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You are here: Home / Archives for Flagstaff Festival of Science

Flagstaff Festival of Science

Arizona Scientists Working to Control Galapagos Rat Population without Poison

February 28, 2023 By quadcities Leave a Comment

Rodents threatening survival of species and farms.

The chain of 19 islands that make up the Galapagos archipelago have been called “a priceless living laboratory.” The vast biodiversity of these islands that lie 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador is said to have inspired the theory of evolution.

Now, a Northern Arizona organization is working to help protect the islands from an invasive rat population that is threatening not only many of the endemic species of the Galapagos, but also the farms that are vital to the islands’ 40,000 human inhabitants.

Women in Science Doing Outreach and Mentoring (WISDOM) LLC, co-founded by Flagstaff scientists Dr. Loretta Mayer and Dr. Cheryl Dyer, is providing fertility-control technology to The Galapagos Project (galapagosproject.org), a two-year initiative aimed at restoring ecological balance humanely and without the use of poisons. Among the Galapagos sponsors is the Arizona-based Ramsey Social Justice Foundation, which provides grants and financial assistance to underrepresented communities.

The project is a collaboration between WISDOM; Animal Balance, an international animal welfare NGO; and the Agencia de Bioseguridad Galápagos (ABG), which oversees the archipelago.

“Animal Balance has been working in the region for years, providing consistent spay and neuter clinics, dog training classes and workshops on caring for animals,” said Mayer. “What WISDOM is bringing is a protocol for disbursing oral contraceptives to rodents, to reduce the population without poison.”

Mayer and Emma Clifford, who founded Animal Balance in 2004, have admired each other’s work for years. They first met in 2003 at the first conference of Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs, where Mayer was presenting early findings on the potential for a non-surgical spay approach for dogs and Clifford was preparing to go to the Galapagos to spay and neuter dogs and cats.

As Clifford recalled: “I wanted to use non-surgical means to kindly manage the rats, cats and dogs of the Galapagos, but I was 19 years too early.”

Mayer and a team of WISDOM scientists and researchers recently returned from Isabela Island in the Galapagos, where they confirmed that the rodents – rattus rattus (known as the black rat) and mus musculus (the house mouse), would eat the pellets containing the fertility-control technology from feeding stations placed around farms on the islands.

Most of the feeding stations were made of biodegradable paperboard, selected to not add to the waste-stream of the islands. Two, however, were wood feeding stations constructed by Sinagua Middle School students, who built them in shop class. The Sinagua boxes were tested in the field as a culmination of WISDOM’s partnership with Sinagua Woodshop teacher Amy Dries and the Flagstaff Festival of Science.

“The most important thing is that we accomplished our mission to establish a research beachhead with Animal Balance to collect the data to allow us to lay out the two-year plan in a research protocol,” said Mayer.

The trip also allowed the scientists and researchers to meet and learn from government officials, local farmers and community members, building on relationships that Animal Balance has cultivated for decades. This includes working closely with the ABG. The agency – part of the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment – is charged with the biosafety of the islands and reducing the risk of any invasive species that endanger the biodiversity of the islands, the local economy and human health.

If successful, the project will bring greater ecological balance to the Galapagos, benefiting both that biodiversity and the residents of the islands, and also inform better balance solutions for islands worldwide.

Rattus rattus was accidentally introduced into the Galapagos by pirates and whalers in the 17th and 18th centuries. The consequences were devastating; over time the rodent population has resulted in the near extinction of certain endemic species.

Among the creatures threatened by the rat overpopulation are the rare pink land iguana and the giant tortoises of the islands. Rats will dig into the nests of these animals and eat the eggs and hatchlings.

Meanwhile, the rats also feast on local farm goods, which are essential to the residents of the islands. While there is a monthly container ship from mainland Ecuador that provides some foodstuffs, the pandemic showed that relying on these ships is not sustainable. Residents need the produce produced by local farms to survive, and rats are destroying these crops.

The reception of the WISDOM and Animal Balance teams on this project went very well, according to Jessica Gonzalez, who is the program director for Animal Balance in the Galapagos.

“This project brings together science and the community with the support of local authorities in perfect synchrony to implement an effective and sustainable solution for the control of non-endemic rodent populations, which Galapagos deserves,” she said. “I am convinced that we are marking an important milestone in the conservation of the Enchanted Islands.”

The team from WISDOM plans to return to the archipelago later this year. QCBN

By Cindy May, QCBN

Filed Under: Business, Education, Local News, Tourism Tagged With: Agencia de Bioseguridad Galápagos, Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs, Animal Balance, conservation of the Enchanted Islands, Dr. Cheryl Dyer, Dr. Loretta Mayer, Flagstaff Festival of Science, Galapagos archipelago, Ramsey Social Justice Foundation, The Galapagos Project, WISDOM LLC, Women in Science Doing Outreach and Mentoring

Exploring the Gilded World of Pharaohs, Mummies, Pyramids and ‘the Afterlife that Built Egypt’

August 27, 2022 By quadcities Leave a Comment

Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass shares secrets from the sand.

Zahi Hawass calls himself a simple man, but the world’s foremost Egyptologist spends much of his time with ancient royalty, gods and goddesses. In fact, Dr. Hawass is revered as a legend in his own right, charmed by Aphrodite herself, inspired by the Great Pyramid builder Khufu and driven by the “magic of Egypt” to coax the desert sand into giving up secrets of what he calls “the world’s greatest civilization.” This fall, with the help of CT scans and DNA technology, Hawass expects to reveal the answer to the yet unsolved mystery: how King Tutankhamun died.

“Today, I opened a shaft and found a sarcophagus with a mummy covered with gold,” said this larger-than-life and fantastically theatrical archaeologist last December during an ordinary Zoom call. And that’s what most have come to expect from an encounter with Hawass, anything but ordinary.

“This was in an area that was in the shadow of the Step Pyramid, the oldest pyramid in Egypt, with beautiful statues and a sealed sarcophagus of a lady covered with gold,” he explained. “We are in the process of discovering a new pyramid in the site. A month ago, we found the brother of King Tutankhamun. I found intact tombs that I did not open yet. We expect to be excavating in the Saqqara necropolis in September and hope to open these tombs.”

Likely coming straight from the site with news of great findings, Hawass will share his adventures, passion for discovery, and advocacy for conservation with audiences at two events: the first, Friday, Sept. 23 at the Flagstaff Festival of Science W. L. Gore & Associates Keynote Presentation at Northern Arizona University; the second, Sunday, Sept. 25, at the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition’s destination event at Arizona Nordic Village.

With discoveries in the global spotlight for more than three decades, Hawass is credited with bringing Ancient Egypt into our homes and hearts. The passion began in the 1980s. As the inspector of antiquities at the time, he was sent out to an excavation site. “I was unhappy to leave Cairo and go into the desert, but one day I found a tomb with the statue of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love. While cleaning the statue, I found my love.”

In 1990, as director of Giza and Saqqara, he made a breakthrough discovery that determined the Pyramids were built by workers, not slaves. His findings uncovered an ancient cemetery near the Sphinx containing 600 graves and 50 larger tombs belonging to the builders of the pyramids and their families. His discoveries also include the Valley of the Golden Mummies at Bahariya Oasis.

Through years of excavating tombs of spectacular treasures and temples to the gods, following hidden passageways, carefully transferring mummies and decoding ancient writings, he says “the afterlife built Egypt,” a place that begins with nightfall for the deceased, filled with gods, strange creatures, gatekeepers and riddles solved through the Book of the Dead.

He has become comfortable with being lowered into deep, dark, tight shafts, squeezing between massive slabs of granite, coming into contact with deadly cobras and facing superstitions surrounding the fabled “curse” of the pharaohs. He recalls looking through the slit of a hidden door and peering straight into the gleaming crystal eyes of a statue that had been sealed in a tomb for thousands of years. “I cannot describe what this is like. You can only know by experiencing it.”

Since 2011, Hawass has served twice as Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities, arguably the most powerful archaeology job in the world. He has taught students in universitas and educated the public through many film and television programs and news reports.

Today, he is leading teams of archaeologists on expeditions in search of the tomb of Imhotep, believed to be the builder of the Step Pyramid, in Saqqara, and Queen Nefertiti’s tomb in Luxor. She is often referred to as King Tut’s mother, however she was actually his stepmother. “We have tombs of queens with names and tombs of queens with no names,” he said, explaining that advanced technology will help identify royal family members as well as more private ancient Egyptian citizens.

In 2020, Hawass announced the discovery of the Lost City of Luxor, a network of mud brick walls, neighborhoods, a cemetery and work spaces for preparing food, making bricks and crafting jewelry, offering a glimpse of what life was like 3,500 years ago. The lost city, used by the boy ruler King Tut, is considered to be the most important discovery about Ancient Egypt since the young pharaoh’s tomb was found by British archaeologist Howard Carter on Nov. 4, 1922.

To honor the centennial of this landmark moment in Egypt’s long history, Hawass will headline a conference on Nov. 4, with hundreds of scholars at the Grand Egyptian Museum on the Giza Plateau outside of Cairo, where he serves on the Board of Trustees. This is where he hopes to announce the truth behind King Tut’s death at age 18.

Marking the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the ancient Egyptian language, the Grand Egyptian Museum is expected to open to the public next year, said Hawass, the world’s leading expert in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

“A big statue of Ramesses II will receive everyone. The staircase with 100 kings of Egypt will lead to two galleries and a children’s museum. It’s going to be a big thing. The Egyptian government is really keen on preserving Egyptian monuments, opening the museum and implementing the big important conservation plan happening in Egypt now, starting with the excavation of the Valley of the Kings, the search for the tomb of Queen Nefertiti, and continuing the excavation of the golden city.” he said. “You can now walk between the Pyramid site and the Grand Museum. We are also opening an airport 20 miles from Giza to make travel for visitors more convenient.”

Hawass says global interest in Ancient Egypt has exploded with news of recent discoveries. “Modern technology, like CT scans, 3D LiDAR and DNA testing, has been really important to upgrade our knowledge. Without this, we would not be able to continue the excavation in the Valley of the Kings and discover answers about the 18th dynasty buried somewhere in the Valley.”

King Tut was part of the 18th dynasty and also used the city of Luxor. “We know in our work that we did with the Egyptian Mummy Project in 2005 and 2010, that King Tut had a flat foot, the blood didn’t go to his fingers and he suffered from malaria. In his left leg, there’s a fracture, it shows an accident happened to him two days before he died. We are using a new machine with DNA now to find out more about this infliction on his left leg.”

Hawass expects many more secrets from the sand to be unveiled in this land where both life and afterlife were celebrated. “About 30% of the discoveries have been found; 70% are still buried,” he said.

Hawass is preparing for a world tour in 2023, with stops in 23 U.S. cities. Currently, he is involved in programs with National Geographic, Discover+ and Netflix. Flagstaff residents and visitors can catch up with this modern ruler of the netherworld at two events:

Flagstaff Festival of Science 

  • L. Gore & Associates Keynote Presentation  Featuring famed Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass Mummies, Monuments and Mysteries
  • 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 23
  • Northern Arizona University
  • This FREE event requires a ticket. Find out more at www.scifest.org 

Flagstaff Dark Skies: An Evening of Awareness, Appreciation & Awe with Legendary Archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass:

  • A Night Journey into Ancient Egypt’s Afterlife
  • 5-9 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 25
  • Arizona Nordic Village

Tickets are available at FlagstaffDarkSkies.org Sponsored by Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition, Arizona Office of Tourism and Arizona Nordic Village. QCBN

By Bonnie Stevens, QCBN

Filed Under: Education, Local News, Tourism Tagged With: Arizona Nordic Village, Arizona Office of Tourism, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition, Flagstaff Festival of Science, Mummies, Pharaohs, Pyramids, the Afterlife that Built Egypt, Zahi Hawass

Science Festival Book Captures Spirit of Discovery

July 17, 2015 By quadcities Leave a Comment

Book Festival ScienceWhether they are walking on the moon, chasing lava, racing toward tornadoes, tracking comets, battling superbugs, landing robots or discovering dinosaurs, world-class scientists have participated in the Flagstaff Festival of Science since it began a quarter of a century ago.

A new book, Flagstaff Festival of Science: The First 25 Years, captures the essence of the nation’s longest running, free science festival, traces the scientific roots of the “Skylight City” and shares stories and quotes from its famous participating scientists. The book will be released during a free talk, “Flagstaff’s Science Legacy” by authors Kevin Schindler and Bonnie Stevens at 7 p.m., Saturday, July 18, at Riordan Mansion State Historic Park.

“Thanks to unparalleled deposits of plants and stones and water and bones, to stunningly clear skies that unveil worlds beyond our own, Flagstaff has become a mecca for learning about the universe around us. This program will look at some of the exciting discoveries and dedicated scientists who built this legacy,” said Schindler.

Northern Arizona University President Emeritus Eugene Hughes, Ph.D., is credited with first bringing key scientists and local media representatives together to explore the possibilities of a Flagstaff science festival. In the book’s foreword he writes, “You will see, as you read this brief history of the Flagstaff Festival of Science, that their work, and that of successive groups, has led to the development of one of the finest, if not the finest, festivals in the nation.”

Throughout the book, scientists share their love for adventure and gripping anticipation of what will happen next in their world of discovery. “Science is an adventure of the mind,” says retired U.S. Geological Survey research geologist and founding festival board member Ivo Lucchitta, Ph.D.

Storm chaser Warren Faidley says, “I like it when I don’t know what I’m going to see. It’s like opening a present. Odds are you are not going to see something over the top…but you might. It’s about trying to be in the right place at the right time and being as prepared as you can be.”

Space Shuttle Astronaut John Grunsfeld, Ph.D., says, “It’s that curiosity that drives us all, and has driven us since we’ve been human.”

The book also introduces readers to individuals who grew up with the festival and are now enjoying science endeavors professionally and/or personally as adults. For 33-year-old Samantha Christensen, who began attending the festival when she was eight, meeting the scientists and being in their workspace made science real. “I could envision myself as a scientist,” she says.

Influenced by her festival experiences, Christensen earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics at the University of Arizona, where she also took astronomy courses. Today, she manages the public education program at Lowell Observatory, designs space camps for kids and serves on the festival board of directors.

For 25 years, the Flagstaff Festival of Science has invited youth, their families, visitors and lifelong learners into laboratories, observatories, museums and out to the field to participate alongside scientists.

This year, the Flagstaff Festival of Science will be Exploring New Horizons, Sept. 18-27. Leading the way will be planetary scientist Alan Stern, Ph.D., the man who heads up the pioneering New Horizons spacecraft mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.

“We’re on Pluto’s doorstep and we don’t know what we’re going to find,” says Stern, who is scheduled to deliver the Festival’s Shoemaker Keynote Presentation at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18 in Northern Arizona University’s Ardrey Auditorium.

“It will be fascinating to see the best images that have been captured of the dwarf planet, and hear what scientists are finding out from this amazing journey into the Kuiper Belt where hundreds of other icy worlds exist,” says Festival President and meteorologist Brian A. Klimowski, Ph.D. “It is only fitting that some of the latest images and new information about Pluto will be coming back home to the town where Pluto was discovered.”

Flagstaff Festival of Science: The First 25 Years can be found at the Flagstaff Public Library and on the festival’s website at scifest.org. It is also available as a gift to festival donors at the $100 level and above.

 

“Inspiration for the book came from our rich community of scientists,” said Schindler. “NPR ScienceFriday Host Ira Flato drove it home when he said, “’You can’t get a cup of coffee in Flagstaff without bumping into a scientist.’”

Stevens says she has been in awe of the many local and visiting scientists who have shared their enthusiasm and knowledge with Flagstaff. “It seemed important to document their inspirational stories and messages. My favorite quote comes from Apollo Astronaut Alan Bean when asked what went through his head as he walked in the stillness of the moonscape. He said, ‘“On the

moon, everything is gray. And then you realize, we live in the Garden of Eden.”

“I find the book just wonderful in subject, organization, writing, illustrations and design,” said Lucchitta. “The authors and the designer [Andi Kleinman] should be proud of what they have achieved, and so should Flagstaff.”

The talk, “Flagstaff’s Science Legacy,” hosted by Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, which is operated through a cooperative agreement with the Arizona Historical Society and the Flagstaff Festival of Science, is free. Seating is limited and provided on a first-come, first-served basis. The book will be available to those who attend.

The book, “Flagstaff Festival of Science: The First 25 Years,” was made possible through a science education grant from W. L. Gore & Associates. “We want people to see that science is much more than nerds and pocket protectors. It’s exciting and fun and you don’t even need to be a scientist to work in science,” said 2014 Festival President Steven Smith with W. L. Gore & Associates. QCBN

 

For more information, visit www.scifest.org.

 

 

Filed Under: Local News Tagged With: 25 years of science in Flagstaff, Bonnie Stevens, Flagstaff Festival of Science

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