Field Notes from the Future | Southern Fried Science

The Legacy of the Invasivore Movement

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

On January 1, 2016, the Southern Fried Science central server began uploading blog posts apparently circa 2041. Due to a related corruption of the contemporary database, we are, at this time, unable to remove these Field Notes from the Future or prevent the uploading of additional posts. Please enjoy this glimpse into the ocean future while we attempt to rectify the situation.

Over 25 years ago, the concept of “Invasivore”–a dietary ethic that involved eating only invasive species, or more often, only eating meat if it was from an invasive species–entered into popular culture. Unfortunately, the actual practicalities of being an invasivore made the practice, with the exception of people in highly invaded regions, functionally impossible.

This led to an interesting and welcome change in the overarching dietary ethic movement. By focusing on specific meals, rather the food ethics that defined someone’s identity, people could focus on what’s really important, choosing meals and finding food suppliers that provided the most net-good for a specific region or community. While it was nearly impossible to be a strict invasivore, it was relatively easy to source and host an invasivore barbecue or cook an invasivore meal. We began defining meals, rather than individuals, by the method of production and preparation. Read More

First viruses detected in DNA-based computers

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

Ever since the first commercial transcriptors allowed for broad adoption of DNA-based computers, programmers have predicted the rise of molecular computer viruses. With Adelman’s Law–the observation that the proportion of molecular computers accounting for global processing power is logarithmically approaching a limit of infinitely less than 1–in full swing, it’s a testament to how poorly programmers understand the biological underpinnings of this new machine language that we haven’t seen to rise of literal computer viruses.

Until now.

For the first time since the big molecular servers came online a decade ago, a virus has been detected buried in the genetic code. This tiny, 3-base coding region (not surprisingly, a stop-codon) is wrapped in a sophisticated insertion jacket, which allows it to embed into the boot-loader, preventing a now obsolete driver from loading. This could cause problems for the few sysadmins still using Bridge 1.3 ports to interface between DNA and conventional computers.

Like the first conventional computer viruses, this appears to have been created as an exercise in curiosity, rather than an attempt to cause harm. The affected driver is barely used anymore (and can still be started manually), the virus (dubbed Zero Cloner) lacks the necessary code to transition between DNA and standard computers, meaning, while it could spread through a process center, it can’t bridge the digital/genetic divide, which means it likely won’t affect consumer hardware, with one notable exception. Read More

Remote Protests are visually impressive, but not as effective as public comments

Posted on January 7, 2016 by David Shiffman

Yesterday, tens of thousands of people’s avatars teleported into the lobby of the National Marine Fisheries Service headquarters in Plaza. Most avatars wore a temporary skin that made them appear to be fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, or sharks. Almost all of them of them carried signs protesting the newly-announced shark fishing quota , which greatly increases total allowable catch for scalloped hammerhead sharks. This was the latest remote protest effort organized by the new, but undeniably augemented reality- and media-savvy, Ocean Conservation Solutions , which also designed all of the custom avatar skins.

Last summer, I predicted that this change to the quota would come. There’s no doubt that scalloped hammerhead sharks have greatly increased in population in the decades since they became the first shark species listed on the U.S. Endangered Species Act (as regular readers now, there are now 18 shark species and 43 batoid species on listed under the ESA). Despite concerns raised by conservationists (including myself), it seems that NMFS’ plan to allow a low-level of fisheries exploitation for hammerheads did indeed allow for overfished populations to rebuild. The newly reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation Act, just like every previous iteration, requires that NMFS allow fisheries for any species whose populations can support them. Read More

Ocean Conservation Priorities for 2041

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

Another year, another set of ocean conservation priorities. As with the last 5 years, there will be some new ones, and some repeats. The biggest issues shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, plastics have been an issue forever and global norming is rapidly taking over the broader ocean conversation. For a refresher, check out our priorities for 2036, 2037, 2038, 2039, and 2040.

Sea Level Rise Induced Habitat Loss: This has been a big one on the docket the last few years. As the ocean rises many species are experiencing dramatic loss of habitat, especially sensitive coastal nursery grounds. Although we’ve known about this for a while, we haven’t even begun to quantify the extent of damage to marine populations. Salt inundation is also compromising coast terrestrial habitats, driving essential species further inland. Read More

How cyborgs are like old wooden ships

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

It is not an easy task to repair a historic ship, especially one that still sails. Centuries of saltwater have crept into her planks, rotting wood and rusting iron. Eventually, everything needs to be replaced, the ship that sailed 400 years ago shares no original parts with the ship that sails today under the same name, under the same flag.

Stop. Go back. Let’s talk about cannons.

In the 17th century, we decided that we could own the sea, or rather, nations decided that they could lay claim to their coastal waters. In De dominio maris (1702), Cornelius Bynkershoek proposed a 3 mile limit for territorial seas. Coastal countries began laying claims, annexing oceans as they still annex new land. Eventually, the 3 mile limit expanded outward, first to 5, than 12, then finally 200 miles, staking claims against not just a coastline, but an entire continental shelf, a nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Even today, some nations continue to exert and maintain extreme control over their 3 mile limit.

Why three miles? The best cannons of the era could shell a ship from 3 miles away. This provided a strategic advantage for coastal cities, who could maintain heavier artillery than a warship could carry. Three miles meant that a state could fire upon an enemy entering its territory before the vessel brought its own guns within range.

That limit is now meaningless, and indeed, was rendered obsolete within a few decades of its adoption. Technology moves faster than law. Today, we can fire upon an enemy from anywhere in the world, at any time, without warning. And yet, the 3 mile limit remains, informing shipping, fishing, diplomacy, and resource management, long after the long guns it was created to thwart have rusted away. Read More

Twenty Years Later, the Identity of Johnny Milkweedseed Finally Revealed

Posted on January 5, 2016 by David Lang

A team of journalists from WIRED have finally cracked the case on a twenty year mystery that, by now, has become almost the creation myth of the modern, radical techno-environmentalist movement. The identity of Johnny Milkweedseed, the name given to the anonymous person or persons responsible for the great milkweed explosion of 2021, was revealed to be Leslie Johnson of DuBuque, Iowa, now deceased.

The journalists re-opened the search for the mysterious actor after last year’s discovery of the original lab that was used to create the hybrid milkweed disseminated by Johnson in the summer of 2020. After tests confirmed the archive of plasmids indeed contained the roundup resistant gene found in milkweed 247a, a number of journalists followed them back to their source – an overgrown farm in Dubuque. The lead turned out to be Johnson’s nephew, Mark Lee, who had kept the garage biolab located in the back barn of the property in nearly perfect condition since his aunt’s passing in 2036. By then, she had moved onto more modern equipment that she was using to create apple and strawberry varieties for her farm, but the lab still housed a number of the classic devices Johnson used for that initial prototyping of milkweed 247a: petri dishes to grow bacteria, micropipettes for implantation, a huge archive of plasmids, as well as the DNA synthesizer that she used, which, as far as Lee knew, was “probably a second-hand machine she found on eBay.” Read More

Ocean Kickstarter of the Month: Control ocean plastic with BioBooms

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

“Two thirds of “collected” ocean plastic end up back in the ocean. Why scoop it when microbes can poop it?”

BioBooms: Eat the plastic out of our oceans, one trawl at a time.

broken

We’ve seen nearly 3 decades of ill-conceived ocean cleanup projects, and we’re still dealing with many of the same issues that arose when the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was first discovered. Adding insult to injury, a recent study revealed that almost 70% of all garbage collected during these ocean cleanup operation has ended up back in the ocean thanks to poor downstream control and a limited understanding of the plastic lifecycle on the part of these programs. Indeed, without longitudinal support, these plastic sucking boondoggles tend to be all flash and no pan. The point-source operations, like Waterwheel Global, have fared much better, but still do nothing for the plastic that is already out there.

BioBooms has the potential to change that. Using a proprietary plastic consuming microbe, the BioBooms team hopes to break down ocean plastic in situ, converting photodegraded plastics into fuel that will then be used to power their ships. Read More

Southern Fried Server Error: Please Stand By

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

Something strange is happening at Southern Fried Science.

Over the weekend, the Southern Fried Servers experienced a bizarre and unaccountable server error. Our regularly scheduled content was apparently and inexplicably replaced by what appears to be authentic articles from Southern Fried Science, circa 2041. While it warms my heart to know that our little blog will endure through the next quarter century, I recognize that Field Notes from the Future may be disconcerting and disturbing to some readers.

I am working diligently with our webhost to correct this problem. Unfortunately, the glitch also overwrote my admin account, so while I can push an update from 2016 onto the frontpage, I can’t delete the errant posts. I have managed to sneak some code into the current anomalies to help temper potential confusion, but it seems as though large chunks of HTML5 are not future proof, leaving us with few options for editorial control.

Until then, we’ll just have to trust that the Southern Fried Science authors of 2041 are as committed to an honest, open, and critical assessment of marine science and conservation as their contemporaries.

Paradoxes notwithstanding, I, for one, am excited to see what Team Ocean accomplished in the next 25 years.

Still time to get your Oceanography for Everyone microsatellite onto the next payload!

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

Do-it-together satellite builders, there’s still time to get your microsatellite onto our next payload. We’ve got 18.3 kilograms left on the next Mares Antares launch. As was the case last time, we’ve coordinated with a cohort of ocean conservation foundations, including Oceanography for Everyone, to cover the cost of shipping for this launch.

Did you miss this round of DIT Ocean Data Satellites? Don’t worry, we have another launch scheduled in 18-months, right after this round of satellites burn up in the atmosphere. With government satellites committed exclusively to infrastructure support, the only environmental data comes from foundation and citizen-owned satellites, as well as from the few private surveillance firms gracious enough to open-source their data post-monetization. Launches like this are mission critical for continuing to produce high-quality global ocean data.

Fortunately, the cost of materials has shrunk to the point where any capable student group or citizen scientist collective can build their own microsat (as a geneticist, it still annoys me that the DIT satellite community co-opted the term for my favorite old-school DNA assay). Getting your tiny data angel into space is our job. If you haven’t had the chance to build your own, the Microsatellite Foundation provides tons of instructions and resources for you.

And for all you interplanetary microsat makers, the Titan launch is only 6 months away!

Site-wide Notice

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Andrew Thaler