kevin z
Posts by this author
April 26, 2008
Continuing the series from VBS.tv's TOXIC-Garbage Island series. Contains some vulgar language. They finally actually do something, but they are still just as annoying. Yet, part 9 starts to nail it.
April 25, 2008
Is that a gang sign that crab is flashing? West Side ya'll!
A half-blue lobster! Its cool how the mutation only affects part of the segment. In arthropods, each half of a segment is regulated by developmental patterning genes. Much work has been done on this in Drosophila research.
For more of…
April 25, 2008
Continuing the series, here is parts 6 and 7 from VBS.tv's series TOXIC-Garbage Island. Contains some vulgar language. If you can get past the annoying attitude of the host, there are some lessons here! I extremely disagree with his statement about it being so boring out on the open sea. I'm sorry…
April 24, 2008
Bowie Seamount, Canada's newest Marine Protected Area.
OTTAWA (AFP) -- An underwater volcanic mountain teaming with ocean life off Canada's Pacific Coast has been added to the nation's growing list of marine protected areas, officials said Tuesday.
"Bowie Seamount is an oceanic oasis in the deep…
April 24, 2008
Did you know that the U.S. government has allowed the practice of shark-finning for several years? You might have thought this was a practice relegated to Asian countries, where shark fins are used in a local soup. In the past, fishermen could horde piles of shark fins alongside the shark bodies so…
April 23, 2008
New Scientist's technology blog has a cool post on robot jellies! This is real slick engineering done by the German automation company Festo, which describes its AquaJelly as ""an artificial autonomous jellyfish with an electric drive and an intelligent, adaptive mechanical system." Some cool…
April 22, 2008
We previously brought you part 3, here is TOXIC-Garbage Island Part 4 and 5 from VBS.tv. Contains some vulgar language.
April 22, 2008
I want to apologize to Jason, Rick and Karen, as well everyone that expecting to hear me talk today on Earthcast 2008, for missing the program. I am quite embarrassed for missing the interview. I built it up all day with friends and family and was very much looking forward to the conversation with…
April 22, 2008
Happy Earth Day DSN Readers!
Just a reminder that I will be a guest along with Rick MacPherson of CORAL and the wonderful marine conservation blog Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice and Sunsets as well as the beautiful and talented Karen James of The Beagle Project and associated blog on Jason Robertshaw's…
April 18, 2008
Banksy is a prolific street graffiti artist from England who recently made the cover of Science magazine. His work often points out life's ironies and carries a political or societal message. For more from Banksy, click here. More of his art can be seen in the Flickr pool.
More under the fold...
April 17, 2008
Guess who is the Encyclopedia of Life's biodiversity of the week?? The cuttlefish!!
Diver: "awww wookit da purdy wittle squidy!"
Cuttlefish: "Who you calling a squid punk? Why you backing off? I thought you might want to "cuttle" a bit... thats what I thought..."
Hat tip to Michael Barton, FCD.
April 16, 2008
Teuthologist Dr. Steve O'Shea and Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the colossal squid. Photo credit: Kathrin Bolstad
Monster squid hunter extraordinaire Dr. Steve O'Shea will be dissecting giant and colossal squids and it will be webcasted LIVE from Te Papa Museum in New Zealand. It will be an event-…
April 15, 2008
According to CNN.com, the Nisshin Maru, a japanese whaling ship, returned from the "field season" with only half its intended sample size for its scientific whaling.
"Japan's top whaling ship returned to port Tuesday, leading a fleet that killed just 55 percent of its season target of 1,000 whales…
April 15, 2008
As part of Earth Day festivities next week, I will be a guest with Karen of the Beagle Project and Rick of Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice and Sunsets on Jason's Cephalopodcast. This will part of a 24-hour webcastathon for Earth Day. Jason's theme for his segment is "The Other 71%" in reference to the…
April 15, 2008
And blik surface graphics has them! Nothing says sweet dreams like an octopus dragging you kids teddy bear to the ocean depths.
Hat tip to Miriam.
April 13, 2008
Its National Poetry Month and the deep sea has struck the creativity and imagination of many passionate people, myself and my 2 blogging colleagues here as well. Here is a poem from Rudyard Kipling.
The Deep-Sea Cables
The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar --
Down to the…
April 13, 2008
Researchers have been very concerned about the paucity of females of Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis, an octopus inhabiting the hydrothermal vent community of the Eastern Pacific Rise. One senior, conservative squid researcher even went so far as to comment that this octopus was some part of a "queer…
April 10, 2008
Thomas Morton traveled with the R/V Alguita as they sailed the North Pacific Gyre to document the so called Garbage Island:
"Part and parcel with this was my attitude toward the Pacific Garbage Patch, or as we willfully misidentified it for the duration of our journey, the elusive Garbage Island.…
April 8, 2008
To take our knitting challenge? Or are you waiting for us to raise the stakes a little? To refresh your memory, I challenged knitting readers to create a Bone-Devouring Zombie Worm with Dwarf Male in a previous post. Since the males are internal it would be cool to have a flap where you can open it…
April 8, 2008
The latest from Archie McPhee: Frogmen vs. Radioactive Octopus. Makes a great present to that little deep sea diver for the summer beach holiday!
"During a routine underwater expedition, these unfortunate frogmen were attacked by a giant radioactive octopus! Will their harpoon guns, daggers and…
April 7, 2008
The eleventh edition of the Carnival of the Blue, the best of the last month's ocean blogging, is up at the ever inimitable Zooillogix. This month is complete with HOT MOLLUSK ACTION!1!!!!11!1!!!!!!11!
I'm just fear for poor Miriam after reading she might have perverted, cannabilistic mollusks on…
April 6, 2008
Just in time for the big Spring Thaw, grab your Avenging Narwhal Playset!
"The narwhal is an arctic-dwelling whale that has been called "the unicorn of the sea" due to its long pointy tusk. There is debate about the true purpose of this tusk, but finally the truth is revealed! The narwhal uses its…
April 3, 2008
Way back in the day with deep sea drilling they used to just let it all flow out if you know what I mean. Now in the PC world and all, we have to watch what we spill, give rattail's fin about other critters, yadda yadda yadda. The japanese, being the ever inventful gadgeteers they are, have…
April 2, 2008
So Kallen over at the Biojournalism blog goes on a diatribe about great Echinoderms are, blah blah blah regeneration blah blah blah pentaradial symmetry. She then asks of her readers:
Tell me how snails are really cool, please?
OK, I'll tell you! Craig has already mentioned the coolness of the…
April 2, 2008
CNN.com reports:
"Those favoring the removal say the sea lions are damaging salmon runs listed under the Endangered Species Act and protected at great expense.
The states estimate the sea lions eat up to about 4 percent of the spring chinook run as it schools at the base of the Bonneville Dam to…
March 29, 2008
Sometimes we just need a little help to get by in life. A nudge, some encouragement or a simple pat on the back will suffice. Being stuck to a rock is not a real good way to avoid predators, unless that rock can move. Symbioses between sea anemones and snails have been well known for over a century…
March 28, 2008
Catherine Brahic reports on some interesting new research in an online article at New Scientist:
""There are certain limits on swimming speed that are imposed irrespective of power," explains Iosilevskii. One of these is the frequency at which the swimmers can beat their tails to propel themselves…
March 28, 2008
To piggy back on Peter's ice sheet-o-mania posts today, Marsha Walton reports at CNN.com what it means to the animal life in the Antarctic when an ice shelf collapses:
" Another warming ocean event that scientists are studying closely is the migration of king crabs. Marine remotely operated…
March 27, 2008
... the northern and southern hemispheres.
Scene from Strange Wilderness. Click here for hilarious movie trailer.
March 25, 2008
This is the second song in my brand new series Deep Sea Ditties. Wait! How can it be the second if the series is new?? The first song has been here all along! It is the Deep Sea News theme song (top left icon, says DSN theme song). Every Once in a while I will write and record a song about the…