voltagegate
Posts by this author
June 15, 2007
My friend "John" is in the Army Reserves. He was scheduled to be operating a crane in Iraq right about now, but his stint was pushed back until an undisclosed time. So, he has been able to start his biology teaching master's program in person instead of distance learning, and that means staying in…
June 14, 2007
Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.
-Louis Pasteur
June 14, 2007
Nuthatch reviews some current research in Animal Conservation and Biological Conservation about the effects of domestic cats on wildlife. Definitely worth a look, especially if you let your cats explore the neighborhood.
Heather and I have two cats - Stripey (right) and Lily (left) - who are…
June 12, 2007
"I often get letters, quite frequently, from people who say how they like the programmes a lot, but I never give credit to the almighty power that created nature, to which I reply and say, 'Well, it's funny that the people, when they say that this is evidence of the almighty, always quote beautiful…
June 12, 2007
You tell me:
I realize that the guy is trying to boil it down for people by assessing "risk", but by co-opting Pascal's wager to prove a point, he's made an false and unnecessary concession ("maybe we didn't have a hand in it") and drawn out the denialists and all their baggage on the Digg…
June 11, 2007
"The whole thing [global warming] is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."
- Jerry Falwell
June 11, 2007
It's true. Ecosystem analyst Dr. Rand Knight is running for senate in Georgia:
From 2004 - 2006 Dr. Knight served as a Scientist for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and received a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS). Dr. Knight was…
June 11, 2007
Have you sent your best ecology and environmental science entries to Greg?
June 9, 2007
...but you make it so damn hard.
MTV has been incessantly airing their latest movie award travesty all week, and I've caught a couple of segments while channel surfing. Another year, another boring awards ceremony. Even Sarah Silverman's jabs at Hollywood couldn't make up for the mediocrity.
I have…
June 9, 2007
Learn all about the vacated habitats of the river dolphins courtesy of the EDGE Blog.
June 8, 2007
A friend just shot me a link to a Flickr set of pics from the Creation Museum complete with witty commentary. Absolutely mind boggling. Over and over. PZ has a link to the blog post.
I wish I could ride triceratops.
June 8, 2007
Things at TVG have been slow for the past couple of weeks. I have been DCed from the internets, on vacation in Western PA. We had the pleasure of visiting Ohiopyle State Park and dipping out feet in the freezing Yough on a hot day. A few miles north of Ohiopyle is Wright's Falling Water, and beyond…
June 8, 2007
This means you, Defenders of Wildlife!
I have been a member of the World Conservation Union and the National Wildlife Federation for years now, and I've grown used to receiving quarterly mags, posters and gift wrap (just in time for Xmas - phew). But in the past couple of years, on a daily basis, I…
June 8, 2007
Well, for Greenpeace anyway.
Police helicopters forced down a Greenpeace hot air balloon on today as the environmental group took to the skies to try to get its message across to world leaders at a G8 summit.
[...]
The white hot air balloon had a giant yellow banner with the slogan "G8 Act Now"…
June 6, 2007
"I jumped out in waist-deep water. We had 200 feet to go to shore and you couldn't run, you could just kind of push forward. We finally made it to the edge of the water, then we had 200 yards of open beach to cross, through the obstacles. But fortunately most of the Germans were not able to fight,…
June 6, 2007
This is just what our blue crab populations need:
Chinese mitten crabs, first reported in the Chesapeake Bay, are more widespread than initially thought. Four crabs have now been caught in Delaware Bay during the last week of May 2007, and may occur in other waters of the U.S. east coast.
In total…
June 3, 2007
It's the last day of Red Panda Week, and I know you're wondering: What would it be like to live with red pandas?
Have a look:
June 2, 2007
The traditionalist Chinese, for all their deep philosophies of unity and transcendence, sure love to slaughter rare and beautiful animals for their own vanity.
Apparently, it is still acceptable in China to give hats made from the fur of poached red pandas as traditional gifts for special…
June 2, 2007
Brian of Laelaps was kind enough to contribute some beautiful pics of his favorite critter (as if you couldn't tell by his banner), photos he took at the Philly and Bronx Zoo.
Thanks Brian!
All images courtesy of Brian Switek. Please ask permission before using these images elsewhere.
June 1, 2007
Photo: mindrec
We established that the giant and red panda co-inhabit the same habitat, but exploit very specific parts of that main habitat, different microhabitats. Giants stick to the low lands, feeding in sparse forest, while the reds alight the long branches of rhododenrons, stripping leaves…
May 31, 2007
Many would like to paint evolution by natural selection as a vicious idea, drawing upon our fears of purposelessness and elitism by highlighting the misleading phrase, "survival of the fittest."
It can be a scary idea when applied to our society; we don't want to think of the disabled and…
May 30, 2007
Until very recently, no direct ancestors of the red panda (Ailurus) were known. Most paleontologists link Ailurus with previous, raccoon-like (procyonoid) fossil animals - Cynarctis, Phlaocyon, Aletocyon - mainly by the similarities in their molars.
A closer relative was described in the 1970's, an…
May 30, 2007
Meet Futa and Futa Jr. Dad stands up, the baby tries and everyone freaks out.
May 29, 2007
Morphologically, the red panda is a strange little furball. They are categorized with carnivores because of their powerful set of reinforced jaws, but the only meat the red panda will ever eat is the occasional bug. Like the giant panda, bamboo makes up most of its diet, one of the least nutritious…
May 28, 2007
Photo by: Chief Trent
The Red Panda is definitely in the running for the most Pokémon-like animal in the history of the world. My internal Cute-O-Meter runs high every time I come across one in the zoo.
But the taxonomic category these little cuties occupy is perhaps one of the most disputed in…
May 26, 2007
My undergrad degree will be officially complete this afternoon. I walk with honors and a BS in biology and writing. It's a big day for me and my family, despite my general distaste for pomp and circumstance (literally in this case); I tentatively returned to college after getting fed up with the…
May 24, 2007
Walking through a streamside copse of eastern hemlock in the ancient Appalachians is revealing for several reasons. First, the sheer size and age of these virgin stands can be humbling - at 45+ meters high, one tree may have been alive for more than 600 years. Second, a closer look at the forest's…