Michael Rosenthal

(8/2022) Monkeypox is a rare disease similar to smallpox, caused by a virus. It had been found mostly in areas of Africa, but has now appeared in other parts of the world. It causes rash and flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills, and a rash can take weeks to clear. The Cleveland Clinic has stated in the past that there has been no proven treatment for it, and usually people have just waited for it to go away on its own.

Monkeypox is so new to our community that there may be frequent updates to the symptoms observed and effective treatments. Anyone is vulnerable to monkeypox. In Africa in the past, most cases were found in children under 15 years old. It also has been found to have sex-related activity. The source of the information in this article is largely from The Cleveland Clinic. I suspect that as the frequency of the disease increases there may be modifications to what I have written here.

The Washington Post reported in June that the disease is actually not as contagious or severe as smallpox, which has been largely eradicated from the earth. It was first identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. It spread from there to a dozen or so African countries. The disease is now spreading in Europe and North America. It is not clear to scientists what the transmission mechanism is. It definitely spreads by close contact with body lesions, body fluids, and contaminated household materials such as bedding, clothing or eating utensils.

It is not a respiratory virus like that which caused the coronavirus pandemic. A person with monkeypox remains infectious while they have symptoms, which may include fever, headache, lack of energy, swollen lymph nodes, and skin rash or skin lesions. The illness was found to last two to four weeks, and no deaths were reported as of early June outside of Africa. The director of the World Health Organization has suggested that the appearance of the virus outside of Africa indicated it may have been quietly spreading for some time. The largest number of monkeypox cases has been in Britain, Spain, Portugal, and Canada.

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Bird feeding has always been fun for me. Though I avoided biology courses as I was growing up because it was too descriptive to suit my compulsive personality, I always have enjoyed things biological as a hobby, while chemistry formed the basis of my profession. I even talked my high school in Youngstown, Ohio (also known as Crimetown USA; there is a fascinating book available on Amazon with that title)) to let me skip biology and take physics, chemistry, and four years of math. Thus my approach to bird feeding isn’t very scientific.

My house has a deck which is close to woods, so I get a lot of birds passing through. I have eight high quality bird feeders hanging across the back of the deck, and there is a woods adjoining the house on two rear sides. Thus we get a lot of birds at our feeders and unfortunately, we also get a lot of squirrels! But in spite of a hummingbird feeder, I haven’t seen a hummingbird all spring (and now summer). I use purchased hummingbird nectar, and I keep the feeders clean, but I’ve not seen a single hummingbird this year. Any ideas for me?

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Potomac Edison provides an environmental report to its customers, and I find it interesting as a scientist, but also as an energy-consuming citizen. I wish that the house I live in had solar energy, but that was not an option when we had the house built in 2003-04. The energy use here for the Potomac Edison area, required to be reported by the Maryland Public Service Commission, is as follows.

For the year 2021 the largest source of our energy remains gas generated at 38.18%. Nuclear Energy isn’t far behind at 33.11 %. I am a strong supporter of nuclear energy, since no gas emissions result from it. Coal, a very "dirty" fuel still provides 22.03% of my energy. Oil is a mere 0.18 %. This adds up to 93.5 % of our energy sources in Emmitsburg. Only 6.48 % of our energy comes from renewable sources. The renewable sources, in order of magnitude are: wind @ 3.36%, hydroelectric @1.28%, solar @0.89%, solid waste @ 0.52%, captured methane gas@ 0.26%, and wood or other biomass @ 0.17%.

All this activity of course results in air emissions, which we frequently read about as threatening the environment. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the really bad guy, who most likely contributes to global climate change. Our CO2 emission is 843.31 pounds per megawatt-hour of generated electricity. By contrast, sulfur dioxide, not good stuff either, is only 0.48 pounds per megawatt hour, and various nitrogen oxides (NOx) only produce 0.38 pounds per megawatt-hour of generated electricity.

I have always joked about Mother Nature as if she is a conscious entity. Of course, I as a conventionally trained PhD scientist (Inorganic Chemistry @ The University of Illinois) don’t believe that. But one cannot, religious or not, always ignore the question whether there is some force in the universe that determines things like climate, but still obeys clearly stated rules (laws of nature) in bringing about the state of the universe. This is where the crossroad of science and religion meet, and I am not wise enough to suggest any plausible answer to the questions that arise. I leave it to the reader to ponder such issues, and to come to your own conclusion.

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