grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: Belmont Stakes, horse racing, race horses, Summer Bird, Mine That Bird, sports, streaming video
From left, Summer Bird, ridden by Kent Desormeaux,
Mine That Bird, ridden by Calvin Borel, and
Dunkirk ridden by John R. Velazquez, race toward the finish line
in the 2009 Belmont Stakes.
Image: Kathy Willens.
Kent Desormeaux, the other Cajun jockey in the Belmont Stakes, rode the other son of Birdstone, Summer Bird, to victory in today's Belmont Stakes. (Birdstone was the upset winner of the 2004 Belmont Stakes). Summer Bird is a half brother to today's favorite, Kentucky Derby winner,…
grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: Belmont Stakes, horse racing, race horses, Rachel Alexandra, Mine That Bird, sports
Calvin Borel, 2009.
Jockey for Mine That Bird (2009 Kentucky Derby winner)
and Rachel Alexandra (2009 Preakness Stakes winner).
Image: Joe Schneid, Louisville, Kentucky (Wikipedia Commons).
Will the next Triple Crown Winner in American Horse Racing have only two legs?
Just one week from today In just a few hours, Calvin Borel could make history by becoming the first jockey to ever win the Triple Crown in American horse racing -- riding different horses. He won the Kentucky Derby while riding the 50…
grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Pansy, Viola hybrid, giant blue cultivar.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on West 83rd street, across from the post office.
Image: GrrlScientist, 27 May 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] female Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus, photographed on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 26 November 2008 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: child stars, Disney, geneticists, satire, humor, funny, social commentary, streaming video
In this amazing news report, Disney claims its latest batch of child stars is so lifelike, you'll barely be able to tell they have no souls [2:40]
grrlscientist | June 5, 2009There's been a few blog carnivals published recently that you might wish to take a look at this weekend;
Carnival of Evolution, #12, was published a few days ago at Deep Sea News, co-written by my friend, Kevin.
Just Write blog carnival, which focuses on creative writing and book reviews.
Everything Worth Reading blog carnival, the "Sweet Little Sixteen" edition. This is a collection of stories about a wide variety of topics.
grrlscientist | June 5, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Pansy, Viola hybrid, red cultivar.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on West 83rd street, across from the post office.
Image: GrrlScientist, 27 May 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 5, 2009tags: Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni, photographed near Anahuac Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/1500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 5, 2009tags: Snickers Bar, candy bar, Kitchen Science, cloning food, Todd Wilbur, streaming video
Famous food cloner, Todd Wilbur, wraps his head with tape and attempts to duplicate the world's most popular candy bar [5:59]
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (sometimes that widget doesn't upload when the mother site is sick). Be sure to include the URL or "…
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Pansy, Viola hybrid, giant white cultivar.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on West 83rd street, across from the post office.
Image: GrrlScientist, 27 May 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009Last year, thanks to you, my loyal beloved readers, I was able to attend the Science Online conference held in London, England, where I was a speaker. This conference is being held again this year -- and I hope to be there! Proposed topics include blogging and microblogging, online communities, open access and open data, new teaching and research tools, author identifiers and measuring the impact of research. Science Online 2009 London is scheduled for 22 August at the Royal Institute of Great Britain, thanks to the generous support of Nature Network, Mendeley Research Networks and The Royal…
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009
Who: journalist and author, Nina Burleigh
What: free public presentation, "Biblical Forgery"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor, room D4
When: Thursday, 4 June 700-830pm
Join CFI and the Secular Humanist Society of New York to meet journalist and author Nina Burleigh, who wrote the recently published book, Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, & Forgery in the Holy Land. Her book tells the story of the unraveling of a Bible relic forgery scheme in Israel, and gives a glimpse into the intriguing world of biblical archaeology…
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009tags: NYC, New York City, Manhattan, swine flu, influenza, A/H1N1 Influenza, New York Academy of Sciences, NYAS
This is an overview of the NYAS symposium about Influenza A/H1N1 "swine flu" outbreak that I was invited to attend on 28 May 2009 in NYC.
Under the auspices of the New York Academy of Sciences' Emerging Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Discussion Group, vaccine experts, epidemiologists, and policymakers from around the United States met in New York City to discuss the current outbreak of Influenza A/H1N1 -- "swine flu." The program presented information about influenza…
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009tags: Townsend's Solitaire, Myadestes townsendi, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Townsend's Solitaire, Myadestes townsendi, photographed in Clallam County, Washington State. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Marv Breece, 23 May 2009 [larger view].
Canon EOS 350D 1/2000s f/7.1 at 300.0mm iso400
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009tags: TEDTalks, ornithology, dodo bird, Adam Savage, streaming video
Adam Savage talks about his fascination with the dodo bird, and how it led him on a strange and surprising double quest. It's an entertaining adventure through the mind of a creative obsessive. [15:39]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas…
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (sometimes that widget doesn't upload when the mother site is sick). Be sure to include the URL or "…
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009
Who: journalist and author, Nina Burleigh
What: free public presentation, Biblical Forgery
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor, room D4
When: Thursday, 4 June 700-830pm
Join CFI and the Secular Humanist Society of New York to meet journalist and author Nina Burleigh, who wrote the recently published book, Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, & Forgery in the Holy Land. Her book tells the story of the unraveling of a Bible relic forgery scheme in Israel, and gives a glimpse into the intriguing world of biblical archaeology…
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Pansy, Viola x wittrockiana, Dutch Blue cultivar.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on West 83rd street, across from the post office.
Image: GrrlScientist, 27 May 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, science, education
Nick with his potato gun,
on the downtown-bound A Train.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 June 2009.
Today as I was riding the A Train to the library so I could use their free wifi, I ran into Nick and his friend who are high school students in NYC. Their hobby is science. Physics, to be precise. In the above picture (blurry -- the train provides a very bumpy ride), you can see Nick with one of his physics experiments, a potato gun that he designed and built using PVC pipe. Since I have designed and built a few items from PVC myself (mostly…