Life Science
March 14, 2010
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
PalmenGarten Tulpe, 1 Here's one of hundreds of photographs of tulips I snapped while in PalmenGarten (don't worry, I won't show you all of those photographs!)
Not Exactly Rocket Science
'Wasabi protein' responsible for the heat-seeking sixth sense of rattlesnakes Rattlesnakes and vipers have pits on their faces that can sense the body heat of their prey in total darkness. The ability depends on a protein called TRPA1 - in humans, the same protein warns us of noxious chemicals like those that give wasabi and mustard their kick.
Laelaps
Photo of the Day #877: California sea lion pup A California sea lion pup (Zalophus californianus), photographed at the Bronx Zoo....
Genetic Future
Willful ignorance is not an effective argument against personal genomics An excoriation of one of the worst op-ed articles on personal genomics I've ever had the misfortune to encounter: Camilla Long's hackish dismissal of the usefulness of genetic risk information.
A Blog Around The Clock
Texting for Anglers at ScienceOnline2010 (video) - Part 2 North Carolina Sea Grant fisheries specialist Scott Baker talks about "RECTEXT" -- a system that lets tournament anglers report catch data via cell phone text messaging. Fisheries managers often meet hurdles in collecting recreational fishing data, but RECTEXT has...
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify Here's a member of an avian family that always makes me catch my breath when I first see them because I think their plumage is so beautiful or striking
The Primate Diaries
March 13, 2010
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
PalmenGarten Herz This heart-shaped flower is dedicated to the one I love ..
Laelaps
An inside look at the "Killer Pig from Hell", Archaeotherium I love the work that Larry Witmer and his students do at Ohio University. Not only is it cutting-edge anatomical research that helps us better understand prehistoric organisms, but the Witmer lab is constantly sharing parts of their work via...
Greg Laden's Blog
Science proves that God created everything out of nothing. I invite you to review this essay and comment on its veracity and validity.
Oscillator
Carboxysomes in a row Carboxysomes are small compartments inside photosynthetic bacteria where the machinery for capturing carbon dioxide is concentrated. You can see carboxysomes and their characteristic virus-like shape when you look at slices of these bacteria under an electron microscope: Until recently, no...
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify This is another stunning African bird -- it is a lucky shot, too, since this is a very fast-moving bird. Can you identify this species?
Laelaps
Photo of the Day #876: Gorilla A lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), photographed at the Bronx Zoo....
March 12, 2010
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
PalmenGarten Blüte Here's another pretty flower blossom that I photographed growing in the lawn at PalmenGarten. The flower resembles a buttercup but I am certain it's a different species .. can you tell me what it might be?
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
Gender-Bending Chickens: Mixed, Not Scrambled Sexual identity is genetically imposed on the male and female chicken cells at fertilization and is the major factor in determining the adult sexual phenotype -- gonads have limited effects on the avian sexual phenotype. This fascinating finding is prompting a reassessment in our understanding of the evolution of sex determination
Laelaps
Your Friday Dose of Weird: Two new Cambrian critters Life was never stranger than in the Cambrian, and a pair of papers published this month introduce us to some newly-recognized members of the weird fossil menagerie.
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
Mystery Bird: African Grey Hornbill, Tockus nasutus This image is somewhat blurry, but the species should be distinct enough that you can identify it anyway (hint: it's an African bird caught in midair as it captures a dragonfly in its beak)
A Few Things Ill Considered
(OT) Amazing ant engineering feat Not really apropos to climate change, but I saw this and just had to share. Ever wondered what it would look like if you could actually see the entire network of tunnels that make up a large ant colony? Well,...
Casaubon's Book
Peep! Here, spring isn't a color, and it isn't a smell or a taste, and it doesn't even have wings (although it might have feathers, a la Emily Dickinson).
A Blog Around The Clock
New and Exciting in PLoS ONE There are 19 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services...
Evolution for Everyone
Economics and Evolution as Different Paradigms VII: Lin Ostrom's Recipe for Success A lot of data interpreted by the right kind of theory (see E&E; III) was required for Lin to identify the eight ingredients that enable groups to manage their own affairs. A warning is in order before I proceed: After...
Pharyngula
Friday Cephalopod: Behold the shadow of your doooooom! Enteroctopus dofleini Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman....
Neurotopia
Friday Weird Science: Ejaculation 1, 2, 3... Well well well. Here we are. It's Friday. And we've been talking about SPERM ALL WEEK. What to do...what to do... Nel-Themaat et al. "Quality and freezing qualities of first and second ejaculates collected from endangered Gulf Coast Native rams"...
March 11, 2010
Gene Expression
Whatever happened to "synthetic life"? I remember Craig Venter talking about synthetic life in the fall of 2007 with Carl Zimmer. Last summer he said that we'd have the first "synthetic species" by the end of the year. I haven't heard about it in 2010,...
Laelaps
Photo of the Day #875: Rock squirrel A rock squirrel (Spermophilus variegatus), photographed at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah....
