BLEAK SCIENCE BINGO

This week, more news from the world of science. And, given that this is 2020, the Official Year from Hell, get out your Apocalypse Bingo Cards, boys and girls, and prepare to play, because you won’t believe what the universe is throwing at us this time! 

 It’s not enough that we’ve had a worldwide pandemic, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, landslides, melting ice at both poles, an acceleration of species extinction, madmen in charge of governments around the world, wars, riots, locust invasions, Asian giant hornets and fill in the blank with whatever might be affecting your neck of the woods, now come the latest nightmares to disturb your sleep. Just shout Bingo! if you complete your row of unlikely crazy scenarios! 

Oh-so-appropriate meme courtesy Matt Jagger's Music FB Page

Don’t Plant The Seeds!—Folks in 27 states have received warnings from the U.S. Agricultural Service and the U.S. Postal Service about mysterious packages arriving in the mail containing unidentified seeds. The seeds, which appear to come from China, but which may or may not actually come from China, are unsolicited, and no one knows precisely what kind of plants will grow from them. Some people think the seeds are a plot to discredit the Chinese, some that they are simply a marketing tool to generate fake reviews on Amazon, though the senders (and the product) are obscure.  

The warnings, which have been splashed across traditional and social media are clear, though: DO NOT plant the seeds! Remember kudzu, “the vine that ate the South?” Over a hundred years ago, some bright bulb thought it would be a good idea to import it from Japan to stabilize eroded hillsides. Now we can’t get rid of it. The list of invasive plant species causing similar trouble in the U.S. because of someone’s lack of foresight is long and alarming. If you receive the seeds in the mail, contact your local post office and extension service, and mark off “alien seeds” on your Apocalypse Bingo card. 

Jumping Worms—As an organic gardener, I never would have thought an earthworm could have been the villain of the piece. In fact, I wasn’t aware there were parts of the country where earthworms weren’t native at all. But apparently New England, the upper Midwest and Canada, are devoid of native earthworms, due to the structure of the soil left behind by retreating glaciers after the last Ice Age. (Any earthworms to be found are likely imports of European species brought over in ship ballast, etc.) Forest floors don’t rely on earthworms to break down detritus, either. Other creatures—fungi, bacteria, millipedes and so on—do that job. 

Your common night crawler-type earthworm is no real threat to that kind of system. But according to an article in the New York Times, the invasive Asian jumping worm, which has been found in Oregon, the upper Midwest, parts of New England and the mid-Atlantic, and now even the southern Appalachians in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, can be devastating. It eats through masses of leaf litter and the top layer of soil much more quickly than other worms and leaves behind, not a fertile, well-aerated growing medium, but loose, crumbly, sterile soil that looks like coffee grounds and grows nothing. Yikes! They’re called “jumping worms” because of their exaggerated, thrashing movement when disturbed. They also have a distinctive whitish band around the top third of their bodies. If you find them in your yard or garden, call your extension agent right away. And, yes, you get another mark on your Apocalypse Bingo card! 

Finally, some almost good news—If you love horror movies in the apocalyptic or disaster vein, like I do, research shows you may be better equipped to deal with real-life disasters like the pandemic we’re currently enduring. A study from scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark (currently under peer review) monitored the enjoyment levels of people watching movies the scientists identified as “prepper” stories—tales of alien invasions, apocalypses and zombies—versus those of strictly “horror.” They then compared those enjoyment levels to the watchers’ reported positive experiences and “overall comfort level” during the pandemic. 

According to their results, those who most enjoyed watching the prepper stories reported the most positive experiences and higher comfort levels during the pandemic, indicating that their familiarity with the possibilities presented onscreen may have better prepared them for the reality they faced with the pandemic. They felt “better able to cope” compared to those who avoided watching movies like CONTAGION altogether. People who liked straight horror movies proved to be “psychologically resilient,” but not necessarily well prepared to deal with the realities of the moment. 

In an interview about the study with The Guardian ,Coltan Scrivner, a psychologist who specializes in morbid curiosity at the University of Chicago,said, "If it's a good movie, it pulls you in and you take the perspective of the characters, so you are unintentionally rehearsing the scenarios. We think people are learning vicariously. It's like, with the exception of the toilet paper shortage, they pretty much knew what to buy." 

So, keep watching those disaster movies, folks. You might learn something that helps you win Apocalypse Bingo! 

Cheers, Donna 

*Information for this post provided by:

 “Do NOT Plant The Mystery Seeds: People Across The US Receive Unsolicited Seed Packs From China,” by James Felton, IFLScience Newsletter, July 29, 2020. 

 “As Summer Takes Hold, So Do the Jumping Worms,” by Margaret Roach, The New York Times, July 22, 2020. 

 “Fans Of Horror And Disaster Movies May Be Better At Coping With The Covid-19 Pandemic,” by Rachel Funnell, IFLScience Newsletter, July 3, 2020.