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April 24, 2009
A very small selection of this week's interesting blog posts:
Effect Measure is staying on top of the news of a swine flu outbreak; 16 of 61 apparent flu deaths in Mexico have been confirmed as swine flu, and 8 people in the US have been diagnosed with swine flu and have recovered.
Ezra Klein…
April 24, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
As an academic epidemiologist I routinely do NIH funded research involving human subjects. That means my university must adhere to very strict regulations and guidelines for the protection of research subjects. Approval and monitoring of the ethical…
April 24, 2009
Civilian contractors supporting U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan face many of the same dangers as troops do, but the system for providing healthcare when theyâre injured is very different. An investigation by the Los Angeles Times and Pro Publica found that the insurance companies…
April 24, 2009
Those of you who haven't got an ad blocker installed have probably seen this ant floating about in a promotional banner in the ScienceBlogs sidebar:
I can't speak for how others react to this image. Most, I imagine, filter it out as yet more clutter on the screen. But for a picture of an insect…
April 23, 2009
Nature photographers William & Matthew Burrard-Lucas explain the magic behind some recent images of mosquitoes emerging from their pupae.
While they list the equipment and lighting they used for the session, the key factor seems to have been the determined patience with which they watched…
April 23, 2009
Next Tuesday (April 28th) is Workers Memorial Day, when people around the world remember workers killed and injured on the job and call for improved workplace safety and health.
Here in DC, weâre marking the occasion with a rally in front of the Department of Labor, then a march to the House and…
April 23, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
There are plenty of tragedies in this story about a plant manager sentenced to almost 6 years in prison for criminal conspiracy, covering up safety violations that killed a fork lift worker, and polluting the Delaware River. Fifty-nine year old John…
April 22, 2009
Ectatomma edentatum, Argentina
Equipment details: Canon EOS 20D, using an MP-E 65mm 1-5x lens (at 5x), lit with an MT-24EX twin flash diffused through tracing paper.
Several years ago, before I became serious about photography, I shot the same species in Paraguay with a little Nikon Coolpix 995.…
April 22, 2009
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, and it heralded a new era in the US. The New Yorkerâs Elizabeth Kolbert explains:
Among those who seemed unmoved was President Richard Nixon. He avoided the festivities and made no public comment on them. (One of his aides, John Whitaker, later…
April 21, 2009
As you may know, Photo Synthesis is a rotating blog, featuring the work of a different photoblogger each month.
The powers that be here at ScienceBlogs tell me they are still considering candidates for the coming month and for following months. So. If you have a favorite science photographer…
April 21, 2009
Our countryâs food-safety system may leave a lot to be desired, but the New York Timesâ Gardiner Harris reminds us that we should be grateful to the epidemiologists who let us know an outbreak is occurring at all. And it turns out that many of these alarm-sounding professionals work in Minnesota.…
April 21, 2009
A Brazilian leafcutter ant (Atta sexdens) harvests a leaf while her little sister stands guard against an intrusive photographer.
(Incidentally, image searches for this genus return an unnerving mix of terrorists and ants.)
Photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 20D. ISO…
April 20, 2009
Weâve written before about Alexandra Berzonâs fantastic Las Vegas Sun articles on Las Vegas construction deaths, and the paper won the 2009 Roy W. Howard public service reporting award from the Scripps Howard Foundation last month. Now, they've also won a Pulitzer in the Public Service category.…
April 20, 2009
This clumsy photoshop job over at Pharyngula puts me in mind of one of my favorite blogs, Photoshop Disasters.
Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the hours of time you will waste over there.
April 20, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
When a small body of water, say a slow flowing creek or water in a drainage ditch, "goes septic" it starts to stink, often giving off a rotten egg odor (hydrogen sulfide, H2S). This isn't a sign that the water is polluted in the chemical sense of toxic…
April 19, 2009
Compare these two images, both of the same swarm of mating ants:
What's the difference?
The lighting, of course. In the first image I stood facing the rising sun so that the insects' translucent wings glowed, while in the second I moved to shoot the swarm from another angle, the sun hitting them…
April 18, 2009
...these would be the beetles of choice.
Onthophagus taurus dung beetles,
showing size and horn variation among males.
Dung beetles in the widespread genus Onthophagus sport a bewildering array of horns. Not only do the horns of different species vary in shape, size, and the body part from…
April 17, 2009
Today's big news is that EPA has officially determined that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare. Over at Gristmill, Kate Sheppard explains what this all means (and tells you how to submit a public comment), Jonathan Hiskes and rounds up reactions from industry,…
April 17, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
This year's flu season isn't over, but it's almost over, and it was fairly typical and much better than last year, which was nasty. It began at the end of September but didn't take off until early January, peaking in mid Februrary. New cases are still…
April 16, 2009
A herd of bark lice (Psocoptera: Cerastipsocus sp.) grazes lichen across a tree trunk near Córdoba, Argentina. Here's what one of the adorable little beasties looks like up close:
Technical details:
Lens: Canon MP-E 1-5x macro lens, at about 1x (top photo) and 4x (bottom photo).
Body: Canon…
April 16, 2009
In today's New York Times, Elisabeth Rosenthal highlights an intervention that can slow global warming while improving people's respiratory health: cleaner-burning stoves. Primitive cooking stoves emit black carbon (or soot), which researchers now estimate is responsible for 18% of global warming.…
April 16, 2009
An Amblyopone oregonensis huntress delivers a paralyzing dose of venom to a centipede. This lets the ant larvae consume it alive later, at their leisure. Ow. Ow, Ow. Yes, that is the stinger you see, sunk deep into the head.
A cricket is impaled on the mandibles of a Malagasy trap-jaw ant,…
April 16, 2009
A New Blog in the Health Reform Galaxy
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the biggest names in the health policy world, has launched a new blog, called The Userâs Guide to the Health Reform Galaxy. I donât know if theyâre purposely invoking The Hitchhikerâs Guide to the Galaxy, but like…
April 15, 2009
Last summer, a fire in an illegal coal mine in Chinaâs Hebei province killed 35 workers â and the mine owners managed to conceal the tragedy for three months. The New York Timesâ Sharon LaFraniere reports:
The mine owner paid off grieving families and cremated the minersâ bodies, even when…
April 14, 2009
Aedes triseriatus, Eastern Treehole Mosquito (Larva)
I have a symbiotic relationship with other scientists. They let me in on their cutting-edge studies, giving me and my camera unfettered access to their charismatic little subjects. When the research is published and the science press picks up…
April 14, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
If you have any of your clothes dry cleaned it's more than likely you are being exposed to a chlorinated solvent called PCE (for perchloroethylene aka perc aka tetrachloroethylene/tetrachloroethene). You may be lucky enough to also get some in your…
April 14, 2009
The latest issue of the Economist highlights a new idea in malaria prevention. Traditional prevention efforts emphasize spraying, but mosquitoes evolve resistance to insecticides. Now, Penn State Universityâs Andrew Read offers this insight, which can help avoid the resistance problem:
To stop…
April 13, 2009
Fire ants aren't the only formicids that have to worry about parasitoid phorid flies. Many species are hosts to this diverse fly family.
Below are a pair of photos I took recently near Jujuy, Argentina showing a trio of an unidentified Pseudacteon species hovering over an ant nest. One of the…
April 13, 2009
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
The idea that if the United States joins the rest of developed nations and finally adopts a universal health care system it will bankrupt itself is not based in reality. The reality is that the US spends a larger proportion of its Gross Domestic Product (…
April 12, 2009
With 12,000 described species, ants dominate global terrestrial ecosystems. Here are a few of them.
Name: Nothomyrmecia macrops
Distribution: Australia
Famous for: The story of its rediscovery (As told by Bill Bryson- scroll down)
Name: Dinoponera australis
Distribution: South America
Famous…