Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
November 6, 2007
tags: book carnival, blog carnival
The latest installment of the Book Carnival is now available for you to read.
November 6, 2007
tags: researchblogging.org, supermouse, Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase, PEPCK-C, glucose metabolism
Like a Lance Armstrong equivalent among ordinary mice, a group of American scientists report that they altered a single gene involved in glucose metabolism in a mouse and discovered that this…
November 6, 2007
tags: American tree sparrow, Spizella arborea, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear at 3 pm beginning today, 6 November through the 16th of…
November 6, 2007
tags: parrots, aviculture, conservation, personal story
Things are going well with the parrots, especially the new hawk-headed parrot (this bird has been living with me for one week and one day now). As I already mentioned several times, this bird is eating on his(her?) own now, although I still…
November 6, 2007
tags: kitchen science, recharge batteries, streaming video
This streaming video describes a quick and easy way to recharge your dead batteries -- for free (unless you consider the expense of nearly boiling them in the process). I am not entirely convinced that this will work, but on the other hand…
November 5, 2007
tags: She Blog, blog carnival
The second issue of the She Blog blog carnival is now available for you to read and enjoy. The author of this blog carnival says it has received such a tremendous response that she is planning to change it from a once-per-month blog carnival to weekly, to encourage…
November 5, 2007
tags: drugs, pharmaceuticals, Drugs and Pharmacology carnival, blog carnival
Hey you guys, the very first edition of the new blog carnival, Drugs and Pharmacology carnival, is now available for you to read. This is a monthly blog carnival that focuses on essays related to drugs -- ranging from the…
November 5, 2007
tags: parrots, pets, aviculture, bird breeding, avian, history
A reader, Natasha, asked a question in response to a recent blog entry I made that is probably no doubt on the minds of at least a few others of my readers;
Hi, Please don't take this badly, I really don't mean to troll. But I've…
November 5, 2007
tags: writing, Writers from across the blogosphere, blog carnival
The latest edition of the Writer's Block blog carnival is now available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival focuses on writers and their writing, so be sure to go there to read good prose on a variety of topics.
November 5, 2007
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Lesser flamingo, Phoenicopterus minor, in flight.
Lake Natron in Tanzania, Africa, is the only site in East Africa where Lesser Flamingos reliably breed.
Image: James Warwick[wallpaper size].
Birds in Science
The changing…
November 5, 2007
tags: talking deer prank, humor, streaming video
This streaming video shows what happens when two city boyz strap a stuffed deer to the hood of their car, and leave it in the parking lot of a local truck stop. Oh, did I mention that this stuffed deer can also move and .. talk? Much hilarity follows…
November 4, 2007
tags: Humanist Symposium, blog carnival
The 10th issue of the Humanist Symposium is now available for your reading pleasure. Unknown to me until just now, they included a piece that I wrote (I didn't submit my essay to this blog carnival, so someone else out there did it on my behalf, which is…
November 4, 2007
tags: NYC Life, Central Park turtles, turtle yoga, Image of the Day
Central Park turtles show cruisers how it's done.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
November 4, 2007
tags: Mendel's Garden, blog carnival
The November issue of Mendel's Garden is now available for you to enjoy. This issue was written so as to read like the narrative of a soccer game (it also includes a streaming video of philosophers playing soccer).
November 4, 2007
tags: Harry Potter, online quiz
This is a silly quiz, but hey, there's worse out there, as I am sure you will remind me. Here are my results;
Witch Harry Potter character are you?created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Hermione Granger
"Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron…
November 3, 2007
An animator faces his own animation in deadly combat. The battlefield? The Flash interface itself.
A stick figure is created by an animator with the intent to torture. The stick figure drawn by the animator will be using everything he can find -- the brush tool, the eraser tool -- to get back at…
November 3, 2007
tags: NYC Life, Turdus migratorius, American robins, Image of the Day
Water was flying in all directions from rain filled indentations on Warbler Ridge in Central Park as a flock of American Robins enthusiastically took advantage of several temporary birdbaths after the rain ended.
Image: Bob…
November 3, 2007
Adult red fan (hawk-headed) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus.
(Adults of both sexes are distinguished from juveniles
by the creamy white spot on the forehead
and the orange ring around the pupil of the eye.
The skin around the eye darkens in adults if
the birds are exposed to sunlight).
Image:…
November 2, 2007
tags: book review, white-collar unemployment, job hunting, Bait and Switch, Barbara Ehrenreich
While I was flying back to NYC last weekend, I read (yet another) book about job hunting. This book detailed the obvious; that searching for a white-collar job is not as easy as you might think, as you'll…
November 2, 2007
In this streaming video (below the fold), Steve Carell teaches Stephen Colbert how to trick-or-treat. I know this is a little late, but late is better than never, right? [4:39]
November 2, 2007
A slightly worn Julia Heliconian butterfly, Dryas julia Fabricius.
This image was taken summer 2004 at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park's Pollinarium exhibit. It was donated to Wikipedia under the GFDL by Steven G. Johnson, the photographer. [wallpaper size].
As promised, here are my…
November 2, 2007
tags: atheism, online quiz
Okay, the questions on this quiz are kind of annoying, something that I discovered only after I took it, but as I said, I took it, so here are my results;
What kind of atheist are you?created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Scientific Atheist
These guys rule. I'm…
November 2, 2007
tags: hawk-headed parrot, red-fan parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus, clicker training, streaming video
As some of you know, I recently added a four-month-old hawk-headed (red-fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, to my household. I plan to learn how to clicker-train this bird (I already have the…
November 1, 2007
This short streaming radio report, presented by The Onion, tells how Microsoft was recently sold to crows. Includes an exclusive interview with the spokescrow.
November 1, 2007
tags: Ask a Science Blogger, vertebrate eye, molluscan eye
Image: Wikipedia. [larger view].
The newest "Ask a Science Blogger" question is; Which parts of the human body could you design better?
Since I have only 500 words or so to explain, I will discuss only one anatomical feature: I would…
November 1, 2007
I know we all were told that the seventh Harry Potter book was the last one, but it appears that this is not true! JK Rowling has written yet another book, entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
Do you recognize the title? This was the book that Dumbledore gave to Hermione in the seventh and last…
November 1, 2007
tags: circus of the spineless, blog carnival
I know that at least some of you assume that that the Circus of the Spineless blog carnival is all about politicians, but (sorry to disappoint you), this blog carnival instead focuses on linking to essays about invertebrates. The 26th edition of this…
November 1, 2007
Are you already worried about Christmas shopping? Are you worried about what to get that family member or friend who seems to have everything? Well, worry no more! Thanks to a reader of mine, you now can give the most unusual gift that anyone has every received; the gift of a Fish 'n Flush! Not…
November 1, 2007
tags: women, all women blogging, blog carnival
Actually, the latest edition of the All Women Blogging blog carnival has been available for a few days, but I was in Texas this past weekend, so was unable to post anything about it. But as they say, better late than never, eh? This is really a huge…
November 1, 2007
tags: humor, edith ann, Lily Thomlin, streaming video
The brilliant Lily Thomlin portrays a five-and-a-half year old girl, Edith Ann, who is describing the sandwich that she made [2:32]