European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Just wondering the color of eyes air planes and ears by the new York times a Peregrine Falcon equipped with a transmitter is sent off from Alaska on us flight to wintering grounds. Ai Alcon a Eye Lack at an ailing world by . Badger the associated press a Union of min technology and the migration of Peregrine Falcons is showing Promise for scientists who want a better look at some of the planet s biggest environmental ailments. Mercury contamination at brazilian Gold mining operations. Rapid deforestation in South America China and Southeast Asia. Decades of Wanton Industrial pollution in the former soviet Union. Learning More about these and other problems was among the goals when . Fish and wildlife service biologists in july strapped satellite transmitters onto a pair of female peregrines nesting on Alaska s Yukon River. The $2,700 transmitters looking like Sci i Jet packs were fresh from a Maryland design lab with the latest computer age advances. They weighed just under an ounce about As much As can be attached to a 2-Pound female Peregrine. Paul Howey a British biologist turned Gadget head built the Matchbox size devices. To do 50, he thought really Small much in the same Way As the computer whizzes who shrank Mammoth mainframes Down to pocket calculators. After years of working As a Bird migration researcher at Johns Hopkins University he quit in 1991 to Start a company microwave telemetry inc., dedicated to miniature zing the smallest transmitters then weighing about 3v2 ounces to Peregrine size. Tuesday november 16, 1993 the transmitter is powered by a Lithium Battery which comes on every four Days and emits a signal picked up by a weather satellite circling the Earth. The satellite records the signal s time and radio frequency and sends that information to the Nasa listening station at poker Flat research Range North of Fairbanks Alaska where computers figure out the Peregrine s location. Scientists Sny the Peregrine s position at the top of its food Chain what it. Eats contains the accumulated toxins of All prey Down the line makes it a Good gauge of ecological woes. Well catch these Birds next year an take measurements blood samples an Feather samples and then release them again skip Ambrose . Fish and wildlife service the Birds found on every continent except Antarctica Are also valuable to scientists because they have Long Winter migrations and they return to the same wintering grounds year after year,.and. Thus can be used to Monitor changes there Over time. Those in the Western hemisphere head from their Northern nesting areas in the United states Canada and Greenland As far South As Brazil and Argentina. From banding thousands of peregrines Over the past 50 Vears the stars and stripes biologists know generally where the Birds go for the Winter but they Aren t. Clear on routes the Birds take to get there or How fast they travel. The Yukon River peregrines outfitted with transmitters by skip Ambrose head of fish and wildlife s endangered species program in Alaska Are filling in some of those gaps. One started flying South on aug. 31 and a week inter was detected Over the Northern great Plains. A map of its. Route shows a 3,800-mile straight Arrow to the  in South Florida where it has. Been since mid september. The other left Alaska on sept. 6 and in a month travelled 4,400 Miles passing through the Canadian Rockies to North Dakota to Missouri and then South to Mexico s Yucatan Peninsula and the East coast of Honduras. Although the Bird has been Idle for. Three weeks Ambrose thinks it May continue its migration to Brazil. While the locators have worked Well for tailing the peregrines Ambrose says the True measure of Success won t come until the Birds return to their nesting areas next Spring. Fish and wildlife biologists have captured and banded about 3,000 peregrines in Alaska in 20 years but have had Little Success in retrieving and testing them Ambrose says. The transmitter he says is going to change everything. Well catch these Birds next year and take measurements blood samples and Feather samples to test for Mercury and other accumulation Sand then release them  the goal is to build up an information Bank and work with countries where peregrines go both to protect the Birds and Monitor environmental changes. When one Parent has Blue eyes and the other has Brown eyes do their children have Blue or Brown eyes parents with Blue and Brown eyes might have a child with either Eye color. According to the american medical association encyclopedia of Medicine Eye color is thought to be controlled by a single pair of genes. The genes controlling Eye color have two main forms called alleles that code for Blue or Brown eyes. A person can have a pair that Blue Blue producing Blue eyes Brown Brown for brawn eyes or Brown Blue producing Brown eyes because the Brown Gene is dominant masking the recessive Blue allele. When a couple has a child each Parent passes on one pair of genes controlling Eye color. A Brown eyed person with Brown Blue genes has a 50 percent Chance of passing on the Blue Gene and a 50 percent Chance of passing on the Brown. That Means that if the other Parent also has Brown eyes and Brown Blue genes there is a 1-in-4 Chance of having a Blue eyed child and a 3-in-4 Chance of having a Brown eyed child. If one Parent is Brown eyed with Brown Blue alleles and the other Parent is Blue eyed there is a 50 percent Chance of a Blue eyed child and a 50 percent Chance of a Brown eyed child. Of Why do my ears Hurt More on a plane when it is Landing than taking off the eustachian tube which connects the Middle ear and the Back of the nose. Normally opens periodically to. Equalize air pressure on both sides of the eardrum says the Ama encyclopedia. The lower end opens during swallowing and yawning for example. If the change in external pressure is sudden and rapid however and the eustachian tube is not open pressure May build up on one Side of the eardrum pushing it inward or outward. If the plane is taking off. The Cabin pressure is reduced by about one third and the pressure inside the ear is greater than the external pressure. A popping sensation May be Felt As air trapped at ground level pressure in the Middle ear and sinuses escapes through the eustachian tubes and sinus ducts. This is usually painless As the pressure is away from sensitive tissue. The reverse is True upon Landing the pressure in the Cabin becomes greater than the pressure within the ears and sinuses if the eustachian tube is blocked the inward pressure on the eardrum can be painful. To ease this pain air needs to be reproduced into the Middle ear and sinuses and this is harder to do than passively letting air escape. 15