Pollen

<p>POLLEN: DARWIN’S 130 YEAR PREDICTION</p><p> </p><p><strong>Elementary Science – POLLEN</strong></p><p>How long does it take for science to find an answer to a problem?</p><p>On January 25 1862 naturalist <strong>Charles Darwin</strong> received a box of orchids. One flower the Madagascar star orchid fascinated him. It had an 11.5” nectary the place where flowers make nectar the sweet liquid that insects and birds eat. How he wondered did insects pollinate the orchid? It took 130 years to find the answer.</p><p>After experiments he made a prediction. There must be a giant moth with a 11.5” proboscis a straw-like tongue. Darwin died without ever seeing the moth which was catalogued by entomologists in in 1903. But still no one had actually observed the moth pollinating the orchid.</p><p>In 1992 German entomologist <strong>Lutz Thilo Wasserthal Ph.D</strong>. traveled to Madagascar. By then the moths were rare. He managed to capture two moths and released them in a cage with the orchid. He captured the first photo of the moth pollinating the flower as Darwin had predicted 130 years before.</p><p>Backmatter includes information on the moth the orchid Charles Darwin Lutz Wasserthal. Also included is Wasserthal’s original photo taken in 1992.</p><p><strong>MOMENTS IN SCIENCE COLLECTION</strong></p><p>This exciting series focuses on small moments in science that made a difference.</p><ul> <li><em>BURN: Michael Faraday’s Candle</em></li> <li><em>CLANG! Ernst Chladni’s Sound Experiments (2019 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book)</em></li> <li><em>ECLIPSE: How the 1919 Eclipse Proved Einstein’s Theory of </em><em>General Relativity (Fall 2019)</em></li></ul>