Christie Wilcox
cwilcox
Posts by this author
February 18, 2010
See? Cartoon cute.
It may be easy to put a kitten up as the weekly dose of cute, but look at him - he may be the cutest kitten ever. Cuter, perhaps, than even that little ocelot kitten, which, until now, has earned the title of cutest kitten ever. I mean, look at him! His eyes are cartoon…
February 18, 2010
I know I have failed on delivering you your weekly/monthly parasite posts. It's not for a lack of fascinating, sci-fi worthy parasites, but for a lack of time on my part. I'm afraid these posts keep slipping to the back burner, then getting forgotten about altogether as deadlines for grants, papers…
February 16, 2010
I love the show Psych. For those who don't know the show, it's about a guy named Shawn Spencer (actor James Roday) whose uncanny powers of observation allow him to convince the Santa Barbara Police Department that he's a psychic. He's adorable, eccentric, and totally awesome in mostly every way.…
February 12, 2010
These little bejeweled cases might look strange, but they're incredible. No, they're not some kind of special modern art. They're incredible because they're made by an insect.
I'm not much of a bug lover, but this is simply one of the coolest things I've ever seen (in a totally-bio-nerdy kind of…
February 11, 2010
You may not have heard of the American Pika. Pika are small little rodent relatives most closely related to rabbits, though they look chinchilla-esque. They're native to colder climates all over the world, including Asia, Europe and North America, and they tend to live on rocky mountain slopes…
February 7, 2010
Think of something wonderful - something someone said to you that made your day, or the happiest moment you can remember. Go ahead, take a moment. Now, what are you doing? Odds are, you're smiling.
It takes 12 different muscles in our faces to produce the easily-recognized expression. But smiling…
February 3, 2010
Eureka has come out with a list of the 30 best science blogs, including greats like Not Exactly Rocket Science and Neurotopia. Congrats! Everyone should go check out the top 30!
While you're at it, though, be sure to tell Eureka YOUR favorites - they're looking for a top 100, and they want to know…
February 2, 2010
A little proof that the mini version of just about anything is cute:
Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS via Zooborns
These little tykes are the Bronx Zoo's newest arrivals: baby Kihansi Spray Toads (Nectophrynoides asperginis). While they might just look like any other toad, this species is…
January 27, 2010
As soon as you put more than one species in an ecosystem, you have species interactions. There are many kinds of these relationships, each defined by what each side gets out of the deal. Many of these you've heard of, though you might not have strict definitions for, like Competition or the…
January 26, 2010
Man's best friend is much more than a household companion - for centuries, artificial selection in dogs has made them prime examples of the possibilities of evolution. A century and a half ago, Charles Darwin recognized how the incredibly diverse dogs supported his revolutionary theory in his…
January 25, 2010
By that, of course, I mean the more widely read internets: specificially, the Charlotte Observer's online content. They're featuring my blog this week in their science section. I knew I was going to be in print, but I didn't know I was going to be online, too! Totally cool. Anyhow, go check it out…
January 20, 2010
The Hawaiian archipelago has a lot of amazing and adorable creatures. Here's a great shot of a baby white tern, or Manu-o-ku, c/o my lab mate Tonatiuh. It was taken by National Geographic explorers in 2005 while they were in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.When people think of Hawaii, they think…
January 19, 2010
I'm writing this while on the plane, flying back from a fantastic weekend in North Carolina. Before I can even begin reflecting on the past few days, I have to thank NESCent again for their generous travel grant which allowed me to go to Science Online in the first place. Without their funding, I'd…
January 17, 2010
If you read this blog, odds are you appreciate those who write about peer-reviewed research. You might have even noticed that little check-mark page image on the upper left hand side of some of my posts: that handy image lets you know that that blog post has been registered with ResearchBlogging.…
January 13, 2010
Tilapia has quickly risen the ranks as an important aquaculture fish. It's third in production behind carps and salmon, with over 1,500,000 metric tons produced every year. They're ideal fish farm species because they're omnivorous, fairly big, quick-growing, tolerate high densities quite well and…
January 12, 2010
It's finally here! We have a list of elite blog posts chosen by the best of the best to publish in this year's Open Laboratory.
Yours truly got the double honor - I got to help judge the entries and, by some miracle, one of mine made the cut!
I display these proudly:
Anyhow, go check out all the…
January 8, 2010
I just realized I haven't done a weekly dose of cute baby tiger before! I'm actually a little shocked. Well, here's a real cute one for ya - so ferocious! :)
Photo credit to Associated PressThe little tyke is a white tiger born at the Chilean National Zoo. There are more pictures, too - to see the…
January 2, 2010
I just saw this ad for Science World for the first time, and I think it's brilliant.
Science World, for those not from Vancouver, British Columbia, is a science center that seeks to make science education a little more fun, including hundreds of interactive exhibits and its own OMNIMAX theater.…
January 2, 2010
Well, it's 2010, and it's time for another edition of the Carnival of Evolution! Without further ado...
First up we have a fascinating discovery brought to us by GrrlScientist over at Living the Scientific Life. Scientists have recently discovered a new species of orchid. This one is definitely…
December 28, 2009
Ok, I kind of covered this parasite earlier this year. In that post, I explained that Mistletoe is a hemi-parasite (only partially dependent on its host for survival) and that the family represents one of the nine times that parasitism evolved in the plant kingdom. I also mentioned that unlike most…
December 17, 2009
c/o Reindeer Owners and Breeders AssociationWhat could be cuter than a little baby reindeer around the holidays? Not much! Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus, or Caribou) have become a holiday staple for their sleigh pulling behavior. The large beasts are a kind of deer, native to North America, that…
December 8, 2009
img c/o Dr. David Cox via Telegraph.co.ukYou're looking at the world's smallest snowman, standing a whopping 0.02 mm tall or so, the typical length of Paramecium caudatum (a ciliate protist) or about twice the width of a human hair.
OK, to be technical, it's not a "snow" man because it's not made…
December 4, 2009
Surf's up - literally! The North Shore is getting some monster waves here in Hawaii right now (as high as 50 feet!). I want to go check out the killer surf, so I'm gonna dive head first into Carnival of the Blue #31 so that I'll still have time to go catch the waves!
First up: Wanderin' Weeta had a…
November 25, 2009
This is just too adorable. It turns out trampolines aren't just for kids:
The foxes must have thought it was the greatest discovery EVER.
November 23, 2009
Mosquitoes carry a lot of parasites, many of which are global health concerns. Mosquito vectored diseases include protozoan diseases like malaria, filarial diseases, and viruses like dengue fever, encephalitis, West Nile and yellow fever. Perhaps the least-concerning creature you can get from a…
November 14, 2009
Starting tomorrow, National Geographic embarks upon a week of adventure. It's Nat Geo's Second Annual Expedition Week, seven nights of journeys to places as diverse as Mars and the deep ocean. Every night at 9PM, Nat Geo takes us on a different expedition sure to fascinate and amaze. I was lucky…
November 12, 2009
Weighing in at around 10 lbs with a wingspan of up to 8 feet, the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is an impressive bird. Sure, it's the smallest of the pelican species, but it hardly lacks in size. Along the shores of Florida and the Gulf Coast, these birds are common. They swarm docks and…
November 12, 2009
Hey there fellow nerds! Carnival of the Blue #30 is now up at Oh For The Love Of Science!. Be sure to swing by and get your feet wet.
And if you're blogging some salty news yourself, be sure to submit your posts for the next Carnival of the Blue to... ME! December's Carnival of the Blue will be…
November 10, 2009
Sci-Fi authors will tell you that the next big breakthrough in medical technology will be the ability to grow our own organs for transplants. In the idealized future, you'll have a heart or kidney cultured from your own cells on hand for whatever emergency might come up. Well, scientists have taken…