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Finger-severing beetles, Flat Earthers, Winter solstice: low sun & high moon

Q: I was reading your recent big-bug question and a question occurred to me when I looked at the biggest beetle on the left side of that image (By the way, Y-U-C-K!!!). My question: could a six-inch or larger beetle chop off a person's finger if it got ahold of it? Its pincers look menacing. Chris C., Largo, Florida

[Combined Scientific Supplies] Titanus giganteus, 6+ inches, collected in French Guiana, Feb. 1, 2001.

A: It might be able to cleave a finger. That is one mean beetle: the aptly named, Titanus giganteus. I wouldn't offer my finger to its open mandibles. Titanus snapped a standard lead pencil (and also a ball point pen) each in a single bite. He shattered a plastic ruler held too close while an investigator measured the beetle's length. I say 'he' because captured Titanus beetles are always males. Females ignore the elaborate 2000-watt light traps used to entice males.

"I have always felt," says Rod Lewallen of Insects International, " that the largest Titanus could probably sever a small finger, but hesitate to try it for myself! I spent two weeks in French Guiana last January and can attest to the feistiness of this creature."

An average male is 5.3 inches (13.5 cm) and some are over six inches long. They live in the steamy rainforests of French Guiana and Brazil. Adults don't eat anything--at least, we've never seen them feed--and live for three to four weeks.

Hunting the Titanus is fraught with peril. Sometimes he turns on the collector, marches forward, waves his antenna, and snaps his jaws. He probably would like a finger--for starters.

Further Surfing:

Insects International (Combined Scientific Supplies): Insects

U of Florida: Book of Insect Records, Largest insect

Q: Which person or group is given credit thinking that Earth is flat? Martin, Bend, Oregon

[NASA] Lunar eclipse and the Earth's curved shadow on the Moon

A: Long ago, many peoples believed in a flat Earth. In 3500 BC, the early Mesopotamians thought Earth a flat disk floating on the ocean. (Mesopotamia, the earliest civilization, was located about where Iraq is now.) In 500 BC, early Greeks believed much the same. Their maps depicted Earth also as a flat disk on an ocean. Their mythology also said: Oceanus, a river, flowed around the flat Earth. Beyond to the west, were the underworld and the sunless country of dreams.

Perhaps the Greek, Pythagoras, was first (in the sixth century BC) to theorize a round world. Aristotle (384-322 BC) came up with convincing arguments for a spherical shape. He watched the Moon eclipse the Earth and noted that the Earth's shadow on the Moon was always round. If Earth were a disk, the shadow on the Moon would sometimes be a line.

By the 3^rd century BC, all educated Greeks and Romans believed that the world is round. Probably educated people never abandoned this notion despite rumors to the contrary. I know, we've all heard how fearful Christopher Columbus was about sailing off the edge of a flat Earth. But, that is bunk.

Further Surfing:

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Flat Earth

Answering Islam: The Earth, flat or spherical?

Q: Why is the Sun is lowest in the sky on the winter solstice and why is the Full Moon highest then? Why is the Full Moon high when the Sun is low? --Eloy & Brandon Marquis

A: The winter Sun is low because the Earth is tipped away from the Sun. By the way, low in the sky means southward and high means northward.

Earth spins on its axis, causing day and night. Spin a globe. Notice the axis of rotation isn't straight up and down. Instead it's tipped from the vertical by about 23.5 degrees. Not much but it makes a difference. The difference between having seasons and not having seasons. Without that tilt--we would have eternal spring--dull. No summers, no winters. See graphic.

As Earth orbits the sun, it spins about a tilted axis and undergoes seasons. When the winter solstice arrives, Earth is tipped away from the Sun. So we in the Northern Hemisphere look south to see the Sun. Click HERE for figure. The Sun rides low (south) in the sky.

You've got the hard part--picturing a low winter Sun. Now it's easy to see why the Full Moon is high. Remember, Earth is between the Sun and the Moon when the Moon is full. Click for figure. Earth is tipped away from the Sun because it's the winter solstice and towards the Moon since the Moon is on the other side of Earth. And there you have it. We look north to see the Full Moon when we look south to see the Sun.

Further Surfing:

USA Today, Earth's seasons graphic

(Answered Dec. 20, 2002)