Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
April 13, 2007
tags: researchblogging.org, Tyrannosaurus rex, dinosaurs, birds, fossils
Repeated analysis of proteins from a fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex reveal new evidence of a link between dinosaurs and birds: Of the seven reconstructed protein sequences, three were closely related to chickens.
Image:…
April 13, 2007
A grey heron, Ardea cinerea, searches for food in Frankfurt, Germany.
Source: The Guardian.
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 all of us of the grandeur of the…
April 13, 2007
According to a congressionally-mandated study by Mathematica Policy Research Inc., preaching sexual abstinence -- or more popularly, "just say no" -- to this nation's youth has been absolutely ineffective. Big surprise, no? Apparently, participation in abstinence programs had no effect upon the…
April 13, 2007
Is this the same way that one "accidentally" invades a country, "accidently" sets up offshore subsidiaries to avoid US law, and "accidently" profits off the misery and death of the poor and unfortunate? I think that Rove needs to be "accidentally" deleted from his job. He is, afterall, employed by…
April 13, 2007
tags: Liberalism, liberals, politics
This essay was sent to me by a friend and I thought you would appreciate reading it. I am posting it here intact, except for a few editorial improvements.
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean…
April 13, 2007
The Carnival of the Dogs is now available for your reading pleasure. Dogs? You ask. Yes, I submitted a piece about dogs to this carnival, and they liked it very much.
April 13, 2007
If you think things look bad now, what do you suppose the devolved future looks like? Scary, that's what!
April 12, 2007
Not only has Wolfowitz dragged the US into that quagmire known as the Iraq War, thereby causing Americans and Iraqis much unnecessary grief, but he also is embarassing America in front of the world since, as head of the World Bank, he gave his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, a job that has a very generous…
April 12, 2007
The United States Navy is planning on constructing a jet landing field in eastern North Carolina within 3.5 miles of the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most critical wintering grounds for waterfowl in the Atlantic flyway and home to endangered red wolves.
This would be a…
April 12, 2007
Great, now the rethuglicans are apparently missing a bunch of emails that pertain to the dismissal of the eight US attorneys -- sort of like Nixon's "18 minute gap" in the White House telephone conversation tape recordings. But Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, will not be…
April 12, 2007
A group of 20 endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits, Brachylagus idahoensis (pictured), were reintroduced to the wilds of Washington state last month but only four of the rabbits are still alive. The native rabbits, which are small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand, were released at the…
April 12, 2007
I hate to say this, but I have often wondered about the future of the human species .. we will certainly keep our technology, but our overall intelligence and ingenuity will diminish, as this video reveals. (clips from the Mike Judge movie, Idiocracy).
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tags: streaming video, evolution, Idiocracy
April 12, 2007
Taken in downtown Helena, as this flock of English Sparrows took off into the light.
Image:
Martin Richard.
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 all of us of the…
April 12, 2007
Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007.
I was saddened this morning to learn that another one of my favorite writers, Kurt Vonnegut, died. He died last night in Manhattan after suffering a head injury several weeks ago. Like another one of my favorite authors who recently died, William Styron, Vonnegut…
April 12, 2007
I just wanted to thank you, dear readers, for showing me that you are thinking of me by sending me books -- many of which were sent anonymously. So many books arrived on the same day that the post man decided it was Christmas in April for me! I received the following books from you this week;…
April 11, 2007
One of the biggest challenges to producing flu vaccine lies in the fact that so far, scientists have had to grow it in hens' eggs. Not only is this process cumbersome and slow, but it is often difficult to get the vaccine to grow as one wishes, and further, each egg only yields enough of the flu…
April 11, 2007
Vice President Dick Cheney was recently invited to be the commencement speaker at Brigham Young University, but this invitation has triggered a protest at the ultra-conservative Mormon university. It seems that some of the faculty and students -- who are devoutly Republican -- are offended by…
April 11, 2007
tags: bipolar disorder, mania, manic mouse, psychiatric research
Some of you, like me, suffer from bipolar disorder or might know someone who does, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to write a little about the creation of a mouse model to study the genetics that are thought to underlie the…
April 11, 2007
Yellow-crowned night heron at Sheldon Lake State Park during the Houston Lakes Butterfly Count.
Source: Biosparite.
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 all of us…
April 11, 2007
There was a program on TV a few nights ago called "Rethinking the Dinosaurs". This special program documented how Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History dismantled its entire collection of dinosaur bones and is reassembling them based on advances in our scientific knowledge. Previously,…
April 11, 2007
The 77th edition of the Tangled Bank is now available for your reading pleasure. This edition included two pieces that I wrote, so be sure to go over there to figure out which stories made the cut!
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tags: blog carnival, science, natural history
April 11, 2007
This streaming video gets to the point regarding Iraq .. which of course, means it is not safe for work (so watch it in the broom closet while on your lunch break).
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tags: streaming video, humor, politics
April 10, 2007
This story has been around the block a few times, but I thought it was appropriate to share with you anyway.
A major research scientific institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to man and science. The new element has been named Bushcronium. The scientific…
April 10, 2007
The 3rd volume, issue number 29 of Grand Rounds is available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival focuses on the best medical writing recently posted on a blog. This is a large issue so there is plenty to read.
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tags: blog carnival, medicine
April 10, 2007
Eastern Comma Butterfly Polygonia comma.
Taken in College Park, Maryland, Friday, 30 March, a serendipitous shot that the photographer got when she was trying to snap a cardinal who refused to come out and be seen.
Source: Karen Davis.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for…
April 10, 2007
Things are moving along in the Alberto "I'm a Lying Fucktwit" Gonzalez scandal .. moving at a crawl, but at least they are moving forward. With any luck, he'll be gone this by weekend. Otherwise, we will have to wait until 17 April to celebrate his resignation.
The House Judiciary Committee…
April 10, 2007
tags: dog breeds, IGF1, insulin-like growth factor 1, cancer, growth disorders
One gene mutation makes all the difference in body size between a big dog and a little dog.
Image: NY Times.
There are several things that I think are amazing about dogs, Canis familiaris. First, there is a huge…
April 9, 2007
A recent study by Dutch scientists has found that people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be less sensitive to physical pain than those who don't suffer from the condition. PTSD patients experience panic attacks, flashbacks, anxiety and depression following a traumatic event. Scans…
April 9, 2007
A sea otter watches as a tour boat from Seward slowly passes by on Resurrection Bay, Alaska.
Image: Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News.
The weather has triggered a sad situation on the Alaskan peninsula. An extra-cold winter has forced sea otters to leave the sea at Resurrection Bay and go onto…
April 9, 2007
The spider Enoplognatha ovata photographed fluorescing under ultraviolet light. Scientists at Portland State University in the US discovered that many spiders from different families fluoresce. They suggest it has something to do with getting food and avoiding being eaten.
Source: BBCNews.
As…