpeckers have relatively small brains which, in contrast to a human, are packed fairly tightly inside their skull cavity. This prevents the excessive movement of the brain inside the skull which causes so-called 'contre-coup' injuries (literally brain bruising) in humans. These occur when the brain bashes into the skull following a knock on the head. In other words the head stops, but the brain keeps on moving.
• because the brain is small it has a high surface area to weight ratio, meaning that the impact force is spread over a much larger area, relatively speaking, compared with a human. Again, this minimises the applied trauma.
• Finally, the woodpecker always ensures that he strikes his target in a dead straight line. This approach avoids placing rotational or sheering stresses on the nerve fibres in the brain. Humans involved in car accidents frequently develop the symptoms of 'diffuse axonal injury' where sudden deceleration coupled with rotation literally twists the different parts of the brain off each other like a lid coming off a jar. By hammering in a dead straight line woody woodpecker avoids giving himself DAI, further minimising the risk of brain damage. Such an approach may have implications for the design of protective head gear - such as crash helmets - which could be modified to prevent rotational injuries.  

Even the Wikipedia entry talks about this, and adds to why they close their eyes:

Many of the foraging, breeding and signaling behaviors of woodpeckers involve drumming and hammering using the bill.[4] To prevent brain damage from the rapid and repeated decelerations, woodpeckers have evolved a number of adaptations to protect the brain. These include small brain size, the orientation of the brain within the skull (which maximises the area of contact between the brain and the skull) and the short duration of contact. The millisecond before contact with wood a thickened nictitating membrane closes, protecting the eye from flying debris.[5] The nostrils are also protected; they are often slit-like and have special feathers to cover them.

Chris at The Naked Scientists warned that humans don't have these adaptations, so don't bang your head against the wall.


A Post Script:  The Tetrapod Zoology writer, Darren Naish, had an wonderfully informative and detailed post, and I just wanted to note his varied interests (which fascinated me, if not you), so I'm adding here his bio:

Darren Naish is a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist (affiliated with the University of Portsmouth, UK) who mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs. He also studies such things as the swimming abilities of giraffes and fossil marine reptiles. An avid interest in modern wildlife and conservation has resulted in many adventures in lizard-chasing, bird-watching and litter-collecting. I've been blogging since 2006 and a compilation of early Tet Zoo articles is now available in book form as Tetrapod Zoology Book One. Additional recent books include The Great Dinosaur Discoveries and Dinosaurs Life Size. For more biographical info go here. I can be contacted intermittently at eotyrannus (at) gmail dot com.

Post Post Script:  I tried to get permission from another blogger to use a picture of a woodpecker skull, but didn't know how long I'd have to wait to hear back, so I made this video from a youtube video called The Tree Medic.  [As I wrote this I got back the permission.  Well, I should have looked more carefully because the blogger had given credit to the Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse. But since the video is already embedded I'll leave it too.  And I thought this would be a ten minute post.  Dream on.]

What Anchorage Sports Facility is Named After a Former City Clerk?

I was in the Alaskana room at the UAA-APU Consortium library and came across some old City of Anchorage Annual Reports which give some perspective on today.

This one was 1959 and had a picture of downtown on the cover.

The City Council was pretty male and everyone, at least for these pictures, wore a coat and tie.  The Loussac Library they mention was downtown. 


Now, here's 1964.  It was published in 1965 so it's the year of the earthquake.

I thought this picture and caption were a bit quaint.

What caught my attention in this picture of Goose Lake ('popular in July') was all the snow on the mountains.  There's barely a white spot up there now - July 5.  Now, it's possible the picture wasn't taken in July, but I seem to recall that 30 years ago, we had a fair amount of snow on the mountains into August. 

[UPDATE July 6:  I took a picture at Goose Lake today for a comparison.  I didn't check at the time and the focus is awful, but it does show the contrast to the snow in the 1964 Year Book.   I'll try for a better shot when there aren't any clouds.]

And here's a little bit about a man most of us know about only because his name is on a building.

Click to enlarge

He did everything from elections to dog licenses - hired high school kids to go door to door for the dog licenses - business licenses, and polling Mt. View residents about liquor licenses in the area.  [UPDATE:  for non-Anchorage folks here's a link to the Ben Boeke facility.

The Consortium library - the basically cool building with the ugly neon green tower on top on the UAA campus - allows people with Municipal library cards to check things out.  I'll do some more on this section.

Bear Tooth - and other businesses - Get Bike Racks We Can Use

We  went to Bear Tooth this evening and saw a very thought provoking movie by Werner Herzog - Cave of Forgotten Dreams - on cave paintings in France.  Too much for me to process quickly - but think: 40,000 year old paintings.

Bear Tooth had new bike racks - at least since we biked there last.  BUT - they're awful. 

WHY?  There's a little place to slip in your tire.  If you have a short lock, you can only lock that one tire to the rack.









But even if you have a longer type lock, you can't get both tires locked, and I couldn't stretch mine to get the front tire and the frame without disconnecting where I've got my lock attached to the bike on the seat.

Here's J, holding the two ends of my lock, but unable to make them meet.  Since we had two locks and two bikes, I just attached my lock to her bike.  And, in hindsight, I could have parked it with the back wheel in the rack.

But there are so many much better racks on the market.  Sturdy racks, with strong metal and placed so it's easy to reach the key parts you want to lock.

I'm sure when the person ordered this rack, he (or she) was thinking how much do each of these cost per bike and picked this one cause it's a lot of bikes for a low cost.

But that's short term thinking.  Every bike is one less parking space. (Well, maybe not, we would have only used one car between us, but you get the idea.)

I know this isn't easy, but here's a site with ideas for employers who want to encourage employees to bike to work.  It has a long list of companies that supply bike racks.

Here's just one company - creative pipe - with lots of products.  

I bet there are even metal workers in Anchorage who could custom design some bike racks so they wouldn't have to be shipped up here. 

Businesses:

1. When you order bike racks, get someone who rides a bike to help out.
2. Look at the employer commuting guide at SFBike (or other online sources) for ideas about bike racks.   
3. Check with some local pipe and/or metal shops to see what they can do for you.  
4. Find a local bike organization and ask them to help out.  In Anchorage we have Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage who I'm sure would help.

This blue rack at Providence Hospital is MUCH better for example.

Anchorage Fourth of July - Something For Everyone

We biked down to the Delaney Park Strip for the Anchorage July 4 celebration.  We were too late for the parade or the reading of the Declaration of Independence, but then I'd just read it preparing for the previous post.





This will just be pictures and a few comments of a sunny day enjoying being with others on the Fourth.

The Marines were there.















J wondered why they didn't hire vets to interact with the kids - particularly vets in wheel chairs,

and with missing limbs.  Give the kids a more realistic idea about war and the vets some work.

One of the things that makes the US great is the richness that we've gained over the centuries from immigration.  While most citizens of the world know more about the US than the average American knows about any of their countries, we can know people from all those countries. We have absorbed not only the people, but their cultures which gives us access to understanding them in a totally different way, if we choose to engage them.  




I've been a fan of Taiko drumming since the very first time I saw and heard a group from Japan perform at West High School, eons ago.  The physical strength, discipline, and group coordination necessary to do this is amazing, and the result is mesmerizing as you can sense in the video.

You can learn to drum like this in Anchorage.  Just think, you get exercise, music lessons, and cultural training all in one.  From their website:

Tomodachi Daiko offers beginning taiko classes for adults (13+ years) on Wednesday evenings from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m., starting September 1, 2010.  All classes are held in the gymnasium at Sand Lake Elementary School on Jewel Lake Road. (Please wear comfortable clothing for this activity.  New students are required to purchase bachi (drum sticks) which are available at class.)

There was lots of food.

This young lady was soliciting donations - very successfully I would say - for Alaskan Assistance Dogs. 



Their mission statement, from their website, is:

"Alaska Assistance Dogs provides professionally trained service dogs to Alaskans with special needs including mobility impairments, autism and post traumatic stress disorder. We also incorporate service dog training into therapeutic programs to improve the lives of Alaskans from pre-schoolers to adults."

A lot of relatively young kids were having a great time on the climbing tower, well strapped in.

 The Bird Treatment and Learning Center had several birds there.  They were either disabled or too adapted to humans and couldn't be released into the wild.  It was a great opportunity to get some good pictures since my little camera doesn't do well with telephoto.  This is a great horned owl.  The owls that really do go Hoo, Hoo, Hoo. Hoo.

 From the Bird TLC website:

The Bird Treatment and Learning Center

is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to rehabilitating sick, injured or orphaned wild birds and providing avian education programs to the public. Dr. James R. Scott, an Anchorage veterinarian, now retired, founded Bird TLC in 1988. Dr. Scott, along with other Alaskan veterinarians and volunteers, donate their time to treat these birds in need. In addition to medical care, Bird TLC provides a variety of educational programs to increase people's awareness of the wild birds around them and to encourage preservation of their habitat. Bird TLC is supported by education program fees and contributions from individuals, private foundations, and corporations.

Would You Have Been a Loyalist or Patriot? Or Uncommitted?

As we observe the Fourth of July, it's tempting to ponder which of us would have sided with the British, which with the new American Patriots, and which would have tried to avoid taking sides and just lived their lives.

THE QUIZ APPROACH

Allthetests offers a quiz for that which begins:

Question 1: If a soldier came up to you and asked if you would join the army to fight Britain, what would you do?
	Agree to fight for your independence
	Say that you will think about it, but never get the time to actually choose
	Yell "NO" and slam the door in his face

Question 2: If you found a spy for the Americans and he was getting caught by the British, what would you do?
	Grab your gun and fight off the British so the spy can run for it
	Try to compromise between the British and the spy
	Help the British grab him and take him into custody to reveal the Americans' secrets

But how can the typical American of 2011 honestly answer a question like that? How would you answer a question like:

If you saw a someone being robbed, would you run to help the person?

I doubt very many of us know how we would react in such a situation. Each robbery has a different context.  Are there others around?  Does the robber have a gun?  Are we in a hurry?  Have you - the bystander - been trained to fight?

So many things come into play that even if we've been in the situation before, we may not be able to predict what would happen next time.  When it comes to taking personal risks,  our emotional response doesn't always match our ideals.

With  something as abstract as what we would have done 200 years ago, where our personal standing in that society is undefined, where the 'right' and 'wrong' answers are so known, and where all the personal emotional context is non-existent, is impossible.


THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS APPROACH

Wikipedia says that Larabee (1948) has identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative:

* Psychologically they were older, better established, and resisted innovation.
* They felt that resistance to the Crown—the legitimate government—was morally wrong.
* They were alienated when the Patriots resorted to violence, such as burning houses and tarring and feathering.
* They wanted to take a middle-of-the road position and were angry when forced by the Patriots to declare their opposition.
* They had a long-standing sentimental attachment to Britain (often with business and family links).
* They were procrastinators who realized that independence was bound to come some day, but wanted to postpone the moment.
* They were rightly cautious and afraid of anarchy or tyranny that might come from mob rule, which did cost many their property and security after the revolution.
* Some say they were pessimists who lacked the confidence in the future displayed by the Patriots, while others point to the memory and dreadful experience of many Scottish immigrants who had already seen or paid the price of rebellion in dispossession and clearance from their prior homeland.

Could we use these to better gauge where we would have been?

• Would older folks who don't text today, have been loyalists?  
• What about folks who think we need to respect the president, even if he's not always right?
• Is aversion to violence today the equivalent of aversion to the violence of Patriots in the 1700s? 
• What sort of long-term sentimental attachment today would be equivalent such an attachment to Britain back then?

Wikipedia's article on Patriots offers characteristics about Patriots that seem to overlap those of Loyalists to some extent.

The Patriots came from many different backgrounds. Among the most active of the Patriots group were highly educated and fairly wealthy individuals. However, without the support of the ordinary men and women, such as farmers, lawyers, merchants, seamstresses, homemakers, shopkeepers, and ministers, the struggle for independence would have failed.
In 2000 historian Robert Calhoon estimated that in the Thirteen Colonies between 40 and 45 percent of the white population supported the Patriots' cause:

Historians' best estimates put the proportion of adult white male loyalists somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Approximately half the colonists of European ancestry tried to avoid involvement in the struggle — some of them deliberate pacifists, others recent emigrants, and many more simple apolitical folk. The patriots received active support from perhaps 40 to 45 percent of the white populace, and at most no more than a bare majority.

Clearly, calculating those numbers, over 200 years after the fact, has lots of complications.


Are there members of current political groups who would have been more likely to Patriots or Loyalists?

Tea Party members and supporters, according to an Atlantic article last year, made up

• 4% of the population (actual members according to a CBS/NYTimes poll) or
• 28% identified as "supporter[s] of the Tea Party movement" (Gallup poll)
•  4%  (18% of the 20% supporting the Tea Party in another CBS/NYTimes poll had actually given money or attended a Tea Party event)

Those numbers were calculated a year ago, but the 28% and 20% number is vaguely close to the estimated number of Loyalists.  Of course, that's a ridiculous correlation.

Do Tea Party supporters have characteristics more like those of Patriots or Loyalists?

Apparently that same CBS/NYTimes poll, this time cited in the Dallas News, identifies a number of factors that are more associated with Tea Party supporters than the general public. [I've reorganized the list a bit to make it briefer.]

• Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as "angry."  Their anger is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country.
• Obama does not share the values most Americans live by, and that 
• he does not understand the problems of people like them.
• More than half say administration policies favor the poor, and 
• 25 percent, compared with 11 percent of the general public, think the administration favors blacks over whites. 
• Tea Party supporters offered three main concerns: 
• the recent health care overhaul, 
• government spending and 
• a feeling that their opinions are not represented in Washington.
• More than eight in 10 hold an unfavorable view of him personally, and 
• 92 percent believe he is moving the country toward socialism - an opinion shared by about half the general public.
• Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as "fair." 
• Most send their children to public schools; 
• do not think Sarah Palin, who spoke at a Tea Party rally in Boston on Tuesday, is qualified to be president; and, 
• despite their push for smaller government, think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost. 
• They are actually more likely than the general public to have returned their census forms, despite some conservative leaders urging a boycott.

How would you compare this list (assuming it was even accurate a year ago) to characteristics of Patriots and Loyalists?


Even though they are named after a quintessential Patriot event, one interpretation of this list could be that many Tea Party supporters are more like the conservatives who were resisting change to the status quo.  People who thought that they had something to lose from radically changing the system.

CONTEXT TODAY?

But I'm not willing to make such a conclusion.  Tea Party supporters are probably a pretty varied group.  And just as 'older, and better established' is listed as a Loyalist characteristic, leaders of the Patriots were also from the wealthier classes.

But, as we observe Independence Day, it's useful to question ourselves carefully about the kinds of risk we would be willing to take and under what conditions.  (To what extent is risk-taking genetically inherited and to what extent is it environmentally shaped?  Do people take risks in some areas, but not other areas of their lives?) 

What are you willing to risk today to protect democracy?
How many of us use lack of understanding of how to effectively protect democracy as an excuse not to do something?
How many of us are working at understanding what roles we can effectively play?
How many of us would not have understood the right path back in the 18th Century? (Was there only one 'right path' or did it matter who you were.  For instance many black slaves fought for the British after being promised their freedom.)

None of this is easy.  But I urge you to go out and listen to someone you disagree with.  Assume that the person is rational and sincere in his or her beliefs.  Then ask the person to explain the position taken and how he knows he's right.  (I tried hard to make that sentence work without gendered pronouns, but finally gave up.)  Don't contradict.  Don't challenge.  Just ask, respectfully, to better understand.  It's hard to do.  but worth it. 

Happy Fourth of July.

Girdwood Forest Fair

We didn't get to the fair until nearly 9 pm.  But, it's early July in Alaska, so no problem.  It's going to be light, late.



It's been years since I've been at the Girdwood Forest Fair.  It's like walking back into the late 60s.



While some of the arts and crafts looked familiar, the food booth's offered a much wider international selection. I couldn't resist the vegie empanadas with a wonderful tabbouleh-like tomato concoction.

I didn't see any bell-bottoms (good), but I did see a pair of barefoot shoes (they're pretty bizarre looking, but I love the idea.) 




Kindergarten has cloned into a legitimate English word from German, including the 't'.



But apparently Bier Garten has only made it half-way into English. 

[UPDATE 9PM:  I forgot to add this map.  I think it's the 2010 fair map, but the 2011 map didn't open in either Firefox or Safari.  It looks like the layout was basically the same, but since it doesn't say where north is or have the main road, I'm not completely sure. I just liked the way the map was done.

Click for Clearer and Bigger Version

I also forgot to mention the bear. As we rode our bikes up into Girdwood, somewhere past the Candle Factory, I noticed part of the wall of bushes lining the pat, just ahead of us, was bouncing around wildly. As we passed the spot, I looked in and saw a mass of black fur, that vanished as we rode by. I wasn't more than four feet away. Y, who was riding between me and bushes, was closer. He didn't even know about it until I told him and the bear was gone. If I hadn't noticed the bushes moving and looked in, I wouldn't have seen it either. Lots of people were riding and walking up and down the path.]

The music still has wild guitar rock, but there was also a massage chair booth. 



Superfrequency was listed as the 6:45pm (and last) performers on the Marlowe Stage, but I'm afraid I forgot to check to be sure who this was.  If someone knows, please leave a comment or email me. email me. In any case, they were good. 

We biked back to the car and were on the road home enjoying the long summer evening. We didn't get any rain until almost Potter Marsh. A lesson learned long ago - don't let the Anchorage weather affect what you're going to do. Even if it's grey in Anchorage, it could be sunny a little ways down the road. It was pushing 11pm when I got this shot.

Bird to Gird

My friend Y (why not? there's one in his name) wanted some exercise and there were heavy clouds on the hillside, so I suggested a bike ride from Bird Point to Girdwood.

As luck would have it, the sun was shining south of Anchorage. Here are a few shots that caught my eye.

 

The other white flower in the top picture is cow parsnip.  Here's a close up with customer.


And below some visitors at the monkey flower organic cafe.



The phrase finder has a long entry about the phrase 'the bee's knees.' Here's a tiny excerpt:

Bees carry pollen back to the hive in sacs on their legs. It is tempting to explain this phrase as alluding to the concentrated goodness to be found around a bee's knee, but there's no evidence to support this explanation. It is also sometimes said to be a corruption of 'business', but there's no evidence to support that either.

 Maybe they mean the front knees.

The trail from the rest area at Bird Point to Girdwood takes the path of the old road.  It was the worst and best part of the trip south.  It had great views, but was two laned, no shoulder at all, and curved up and then down.  Now there's a speed track down by the water, and the bike trail that replaced the old road is wonderful.  But it is uphill and downhill both directions.  It's about 6 miles each way. 

Columbine

Getting Close To Girdwood - Y's the white speck on the trail

A raven flew noisily onto the second from the top branch, followed by a bomber squad of swallows.  There's one very close to the raven just on the right of the trunk in the top photo.  It almost looks like a branch.  You can see it's not there in the bottom shot. Presumably they had a nest up there.  They kept returning.  Later a second raven joined the first. 

I'll try to get part 2 up later - with a few shots of the Girdwood Forest Fair. 

Exit Polls Predict Big Red Shirt Win in Thai Election - English Interview with Yingluck Shinawatra

From an AFP news story posted at Thai Visa:

Thaksin allies in Thai election landslide: exit polls
by Daniel Rook

BANGKOK, July 3, 2011 (AFP) - Opposition allies of Thai fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra scored a landslide election win, exit polls showed Sunday, marking a stunning comeback after years of turmoil sparked by a military coup.

The poll was the first major electoral test for the elite-backed government since mass protests by Thaksin's "Red Shirt" supporters last year paralysed Bangkok and unleashed the worst political violence in decades.

Thaksin's Puea Thai Party is set to win 313 seats out of 500, against 152 for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrats, according to a projection by Suan Dusit University. Other exit polls painted a similar picture. . .

. . .Toppled by the military in 2006 and now living in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid a jail term for corruption, Thaksin nevertheless dominated the election, after tapping his youngest sister to run in his place.

Yingluck Shinawatra, a telegenic businesswoman who is now set to become Thailand's first ever female prime minister, is a 44-year-old political novice described by Thaksin as his "clone".

You can hear an English language interview, sent by a friend in Thailand, with Yingluck Shinawatra below.




What does this mean? Hard for me to tell, but the educated Bangkok elite were trounced by the rural voters and working class. The NGO I volunteered with in Chiangmai were not red shirts and I'm sure they are unhappy with this turn of events.

Walgreens Store Opening Anchorage

Some regular readers my wonder if they are on the wrong blog.  But part of what I'm doing here is chronicling what happens in Anchorage - as I live it.  Last Wednesday I happened to be at Northern Lights and Seward Highway just as Walgreens was having its grand opening.

I was underwhelmed, in a very comfortable way.  This wasn't a super glitzy, high tech, over the top event.  This reminded me more of the US in the 1950s and early 60s. ("The 60's" in some ways is misleading - the first part was more like the Fifties.)

Flags, balloons, hot dogs, a brass band, Shriners, a drawing and a raffle, flowers, and they even had the recently won Kelly Cup.  People were happy, enjoying the hoopla and the sun.

Didn't know there was another Sea Wolves

A lot of businesses today seem bent on squeezing every penny out of their customers.  Hidden costs on cell phones, penalty fees at banks and credit cards, baggage fees at airlines seem to tell the customer - we've got you by the balls and there's nothing you can do about it.  Sure, there are smaller local businesses where the owners know your name and give you freebies now and then because they like you and appreciate your business. 

But I don't expect that any more from national corporations.  But Bruce Phillips, the regional rep for Alaska and 'half of Seattle' I think he said, sounded genuinely excited about the store opening and I felt he really had worked hard with his new store staff to make this store friendly to the neighborhood.  It could all be a good show based on marketing studies, but I don't think so.  I think it was genuine.  I had the sense that Walgreens gave him enough freedom to do what he wanted with this store opening and he was feeling good about the store and his staff and his work.  

Oh yes, my sound card ran out of memory just before they brought out the giant ceremonial check for $2500 for the Diabetes Association. 

You can watch the video and judge for yourself. 

Potential Flaws in the Mayoral Power to Veto Amendments Opinion

I'd intended to post this earlier this morning and kept changing the post time because I wanted to get it right.

It accidentally got posted before it was ready and so I pulled it, because the post itself had some flaws in it.  Actually, there are probably a lot of flaws in my posts, but these were flaws I was aware of and I'm working out the kinks. 

Sorry.  I'll try to get it up by tomorrow.