Archives for March 5, 2009
Fish Fight!
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 It turns out that Dolphin Safe Tuna is bad for sharks. And visa versa. More or less…. Let’s as BlogFish about it… Who’s right depends on what you value more, dolphins or broader ocean ecosystem health. At least that’s the way I see it. We could protect dolphins totally during tuna fishing only if we’re…
Exploring the reef’s Twilight Zone
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 In this illuminating talk, Richard Pyle shows us thriving life on the cliffs of coral reefs and groundbreaking diving technologies he has pioneered to explore it. He and his team risk everything to reveal the secrets of undiscovered species.
Rachel Maddow on The View
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 Bonus video:
Kepler Launches Tomorrow (Friday)
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 NASA’s planet-hunting space telescope Kepler is slated to launch the night of March 6 from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to find Earth-sized planets that could have liquid water at the surface and potentially harbor life. “It’s not just another science mission. This one has historical significance built into it,”…
Gupta Turning Down SG Appointment?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, will reportedly not leave his television career to become Surgeon General. I read it here.
How Benjamin Button got his face
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 Ed Ulbrich, the digital-effects guru from Digital Domain, explains the Oscar-winning technology that allowed his team to digitally create the older versions of Brad Pitt’s face for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
Is Horse Domestication Earlier than Previously Thought?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 It is a long way from Kazakhstan to Kentucky, but the journey to the Derby may have started among a pastoral people on the Kazakh steppes who appear to have been the first to domesticate, bridle and perhaps ride horses — around 3500 B.C., a millennium earlier than previously thought. Archaeologists say the discovery may…
Dawkins…. On Purpose
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 Dawkins gave a talk that could be criticized as not particularly new, in that his main idea is that human brains are too powerful and adaptable to continue to function primarily within an adaptive program serving as a proper adaptive organ. Instead, human brains think up all sorts of other, rather non-Darwinian things to do.…
Nalini Nadkarni: Unveiling the beautiful, fragile world of rainforest treetop ecosystems
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 A unique ecosystem of plants, birds and monkeys thrives in the treetops of the rainforest. Nalini Nadkarni explores these canopy worlds — and shares her findings with the world below, through dance, art and bold partnerships.
Darwin in Danger in the Land of Disney?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 … again … This just in from the NCSE: Antievolution law proposed in Florida It’s not a hurricane or even a tropical storm. But a small knot of ignorance is twisting through the Florida state senate. Late last week, Stephen R. Wise (R-District 5) filed Senate Bill 2396, which if passed, would require “[a] thorough…
Dawkins in Minneapolis
Posted by Greg Laden on March 5, 2009 Richard Dawkins came to Minneapolis and gave a talk, sponsored by CASH, the primary atheist/humanist group on the UMN campus, on “The Purpose of Purpose.” Before the talk, several of us got together at Annie’s Parlour. It was harmonic convergence, in a sense, of numerous independent groups all planning to go to Annie’s and ending…
, which is now available for the 
