Summer in Gothic has been hot and dry, paralleling warming trends seen globally. Strong winds have been blowing dust onto every surface, and the biting flies remain. For two weeks we had no rain at all. Until a few days ago, when the monsoon returned, bringing moisture from the Pacific Ocean, and clouds to the…

I spend a few days each week sitting in a meadow waiting for flies to bite me. Not by choice. The reason we are in the meadow is to measure plant thermoregulation with an infrared camera. But the camera, once we set it up, requires very little attention. Every few hours we change the battery,…