grrlscientist | April 25, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, dinosaurs, birds, Tyrannosaurus rex, ornithology, paleontology
The Tyrannosaurus rex femur from which researcher Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University recovered soft tissue.
Image: Science.
It wasn't too long ago that paleontologists thought that fossilization was a process where all biological material was replaced with inert stone. However, in 2005, Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University rocked the paleontological world when she recovered a still-elastic blood vessel from inside a fractured thigh bone fossil of…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2008tags: spring, nature, Image of the Day
Spring.
Picture snapped a couple weeks ago outside the College Park Metro Station. By the way, do you see the nesting bird in this image?
Image Karen Davis [larger].
grrlscientist | April 25, 2008Okay, everyone, I am getting some wonderful suggestions in email for what to see and do in London in August, so I have decided to start a thread where you all can suggest things for a person who lives (and travels) on a shoestring. I already have gotten some suggestions from birders (they are such a great group of people) that I will share with you to start things off;
David Lindo at The Urban Birder is one source I'll be contacting for more information
and I'll be purchasing Where to Watch Birds in the London Area by Dominic Mitchell.
Besides birding, I plan to see as much of London as…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2008tags: Creationism-vs-evolution, fundamentalism, religion, culture wars
A friend, Dave, sent me an interesting article that was published several months ago in Science. This insightful and well-written article by Jennifer Couzin is important because it focuses on one scientist's trauma and ensuing lifelong journey with rejecting his evangelical creationist upbringing to accept evolution as scientific fact. Below the fold is a summary of this article for you to read.
Paleontologist Stephen Godfrey, curator of the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland, started out his life incongruously as…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2008tags: Oda a la Tristeza, Pablo Neruda, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). My poetry suggestions are starting to run dry, which means I can start posting my own favorites (but you've seen many of those already) or you can send me your favorite poems, which I probably haven't read before!
Today's poem was suggested by a reader, Dave;
Oda a la Tristeza
Tirsteza, escarabajo
de siete patas rotas,
huevo de telaraña,
rata…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2008tags: David Attenborough, pika, Ochotonidae, behavior, streaming video
This streaming video shows David Attenborough bonding with a Pika, beginning by presenting it with a floral bouquet [3:20].
grrlscientist | April 24, 2008
London at Night
(Astronomy Picture of the Day).
Image: ISS Crew, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Lab, JSC, NASA [larger view].
Ever since I first heard about it, I have been wishing wishing wishing that I could -- somehow -- attend Nature Network's Euro ScienceBlogging Conference in London, England on 30 August. In fact, I have wanted to relocate to the UK (or elsewhere overseas) for much of my life, but alas, that's another dream unrealized, sigh. So of course, I thought my latest desire to visit London and attend this conference would suffer the same fate as the dodo.
But, I was…
grrlscientist | April 24, 2008tags: chambers street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Chambers Street Subway Art #7 [Detail from #5]
as seen at NYC's Chambers Street stop for the A and C trains.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 24, 2008tags: Common Pochard, Aythya ferina, birds, Image of the Day
Common Pochard, Aythya ferina (Hiroshima, Japan).
Image: Bardiac [larger].
grrlscientist | April 24, 2008tags: Cabbage, Charles Simic, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). My poetry suggestions are starting to run dry, which means I can start posting my own favorites (but you've seen many of those already) or you can send me your favorite poems, which I probably haven't read before! Today's poem was suggested by a reader, Digital Cuttlefish, who writes; "Another poet, perhaps known to you, that I only recently (I blush to admit…
grrlscientist | April 24, 2008tags: Waterbill Mystery, humor, behavior, streaming video
Jennifer and Jim kept getting huge water bills. They knew beyond a doubt that the bills weren't representative of actual usage, and no matter how they tried to conserve, the high bills continued. Although they could see nothing wrong, they had everything checked for leaks or problems: first the water meter, then outdoor pipes, indoor pipes, underground pipes, faucets, toilets, washer, ice maker machine, etc. One day, Jim was sick and stayed home in bed, but kept hearing water running downstairs. He finally tore himself from his sick…
grrlscientist | April 23, 2008tags: chambers street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Chambers Street Subway Art #6 [Detail from #5]
as seen at NYC's Chambers Street stop for the A and C trains.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 23, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, evolution, speciation, Pod Mrcaru lizard, Podarcis sicula, reptiles
Pod Mrcaru lizard, Podarcis sicula.
Image: Anthony Herrel (University of Antwerp) [larger view]
Evolution has long been thought to occur slowly, due to small and gradual genetic changes that accumulate over millions of years until eventually, a new species arises. However, recent research has been calling this assumption into question. According to a study that was just published by an international team of scientists, dramatic physical changes can occur very rapidly -- on the order of just 30…
grrlscientist | April 23, 2008tags: Japanese White-Eye, Zosterops japonicus, birds, Image of the Day
Japanese White-Eye, Zosterops japonicus (Osaka Prefecture, Japan).
Image: Bardiac [larger].
grrlscientist | April 23, 2008tags: I wandered lonely as a cloud, William Wordsworth, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me).
I wandered lonely as a cloud (The Daffodils)
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars
that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in…
grrlscientist | April 23, 2008tags: global warming, humor, behavior, streaming video
According to the Christian Science Monitor, cows are one of the main culprits in global warming. This streaming video shows how [0:39].
grrlscientist | April 22, 2008tags: chambers street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Chambers Street Subway Art #5
as seen at NYC's Chambers Street stop for the A and C trains.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 22, 2008tags: Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, birds, Image of the Day
Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea (Kumamoto, Japan).
Image: Bardiac [larger].
grrlscientist | April 22, 2008tags: Earth Day, nature, Discovery Channel, commercial, streaming video
A Discovery Channel commercial for Earth Day .. [1:06].
grrlscientist | April 22, 2008tags: The Sun, Mary Oliver, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me).
The image was kindly provided by my friend, Dave Rintoul, who snapped that picture when we were visiting the Platte River in Nebraska, watching the migrating sandhill cranes.
Sunset over a slough on the Platte River, Nebraska.
Image: Dave Rintoul, March 2008 [larger view].
Today's poem was one I chose for Earth Day, especially for these ending lines;
or…