grrlscientist | August 13, 2007tags: science, nature, medicine, tangled bank, blog carnivals
Aaand yet another blog carnival was published today. This time, the 86th edition of the Tangled Bank blog carnival is now available. They also include a submission from me, so be sure to go over there to see what all the noise is about.
grrlscientist | August 13, 2007tags: Iraq War, Dick Cheney, streaming video
This streaming video shows part of an interview with Dick Cheney from April 15th, 1994, where he discusses why invading Iraq would be a bad idea. He refers to invading Iraq as "creating a quagmire" and he claims that "not very many" American soldiers' lives were worth losing to take out Saddam during the Gulf War. So what happened since then? Did his brain rot out of his head? [1:22]
Incidentally, don't forget that ChickenHawk Cheney never had to worry about ever being killed in combat: HE took 5 deferments in order to keep from even serving. Who…
grrlscientist | August 13, 2007tags: Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus, butterfly, Image of the Day
Female Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus.
This butterfly was ovipositing along White OakBayou, E. T.C. Jester Blvd., Houston, Texas.
Image: Biosparite [larger]
Hairstreaks are members of the family Lycaenidae. They are small- to medium-sized butterflies that are found throughout much of the Americas, comprising approximately 1,000 species. They are most speciose in the tropics, and are absent from the far north of the continent.
The upperside of the wings of tropical species is typically iridescent blue, due to reflected…
grrlscientist | August 13, 2007tags: encephalon, neuroscience, neurobiology, blog carnivals
The 29th edition of the neuroscience blog carnival, Encephalon is now available for you to read. Be sure to pop in and support them with your presence!
grrlscientist | August 13, 2007tags: bookworms, books, book reviews, blog carnivals
Even though this is only the second edition of the Bookworms blog carnival that has been published, it's a big one, packed full of book reading goodness.
grrlscientist | August 13, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Male Common Nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, photographed in June on the Konza Prairie (this also is my screensaver).
Also known as "bullbats", apparently from their habit of swooping around cattle in pastures to pick off the insects stirred up by the bovines. You can tell it is a male from the white throat, which is buffy in the females. I just love the feather patterns on these birds; they are a subtle masterpiece. [This species also seems to be declining; the original New York state breeding bird atlas found…
grrlscientist | August 12, 2007tags: northern spotted owl, Strix occidentalis caurina, politics, logging
Northern Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis caurina.
Image: HRF [larger]
The Northern subspecies of the Spotted Owl is in trouble and needs your help. This ambassador of our old-growth forests is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and is now facing two new and serious threats, both presented by the US Fish and Wildlife Agency, which is supposed to protect our nation's wildlife.
First, the Draft Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan, proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, threatens to…
grrlscientist | August 12, 2007tags: illegal animal trade, smuggling, reptiles, airplane
Like, who would have thought??
I ran across a story today that is absolutely .. er .. astonishing. A 22-year-old um, er, primate from Saudi Arabia was caught at an airport smuggling reptiles out of Egypt in his carry-on luggage .. and when caught, he claimed the luckless animals were intended for "scientific research".
This neanderthal was discovered carrying hundreds of snakes, chameleons and baby crocodiles in his carry-on luggage when he attempted to board a Saudi-bound flight at an Egyptian airport. The smuggler was caught after…
grrlscientist | August 11, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, osteocalcin, type 2 diabetes, obesity, bones, medicine
Even though bones seem to be metabolically inactive structures, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, bones are rebuilt constantly through the action of cells known as osteoblasts while old bone is destroyed by other cells known as osteoclasts. Bones also produce red and white blood cells, help maintain blood pH and store calcium. However, exciting new research has shown that bones also act as an endocrine organ. Not only do bones produce a protein hormone, osteocalcin (pictured), that regulates…
grrlscientist | August 10, 2007tags: online quiz, NYC, LA
You Belong in New York
You're a girl on the go, and LA's laid back lifestyle isn't really your thing.
You prefer a city that never sleeps, and people as ambitious as you are.
Cultured and street smart, you can truly appreciate everything New York has to offer.
Are You an LA Girl or a NY Girl?
I think I was stretching the boundaries since I think my answers made me really close to "half and half". How about you?
grrlscientist | August 10, 2007tags: cats, kung fu kitties, streaming video
I am finally catching up with the rest of the blogosphere by using my friday for CAT BLOGGING. Except I am going to do you all one better by CAT VLOGGING. In this Kung Fu thriller, the student kitty has become the master ... Please, viewers must be over 18 only (fighting cats, kung fu style) [3:44].
grrlscientist | August 9, 2007tags: birding, birds, ornithology, blog carnivals
The 55th edition of the bird blog carnival, I and the Bird, is now available for your reading pleasure. As usual, this blog carnival is a big one, so there's plenty there for you to read.
grrlscientist | August 9, 2007tags: Common nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, birds, Image of the Day
Male Common Nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, photographed in June on the Konza Prairie. For those of you who are curious, this image is the screensaver on my laptop.
Also known as "bullbats", apparently from their habit of swooping around cattle in pastures to pick off the insects stirred up by the bovines. You can tell it is a male from the white throat, which is buffy in the females. I just love the feather patterns on these birds; they are a subtle masterpiece. [This species a]lso seems to be declining; the original New York…
grrlscientist | August 8, 2007tags: NYC subways, NYC Life, MTA
So I awoke this morning at 6am to the sounds of a deluge of biblical proportions. My windows are all wide open (no air conditioning), so this rainstorm was impossible to ignore. This deluge lasted approximately an hour and a half, and it flooded the sewers and the subways and it shut down most public transit. Well, all the subways, LIRR, and PATH trains were at a standstill (either shorting out or swimming with the fishes), so everyone instead used buses and cabs to get around, which resulted in gridlock.
You can only cram so many cars into the streets of NYC…
grrlscientist | August 8, 2007tags: Harry Potter, Harry Potter carnival, books, blog carnivals
The 52nd edition of the Harry Potter Carnival is now available for your reading pleasure. Since I am sure that you all have read all the books in the series now, and are longing for more Harry Potter goodness, well, this is the place to go to get it!
grrlscientist | August 8, 2007tags: California Gull, Larus californicus, birds, Image of the Day
California Gull and Reflection, Larus californicus, photographed from the Antelope Island causeway on the Great Salt Lake in spring 2005.
This is the bird that allegedly saved the nascent Mormon communites in Utah from a plague of "Mormon crickets" (actually a kind of katydid, I think) in 1848. For that reason it is the state bird of Utah.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [much larger]
grrlscientist | August 7, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, coffee, memory, cognition, women, aging
Recent research has shown that women older than 65 years old who drink more than three cups of coffee per day were protected from some types of age-related memory declines.
"The more coffee one drank, the better the effects seemed to be on (women's) memory functioning in particular," reported Karen Ritchie, epidemiological and clinical researcher at La Colombiere Hospital and at the French National Institute of Medical Research (INSERM), in Montpellier, France.
To do this research, the researchers studied more than 4,197…
grrlscientist | August 7, 2007tags: Grand rounds, medicine, blog carnivals
This week's edition of Grand Rounds, Grand Rounds at the Beach, is now available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival focuses on medicine, so I am sure that plenty of you have an interest in reading this particular carnival.
grrlscientist | August 6, 2007tags: mystery wasp, mexican wasp, wasp, Image of the Day
Here is an image of a critter for which I have no identification. It is a very large wasp (nearly 2 inches in length), which I photographed in Xalapa, Mexico in October of 2006. it is an evil-looking beast, and I'd like to know if any of your readers can give me more information about it. I'd also like to know what significance (if any) there is to the fact that it is holding one pair of its legs up and parallel to the back.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [much larger]
More below the fold ..
I have learned from a local wasp expert that…
grrlscientist | August 6, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
A male Henslow's Sparrow, Ammodramus henslowii, photographed in July on the Konza Prairie [song].
[This is a] species in decline, probably partially due to habitat loss, since they are obligate grassland birds, and grasslands are disappearing. Additionally they require grasslands that have been unburnt or unhayed during the last season, since they only nest in "standing dead" vegetation left over from the last growing season. The current practice of annual burning here in the Flint Hills means that these birds are very…