Christie Wilcox
cwilcox
Posts by this author
June 14, 2010
OK. Someone has to explain what this means.
This is a comment I got on my World Environment Day 2010 post. If you can decipher it, please explain...
Let me show you the FATE OF TRAITORS... loiterink.com/photos/products/182_3424_500x500.jpg they are incapable of telling the difference between…
June 10, 2010
... drumroll please....
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I'M IN!
I feel so honored to be chosen as one of the top 9 finalists!
Go check out the post that made it: Evolution: The Curious Case of Dogs
Of course, there are some FANTASTIC posts in the top set with me. Go check out all of them! They include my…
June 9, 2010
Sorry to be so late to the announcement party - my stupid, f-cking lovely computer has decided that it doesn't feel like connecting to the internets anymore, so I'm a little hard up for online time.
Anyhoo, thank you to everyone who voted for Observations of a Nerd! Thanks to you, my post "…
June 5, 2010
"World Environment Day (WED) 2010 is aimed to be the biggest, most widely celebrated, global day for positive, environmental action.
Commemorated on 5 June since 1972, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages…
June 3, 2010
The Kuli'ou'ou ridge trail is one of my favorites on Oahu. It's a 2.5 mile trek that ascends roughly 1700 ft to the top of the Ko'olau mountains which cut eastern Oahu in half. I've done this hike a number of times, and each time I'm amazed by the stunning views. So, of course, when we learned…
June 2, 2010
MIT's Science Fiction Society has a truly inspiring review of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. Worth taking a quick look at.
June 2, 2010
Alright folks! Thank you to all of you who nominated my posts for the 3 Quarks Daily science blogging prize! The final winners will be chosen by Richard Dawkins, but before he even glances at them, the public gets to narrow the focus down from the 80 entries that made the first cut. Which means, of…
May 27, 2010
Last year, 3 Quarks Daily had a science blogging contest that shelled out some nice cash to the Top Quark. Well, they're at it again!
You can now stop by and nominate your favorite posts by leaving a comment here. I know there's a lot of great writing going on here at Science Blogs, so look around…
May 21, 2010
For those of you who don't know, today is Endangered Species Day. Started in the US Senate, Endangered species day is observed every year on the third Friday in May. The point is to call attention to all the animals that are at risk of disappearing forever. The fact of the matter is, we're losing…
May 18, 2010
We (both science bloggers and scientists) often talk about how to bring science into pop culture, both in terms of educating the public as well as making science something people like and care about. What methods work best, and how do we make science "cool" and "interesting" to everyone? What…
May 11, 2010
Is there anything you'd like to hear explained scientifically? Any burning questions related to biology, chemistry, physics, or any other of the myriad of scientific disciplines? Or just have a good nerdy debate you need settled?
Well, ask us. ScienceBlogs is bringing back Ask a ScienceBlogger,…
May 6, 2010
This week, Science published two papers about the genetics of Neandertals from a team of scientists based at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology. The first (which is the only one anyone seems to really care about) gives a draft version of the entire Neandertal genome - a whopping…
May 6, 2010
Yeah, I know, a clouded leopard cub has graced the weekly cute once before. But OMGZ how could I not post this picture?
From the National Zoo a la ZoobornsClouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa), by the way, are a vulnerable species of cat found in Southeast Asia. They're fairly small, growing only to…
May 4, 2010
File under "Why Didn't I Think Of That?":
I guess da Vinci was right. "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
H/T Surfstation
May 2, 2010
Ahoy mates, and welcome aboard the 36th edition of the Carnival of the Blue!
The Oceans as a whole:
As many of you might know, CITES had its once-every-three-years meeting during which it decides which organisms are to be regulated and how. As Rick MacPherson explains, the overall message was…
May 2, 2010
Jerry Coyne, the author of Why Evolution is True, recently held a contest. The rules were simple:
Please recommend one nonfiction book that you think everyone should read, and explain in no more than three sentences why we should read it. The book need not be about science, though those entries…
April 30, 2010
Once a year, Christmas Island experiences a red tide completely unlike any other in the world. The roads are blockaded as a swarm of Christmas Island Red Crabs (Gecarcoidea natalis), one hundred million strong, makes its way from the forests to the sea. This massive migration is fueled by the…
April 29, 2010
Zoe, a domestic house cat, has gotten three new kittens to take care of this week. But they're not just any orphaned kittens - they're baby bobcats. Sure, they're small and cute now - about half the size of her other, older babies. But when these little tykes become adults, they'll be twice Zoe's…
April 28, 2010
Anyone who follows me on twitter has probably noticed a lot of tweets about a shark fin bill that was being reviewed in Hawaii. I am glad to inform you that this historic bill has just passed the legislature. It's but a signature by Governor Lingle away from being enacted into law!
Of the 307 shark…
April 28, 2010
In my strolls around the internet, I have found a few things that are so awesome, they're not.
The Sharky Tea Infuser
Duh-nuh. Duh-nuh. Duh-nuh Duh-nuh DUH-NUH - it's the Sharky Tea Infuser! Designer Pablo Matteoda from Argentina created the ocean-inspired infuser for a contest through Designboom…
April 26, 2010
My friend and fellow science blogger, Allie, needs some help. She ran like a champ this Saturday to benefit The Wildlife Conservation Society as a part of their Run for the Wild. The only problem? She hasn't reached her donation goals!
WCS is accepting donations up until April 28th. Allie has her…
April 26, 2010
The 27th edition of Scientia is live! Go check it out over at Melliferax.
April 24, 2010
Chat bots are one of the coolest computing challenges. They're computer programs that are designed to simulate an intelligent conversation as if they're people. The ultimate goal is to pass what is called the Turing Test, where the chat bot fools human users into believing its a person, too.
I…
April 24, 2010
We saw that the littlest differences can lead to dramatic variations when we looked at the wide variety in dogs. But despite their differences, all breeds of dogs are still the same species as each other and their ancestor. How do species split? What causes speciation? And what evidence do we have…
April 23, 2010
I know, I know - it's not meese. Moose is singular and plural. But it should be meese, so that's what I'm sticking with.
Here is a truly cute video of a couple young meese enjoying a sprinkler:
H/T Lilian
April 21, 2010
A little over forty years ago, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River caught fire. It wasn't the first time the polluted waters had gone ablaze - indeed, since 1868, the river had lit up at least thirteen times. At the time, the excessive pollution of our nation's waterways was the "price of optimism," the…
April 21, 2010
When we think about the vast diversity of life in the ocean, we automatically picture pristine coral reefs teeming with life. This is especially true for rich, tropical locations like Hawaii. What we don't think of are the deep, dark depths of the canyons that lie just beyond the shallow paradises…
April 19, 2010
This weekend, Barry, Brian, Aziem and I headed up the windward coast to go camping. We went online and got a permit for a site on Malaekahana State Recreation Area, a 37 acre gated park just north of La'ie. Camping is one of my favorite things that I rarely seem to find the time to do, and since…
April 14, 2010
Our government needs us. Go check out why and do what you can!