grrlscientist | September 1, 2007tags: invertebrates, blog carnivals
The latest issue of The Circus of the Spineless is now available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival focuses on linking to essays and images that feature invertebrates. Be sure to go there and see what they have collected for you to enjoy!
grrlscientist | August 31, 2007tags: books, linguistics,Steven Pinker
"Cathartic swearing," is analogous to the earsplitting shrieks of rats, cats, and monkeys, and is part of a primal, embedded rage circuit, and likely evolved to startle and unnerve an attacker, according to Steven Pinker. Pinker is a professor of psychology at Harvard University and the author of a book entitled The Stuff of Thought (2007) that will appear in your bookstores within a week or so.
"If you want to intimidate someone," Pinker says, "then talking about sexual acts he does with his mother and advising him to engage in various other…
grrlscientist | August 31, 2007tags: mystery image, Image of the Day
Whose eyes were glowing beneath the Hostas? They belonged to a juvenile calico cat. Later on I caught another glimpse of this same kitty with its jet black sibling and mother. Over the past few years I have seen a total of four feral cats in the area of Central Park I most often visit. This was the first time I had evidence that they were breeding. They're cute, of course, but not the safest neighbors for birds to have in the park environment.
Second in a series of two.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger image].
grrlscientist | August 31, 2007tags: spider, giant spider web,arachnid, social behavior
Lake Tawokoni State Park rangers (l-r) Mike McCord and Freddie Gowin continue to monitor a giant communal spider web at the park Tuesday, August 29, 2007. Officials at Lake Tawokoni State Park have been watching the growth of a giant communal spider web that has formed in the park over the past several weeks. The giant spider webs are rare for Texas.
Image: Tom Pennington. [Scary wallpaper size]
Have you heard about the spiders that spun a web that is the size of Texas? Well, actually, the web is only the size of two football…
grrlscientist | August 31, 2007tags: feminist, online quiz
You Are 93% Feminist
You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man).
You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.
Are You a Feminist?
I guess this result is not surprising, eh? I also assume that you are going to fit into the "feminist" category as well, since you are reading this blog.
grrlscientist | August 31, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, splendid fairy-wren, Malurus splendens,sexual dichromatism, evolution, behavior, promiscuity, social monogamy
Male splendid fairy-wren, Malurus splendens.
Image: Pete Morris (Surfbirds.com). [screensaver size]
Everyone is familiar with sexual dichromatism in birds; you know, the gorgeous, colorful male who is paired with the drab female or two. It has been observed in birds that, when males and females differ dramatically in appearance, the females are preferentially mating with a few "pretty boys"; those that have elaborate plumage colors or ornamentation. As…
grrlscientist | August 30, 2007tags: Lab 257, Plum Island,animal disease research, USDA, West Nile virus, Lyme disease, Dutch duck plague
After the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK was shown to be the result this virus's escape from one of two nearby research labs, I thought it was timely to review a book that investigates this same occurrence in the United States. Lab 257: the Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory (NYC: William Morrow; 2004) by Michael Christopher Carroll, is the riveting story of an animal disease research lab located on an 840-acre island that is only…
grrlscientist | August 30, 2007tags: mystery image, Image of the Day
Photographic proof of the existence of the "Ghost of Central Park's Shakespeare Garden" is available for the first time. It's existence was news to me. Having never heard a rumor that the place was haunted I was doubly shocked to have stumbled on the provocative and eerie scene at just the right moment. I assure you that the photo was not concocted in Adobe Photoshop or some other software. It's a genuine image. So what is the spectral figure lurking in the shadows?
The photographic solution follows tomorrow.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. […
grrlscientist | August 30, 2007tags: science, nature, medicine, Tangled Bank, blog carnivals
The 87th edition of The Tangled Bank is now available for you to enjoy. This blog carnival is the original blog carnival that focuses on science, nature and medicine and it links to a variety of contributions that you will want to read.
grrlscientist | August 29, 2007tags: Australia, blog carnivals
The August 29th edition of the Carnival of Australia is now available for you to enjoy. This blog carnival covers all aspects of Australian life, from environment to indigenous issues, from culture to technology. Be sure to go there and give them some support by reading their linked articles!
grrlscientist | August 28, 2007tags: lunar eclipse, astronomy
Total eclipse of the Moon 16 September 1997.
Image: Lorenzo Lovato.
Tonight's forecast calls for a 100-percent chance of the moon becoming as blood, with an 80-percent chance of a scattered Apocalypse tomorrow.
As mostly everyone in the United States, and especially as everyone on the West Coast knows, this morning at 337am was the height of a full lunar eclipse, which is when the moon turns blood red. A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, earth and moon are directly aligned: when the earth's shadow passes over the moon. This gives the moon a brownish or…
grrlscientist | August 28, 2007tags: Marc van Roosmalen, primatology,monkeys, Brazil, research, biopiracy
Dutch scientist Marc van Roosmalen (pictured) was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for trying to auction off the names of several monkey species and for keeping monkeys at his house without proper authorization.
Image: Eraldo Peres (AP).
In a surprising move, the Brazilian government recently sentenced world renowned primatologist, Dr. Marc van Roosmalen, to nearly 16 years in prison. Van Roosmalen, who discovered seven species of monkeys and a new primate genus in the Amazon rainforest, was formally…
grrlscientist | August 28, 2007tags: zebras, Image of the Day
Two zebras merge in this image in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
Image: Bob Immitt.
grrlscientist | August 27, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, fishing, fishery, overfishing, sushi
Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus thynnus.
Orphaned image [larger image].
The western Atlantic Bluefin Tuna fishery in the Gulf of Maine is in danger of collapse, according to University of New Hampshire (UNH) researchers. Further, the team found that the number and quality of the captured fish has declined markedly in recent years.
Using notes collected by veteran tuna grader Robert Campbell from the Yankee Fisherman's Co-op in Seakbrook, New Hampshire, Walter Golet led a team of marine biologists that…
grrlscientist | August 27, 2007tags: dahlia, Image of the Day
Dahlia.
Image: Martin Richard. [larger].
grrlscientist | August 27, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, preparing to land on its nest, Kodiak Island National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.
Image: US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Birds in Science
Here's a question for all of you: whose offspring would do better; those raised only by their parents, or those raised by their parents in addition to an extended family group? A research team led by Andrew F. Russell of the University of Sheffield in England recently asked that very question in their research of superb fairy-wrens, a species where…
grrlscientist | August 27, 2007tags: parrots, birds, streaming video
Below the fold is a sweet video of Bibi, a one year old African Grey Parrot, as she eats corn on the cob. This bird loves corn, absolutely loves it! [3:18]
Corn-fed Bird - Click here for the most popular videos
grrlscientist | August 26, 2007tags: natural science, blog carnivals
The first edition of the new Natural Sciences blog carnival is now available for your reading pleasure. Be sure to drop in and give them support by reading the linked stories! You will be glad that you did.
grrlscientist | August 26, 2007tags: PRISM, open access, OA
Because you are here and reading this blog, I assume that you value being informed about science and having the opportunity to access original research articles yourself, if you so choose. However, not everyone agrees that providing the public access to this information is important, nevermind that most of this research is paid for by the public with their tax dollars. PRISM, the Partnership for Research Integrity in Science & Medicine, is a group of scientific and medical activists who are fighting against Open Access (OA) for research articles. They claim…
grrlscientist | August 26, 2007Sometime last night, my blog received its one millionth visitor. I had predicted that the one millionth visitor would arrive here in approximately two weeks' time, but thanks to slashdot, which linked to one of my stories, it happened earlier. I am so pleased and impressed with this blog and especially with you! Thanks for reading my essays and commenting, I truly appreciate that!