Here’s an email from listener Dan Mason. He poses an interesting question about the ability of insects and other animals to hone in on things that are in motion:

I missed my morning bike ride yesterday so I rode in the evening instead. A firefly landed on my shoulder. I did not notice it until it flared. I stopped my bike and watched it for a brief period then decided it was not too heavy and started pedaling again.
I was bemused by the thought of how the beetle landed on my shoulder. Sure the firefly had taken off from a stationary-to-the-earth point. It and I must have been traveling in different directions in at least two dimensions and at different relative-to-the-earth speeds.
I was in an airport last April. It had moving sidewalks. The sidewalks were teeming with signs urging passengers to beware of the moving sidewalks, to hold on, to be careful, etc. My shoulder is bereft of such signage in any language, even assuming a firefly could read it when trying to land on a moving object or that a firefly would read it when not paying attention.
What has a firefly got that I ain’t?
My question is more about “Insects and landing on a moving object v. People and moving objects” than about fireflies. Getting other theories might be interesting, but I am genuinely interested in who an insect or bird has to do to land on a swaying tree branch or telephone wire and why I can’t do the same thing, aside form the fact that I don’t so much fly as plummet.
Sincerely,
Dan Mason

Saturday, July 9th, I’ll be performing in NYC at the Algonquin Seaport Theater at 7 PM.  It’s located on Pier 17 in South Street Seaport, 89 South Street.   Have been a singer/songwriter for many years; another pulse of the planet.  If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by. Come early, it’ll likely be one set only.

Jim

Does anyone know what type of snake this is?  Found in a wood pile in Ulster County, NY.

Thanks;

Jim

It hailed the night before last – a fairly unusual event here in the foothills of the Catskills.  It is a prodigious sound event.  Yes, we recorded it and may even post it on this blog at some future date.  The question that arose is an old one.

Do you let in the moment in all its glory or do you pay the price of putting the recorder between you and the experience?  Photographers must also ask themselves this question all the time.  The hail was brief, furious and loud!  I couldn’t help but feel that I had, in the interest of recording it, sacrificed something more important.

Jim

Attention SF Bay area fans of Pulse of the Planet! I’ll be presenting at at Science Cafe hosted by KQED/Quest, Tuesday, May 10th.  Hope to see you there. Note that space is limited and an RSVP is required:  Here’s the official announcement:

Ever wondered what extraordinary things the earth might say if we took a moment to listen to it?  Here’s your chance.  Join Jim Metzner of “Pulse of the Planet” to listen to some amazing audio, and to talk about the science and the journalism behind it.

WHEN:

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

6:39 – 7:00 PM Refreshments

7:00 – 9:00 PM – Audio Salon & Science Café

WHO:

Jim Metzner,

Award-Winning Audio Producer and Host of  Public Radio’s “Pulse of the Planet,” Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

WHERE:

KQED Public Media

2601 Mariposa Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

RSVP REQUIRED:

http://soundsofscience.eventbrite.com/

“The Sounds of Science – an Audio Salon & Science Café”

What’s behind the strange and disorienting booming sounds in the Gobi Desert? What’s the purpose of the high-frequency cry of the Tiger Moth? What does the call of a single bird, like the Scarlet Macaw, tell us about biodiversity?

No one has captured the sounds of the planet and explored the science behind them like Jim Metzner, the award-winning host and producer of public radio’s “Pulse of the Planet,” one of the longest running programs about science and the environment.

A science journalist for more than 35 years, Metzner has explored the world by conducting audio expeditions to remote locals such as the Australian Cloud Forests, the Pantanal Wetlands south of the Amazon, and the Gobi and Sonoran Deserts, among other fascinating places. He has interviewed hundreds of scientists and researchers along the way, developing a comprehensive grasp of current innovation in science, as well as a healthy respect for the cycles and rhythms of nature. His work is both timely and timeless.

Can audio make science more accessible? In this Audio Salon & Science Café, Jim will play some of his rare, evocative recordings, and we’ll discuss story, science, audio and life on earth.

Join us for beer, snacks, listening and conversation.  Space is limited.

Presented by Stacy Bond & AudioLuxe

Co-Sponsored by KQED’s QUEST and the SF Bay Area Journalists Association

Mount Athos from the Stavroniki Monastery Vineyard

It was like stepping back in time.  For a thousand years, Mount Athos on the tip of a penninsula in Southern Greece, has been at the heart of the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  There are twenty main monasteries here, plus numerous sketes, smaller communities affiliated with the monasteries.  About 2000 monks live on Athos, and although it’s a difficult place to get to, pilgrims from all over the world do come here, especially at Easter time.

On Pulse of the Planet, we often focus on the rhythms of life, and on Mount Athos, each monastery has a definite rhythmic structure to its day.  In cenobitic monastaries, the monks follow a rigid calendar, waking, eating, praying, working at set times.  In ideorhythmic monasteries, the monks – under the direction of their abbot – decide day-to-day to follow their own schedule based on the needs of the moment.  Besides the daily pulse of the monastery, there are the calendric holidays like Easter – often based on a lunar calendar – which all the monasteries obey.  On the midnight cusp between Saturday and Easter Sunday, you are likely to hear bells all over Mount Athos.  However each monastery often has its own subjective take on what time it is!  The formula for determining when Easter occurs in the Orthodox calendar is fairly complicated.  Officially it is the first  Sunday after the full moon  (the “Paschal Full Moon”) following the northern hemisphere’s vernal equinox.  By decree, Orthodox Easter must take place after Passover.

One over-riding impression of the monks of Mt. Athos is their openness and warmth.  Theirs is the way of the heart. In witnessing their relations with each other, in conversations with them, in breaking bread, you begin to feel the penetrating influence of their good-will.

Another impression – this one in sound, not words, as a treat for the readers/listeners of this blog, for a limited time.  These are the bells of  St. Andrew’s skete, recorded on Easter Sunday.

Click on this link to hear the recording:

Bells, St. Andrew Skete, Mount Athos, Easter

***

On to San Francisco, where I’ll be doing a Science/Audio Cafe at KQED Quest on the evening of Tuesday, May 10th.  Details to follow.