The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Study May Yield Solution to Fish Population Puzzle
Scientists have long believed that overfishing killed California’s sardine fishery in the 1950s, turning Monterey’s Cannery Row into a shopping mall. But marine ecologist Steven Gaines of UC Santa Barbara thinks overfishing was just part of the problem.
According to Gaines, marine organisms undergo dramatic swings in population, sometimes for reasons that baffle scientists. With a grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles, Gaines and four UC Santa Barbara colleagues are beginning to study the forces that govern the rise and fall of marine populations.
The problem of studying these organisms is that most begin life as free-floating tiny larvae, often barely visible to the naked eye. They float in open water for weeks at a time, far from any scientific observers. By the time they take up adult life in coastal areas, they may be hundreds of miles from their birthplace.
Because it has been impossible to track the larvae, it has been hard to forecast the number of individuals that will end up at any location. The Santa Barbara team hopes that compact computer equipment for measuring the currents transporting the larvae, analyzing the minute quantities of telltale chemicals that accumulate daily in the ear bones of fish, and observing and counting the movements of larvae or juveniles into an area of settlement such as a coral reef will help them track the full life cycles of the fish. The information they gather should have important implications for managing fisheries, maintaining biodiversity, monitoring the effects of marine pollutants and identifying biologically sensitive coastal areas.
Moby Digit: The technophiles among us argue that the printed book is obsolete in this digital age. Book lovers argue that nothing will ever replace the look and feel and ease of use of the traditional book. Joseph Jacobson, a researcher in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Laboratory, is developing a technology for digital paper that may let people have it both ways.
If Jacobson succeeds, a book that is “Moby Dick” one day can be “The Grapes of Wrath” the next. The technology that would make this possible is an electronic “ink” made up of tiny particles that are black on one side and white on the other. These particles flip over, depending on the electronic charge beneath them, making patterns that look like traditional type.
For a book, a computer in its spine would program these particles to “set” the desired text, which would remain stable until reprogrammed. Jacobson thinks a prototype is a few years away. If he succeeds, though, you could store your entire library on a small table.
