Hermette, Big Bang, Bear

(with thanks to Alexander Verbeek)

Scientists have just decoded a faint radio signal from over 13 billion years ago, known as the 21-centimeter signal, which was emitted by hydrogen atoms shortly after the Big Bang. Think about that: we're listening to signals from when the first stars began lighting up a cold, dark universe.

Meanwhile, researchers have confirmed that rocks from Quebec's Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt are at least 4.16 billion years old, making them the oldest-known rocks on Earth.

University of Ottawa geology professor Jonathan O'Neil, who led the study published in Science, used two dating methods based on the radioactive decay of samarium and neodymium. Both produced the same conclusion—the rocks were 4.16 billion years old.

My dating methods don’t exist. I haven’t been dating. Perhaps I’m too old. In other news, a young black bear in Michigan lived for two years with a plastic barrel lid trapped around his neck. When wildlife officials finally caught up with him in June, they tranquilized him, removed the lid, and set him free.

The lid's hole was five inches wide—just enough for a young cub's head to fit through. As the bear grew, the plastic didn't budge, digging into his thickening neck. Yet he survived, ate, grew, and evaded humans with a big blue plastic disc around his neck.

What does this mean? I don’t know. But here are two facts. While ICE destroys lives for no good reason, other humans spend their time figuring out how to free bears from barrel lids. And while politicians wage wars, scientists decode signals from the universe's first stars.

Sometimes I call myself a hermette, which sort of means avoiding humans at times, if not evading them. As in a female hermit. Sort of. I like my cocoon. It’s a good place to write and make art. One upside-down piece is below.

Art by author