This morning we woke up to an early snow and an early visitor…
Coyotes eat most everything they can find… from deer and rabbits to berries and tasty late season treats… apples…
Coyote’s are really adaptable canids (members of the dog family = Canidae); they are omnivores (= eat both plants and animals, like berries and rodents) that over time have adapted from living primarily in prairies and brushy areas to also living in cities, forests, and even along ocean shores.
Coyotes were originally found in central western North America (in yellow). As habitat was altered by human use and wolf populations (and other predators) were reduced, coyote populations expanded and now include almost all of North America and Central America.
Phylogenetic tree of the Canidae. Source: Lindblad-Toh, K. et al. “Genome Sequence, Comparative Analysis and Haplotype Structure…” Nature (2005 Dec 8)
Coyotes were first called “jackal”, “Spanish fox”, “prairie wolf”, and “brush”or “little wolf”. The name “coyote” comes from the Nahuatl name coyōtl; the 1st published use of “coyote” was in Clavijero’s “Historia de Mexico” (1780).
Genetic analysis shows that the relatedness of coyotes, or other canids, is not as simple as once thought.
Coyote facts:
Scientific name: Canis latrans .(translates to barking dog)
Collective Noun: Pack!
Identification:
Physical: 3′-4.5′ long (nose to tip tail), 20-45 lbs, similar coloring to a German Shepherd dog. Longer and narrower muzzle than most dogs. Wolves can look a LOT like coyotes from a distance, especially when young, but adult wolves have a much broader muzzle and larger nose pad.
Scat: varies a LOT! Usually 3″-4″ long and ~1″ diameter. Scat from meat tends to be very dark and smooth, from plant matter variable and crumbly.
Range: Almost all of North and Central America historical range western and central North America
Habitat: fairly ubiquitous (= almost everywhere on land is possible)
Food: Omnivore (eats plant and animals), commonly hunting at night.
Natural Lifespan (wild): usually about 4-5 years, but up to 14 years.
Breeding/Behavior: Sometimes mate for life, sometimes by year. Breeding takes place from early February through late March and pups are born from April through May. Pups stay in the den the first few weeks. Feeding growing pups can be very demanding, making this time of the year harder on coyote/human interactions;
coyotes are very protective of den sites and pups.
where coyotes are removed (hunted or trapped) the female coyotes will produce more pups per litter.
A study published today (Nov. 2, 2017) in the journal Current Biology (“Morphometric, Behavioral, and Genomic Evidence for a New Orangutan Species“), lists the Tapanuli Orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) as the rarest great ape on Earth, with population estimates lower than 800 individuals (for more info on the the rarest ape/primate species see Rarest Primates). The great apes are all found in the family Hominidae, and include: orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans.
Credit: J. You (SCIENCE)
Found in the upland forest regions of the island of Sumatra, the Tapanuli orangutan was previously thought to be within the same species as the Sumatran orangutan. Scientists used genetic analysis to confirm the morphometric information ( = analysis of form [shape and size]) to distinguish the Tapanuli from the Sumatran orangutan. Morphologically identifying features included a generally smaller skull, teeth shape, and facial shapes. Interestingly the males long roar call (audio) has a longer duration and higher maximum frequency than the Sumatran or the Bornean orangutan. A bit more obvious to the casual observer, the Tapanuli orangutan has a body build more similar to the Sumatran (linear), but coloring more similar to the Bornean (but even more cinnamon-y). The Tapanuli is also frizzier than both other species, and the female is bearded.
Current (as of today) classification for the great apes, Hominidae (only currently extant [ = living] species included), and all but 3 are considered critically endangered and 2 of the remaining 3 are considered endangered:
Humans have been brewing & fermenting for thousands of years; likely accidentally at first by hunter-gatherers, but then … for various reasons … we found we liked it…
Women were the primary brewers and fermenters in most cultures until the 17 & 18 c. (Print and Color, QuestX ColorME Card).
The earliest evidence (so far) of premeditated fermenting was ~7000 BCE, in northern China by Yi Di, using rice, honey, hawthorn fruit, and /or grape; by 5400 BCE grape wine and barley beer were beginning to be concocted in Sumeria… and the Egyptians were brewing beer by 3400 BCE.
FYI … Ninkasi Beer is named for the ancient Sumerian guardian-goddess of beer (i know… ancient and Sumerian… seems a bit repetitive, eh? )
Stay tuned for more fun brewing factoids!
Brewing/fermenting was also used to preserve and sanitize foods and fluids.
Throughout most of history, females (from goddesses to mortal women) were primary in the arts & sciences of brewing and fermenting.
Women were the primary brewers across all continents until brewing was viewed as profitable (~17-18c.), when they were barred in most areas from brewing commercially.
Interestingly much of the symbolism surrounding witches, which came from European traditions, match many items from European brewing and fermenting traditions, including: brooms (sign posts and sweeps), cauldrons (for brewing), cats (to protect grains), and possibly even the tall hats (to be seen in a crowd when selling brew).
Join us for more as we explore the science and history of brewing and fermenting at QuestX.
In the mean time, here are some fairly basic (& good!) recipes to try for brewing and fermenting:
Basic Ale Recipe: 5 gals of water, 5-7 lbs of Hopped Pale Malt Extract syrup, 1 pkt of dry Ale yeast, 3/4 c corn sugar
Basic Steps for Brewing Ale
Boil 2 ½ gallons of water
Meanwhile, put yeast in 1 cup warm water and let it stand 10 minutes before adding 1 tsp sugar
Let the mixture stand until it foams – about 30 min
Carboy (fermenter bottle)
Dissolve the malt syrup in the boiling water
Boil the water for 1 hour, stirring frequently
Rapidly cool the wort by placing the pot of water in a sink or larger pot full of ice water
Pour the wort into the fermenter (bottle)
Add the yeast to the wort and mix thoroughly
Attach airlock to the fermenter
Place the container in a cool place for 2-3 weeks
Boil ¾ cup sugar in some water and let it cool
Pour the solution into the fermenter and mix gently
Siphon beer into sanitized bottles using clean siphon
Cap each bottle tightly
Age the bottled beer at room temp about 2 months
Apple Cider Recipe
These instructions are scaled for 5 gallons of cider. Since we rarely make 5 gallons at a time (usually it’s tens of gallons), I can guarantee that the recipe can easily be scaled as needed.
Ingredients
Apple juice
Freshly pressed is best!
If you don’t have access to freshly pressed apples, you can use juice purchased at any grocery store. Just make sure that it’s free from any preservatives, as any preservative residue may kill the yeast used to make the cider. Organic apple juice is usually the safest bet.
Campden tablets* – these are only needed if you’re using fresh pressed apple juice
Yeast** – Although there are special apple cider yeasts, almost any wine yeast will do. We prefer Montrachet Champagne yeast.
Honey or sugar – the sweet stuff is only needed for making sparkling cider.
Equipment
5 gallon food safe bucket
5 gallon glass carboy
Airlock stopper
Siphon
Bottles – we prefer flip top bottles for convenience
Procedure
Pre steps for fresh pressed cider
Rinse apples before pressing them
Press enough apples for at least 5 gallons of juice
Clean the 5 gallon bucket and put the juice in it
Crush 5 Campden tablets and add them to the bucket
Leave the juice with the Campden tablets sit for 24-48 hours
Dissolve 1 packet of yeast in luke warm water
Thoroughly mix the dissolved yeast and the apple juice in the 5 gallon bucket (food safe bucket, of course!)
Leave the mixture sit for 3-4 days, lightly covered (NOT tightly sealed) –this is the aerobic metabolism stage where the yeast needs access to oxygen to go forth and multiply
Sanitize the siphon and the carboy
Siphon the apple juice into the carboy
Attach the airlock – this begins the anaerobic metabolism stage. When the yeast consumes the available oxygen, they begin to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide is released through the air lock, the alcohol (in liquid form) remains for later consumption.
Let the carboy sit and ferment for 3-4 weeks, when the bubbling from the airlock almost stops.
Siphon the cider into airtight bottles
If you want sparkling cider, add ½ cup honey dissolved in water to the carboy and mix gently before bottling. The remaining yeast will process the new sugars, producing carbon dioxide. Since the carbon dioxide can’t escape the sealed bottle, it remains dissolved in the cider to be released when you open the bottle.
Store the bottles in a cool place for at least three more weeks. This “finishes” the cider and allows the flavors to fully develop. In fact, if you try the cider before the finishing step you probably won’t like it.
* Campden tablets => freshly pressed apples have naturally occurring yeasts all over them. In fact, these yeasts led to the first fermentation products (i.e., ciders) before we started controlling which yeast to use in order to produce specific flavors. Campden tablets are commonly used in wine and cider making to kill the naturally occurring yeasts so that we can choose which yeast to use. It works quickly, and off-gases in about 24 hours, so it doesn’t affect the flavor of the final product.
** Yeast – many strains of yeast are available, all with different alcohol tolerance and flavor profiles. Unlike commercial cider, which is frequently back-sweetened, most cider is very dry. The Montrachet yeast we use produces a clean, dry cider with moderate alcohol content. You can try different yeasts to see which flavor profile you prefer.
Links to more info, recipes, and tips, on brewing and fermenting:
Recipes on this page currently include: Basic Ale and Cider.
Coming soon to this page: Cyser and Mead!
Basic Ale Recipe: 5 gals of water, 5-7 lbs of Hopped Pale Malt Extract syrup, 1 pkt of dry Ale yeast, 3/4 c corn sugar
Basic Steps for Brewing Ale
Boil 2 ½ gallons of water
Meanwhile, put yeast in 1 cup warm water and let it stand 10 minutes before adding 1 tsp sugar
Let the mixture stand until it foams – about 30 min
Carboy (fermenter bottle)
Dissolve the malt syrup in the boiling water
Boil the water for 1 hour, stirring frequently
Rapidly cool the wort by placing the pot of water in a sink or larger pot full of ice water
Pour the wort into the fermenter (bottle)
Add the yeast to the wort and mix thoroughly
Attach airlock to the fermenter
Place the container in a cool place for 2-3 weeks
Boil ¾ cup sugar in some water and let it cool
Pour the solution into the fermenter and mix gently
Siphon beer into sanitized bottles using clean siphon
Cap each bottle tightly
Age the bottled beer at room temp about 2 months
Apple Cider Recipe
These instructions are scaled for 5 gallons of cider. Since we rarely make 5 gallons at a time (usually it’s tens of gallons), I can guarantee that the recipe can easily be scaled as needed.
Ingredients
Apple juice
Freshly pressed is best!
If you don’t have access to freshly pressed apples, you can use juice purchased at any grocery store. Just make sure that it’s free from any preservatives, as any preservative residue may kill the yeast used to make the cider. Organic apple juice is usually the safest bet.
Campden tablets* – these are only needed if you’re using fresh pressed apple juice
Yeast** – Although there are special apple cider yeasts, almost any wine yeast will do. We prefer Montrachet Champagne yeast.
Honey or sugar – the sweet stuff is only needed for making sparkling cider.
Equipment
5 gallon food safe bucket
5 gallon glass carboy
Airlock stopper
Siphon
Bottles – we prefer flip top bottles for convenience
Procedure
Pre steps for fresh pressed cider
Rinse apples before pressing them
Press enough apples for at least 5 gallons of juice
Clean the 5 gallon bucket and put the juice in it
Crush 5 Campden tablets and add them to the bucket
Leave the juice with the Campden tablets sit for 24-48 hours
Dissolve 1 packet of yeast in luke warm water
Thoroughly mix the dissolved yeast and the apple juice in the 5 gallon bucket (food safe bucket, of course!)
Leave the mixture sit for 3-4 days, lightly covered (NOT tightly sealed) –this is the aerobic metabolism stage where the yeast needs access to oxygen to go forth and multiply
Sanitize the siphon and the carboy
Siphon the apple juice into the carboy
Attach the airlock – this begins the anaerobic metabolism stage. When the yeast consumes the available oxygen, they begin to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide is released through the air lock, the alcohol (in liquid form) remains for later consumption.
Let the carboy sit and ferment for 3-4 weeks, when the bubbling from the airlock almost stops.
Siphon the cider into airtight bottles
If you want sparkling cider, add ½ cup honey dissolved in water to the carboy and mix gently before bottling. The remaining yeast will process the new sugars, producing carbon dioxide. Since the carbon dioxide can’t escape the sealed bottle, it remains dissolved in the cider to be released when you open the bottle.
Store the bottles in a cool place for at least three more weeks. This “finishes” the cider and allows the flavors to fully develop. In fact, if you try the cider before the finishing step you probably won’t like it.
* Campden tablets => freshly pressed apples have naturally occurring yeasts all over them. In fact, these yeasts led to the first fermentation products (i.e., ciders) before we started controlling which yeast to use in order to produce specific flavors. Campden tablets are commonly used in wine and cider making to kill the naturally occurring yeasts so that we can choose which yeast to use. It works quickly, and off-gases in about 24 hours, so it doesn’t affect the flavor of the final product.
** Yeast – many strains of yeast are available, all with different alcohol tolerance and flavor profiles. Unlike commercial cider, which is frequently back-sweetened, most cider is very dry. The Montrachet yeast we use produces a clean, dry cider with moderate alcohol content. You can try different yeasts to see which flavor profile you prefer.
So … pizza skulls have been floating around lately… and QuestXhad to put them to the test (strictly in the name of science, of course ).
……Wilton Dimension 3d mini-skull mold
We started with our standard pizza dough (recipe), cut the entire dough in to 2 pieces and rolled them out (one at a time) rectangular-ish on a lightly floured surface. Cut each piece in to 4 rectangular strips (~4″x9″).
Oil or non-stick spray your skull molds so the pizza skulls come out of the mold cleanly.
Skull Pan filled with Pizza Stuff!
Lay each dough strip over (and down in to) each skull mold of the baking pan.
Fill the dough- first put a shy *1/4 cup shredded cheese in to the bottom of the shell, follow that with ~*3 Tbsp sauce (tomato or pesto), continue to fill with your choice of *pizza fillings (vegetables, sauteed mushrooms, meats), and end with adding additional ~*2 Tbsp sauce.
Roll the ends and edges of the dough together over the top of the filling and pinch the dough together (closed).
Sometimes we take them out a few minutes early, top the closed dough with a bit more cheese, and put it back in to finish off .
Bake on 400°-425° F (middle rack) for 20 minutes. Cool for a few minutes.
We recommend using large spoons to help gently roll the Pizza Skulls out of the pan while it is still hot, leaving them in the hot pan to cool can cause sticking and burning.
… and they’re ready to eat! (with onewarning … the pizza stuffing is hot!)
Our standard pizza dough recipe is very versatile for thin crust styles of pizza, so it works great for special projects (like the pizza skulls).
Ingredients:
super easy pizza dough for thin crust pizza
1 Tbsp active, dry yeast (1 packet)
2 tsp sugar (or honey)
1 1/2 cups water, warm
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
Optional: 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan or other hard cheese
Directions:
Start with dissolving the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water in a small bowl for 4-5 minutes.
For this part we recommend using the mixer/food processor (it just takes a bit more work by hand- see hand-mixing suggestions)… mix the flour, salt, remaining sugar, and hard cheese. Next, while mixing, add the yeast mixture and oil. After this is mixed well, add the remaining water to form a smooth dough mixture. Continue mixing until the dough balls up (if the dough is too wet slowly add a little flour), at this point the dough is adequately kneaded.
(Hand-Mixing Suggestions: Stir dry ingredients in large bowl and make well in center. Add the liquid ingredients in to the well and stir from the center outwards. When the ingredients are well-mixed remove the dough form the bowl and knead it on a floured surface for 6-7 minutes until smooth or elastic.)
Oil (or nonstick spray) a large bowl, put the dough in, and cover with a damp kitchen towel (to rise) for 30-45 minutes (it will about double in size). If you need to put it in the ‘fridge, let the dough rise for several hours.
Rolling dough instructions
Normal: Cutting the dough in to 4 equal parts will make (4) 6 oz. pizza crusts.
Use a lightly floured non-stick surface to roll out your dough (parchment paper works well); shape it to your pizza pan.
Specials: Look to specialized instructions in individual recipes (like Pizza Skulls)
Freezing
After cutting dough to desired size for your pizzas, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in freezer. Mark it with freezing date and keep it up to a month.
Defrost at room temp for several hours (or overnight it the fridge) and then roll out; you’re ready for pizza.
Baking
Put your toppings on and bake at 400°-425°F for 20 minutes.
It is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (before or after the equinox), usually falling in September. September’s full moon was 16 days before the autumn equinox, the October full moon is 13 days after, so this year the Harvest moon is in October, October 5.
Harvest Moon
Cultures around the world have special names that the moon is called according to it’s phase and season, especially the full moons.
Why?
Because the moon could be used to track the seasons and help to guide activities, like planting and harvest.
Because of the tilt of the earth and the way the earth, sun, and moon “behave” around the equinox there is a slight shift in when the moon rises around the autumn equinox, so instead of rising ~50 minutes later each night it rises 10-30 minutes later (depending on how far north you are). See our QuestX
post on the moon’s shifting orbit around the earth (in QuestX ‘s The Moon Series) for more information. The moon rises very shortly after the sun sets resulting in day light transitioning into a bright night, light enough for farmers to work into the evening, harvesting crops, so the Europeans called this moon “Harvest Moon”.
In exactly one hour we slip over the edge from summer to fall, at 20:02 UTC (8 PM UTC, 4:02 PM EST, 1:02 PM PST, and go here for your local time).
So, you ask, what makes this the deciding moment?
It is the moment when the sun crosses the earth’s celestial equator, due to the tilt of the earth and it’s circling of the sun, and the sun begins to shine more on the southern hemisphere than on the northern hemisphere.
Earth’s progression around the sun.
On the two equinoxes (spring=vernal, fall=autumnal) the earth’s axial tilt (look at the red dot on the *north pole*) is perpendicular (at 90 degrees) to the rays from the sun.
Wherein we discuss such things as how science & nature documentaries present research (and nature!), a bit about why QuestX does what it does, some of our thoughts about our respective fields, sciencing, how we got into sciencing, and some other fun stuff.
The voices:
<– Danaan DeNeve– Evolutionary ecologist, PhD student at UC Merced
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<–Morgan Barnes– Soil scientist, PhD student at UC Merced
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Nate Fox– Paleontologist, PhD student at UC Merced –>
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(with friends ;p )
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We discuss several things in this podcast which might benefit from the aid of a visual guide, which we have attempted to provide below, along with some helpful and exciting links:
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We start off our magical mystery tour through several grad students’ brains with aplodontids…
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This is a mountain beaver. They are rodents, but they are not beavers. Mountain beavers are the sole surviving members of the Aplodontid family, which notably included the only horned rodents ever known to have existed.
Here’s a timeline showing where aplodontids fall in relation to the rest of the rodent family.
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An unexpected foray into reptiles…
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So apparently when you Google “horned rodent” sometimes armadillo lizards come up too. They migh be even better than aplodontids, if a little hard to be.
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Other podcast mentions include:
Oreodonts were giant pig-sheep-things of the Miocene and Oligocene. Wikipedia has some good starting information about these guys:
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Entelodonts were some pretty wild critters too!
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And then of course there’s Synthetoceras, another strange Miocene artiodactly (deer-like animal).
For reference, a lovely geologic era timeline by Ray Troll. Please note this is a very simplified timeline and is NOT TO TEMPORAL SCALE
(we’ll have a better geologic time scale available soon!)
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Basic Ale Recipe: 5 gals of water, 5-7 lbs of Hopped Pale Malt Extract syrup, 1 pkt of dry Ale yeast, 3/4 c corn sugar
Apple Cider Recipe
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