Frantically trying to remember what my og idea for why the fuck LI even insisted so much on saving Micah was like a dudebro trying to explain why the straight couple with no chemistry on a movie "totally works"

Yeehaw partners I finally pulled my head out of the ground and finished writing the first chapter of what is hopefully going to be a charthur centred series. 

Warmth in a Cold Spirit

Tags:  Slow Build, Fire side talks, Mutual Pining, hunting trips, Snow, lots of snow, possible Snowball fight, Fluff and Angst, Mountain Wilderness, will there be bears? could be, gift giving, subtle flirting, and by subtle I mean blatant, alternate universe - canon divergence

It’s nowhere near yet but this series will eventually obviously breach spoiler territory, so I figure I’ll put that here just in case because I’m paranoid. 

(taking the link off to see if that makes it visible, link to my AO3 on my page) 

Chapter 1

It’s a funny thing, time. Days can feel as if they span years as months can pass in the blink of an eye. Charles is no stranger to this concept, having too much time or not enough, and his time with the van der Linde gang has been a particularly poignant example. He didn’t think, when he’d joined up with them for sheer convenience half a year back, that he’d have stayed this long. Since his father had been killed and he had killed those responsible he’d been on the run, had settled nowhere, valued nothing and let no one close enough for it to hurt when he inevitably lost it. And though he had always been a man with a deeply ingrained sense of morals, allowing himself to get attached had been taken off the cards completely.

That was until he'd accidentally stumbled into the gang and gotten to know Arthur Morgan. After that he found that that former conviction to remaining unattached was going to be severely challenged. He can’t pinpoint when he started caring, started giving a shit about this ragtag band that he’s accidentally fallen into, a family of sorts he supposes. But he thinks he can pinpoint who it started with. Upon first impressions, you could be forgiven for thinking that Arthur Morgan was a gruff, irate son of a bitch with plenty of brute strength but not much going on between his ears. That would be inherently and quite frankly insultingly false, though it was the persona he cultivated for himself and the one that Charles had initially bought into during his first weeks with the troupe. But the thing was, he could never keep it up and as Charles became more integrated with the crew he noticed little things about Arthur that perhaps those who weren’t paying attention past his rough exterior wouldn’t notice.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the man cared. He cared deeply about the people around him about the animals he trained both for himself and for the gang. The first time Charles had watched him break in a new colt he’d been ready to jump in, muscles tense as he expected it to go bad, but the gentleness with which Arthur approached and the inherent understanding he seemed to have of the animal meant he needn't have worried. It was just little things, like the presents he’d bring back for the little boy, Jack. The way he’d ruffle his hair and indulge the kids little whims whenever he had the chance, how he’d settle down with the girls and listen to their most recent plights and triumphs and encourage them to pursue whatever it was they were planning next with only a word of caution to stay safe. Never once had he seen Arthur treat anyone other than an equal unless they damn well deserved it. Charles watched all this, watched this man who adamantly denied that he was in any way good, care more than most anyone else he’d known and found himself beginning to care again too.

Then of course shit had hit the fan, just as Charles was beginning to make sense of the faint stirring of something deep in his chest every time he glanced over to see Arthur laughing with one of the girls or cooing at his horse as he brushed out her mane they had been up-heaved. A colossal fuck up on their latest job, he still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, saw them all running for their lives from the Pinkerton agency, up into the mountains and quite possibly to their doom. They’d lost a few in the ensuing gunfight, and then more still on the getaway. He hadn’t known Jenny or Davey well, but he mourned them with the rest just the same.

It was truly a testament to what Charles thought of the man that when Arthur had come to him that night after they’d managed to find the little village in the mountains and squirrel away there to ask if he could borrow Tamia, his beloved Boudica still fresh in the ground, that Charles had agreed without any hesitation. That horse had been with him since they were both just barely finding their legs in the world, he would not trust anyone else with her so readily. Though he tried to play it off as nothing something of the significance of the action must have showed on his face as Arthur had given him a soft, reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder, a low grumble of “I’ll take care of ‘er. You’ve my word on it” being his goodbye as he disappeared into the blizzard with Dutch to find Micah. He’d never admit it to anyone but Charles had counted every minute until their return, worry pooling in his gut that was undeniably not just for his horse.

They’d both made it back that time, Arthur greeting Charles with a grin and a wink as he handed over Tamia’s reins, his newly split lip cracking under the strain of the smile. He’d watched as Dutch had explained what’d happened, the frightened young woman by his side whipping about and staring at them all in a way that reminded him of a cornered animal. He’d watched as Arthur had made sure to cover the young lady’s back, make sure she didn’t feel exposed as she made her way over to the other women, had murmured something to her softly that’d caused her to give him a strange, but oddly grateful look before she was whisked away.

He’d wanted to speak to Arthur more, though he wasn’t sure how and as he watched the other man get ushered away by Ms Grimshaw, his gait slow and laborious thanks to both the snow and the exhaustion, turn and give him another little smile and a wave he’d tried not to analyse too deeply the fluttering in his stomach and instead had bowed his head in return before moving away to his own bunk, the cold seeping into his bones and his injured hand throbbing even as sleep beckoned. That first night felt like hell to all of them, but only because they couldn’t have known of the horrors that awaited them.

So it’d gone like that, Charles made himself useful in camp once his hand was mostly healed, tended to the horses and worked on repairs with the other men to make the hell hole they’d wound up in a little more liveable. Working alongside them in a more hands on environment had given him a new perspective on a lot of his fellow gang members, and though he be loath to admit it out loud he supposed the comradery was nice.

He’d pushed down the worry when Arthur and Javier had disappeared into the blizzard to look for John despite the traitorous little voice in the back of his mind telling him that they were going to lose three more of their number to this accursed mountain and kept himself busy instead scrounging up supplies to make arrows, something he knew they were going to need if they had even a hope of surviving up here, as hunting was going to be imperative. And when the others had returned a day later, a heavily injured John in tow, he’d had to choke down the lump in his throat at seeing them all safe, at the knowledge that the night before hadn’t been the last time he’d see Arthur’s smile.

Later on that evening Arthur had come to sit beside him where he’d been settled by the fire working on the middle stages of a bow, the strong and sturdy birch wood carefully carved and glinting pale in the ample but dim light of the room. He’d said nothing, but the gentle brush of their shoulders had spoken plenty of the quiet comradery they always shared as Arthur shifted against him with a weary sigh, offering Charles that smile tinged with the bone deep weariness that came with being stuck in such abysmal weather. He found himself smiling back, even if just a little and the joy that lit in Arthur’s eyes at the simple response nearly took his breath away. Covering for himself he rolled his eyes and went back to concentrating on what he was doing, focusing perhaps more intently than he needed to as his fingers were well practised in their movements, performing a dance as familiar to him as breathing.

He couldn’t help but glance up through his lashes however when there came a rustling from beside him, the tell-tale soft fwsh of paper sliding against paper as Arthur opened his journal, took out some charcoal from the little satchel that often seemed permanently glued to his side and began to draw. Whilst he didn’t want to overstep or encroach on Arthur’s privacy the temptation to peak was strong. Not many people got the chance to look in the journal that Arthur was always so fiercely protective of and the simple fact that he was willing to work on it right beside him was a significant gesture that was not lost on him. Still, he held himself back from nosing and continued to work on the bow. It was meant as a gift though it was admittedly going to be a necessity as well in the coming weeks given their lack of decent food. Stringing it carefully he hummed a tuneless, but pretty little song and found himself only partially surprised when a lower, gravlier hum joined in. Glancing up he met Arthur’s endlessly blue gaze without entirely meaning to, the man it seemed had been looking at him, or rather studying him for some time it seemed.

He arched an eyebrow and watched as Arthur blinked and ducked his head, abashed like a child who’d been caught stealing from the cookie jar and though the light was dim he could’ve sworn that Arthur was blushing. Convincing himself he must be seeing things he offered the other man a slight smile

“You okay, Arthur?” his tone is pitched low, unwilling to disturb the peace around them as he continued to put the finishing touches to the bow, watching his friend curiously.

“M’fine Charles, jus’ thinkin’” Arthur glanced back up at him with a crooked little grin and Charles once again found himself having to swallow down the little flutter of his pulse quickening before he could speak

“Hmm, and what’re you thinkin’ about Mr. Morgan?” he pressed gently, a hint of teasing in his tone that had Arthur chuckling “That we’re in a whole heap o’ trouble if we don’t start figurin’ out our next move. We’re gonna run out of food soon, with so many mouths t’ feed” Charles hummed thoughtfully, biting the inside of his mouth to keep from smiling as he silently decided now was as good a time as any.

“Well, I don’t know about a plan, that’s more Dutch’s thing. But I think I could help out with the food problem” at Arthur’s questioning gaze he lifted the bow that had been resting in his lap and held it out “I was going to do this tomorrow, but since you’re here now. This is for you” he held it out, waiting for Arthur to take it and trying not to smile at the awestruck look on his face.

“You - for me?” he seemed to struggle with the right words but eventually found his voice once more as he tentatively reached out and took the bow in his hands, examining it almost reverently “Charles this- this is really somethin’. You made this for me?” Charles rolled his eyes, nudging Arthur playfully with his shoulder

“Yes, you fool. Who else?” at that Arthur gave a huffing laugh “S’pose I deserved that” he ran his hands over the bow slowly, taking in every swirl and curve in the grain of the wood.

“So, this idea o’ yours?” he trailed off and looked up, a familiar playful light sparking in his eyes

“Hunting trip tomorrow?” Charles felt his own mouth split into a grin “Hunting trip. Figure if we manage to nap a couple of bucks, that should help with our food issue, at least for the time being” he shrugged, then before Arthur could speak “And you can’t go hunting with your rifle, damn things are too noisy, all you’ll end up doing is scaring everything off” there was a pause, and then Arthur chuckled softly

“Wasn’t gonna contest Charles, I trust ya’” he winked and Charles felt his heart stutter a little. He snorted softly, swaying with the motion as Arthur nudged him playfully “C’mon it’ll be fun, jus’ you n’ me out there” Charles rolled his eyes “Idiot” but his tone was laced with an affection that made Arthur smile.

“Alright then, so we leave at first light tomorrow yeah?” at Charles’ nod Arthur gets up, the soft rustle of fabric the only sound in the room for a moment other than the quiet breaths of their already sleeping compatriots

“Come wake me, probably easier than me wakin the lot o’ them fools you’re havin’ t’ bunk with” Charles couldn’t stop a soft bark of laughter at that, true enough he supposed, he didn’t need to deal with a load of irate cowboys so early in the morning

“Alright Arthur, I’ll come for you” he watched as Arthur shifted, slinging the bow carefully over his back then glancing over and opening his mouth to speak “Don’t worry about the arrows, I’ll have some for you in the morning” his presumption proved correct when the other man’s mouth closed with a soft snap and he offered a grin instead then after a second of hesitation he reached out to press a hand to Charles’ shoulder.

For a moment neither of them moved and all Charles could feel was the intense heat radiating from Arthur’s hand, the solid weight it was providing and his own heartbeat. Instinctively he leaned into it just a touch and it prompted Arthur to finally move, giving his shoulder a gentle pat and a final wink “Fair enough, g’night Charles. Sweet dreams” he rumbled, voice gruff with both trying to stay quiet and the obvious tiredness he was still suffering from.

Charles found himself giving a slow nod “Same to you Arthur” he paused, watched Arthur move towards the door and then, on impulse “Try not to oversleep, yeah? I’d hate to have t’ leave without you” the quip has the cowboy looking over his shoulder, mischief dancing in his eyes as he offered a salute

“I’ll try my best Mr. Smith. But I’m sure you’ll find a way to wake me if I do” and with that he stepped out into the bitterly cold night, making sure to close the door to the cabin behind him and leaving Charles to his own thoughts.

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North Winter fell in the first place by one Jeannie pushing brand out of the tower is the immune also really fascinating is the way that you ended I think when it went all his characters first gathered at the drive Dragon pit there’s someone that John says about what we can see hereand be what happened over the last 50 years Jamie’s key to survival is literally talking these people is not debating what happened over the last six is like walking there like I have this information about Circe that you don’t have will it by me my life I think that’s a Sometimes I Talk To Myself The We Both Laugh and Laugh Funny T-Shirt from AmazinkShirt.com great great come up hereand basically blow up Terry in spot you like a guess what Circe is going to betray you shot she was treated you before like your horses write reviews she is really serious we live okay how is Jeannie can ingratiate himself with starts after what happened with Brandt how are sansand oriented to responsiveness the key is that it seems like this is really a problem reside in the trailer this is the man who killed her father people killing a lot of people’s fathersand live off their budget. Post August 12 2020 there is no there is no longer a debate Florida Sheriff bans deputies and visitors from wearing masks so shout out the German right here Marion County Florida Sheriff Billy Woods asked for bid and his deputies were wearing masks right because you don’t fucking need him and he knows was going on he probably watches my channel for all we know but shout out that is going on a lot of good shares in Florida have noticed I also noticed that we only are too many police brutality or stories coming out of Florida at all so shout out to our police in Florida for not being all crooked pieces of shit Jonathan’s brother Billy was being a share Billy was her being of being woke I guess what they call it an shout out to the people of Marion County will elected in their share of the you guys really really get a good job at that excellent work with that and that’s how how the system in the United States were to see that share that’s an elected position anything how did he get that position because people. I wonder woman hates she knows Chris Hemsworth was on sunglassesand Michael Rappaport roommate from them only gets his overall well into collateral movies like this is the daily story to run either all the latest in a world of movies with some returning favorites here very happy to welcome back to the show Misty how are you todayand doing it is for you this is our palatial for once he was nonlife

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I would Tupac lived as governments amended to student said is not the mouse to our I’m in the open right now my West Mac him I very hard so this is the way to buy lives in Oaklandand is 275 right there apartment H know it when it is time my head right now this is a Sometimes I Talk To Myself The We Both Laugh and Laugh Funny T-Shirt from AmazinkShirt.com MacArthur 275 right there thought you guys a look at the building of industry three you know anyone is interested in maybe I can figure out which one of those he was in but I know with a me some of the correct me if wrong so you of the freeways right there is 580 Merrick down there to 75 right here I go around what he used to maybe I don’t want him back to check it out all my I sigh I did that right there had to be quiet though is a filmand thief I think is that you live in Tupac’s old apartment that is dedicated quiet giveaways out there now is it was on the back in 18 on the anything I can get like that so I said right is crazyand changing numbers around was right there when I was looking at my video from yesterday I was like man that’s only like six apartments may be right there in the same ABCand only you know is not enough to get enemy agent in the back as I did in the back so there it is wrong to parklands Micah back to the other video me going around the neighborhood I might go around the neighborhood a little bit more was he was up if it goes between Daisy know no trip but cannot do our job these SAIC is the scenery I’m in a scene where he lived in the in Baltimore some more so if I wanted to come by hereand do this for years I just cannot is the live somewhere barely ever go byand when every time I come by Ray so right on the street this agency area bed might not be the best video you guys that you have a lot you walk away we get something married deathly is only by taking about fiveand maybe I’m not that overpass right there is a lot that you like like is a really no side of the right here is the late the middle of by their partner right now is that the first block MacArthur Byron was causing his light year is a link right here right now really supposed to be filmingand driving on your phoneand drive in the whateverand 80 matter is five radiator is a lake right there late this is visit related so we can keep it back on will go back into the neighborhood right here we might be able to identify which one of those buildings with which one is apartment eight even when I walked around the side right think you figure like that I be the reason you cannot track your for you guys want to see a his neighbor is what you go back to the street say I see so I want to move a lot like I mean I think this site is only spot I hear no always been at this fine meeting might not always been here you know you still many traveling any a lot of stuff so if anyone out there knows I know you can sign in on this how is kindling is out here so I’m from 83and he was out here like 9992 meeting maybe 93 starlight Albany is 670 5 8 so the tape he does it right there hopefully that every little piece of the puzzle you know every little piece of year the lower decide to get the street sign say guys to see his now got a tree on it now EM also I walk over here my ficus leaders over like stuff like this my car was me in the cornerand maybe that would be a video for you to do in a little forget itand I walk around a little bit just as if you from oakland there are no this is where time was all around these parts he lived here you can imagine the war pulling about here in parking if I cannot smoking weed with themand drink in their file here to ravenand kicking in doing all types to sit orderand helen pizza said who knows you know are disposed crack in the communist way when I speak about it saysand I he says any one interviewee says I asked him where he stayed he said oakland is about a lake like merrick macarthur so his work is what he was amount I hear soand yet i’m a big passing of real for paris alumni giving it again driving in againand that vampire fan for real so I went to do a video like this for a whileand the walk around the world to me here. DISAPPOINTING AS A COVER UP NOW WITH THE APPEALS COURT RULES THAT HILLARY DOES NOT HAVE TO TESTIFY UNDER EMAILS OR THE BENGHAZI ATTACK RECORDS SO THIS REALLY GOES RIGHT INTO THE FACE OF JUST NORMAL EXECUTION OF HAVING PEOPLE BASICALLY TESTIFY IN THESE COURT HEARINGS AND COURT CASES SO I WILL SEE WHERE THIS GOES BUT THAT WAS A DEFINITE SETBACK TO DEFTLY WHAT WERE TRYING TO DO IS GET AT THE TRUTH MIXES DRAM CHARGES THIS LAST WEEK A FORMER FBI ATTORNEY WHO ALTERED THE EMAIL ON CROSSFIRE HURRICANE PROBE SO THIS IS DEFTLY INTO THE PFIZER REPORTS THAT THE FOUR DIFFERENT SIZES THAT THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN A SECOND SOURCE IS MITT ROMNEY BLOCK SEN. 5 million you get a pay because here’s here’s how this is this is it was a no win situation because if you’re looking through itand you see that this movie has Oscar written all over to the studio here every you put to get a really set your there’s no way Kevin Spacey is nominated for an Oscar is no way does know it is impossible your movies be much you’re scrapping it so what you need to do then is reassessand say okay we can do an unprecedented move hereand reshoot all of his scenes get Christopher Plummer election looks the part two by way of the use of the make up we can do this take the shot that we can only done this already spend the 25 with the understanding that we know what were doing here we believe in this thing that is if the gamble pays off it’s a it’s a gamble if the gamble pays off that’s 25 to get back in the because everyone’s eyes will now be on this even more so because the press of what they did the unprecedented moveand if you’re able to pull it off was able to give a kind of performance that knocks it out of the park went by goes away with with with nominationsand you know more people going to see it in the understanding of getting out to the public it’s a it’s a gamble but it’s a it’s it’s a gamble were taken yesterday writing this is pennies on the dollar contrary to the title of the movieand IMA a mighty box office this is such a positive swirl of news around it coming off the fact that you had in jazzand Kevin Spacey’s entire performance people love Christopher Plummer the sound of music you want a statue for beginners everything is not in between he put him in this I know that the studio all along wanted to make a huge Oscar push for Michelle Williams’s performance in all the money the Mark Wahlberg is also it seems to have some name powered to this if you spent 2 1 2 million dollars C SPAN essays than 5 million to do all these reshoot the Christopher Plummer in there the movie is going to make that money back because a lot of people may not have heard of all the money in the world more humans have now I think to get be intrigued if my nothing else the morbid curiosity of you pull a shoot like this off in such a small amount of timeand still eerily fitting award consideration yeah I like it really was like when I can do an ECG replacement I would actually just shoot a practical so that’s is also the fastest way to do it as a shoot they can edit they could pinpoint all the scenesand just redo themand cut them into the movie on because it was isolated scenes is aware though that Christopher Plummer I think there’s another plumber in the film note that’s his actual grandkid the kid is playing the crankand it did look it up on IBB is another plumber same spelling of the name I don’t know if they’re related you went toand instead of the end be like the occupation yes so CSE is not Plummer on February just like we just the plumber Mario in the movie makes total sense I mean it does sound crazy like it’s coming out a month but in the take all the money you need to make it you know to make this right because I think with all of these situations Louis CK’s film not coming out now all these I mean our hearing Andrew Kreisberg from the arrow verse you know they had to lock him down toand investigate all these allegations it’s a pretty horrible situation every data every day to hear about all these different thingsand keep hitting home like if you love and love super doesn’t matter what I love you see this went out it is a horrible thing he certainly thought were here yes but is also very encouraging because this stuff is been going on for very long timeand it was never out there now it’s like bum bum bum bum bum you anything that you think about it as I can hopefully if your creep on it without a leash you’re going to go with that artists set set my face to be a moron now there’s repercussions in back in the day there wasn’t there is now so I’m glad it’s all coming out but it’s you know but it still it it said as he heroes was our heroes actually be scummy if you have a lot of conversation this week about me know that a comedy is there is so yummy I thought to myself my face the main takeaways is that there sometimes where is very easy to separate art from the artist of the people who made it in the cases some people like Brett or makes M Brett Ratner’s moving I can enjoy a the crap that I put out the last 20 years to get over not watching Rush hour three in the same light but then there’s other times when it does becomes operating as if you are involved in the production of all the money in the world at least you can say hey with Louis CKsand you can’t replace that guy that virtually every shot but here we gave Kevin Spacey such a small role that might’ve been meaning but we can still read somebody else in their for you as a moviegoer does this kind of put the film on your radar in a way that it had not been previously actually want to see the movie writing camera for Importantly for me to keep muchand now that is when it comes like from like four know but a movie like this yet because I don’t have a number of those big huge budgets from a smaller budget but you’re absolutely right that’s publicity he has 25 million that’s probably when it is publicity because a lot of me know about this movie arrivedand existed now that the 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The Case for Sharing All of America's Data on Mosquitoes

For decades, agencies around the United States have been collecting data on mosquitoes. Biologists set traps, dissect captured insects, and identify which species they belong to. They’ve done this for millions of mosquitoes, creating an unprecedented trove of information—easily one of the biggest long-term attempts to monitor any group of animals, if not the very biggest.

The problem, according to Micaela Elvira Martinez from Princeton University and Samuel Rund from the University of Notre Dame, is that this treasure trove of data isn’t all in the same place, and only a small fraction of it is public. The rest is inaccessible, hoarded by local mosquito-control agencies around the country.

Currently, these agencies can use their data to check if their attempts to curtail mosquito populations are working. Are they doing enough to remove stagnant water, for example? Do they need to spray pesticides? But if they shared their findings, Martinez and Rund say that scientists could do much more. They could better understand the ecology of these insects, predict the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever or Zika, coordinate control efforts across states and counties, and quickly spot the arrival of new invasive species.

That’s why Martinez and Rund are now calling for the creation of a national database of mosquito records that anyone can access. “There’s a huge amount of taxpayer investment and human effort that goes into setting traps, checking them weekly, dissecting all those mosquitoes under a microscope, and tabulating the data,” says Martinez. “It would be a big bang for our buck to collate all that data and make it available.”

Martinez is a disease modeler—someone who uses real-world data to build simulations that reveal how infections rise, spread, and fall. She typically works with childhood diseases like measles and polio, where researchers are almost spoiled for data. Physicians are legally bound to report any cases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) compiles and publishes this information as a weekly report.

The same applies to cases of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and Zika, but not to populations of the insects themselves. So, during last year’s Zika epidemic, when Martinez wanted to study the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads the disease, she had a tough time. “I was really surprised that I couldn’t find data on Aedes aegypti numbers,” she says. Her colleagues explained that scientists use climate variables like temperature and humidity to predict where mosquitoes are going to be abundant. That seemed ludicrous to her, especially since organizations collect information on the actual insects. It’s just that no one ever gathers those figures together.

Together with Rund and a team of undergraduate students, she found that there are more than 1,000 separate agencies in the United States that collect mosquito data—at least one in every county or jurisdiction. Only 152 agencies make their data publicly available in some way. The team collated everything they could find since 2009, and ended up with information about more than 15 million mosquitoes. Imagine what they’d have if all the datasets were open, especially since some go back decades.

A few mosquito-related databases do exist, but none are quite right. ArboNET, which is managed by the CDC and state health departments, mainly stores data about mosquito-borne diseases, and whatever information it has on the insects themselves isn’t precise enough in either time or space to be useful for modeling. MosquitoNET, which was developed by the CDC, does track mosquitoes, but “it’s a completely closed system, and hardly anyone has access to it,” says Rund. The Smithsonian Institution’s VectorMap is better in that it’s accessible, “but it lacks any real-time data from the continental United States,” says Rund. “When I checked a few months ago, it had just one record of Aedes aegypti since 2013.”

“That’s why we came up with this idea of a national surveillance system,” Martinez says. “The U.S. government should make it a requirement for mosquito-control boards to send in their data.”

Some scientists who work on mosquito control apparently disagree, and negative reviews have stopped Martinez and Rund from publishing their ideas in prominent academic journals. (For now, they’ve uploaded a paper describing their vision to the preprint repository bioRxiv.) “Some control boards say: What if people want to sue us because we’re showing that they have mosquito vectors near their homes, or if their house prices go down?” says Martinez. “And one mosquito-control scientist told me that no one should be able to work with mosquito data unless they’ve gone out and trapped mosquitoes themselves.”

Other scientists aren’t convinced that collating the data would be useful. “To predict an outbreak, a national database would be of no use,” says Lyle Petersen, who directs the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. “Mosquito density is very, very local. Knowing what’s going on with mosquitoes in California isn’t going to help you with what’s going on in Illinois. The data from even one part of a city may be totally irrelevant to another.”

Micah Hahn, an epidemiologist at the University of Alaska Anchorage, feels differently. She says that a national mosquito database “would be extremely useful for public health-planning and emergency response”—but creating one would be a logistical nightmare.

“There are hundreds to thousands of independently operating vector-control units—some not more than a guy and truck in rural areas—with varying levels of human resources and computer savvy,” she says. They vary in which traps and baits they use, whether they count males as well as females, and whether they identify insects down to the species or genus. Merging such disparate data would be hard, and there’s no quality-control system in place for checking it.

Roxanne Connelly, an entomologist at the University of Florida, agrees. “As a researcher, I’d love to have access to a nation-wide mosquito surveillance database and have often wished for such a system in Florida,” she says. But after 17 years of experience, she thinks that “trying to standardize the data, for the past or in for future, is going to be almost impossible.”

Martinez agrees that this is the biggest obstacle to creating the database of her dreams—but she doesn’t see it as a deal-breaker. She and Rund argue that many states have already taken steps toward building open databases. Iowa, for example, makes all its mosquito data freely available. “At a minimum we are advocating for stringing these systems together,” they say.

“Data should be made available without having to justify exactly what’s going to be done with it,” Martinez says. “We should put it out there for scientists to start unlocking it. I think there are a ton of biologists who will come up with cool things to do.”

from Health News And Updates https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/mosquito-data/537735/?utm_source=feed

The Case for Sharing All of America's Data on Mosquitoes

For decades, agencies around the United States have been collecting data on mosquitoes. Biologists set traps, dissect captured insects, and identify which species they belong to. They’ve done this for millions of mosquitoes, creating an unprecedented trove of information—easily one of the biggest long-term attempts to monitor any group of animals, if not the very biggest.

The problem, according to Micaela Elvira Martinez from Princeton University and Samuel Rund from the University of Notre Dame, is that this treasure trove of data isn’t all in the same place, and only a small fraction of it is public. The rest is inaccessible, hoarded by local mosquito-control agencies around the country.

Currently, these agencies can use their data to check if their attempts to curtail mosquito populations are working. Are they doing enough to remove stagnant water, for example? Do they need to spray pesticides? But if they shared their findings, Martinez and Rund say that scientists could do much more. They could better understand the ecology of these insects, predict the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever or Zika, coordinate control efforts across states and counties, and quickly spot the arrival of new invasive species.

That’s why Martinez and Rund are now calling for the creation of a national database of mosquito records that anyone can access. “There’s a huge amount of taxpayer investment and human effort that goes into setting traps, checking them weekly, dissecting all those mosquitoes under a microscope, and tabulating the data,” says Martinez. “It would be a big bang for our buck to collate all that data and make it available.”

Martinez is a disease modeler—someone who uses real-world data to build simulations that reveal how infections rise, spread, and fall. She typically works with childhood diseases like measles and polio, where researchers are almost spoiled for data. Physicians are legally bound to report any cases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) compiles and publishes this information as a weekly report.

The same applies to cases of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and Zika, but not to populations of the insects themselves. So, during last year’s Zika epidemic, when Martinez wanted to study the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads the disease, she had a tough time. “I was really surprised that I couldn’t find data on Aedes aegypti numbers,” she says. Her colleagues explained that scientists use climate variables like temperature and humidity to predict where mosquitoes are going to be abundant. That seemed ludicrous to her, especially since organizations collect information on the actual insects. It’s just that no one ever gathers those figures together.

Together with Rund and a team of undergraduate students, she found that there are more than 1,000 separate agencies in the United States that collect mosquito data—at least one in every county or jurisdiction. Only 152 agencies make their data publicly available in some way. The team collated everything they could find since 2009, and ended up with information about more than 15 million mosquitoes. Imagine what they’d have if all the datasets were open, especially since some go back decades.

A few mosquito-related databases do exist, but none are quite right. ArboNET, which is managed by the CDC and state health departments, mainly stores data about mosquito-borne diseases, and whatever information it has on the insects themselves isn’t precise enough in either time or space to be useful for modeling. MosquitoNET, which was developed by the CDC, does track mosquitoes, but “it’s a completely closed system, and hardly anyone has access to it,” says Rund. The Smithsonian Institution’s VectorMap is better in that it’s accessible, “but it lacks any real-time data from the continental United States,” says Rund. “When I checked a few months ago, it had just one record of Aedes aegypti since 2013.”

“That’s why we came up with this idea of a national surveillance system,” Martinez says. “The U.S. government should make it a requirement for mosquito-control boards to send in their data.”

Some scientists who work on mosquito control apparently disagree, and negative reviews have stopped Martinez and Rund from publishing their ideas in prominent academic journals. (For now, they’ve uploaded a paper describing their vision to the preprint repository bioRxiv.) “Some control boards say: What if people want to sue us because we’re showing that they have mosquito vectors near their homes, or if their house prices go down?” says Martinez. “And one mosquito-control scientist told me that no one should be able to work with mosquito data unless they’ve gone out and trapped mosquitoes themselves.”

Other scientists aren’t convinced that collating the data would be useful. “To predict an outbreak, a national database would be of no use,” says Lyle Petersen, who directs the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. “Mosquito density is very, very local. Knowing what’s going on with mosquitoes in California isn’t going to help you with what’s going on in Illinois. The data from even one part of a city may be totally irrelevant to another.”

Micah Hahn, an epidemiologist at the University of Alaska Anchorage, feels differently. She says that a national mosquito database “would be extremely useful for public health-planning and emergency response”—but creating one would be a logistical nightmare.

“There are hundreds to thousands of independently operating vector-control units—some not more than a guy and truck in rural areas—with varying levels of human resources and computer savvy,” she says. They vary in which traps and baits they use, whether they count males as well as females, and whether they identify insects down to the species or genus. Merging such disparate data would be hard, and there’s no quality-control system in place for checking it.

Roxanne Connelly, an entomologist at the University of Florida, agrees. “As a researcher, I’d love to have access to a nation-wide mosquito surveillance database and have often wished for such a system in Florida,” she says. But after 17 years of experience, she thinks that “trying to standardize the data, for the past or in for future, is going to be almost impossible.”

Martinez agrees that this is the biggest obstacle to creating the database of her dreams—but she doesn’t see it as a deal-breaker. She and Rund argue that many states have already taken steps toward building open databases. Iowa, for example, makes all its mosquito data freely available. “At a minimum we are advocating for stringing these systems together,” they say.

“Data should be made available without having to justify exactly what’s going to be done with it,” Martinez says. “We should put it out there for scientists to start unlocking it. I think there are a ton of biologists who will come up with cool things to do.”

Article source here:The Atlantic