Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
May 8, 2007
tags: salmon, wild Pacific salmon, commercial salmon fishing
Approximately 200 chefs from restaurants in 33 states have signed a letter that was delivered to legislators in Washington DC today, asking Congress to pass laws that will restore healthy habitats for the decimated wild salmon species…
May 8, 2007
tags: spider, tarantula, chicken-eating spider
Spider expert Martin Nicholas was intrigued by the story of a giant South American spider that kills chickens, so he went to Peru to find this mysterious animal. Using a tiny spider cam that he poked down spider holes, he found what he was looking for…
May 8, 2007
tags: sea serpent, streaming video
Underwater videographer Jay Garbose was diving near Juno Beach, Florida when his camera caught an unusual creature that some call a sea serpent. Jay says when I first saw the giant worm like creature I thought it was a sea cucumber...then I realized how big it was…
May 7, 2007
tags: employment, politics
Correct me if I am wrong, but has Wolfowitz been in trouble for only a month or so? How many of you have had a job that you could quit due to political reasons, rather than rent reasons? And does that make those people more ethical than the rest of us? I certainly never…
May 7, 2007
tags: middle east, Onion, humor, satire
I have been reading The Onion on and off for most of my life. It's stories such as this one, about the Middle East conflict, that keep me coming back for more.
With the Iraq war in its fifth year, the war in Afghanistan in its sixth, and conflict between…
May 7, 2007
tags: blog carnival, family life
The first anniversary edition of the Carnival of Family Life is now available for your reading enjoyment. They have 61 linked stories covering topics from family stories to finances, from great outdoor ideas to humor.
May 7, 2007
Conservationists have welcomed the Russian government's decision to strengthen laws protecting the Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis, the world's most endangered big cat, from extinction. Fines for poaching will be increased to 100 times the nation's annual minimum wage.
[much larger image…
May 7, 2007
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
"Spruce Grouse."
Image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, Pamela Wells.
[Larger image].
Birds in Science
A paper was recently published in PLoS One that examines the reproductive and evolutionary…
May 7, 2007
tags: dung beetle, streaming video
As insects go, dung beetles are quite fascinating.
May 6, 2007
Panta Rei is a new bi-weekly blog carnival that covers different scientific topic areas for each carnival, alternating between physical, chemical, and life sciences, and mathematics. The upcoming Panta Rei edition #5 will specifically cover all topics related to chemical sciences. It will be hosted…
May 6, 2007
Neoloboquadrina pachyderma, an amoeba Foraminifera that eats plankton in oceans' surface waters. The image was taken by a team that measured how much carbon sank below 500 meters in two regions of the Pacific Ocean. Writing in Science, they reported "striking differences" that could affect…
May 6, 2007
tags: evolution, religion, streaming video
A brief history of creationism, a streaming video below the fold.
May 5, 2007
tags: horse racing, humor, streaming video
I couldn't help it, but in honor of the Queen attending today's Kentucky Derby, I had to post this streaming video of the Queen Victoria Handicap.
Yes, I know the Derby isn't a steeplechase, but this was the best I could do with what I had available to…
May 5, 2007
tags: melamine, pet food, contaminated food, chickens
Has melamine entered the American human food stream? That's what the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would like to know. Because no one knows for sure, as of…
May 5, 2007
The photographer writes about the hike where he took this picture.
[much larger image]
Image: Dave Munger, fellow scibling.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind…
May 5, 2007
tags: Orange roughy, South Pacific Ocean, conservation, trawling
Last month, leading scientists warned there would be no marine fish left in 50 years if current oceanic fishing practices continued unchanged. This month, thanks to an agreement reached by more than 20 South Pacific Nations in the…
May 5, 2007
tags: Jon Stewart, Glory Goals, streaming video
Jon Stewart has a great idea for how to get Bush and the Republicans to agree on timetables for withdrawal from Iraq -- rename them "glory goals!" Who can disagree with "glory goals?!"
May 5, 2007
tags: date, wow
At three minutes and four seconds after 2 AM on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07. This will never happen again.
May 4, 2007
tags: male impotence, spider venom, Brazilian wandering spider, Phoneutria nigriventer, Tx2-6
I am amazed at the things men will endure in order to have an erection!
Forget about powdered rhino horn and tiger penis, there is a real animal-based remedy for male impotence: the venom of the Brazilian…
May 4, 2007
tags: evolution, birds, orioles, Icterus, research
"Oriole."
Image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, Pamela Wells.
[Larger image].
I often think about differences in morphological and behavioral traits in closely-related species and wonder whether the speed and…
May 4, 2007
I am a great admirer of nudibranchs, having worked with them for a little while as a graduate student, but this is the first one that has appeared on this blog. Does anyone know the species?
The photographer writes; It's a nudibranch with a nice purple sea urchin in the background.
I don't know…
May 4, 2007
tags: Venus flytrap, plant, biology, mechanics
A Venus flytrap lies open, waiting for an insect to set off its trap. Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan and colleagues have shown that the plant uses stored elastic energy to operate its hinged leaves.
Image: Yoel Forterre.
How does the venus flytrap…
May 4, 2007
tags: mental health, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, children
How many of you are survivors of childhood verbal abuse? I am not talking about an occasional parental outburst, but rather, consistent full-scale verbal assaults by your parents? According to a recent study by Harvard University…
May 4, 2007
tags: shampoo, Kaye Effect, streaming video
Scientists of the University of Twente in The Netherlands won a prestigious place in the 'Hall of Fame' of videos about fluid-in-motion. They made a streaming video of "leaping shampoo", in which they reveal the details of the so-called Kaye effect.…
May 3, 2007
tags: blog carnival, education
The 117th issue of the Carnival of Education is now available for you to read. Despite the fact that the school year is nearly over, so everyone is quite busy, there are plenty of pieces here to read.
May 3, 2007
tags: parrot, birds, illegal trade, endangered species, Mexico
The Defenders of Wildlife have published their 121 page report on The Illegal Parrot Trade in Mexico by Juan Carlos CantuÌ GuzmaÌn for you to download for free. I just downloaded a copy myself so will not be ready to discuss it with you…
May 3, 2007
tags: blog carnival, birds
The 48th issue of the blog carnival, I and the Bird is available for your reading pleasure. This, as usual, is a big carnival and should keep you busy reading for at least a week. As an added bonus, there are two pieces from me included in this issue .. not sure how I…
May 3, 2007
tags: paralysis, nanotechnology, medicine
A group of lab mice were intentionally paralyzed by cutting their spinal cords. As a result, they ended up dragging their hind legs behind them instead of scurrying around as mice do. But a group of these mice have partially recovered movement in their hind…
May 3, 2007
Old Wives Enoplosus armatus.
The photographer writes; A very common fish in South Australia. They can be found in small schools or individually. Yesterday (25 April, actually), there were a number of pairs sitting quietly along the bottom edge of the Port Noarlunga reef. This pair were sheltering…
May 3, 2007
tags: South Pacific Islands, Indonesia, rainforest destruction, environment
Southwestern region of the island nation, Indonesia. The pale land mass to the bottom, right is Australia while the pale region to the upper left is southeast Asia.
Image source.
Partially because many species of my…