grrlscientist | November 13, 2007tags: madagascar, leapin' lemurs, streaming video
This streaming video from the BBC show, Weird Nature: Marvelous Motion compares the movement of Sifaka lemurs to ballet, but it's also reminiscent of a martial arts movie. Remarkably, these animals can jump as far as 30 feet from tree to tree! And they make it look so effortless [1:49]
grrlscientist | November 12, 2007tags: song sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. The song sparrow is one of the species that I studied for my dissertation work, although most of my dissertation focused on the white-crowned sparrow. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 12, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
Birds in Science
Dinosaurs like Velociraptors had one of the most efficient respiratory systems of all animals, similar to that of modern diving birds like penguins, fossil evidence shows. The bipedal meat-eaters, the therapods, had air sacs ventilated by tiny bones that moved the ribcage up and down. "Finding these structures in modern birds and their extinct dinosaur ancestors suggests that these running dinosaurs had an efficient respiratory…
grrlscientist | November 12, 2007tags: book review, nature writing, birding, bird watching, collected essays, All Things Reconsidered, Roger Tory Peterson
Like most birders, I never met Roger Tory Peterson, although I do own several editions of his definitive field guides for identifying the birds of North America. However, thanks to Bill Thompson, who collected and edited 42 of RTP's best essays from his regular "Bird Watcher's Digest" column into one volume, All Things Reconsidered: My Birding Adventures by Roger Tory Peterson (NYC: Houghton Mifflin; 2006) you will feel as though you have spent several days in RTP's…
grrlscientist | November 12, 2007tags: kitchen science, glowing ice bulb, streaming video
Have you ever made a glowing ice bulb? I bet you didn't know they existed! Watch this video and learn how to do it in your own kitchen. [3:10]
How to make Glowing Ice!
grrlscientist | November 11, 2007tags: Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 10, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, Tunguska event, Siberian explosion, Podkamennaya Tunguska River, Lake Cheko, planet earth, astronomy
Flattened trees cover vast areas of Northeastern Siberia
after the mysterious Tunguska explosion in June, 1908.
Image: TASS/Sovfoto (public domain?) [larger view].
As a kid, I was fascinated by the mysterious explosion that occurred over Siberia. Basically, in the morning of 30 June 1908, a few native peoples in Siberia reported seeing a blue light in the sky that was as bright as the sun and hearing a series of loud explosions, accompanied by fierce winds and…
grrlscientist | November 10, 2007tags: swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 9, 2007tags: book review, birds, birding, bird watching, ornithology, conservation
When I was leading bird watching excursions on the west coast and we were looking at a species that was declining in the wild or was endangered, I made a point to mention this fact to my students. It was important, I thought, to impress upon them that the birds around them might not always be there to enjoy, that these birds were in need of protection.
"How do you know they're declining in the wild?" my students would invariably ask.
I learned such things after years of reading about birds, and by discussing…
grrlscientist | November 9, 2007tags: comet holmes, night sky, astronomy
Comet Holmes rises in the northeastern sky above Coyote Canyon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California. It's visible to the naked eye and better seen with binoculars. Discovered in the late 19th Century, Holmes has become dramatically brighter in the past 2 weeks.
Image: Don Bartletti (Los Angeles Times).
I just learned about the amazing Comet Homes, which has unexpectedly brightened more than one million times literally overnight, its appearance changing from that of a normal comet with a tail into a brilliant, tailless puffball in the night…
grrlscientist | November 9, 2007tags: song sparrow, Melospiza melodia, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. The song sparrow is one of the species that I studied for my dissertation work, although most of my dissertation focused on the white-crowned sparrow. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 9, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, women in science, feminism, gender disparity, academia, career
Image: East Bay AWIS.
An article was published in today's issue of Science that explores the reasons that female scientists are not achieving that elusive Principle Investigator (PI) status that is generally thought to be the epitome of success in academe. In short, this article argues that family responsibilities hold women back; women sacrifice their own career aspirations to care for children or elderly parents, and they also are more likely to sacrifice their career in favor of their spouse's…
grrlscientist | November 9, 2007tags: hawk-headed parrot, red-fan parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus, clicker training, streaming video
As some of you know, I recently added a four-month-old hawk-headed (red-fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, to my household. I plan to learn how to clicker-train this bird (I already have the necessary tools and books). Below the fold is an example of another young Hawk-headed parrot, named Scooter (owned by Jeannie), who was approximately six months old in this video. This training session focuses on teaching the bird how to pick up and retrieve a small ball. [8:52]
grrlscientist | November 8, 2007tags: savannah sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Savannah sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | November 8, 2007tags: citizen reporting, politics, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, US Presidential bid, WNYC, Brian Lehrer Show, Ethan Hova, Huffington Post
This morning, I was listening to WNYC, the local NPR affiliate and my favorite radio station in the world. On the Brian Lehrer Show, he was interviewing Ethan Hova, a reporter at the liberal online newspaper, the Huffington Post. Hova is organizing a "citizen reporter" story where a group of us get together and determine the value to Hillary Clinton of having a former President of the United States as a spouse.
To do this research project, Hova has…
grrlscientist | November 8, 2007tags: crazy frog, budgett frog, streaming video
This streaming video shows a frog puffing up and defending itself, complete with weird sound effects, from an evil human attacker [1:17]
grrlscientist | November 7, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, birds, migration, cryptochrome, blue light, garden warbler, Sylvia borin, magnetic compass, avian cryptochrome 1a, ornithology
Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin (Boddaert, 1783)
Blakeney Point, 16th September 2006.
Image: Matthew Rodgers [larger image].
Every year, millions of birds migrate to their breeding grounds and then back to their wintering grounds again. These birds' journies cover anywhere between several hundred to many thousands of miles, even when the skies are cloudy or dark. How do birds unerringly find their way to their destinations? Thanks to…
grrlscientist | November 7, 2007tags: evolution, politics, education, Kitzmiller, Dover School District, intelligent design, Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, NOVA, streaming video
Occasionally, very rarely in fact, I wish I had a television, and this is one of those days. I just received an ad from Kate Becker, regarding a new NOVA program, "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" which will air 8 pm on Tuesday, November 13 on your local PBS station (you might have also noticed that they are advertizing this program on this site).
This program documents the war over evolution that came to Dover, Pennsylvania…
grrlscientist | November 7, 2007tags: Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, Image of the Day
A friend who is a professor of Biology at KSU sent me a bunch of lovely images of sparrows that he took recently while birding. These images are scheduled to appear daily at 3 pm from 6 November through 16 November.
Lincoln's sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
grrlscientist | November 7, 2007tags: Phalcoboenus australis, striated caracara, flying devils, streaming video
This streaming video shows young striated caracaras, Phalcoboenus australis, on the Falkland Islands as they do what they do best .. wreak havoc [2:46]