While we’re on the subject of insects [ “Spiders aren’t insects!” — “Oh, don’t be such a freaking literalist!” ], here’s an urgent message from Physics Today:
In 2005, we all witnessed, via the international media, the devastation that hurricanes caused in property damage and loss of life. Katrina alone almost destroyed New Orleans and flooded other portions of the US Gulf Coast; other hurricanes ravaged parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.
Scientists the world over are aware of the butterfly effect: A butterfly flaps its wings in some part of the world and starts a chain of nonlinear effects that can result in a hurricane striking anywhere on the planet.
That butterfly must be found and stopped!
Mr. F. Alex Nava offers some timely steps we should take to prevent further butterfly-induced devastation.
I checked my calendar and it’s not April 1, so I think we should take this seriously, don’t you?
But then another butterfly will rise to take its place. We’re doomed.
Among other contingencies, Mr. Nava speculates there may be more than one butterfly involved:
His plan of attack is wide-ranging, but if there is a one-percent chance that a butterfly is engaging in weather shenanigans, it must be found and [euphemism alert—Ed.] dealt with severely.