The Red Mangrove is distributed in costal ecosystems throughout the tropics. It forms a characteristic saline woodland habitat called a mangrove swamp, growing on aerial prop roots which arch above the water level giving stands of this tree a characteristic appearance.

Because they are well adapted to salt water, they thrive where many other plants fail and create their own ecosystems called mangals. The roots act as an ultra-filtration mechanism to exclude up to 97% of the salts from the costal saline water. Salt which does accumulate in the plant concentrates in old leaves which the plant then sheds.

Red mangroves absorb air through pneumatophores, specialised root-like structures which stick up out of the soil like straws for oxygen intake. These “breathing tubes” typically reach heights of up to thirty centimeters, and in other species, over three meters.

Mangroves protect coastal areas from erosion and storm surge during hurricanes. The mangrove’s massive root system is efficient at dissipating wave energy. They slow down tidal water enough that sediment is deposited as the tide comes in, leaving all except fine particles when the tide ebbs. Because of the uniqueness of mangrove ecosystems and the protection against erosion that they provide, they are often the object of conservation programs.

Ludwigia arcuata, or Long-Stalked Seedbox, is a species native to the southeastern United States, where it grows creeping or submersed in swampy environments and along the edges of rivers and ponds.

It is a reddish stemmed plant that has a strong tendency to branch. Easily grown emersed in damp soils, it produces a stunning flower. The beautiful yellow flowers have four comparatively large petals and are a distinguishing characteristic of the species

Though it is one of the most delicate Ludwigia species, Ludwigia arcuata is somewhat of a mainstay among aquatic plant hobbyists. It is normally available as “Needle Leaf Ludwigia” and can be procured through most internet aquatic plant retailers.

The pollen grains are loosely held together by viscin threads, meaning that only bees that are morphologically specialized to gather this pollen can effectively pollinate the flowers. It is easily propagated from the seeds as well as from cuttings.

Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are generated in the brain. Most active during pre-natal development, neurogenesis is responsible for populating the growing brain with neurons throughout life.

There is evidence that neurogenesis is important for learning and memory. Multiple mechanisms for the relationship between increased neurogenesis and improved cognition have been suggested, including computational theories to demonstrate that new neurons increase memory capacity, reduce interference between memories, and add information about time to memories.

It is possible that these neurons augment the role of the hippocampus in the negative feedback mechanism of physiological stress and perhaps in inhibiting the region of brain responsible for fearful responses to stimuli. This is consistent with numerous findings linking stress-relieving activities such as learning, exposure to a new environment, and exercise, to increased levels of neurogenesis.

Some studies have hypothesized that learning and memory are linked to depression, and that neurogenesis may promote the ability of the human brain to change as a result of one’s experience. One study proposes that mood may be regulated by experiences and and not chemistry. Accordingly, the effects of antidepressant treatment would be secondary.

In psychology, preparedness is a concept developed to explain why certain associations are learned more readily than others. For example, phobias related to survival, such as snakes, spiders, and heights, are much more common and much easier to induce in the laboratory than other kinds of fears.

This is a result of our evolutionary history. Organisms which learned to fear environmental threats faster had a survival and reproductive advantage. Consequently, the innate predisposition to fear became an adaptive human trait. Because early humans that were quick to fear dangerous situations were more likely to survive and reproduce, preparedness is theorized to be a genetic effect that is the result of natural selection.

Fear can sometimes create the condition we commonly call disease. Realistically, mammals all develop disease throughout their lifetimes but they remain unaware of this fact because the immune system recognizes the threat and eliminates it. The long term effect of chronic fear on the immune system can be extremely damaging.

For some, becoming aware of fear and changing the response to it has brought about a lessening of disease. By taking a deep breath, pausing and reflecting, one can identify a negative belief system and replace it with a positive, loving belief system that can remedy problems before they escalate.

Ochre is a term for a golden yellow or red color. Ochres are among the earliest pigments used by mankind, derived from naturally tinted clay containing mineral oxides. Chemically, it is hydrated iron oxide. Modern artists’ pigments continue to use the terms yellow ochre and red ochre for specific hues.

It was the most commonly used material for painting walls in the ancient Mediterranean world. In Athens, when assembly was called, a contingent of public slaves would sweep the open space with ropes dipped in ochre. Those citizens that loitered instead of moving to the assembly area would risk having their clothes stained with the paint. This prevented them from wearing these clothes in public again, as failure to attend the assembly incurred a fine.

A popular coloring during the time of the French Empire, many French citizens living in foreign colonies would import a great deal of ochre clay from France to make their new lands feel like home. After the period of French colonization ended, ochre became associated with repression and fell out of favor. Recently, however, natural ochre paint has seen something of a comeback as an upscale house paint option.

In Newfoundland, red ochre was the pigment of choice for use in vernacular outbuildings and work buildings associated with the cod fishery. Deposits of ochre are found throughout Newfoundland, notably near Fortune Harbor and at Ocher Pit Cove. While earliest settlers may have used locally collected ochre, people were later able to purchase pre-ground ochre through local merchants, largely imported from England.

Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism toward a particular behavior. Instinctual actions have no learning curve. They are hard-wired and ready to use without learning. Some instinctual behaviors depend on maturational processes to appear.

Immediate instinct, also known as imprinting, causes geese to follow around the first moving object that they encounter, as it tends to be their mother. A favorable trait, such as an instinct, can improve survival rate of life forms possessing the instinct.

Many scientists consider that it is instinctual in children to put everything in their mouths, because this is how they tell their immune system about the environment and the surroundings, and what the immune system should adapt to.

A displacement activity is a behavior that is the result of two contradicting instincts in a particular situation. A human may scratch its head when it does not know which of two options to choose. Similarly, a bird may peck at grass when uncertain whether to attack or flee from an opponent.

Automatic parallelization refers to converting sequential code into multi-threaded or vectorized code in order to utilize multiple processors simultaneously in a shared multiprocessor environment.

Though the quality of automatic parallelization has improved in the past few decades, fully automatic parallelization of sequential programs by compilers remains a grand challenge due to its need for complex program analysis and unknown factors such as input data range during compilation.

Gustafson’s Law is a law in computer science which states that any sufficiently large problem can be efficiently parallelized. Gustafson’s law addresses the shortcomings of Amdahl’s law, which does not scale the availability of computing power as the number of machines increase. It removes the fixed problem size or fixed computation load on the parallel processors.

Amdahl’s law, also known as Amdahl’s argument, is named after computer architect Gene Amdahl, and is used to find the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only part of the system is improved. It is often used in parallel computing to predict the theoretical maximum speedup using multiple processors.

A compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the Earth’s magnetic poles. It consists of a magnetized pointer, usually marked on the North end, free to align itself with the Earth’s magnetic field. The compass greatly improved the safety and efficiency of travel, especially ocean travel.

Compasses were initially used in mysticism in ancient China. The first known use of the Earth’s magnetic field in this way occurred in ancient China as a spectacle. Arrows were cast similarly to dice. These magnetised arrows aligned themselves pointing north, impressing the audience. Curiously, it took some time for this trick to get used by the Chinese for naval navigation, but by the 11th or early 12th century it had become common.

The earliest Chinese compasses were probably not designed for navigation, but rather to order and harmonize their environments and buildings in accordance with the geomantic principles of feng shui. These early compasses were made using lodestone, a special form of the mineral magnetite that aligns itself with the Earth’s magnetic field.

Since then, more accurate devices have been invented for determining north that do not depend on the Earth’s magnetic field for operation. A gyrocompass or astrocompass can be used to find true north, while being unaffected by stray magnetic fields, nearby electrical power circuits or masses of ferrous metals. A recent development is the electronic compass which detects the magnetic direction without potentially fallible moving parts. This device frequently appears as an optional subsystem built into GPS receivers. However, magnetic compasses remain popular, especially in remote areas, as they are cheap, durable, and require no electrical power supply.