Re: H1N5 (and Bakker's virus extinction hypothesis) now H5N1

[Adrienne Mayor <afmayor@aol.com>]

On the correlations between volcanic eruptions and evidence of  
epidemics and climate change in the past, see the impressive work by  
NASA scientist Richard Stothers.

Here is the beginning of an article about his work on the AMNH Earth  
Bulletin website:

"Why does a NASA scientist spend most of his time poring over ancient  
Greek and Latin history books? It's not a hobby-it's part of his  
research. Richard Stothers, with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space  
Studies, has spent decades reading ancient manuscripts in search of  
evidence linking volcanoes to climate changes. By comparing the dates  
of past volcanoes with historical accounts of atmospheric phenomena,  
he has found compelling evidence that volcanoes can significantly  
change the weather and can even cause crop failures and disease  
pandemics...."

full article on his studies:

 http://earthbulletin.amnh.org/D/3/2/

On May 14, 2006, at 9:11 AM, Phil Bigelow wrote:

"A.D. ~540     Possible impact event somewhere on Earth (hinted at by
Irish chronicles and Chinese writings, as well as by growth rings in old
trees around the world).  Sky darkness and low temperatures reported.
Principal investigator: Mike Baillie, PhD, Queens University, Belfast,
Northern Ireland."


The close date matchup with the epidemic is probably nothing more than a
coincidence, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.  A lot of
weird historical s^&#$ was happing around that date.  The mythical
(historical?) King Arthur purportedly died around this date.  European
record keeping was near its nadir at this point in history.   
Fortunately,
the Chinese chroniclers picked up the slack.

<pb>
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