grrlscientist | March 31, 2010tags: education, public outreach, SciCafe, science cafe, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, streaming video
Who: Kristin Baldwin, Assistant Professor at Scripps Research's Department of Cell Biology
What: free public presentation, "The Future of Stem Cells"
When: Wednesday, 7 April at 700pm
Where: Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, American Museum of Natural History, Enter at the 81st Street (Rose Center) [directions and maps]
Cost: FREE, and there is a cash bar too! (must be 21+ with ID)
What if your cells could be engineered to grow your own replacement organs? Glimpse the…
grrlscientist | March 31, 2010tags: NASA, space debris, Space Junk, space exploration, streaming video
Humans and garbage .. after you watch these videos, you'll ask yourself if humans can do anything -- even go into space -- without creating a huge trail of garbage? This space garbage is extremely dangerous, too. For example, 10-gram piece of debris can generate a collision force in space equal to the crash of a car traveling at 100 km per hour. Because of our trashy ways, it won't be long until space vehicles cannot leave earth because of the thickening belt of garbage circling planet.
The news story:
Or maybe you…
grrlscientist | March 30, 2010tags: marshmallow peeps, The Peeps, The Birds, easter, parody, humor, funny, silly, movies, streaming video
This is a hilarious trailer for the spoof, "The Peeps": a parody of Alfred Peepcock's ... erm, Hitchcock's ... "The Birds." This film documents the biggest marshmallow threat to humanity since the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
grrlscientist | March 30, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
The next edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is less than two weeks away and as usual, it is seeking submissions and hosts! Can you help by sending URLs for your own or others' well-written science, medicine, and nature blog essays to me or by volunteering to host this carnival on your blog?
Scientia Pro Publica is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment, nature and medical writing that has been published in…
grrlscientist | March 30, 2010tags: Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Sonnenuntergang, travel, nature, environment, photography
Sonnenuntergang.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: Bob O'Hara, 30 March 2010 [larger view]
This was the sunset as photographed from the windows of the flat where I live in Frankfurt am Main. Don't you wish you could be here too, drinking a nice syrah and eating some of the Karotten-ingwer Suppe that I am preparing at this very moment?
grrlscientist | March 30, 2010tags: Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Mikroskop, travel, cities, sculpture, image of the day
Mikroskop.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: GrrlScientist, 24 March 2010 [larger view]
This is a sculpture that is located outside the front door to the building where I have been spending most of my days, writing. A close look at where this microscope is pointed shows that it is focused on Edinburgh, the home of my Sb colleague and friend, geologist Chris Rowan. It also happens to be the seat of Scottish Parliament.
grrlscientist | March 30, 2010tags: evolution, evolutionary biology, UV light, flight, dinosaur, dromaeosaur, theropods, Microraptor gui, paleontology, fossils, birds, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper, journal club
Figure 1. The holotype of Microraptor gui, IVPP V 13352 under normal light. This shows the preserved feathers (white arrow) and the 'halo' around the specimen where they appear to be absent (black arrows). Scale bar at 5 cm. [larger view]
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009223
It has long been known that when exposed to ultraviolent light, fossilized bones and shells -- and even…
grrlscientist | March 30, 2010tags: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, photographed in the photographer's back yard in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, March 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s 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 | March 30, 2010tags: obama, racism, America, Why Obama Is So Scary, humor, funny, satire, fucking hilarious, social commentary, cultural observation, Edward Current, streaming video
Another one of my boyfriends, Edward Current, uploaded this video today, even though he filmed it in August 2009. It's another rip-snorter, but the last few seconds is the real capper .. those last few seconds might be the reason he waited to share it with us until now ..
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010tags: freedom of speech, freedom of publishing, Philip Pullman, books, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, streaming video
Philip Pullman responds to the jackasses and crybabies of the world with regards to their whiny complaints about the title of his new book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. His answer succinctly addresses the larger issue of freedom of publishing/presses/speech. My response? AMEN!
Philip Pullman, addressing an audience at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, on 28 March 2010, was asked about whether his latest book, The Good Man Jesus and the…
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
The next edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is only one week away and as usual, it is seeking submissions and hosts! Can you help by sending URLs for your own or others' well-written science, medicine, and nature blog essays to me or by volunteering to host this carnival on your blog?
Scientia Pro Publica is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment, nature and medical writing that has been published in the…
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010tags: Max-Planck Institut für Biophysik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Rote Tulpe mit gelbem Auge, flowers, nature, environment, image of the day
Rote Tulpe mit gelbem Auge.
Max-Planck Institut für Biophysik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: GrrlScientist, 25 March 2010 [larger view]
Here's one photograph of the red-and-yellow tulips I saw at the Max-Planck Institute a few days ago. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated since, so even though I've photographed these flowers daily since then, none of those images captured what I wish to show to you. But this photograph isn't too…
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010tags: Laysan Teal, Laysan Duck, Anas laysanensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Laysan Duck, also known as the Laysan Teal, Anas laysanensis, photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Midway Island, Hawai'i. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joe Fuhrman, March 2010 [larger view].
NOTE: Unless you are a beginning bird watcher, PLEASE wait 24 hours before identifying this bird. (Intermediate-expert birders are encouraged to use puns, anagrams, poetry references or citations, Monty Python quotes or anything else that tickles your fancy to…
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010tags: evolution, evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, animal behavior, molecular ecology, parental care, mating systems, monogamy, sexual selection, frogs, poison dart frogs, Dendrobatidae, Ranitomeya, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper, journal club
Peruvian mimic poison frog, Ranitomeya imitator.
Image: Jason Brown [larger view]
To know the breeding system is to know the genetic architecture of a species.
To know the evolution of a breeding system is to know how evolution works ..
~ Lewis & Crowe, Evolution (1955)
Genetic tests have revealed the…
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010tags: Alex Filippenko, Josh Frieman, FermiLab, astronomy, astrophysics, Science Bulletins, research, American Museum of Natural History, AMNH, New York City, space, nature, universe, The Expanding Universe, streaming video
In 1998, astrophysicists discovered a baffling phenomenon: the Universe is expanding at an ever-faster rate. Either an enigmatic force called dark energy is to blame or a reworking of gravitational theory is in order. In this new Science Bulletins video, watch a FermiLab team assemble the Dark Energy Camera, a device that could finally solve this space-stretching mystery…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2010tags: marshmallow peeps, Astropeep, peeponaut, easter, space, humor, funny, silly, video, streaming video
I posted this last year, but I think it is worth repeating .. this streaming video lacks music, but it shows you the adventures of a very special marshmallow peep, an astropeep (or a peeponaut, depending upon which name you prefer) who traveled to the edge of space .. thanks to the Adler Planetarium's "Far Horizons 12" high altitude balloon mission, which rose to nearly to 97,000 feet.
grrlscientist | March 28, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
The next edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is less than two weeks away and as usual, it is seeking submissions and hosts! Can you help by sending URLs for your own or others' well-written science, medicine, and nature blog essays to me or by volunteering to host this carnival on your blog?
Scientia Pro Publica is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment, nature and medical writing that has been published in…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2010tags: Nordwestzentrum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Gelbe Wolken, flowers, nature, environment, image of the day
Gelbe Wolken.
Nordwestzentrum Open Air Market, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 March 2010 [larger view]
When I saw these brilliant lemon yellow flowers, I was immediately captivated. I took half a dozen photographs, trying to capture the fluffiness and the brilliant yellow color of the flowers and contrast that against the dark background as well as the sharp edges of the green leaves. I don't think I succeeded at this, but this is still a nice image to look…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2010tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My piles of books are a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
~ Arnold Lobel [1933-1987] author of many popular children's books.
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently 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 edited…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2010tags: Cape Thick-Knee, Spotted Dikkop, Spotted Thick-Knee, Burhinus capensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Spotted Thick-Knee, also known as the Cape Thick-Knee or the Spotted Dikkop, Burhinus capensis, photographed in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 18 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm VR lens with 1.4 extender. ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3. Exposure compensation -1.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date…