Life Sciences
cwilcox | November 6, 2008In 1990, the late Michael Crichton published his most influential book. Sure, a lot of us loved 'State of Fear', but let's be honest - that's not his most popular book. If you haven't been under a rock through the '90s, you've probably heard of it - Jurassic Park. Of course, the series' portrayal of dinosaurs may have been a bit off (we now know the velociraptors had feathers, for example), but the idea was pure brilliance. Resurrecting animals from blood stored in preserved mosquitos - genius, and eventually, maybe even possible. This, the week of his death, scientists have published a few…
gregladen | November 6, 2008
This is from Seabeck, Washington, across the water from Seattle.
Ursus americanus is one of those species with a LOT of variation in adult body size. Males can run from 46 to 409 kg (100 - 900 lbs) [ADW], with the average around 100 - 120 kilos. Record size black bears include:
North Carolina, shot, November 1998, 880 lbs (399 kg)
Winnipeg, road kill, 2001, 856.5 lbs but estimated to have been 886 (402 kg) in life.
[source: American Bear Association]
Keep in mind that this was a black bear, not a brown bear. There are three kinds of bear in North America: Brown bear (also known as…
clock | November 5, 2008Ecologists Say Metabolism Accounts For Why Natural Selection Favors Only Some Species:
Why are some species of plants and animals favored by natural selection? And why does natural selection not favor other species similarly? According to a UC Riverside-led research team, the answer lies in the rate of metabolism of a species - how fast a species consumes energy, per unit mass, per unit time.
Genes That Prevent Changes In Physical Traits Due To Environmental Changes Identified:
New York University biologists have identified genes that prevent physical traits from being affected by…
clock | November 4, 2008Protect Your Vote: Avoid Election Machine Errors:
Of all the conceivable problems that could lead to a miscount Election Day, there's one possibility that voters can do something about - avoid making election machine-related errors, says a University of Maryland researcher who led a comprehensive study of voter problems using touch screen and paper-based machines.
Seasonal Affective Disorder May Be Linked To Genetic Mutation, Study Suggests:
With the days shortening toward winter, many people will begin to experience the winter blahs. For some, the effect can be devastating. About 6 percent…
edyong | November 3, 2008Mammals like ourselves pass our genes 'vertically' from parent to child. But bacteria aren't quite so limited; they have mastered the art of gene-swapping and regularly transfer DNA 'horizontally' from one cell to another. This "horizontal gene transfer" has been largely viewed as a trademark of single-celled organisms, with few examples among animals and plants. That is, until now.
A group of American researchers have discovered a group of genetic sequences that have clearly jumped around the genomes of several mammals, one reptile and one amphibian. It's the most dramatic example yet that…
revere | November 3, 2008There are only 77 days left in the Bush administration. Hallelujah. Finally an end to the carnage, right? Not so fast! Unless you think it's not doing any damage to: remove animals from the endangered species list without adequate public participation, putting power plants near national parks, making it easier to blow the tops of mountains off so coal operators can get to dirty coal or loosening regulations on disposal of factory farm wastes. If that's your idea of good environmental stewardship and "no more carnage," you'll be delighted to hear that the Bushies are making haste to ramrod…
tetrapodzoology | November 2, 2008
Thanks to Tet Zoo, I sometimes receive books to review, and earlier on in the year I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of Lewis Smith's Why the Lion Grew Its Mane (Papadakis, 2008). Smith is a science reporter at The Times and in this book, billed as presenting 'a miscellany of recent scientific discoveries from astronomy to zoology', he takes us on a tour of some of the newest, neatest science. Despite its title, Why the Lion Grew Its Mane isn't just about animals, but also includes sections on cutting-edge technology, astronomy, genetics and psychology. I don't know enough about any…
grrlscientist | November 2, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
clock | October 31, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Curling Up with a Story: An Interview with Sean Carroll:
To meet Sean Carroll on his home turf in the early spring of Wisconsin is like encountering a bear cuddled up in his lair, waiting out the cold winter. I burrowed into the softly lit cave of small…
tetrapodzoology | October 31, 2008
During the breeding season male frogs are compelled to grab moving objects and engage them in amplexus, the tight 'breeding clasp' that occurs either under the forelimbs (axillary amplexus) or around the waist (inguinal amplexus), depending on the species. Amplexus is assisted by roughened pads of tubercles or even small spikes on the male hand, wrist and/or forearm. If it's obvious that the moving object is not a female of the same species (because it feels wrong or makes an objectionable noise [as male frogs do when grabbed by other males]), the male lets go.
Nevertheless, male Eurasian…
laelaps | October 28, 2008
As explained in Narratives of Human Evolution (and outlined in an early chapter of Bones of Contention), scientific descriptions of human evolution have often been shaped by a belief in progress and our* superiority. Even today, when descriptions are often more objective on the surface, there are subtexts in which fossils are arranged this way or that to reflect certain values and expectations.
*[Whose superiority, however, differs depending on who is speaking. This could range from our species, Homo sapiens, to just one "race" of humans (I bet you can guess which).]
Today it requires a bit…
cwilcox | October 28, 2008I have tried really hard not to write a blog post about this book for awhile now, but I had to move recently, and in packing and unpacking I happened to run across my copy of it at least a dozen times. I can't resist it any longer. For those of you who have read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you probably think you've read the best book that has ever been written. Well, you're close, but not quite there (if you haven't read Hitchhiker's, I don't really know what to tell you - you can't even imagine the best book). The best book ever written is by Douglas Adams, but it's not his…
zooillogix | October 27, 2008So what's worse than buying powdered black rhino horn from a back alley Shenzen apothecary to cure your impotence? Paying too much for black rhino horn at aforementioned back alley apothecary! Luckily, I came upon an interesting table at Havocscope, which provides indexes of black market industries, including animal trafficking. While these metrics are certainly depressing, this sort of information helps conservationists understand the economic challenges they are up against, and plan their strategies accordingly.
The sources for these numbers are listed at Havocscope. As any longterm…
grrlscientist | October 26, 2008tags: po'ouli, Melamprosops phaeosoma, endangered species, endangered species act, conservation, extinction, birds, island species, Hawai'i, book review
For scientists, naturalists and birders, islands are the most amazing places on earth because their evolutionary legacy has provided them with their own fascinating flora and fauna that are found nowhere else in the world. But because humans also like to live on islands, along with their pets and crop plants, islands are a conservation nightmare, and certainly, the Hawai'ian islands are no exception. In Alvin Powell's book, The Race to Save…
grrlscientist | October 26, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
edyong | October 25, 2008G'day. As of yesterday, my month-long jaunt to Australia was officially over, which means that your friendly neighbourhood science blog will continue its regular service, with new posts starting tomorrow.
The holiday was amazing - we managed to pack in some time in Sydney and Melbourne, a sailing trip round the Whitsundays, visits to Kakadu National Park, King's Canyon and Uluru, a drive down the Great Ocean Road and even a wedding. We travelled through rainforest, coral reef, desert and wetlands and along the way, managed to avoid the many ways of being crushed or poisoned (see amusing sign…
clock | October 24, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
An End to Endless Forms: Epistasis, Phenotype Distribution Bias, and Nonuniform Evolution:
At the very end of his On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin wrote, "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are…
clock | October 24, 2008Voters Swayed By Candidates Who Share Their Looks, Researchers Say:
Made up your mind who to vote for? Maybe it's because you like the looks of the candidate. Or maybe it's because the candidate looks a little like you, even if you don't realize it.
Memories Selectively, Safely Erased In Mice:
Targeted memory erasure is no longer limited to the realm of science fiction. A new study describes a method through which a selected set of memories can be rapidly and specifically erased from the mouse brain in a controlled and inducible manner. New and old memories have been selectively and safely…
grrlscientist | October 23, 2008tags: London England, London Zoo, sciblog, zoological gardens, travel
Entrance, London Zoo.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2 September 2008 [larger view].
After a leisurely morning walk through part of London's Regents Park, Bob O'Hara and I then spent the rest of the day at the London Zoo.
The London Zoo is quite proud of their environmentally-friendly facilities, and they have a sign near the main entrance that describes their water conservation project;
Sign near zoo entrance describing the zoo's water conservation project.
London Zoo.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2 September 2008 [larger view…
tetrapodzoology | October 23, 2008Today sees the formal publication of the bizarre little Chinese maniraptoran theropod Epidexipteryx hui Zhang et al., 2008 from the Daohugou Formation of Ningcheng County, north-eastern China. Unfortunately the publication of this new species is not quite the surprise it should be, as the authors inadvertently submitted their manuscript to the wrong venue a few weeks ago, thereby making the article visible to the whole world some time before it was ready to be published. Anyway, we'll just have to pretend that never happened. Belonging to a recently discovered group called the…