grrlscientist | April 11, 2007The 77th edition of the Tangled Bank is now available for your reading pleasure. This edition included two pieces that I wrote, so be sure to go over there to figure out which stories made the cut!
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tags: blog carnival, science, natural history
grrlscientist | April 11, 2007This streaming video gets to the point regarding Iraq .. which of course, means it is not safe for work (so watch it in the broom closet while on your lunch break).
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tags: streaming video, humor, politics
grrlscientist | April 10, 2007This story has been around the block a few times, but I thought it was appropriate to share with you anyway.
A major research scientific institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to man and science. The new element has been named Bushcronium. The scientific symbol for the new Bushcronium is the letter "W".
Bushcronium has one neutron, twelve assistant neutrons, seventy-five deputy neutrons, and two hundred and twenty-four assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of three hundred and eleven.
These particles are held together by dark forces…
grrlscientist | April 10, 2007The 3rd volume, issue number 29 of Grand Rounds is available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival focuses on the best medical writing recently posted on a blog. This is a large issue so there is plenty to read.
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tags: blog carnival, medicine
grrlscientist | April 10, 2007
Eastern Comma Butterfly Polygonia comma.
Taken in College Park, Maryland, Friday, 30 March, a serendipitous shot that the photographer got when she was trying to snap a cardinal who refused to come out and be seen.
Source: Karen Davis.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we…
grrlscientist | April 10, 2007Things are moving along in the Alberto "I'm a Lying Fucktwit" Gonzalez scandal .. moving at a crawl, but at least they are moving forward. With any luck, he'll be gone this by weekend. Otherwise, we will have to wait until 17 April to celebrate his resignation.
The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed new documents Tuesday from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as part of its investigation into the firings of federal prosecutors, with the panel chairman saying he had run out of patience.
"We have been patient in allowing the department to work through its concerns regarding the sensitive…
grrlscientist | April 10, 2007tags: dog breeds, IGF1, insulin-like growth factor 1, cancer, growth disorders
One gene mutation makes all the difference in body size between a big dog and a little dog.
Image: NY Times.
There are several things that I think are amazing about dogs, Canis familiaris. First, there is a huge discrepancy in body size between different breeds -- greater than for any other mammal, in fact, and second, these vastly different dog breeds still recognize each other as being of the same species. Yet, according to a recently published research paper, this huge differential in the body size of dogs…
grrlscientist | April 9, 2007A recent study by Dutch scientists has found that people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be less sensitive to physical pain than those who don't suffer from the condition. PTSD patients experience panic attacks, flashbacks, anxiety and depression following a traumatic event. Scans reveals that the PTSD subjects' brains were less active than those of their unaffected counterparts.
While other studies have suggested that patients with PTSD may have differences in the structure of certain parts of their brain compared with healthy people, the research team did not suggest a…
grrlscientist | April 9, 2007
A sea otter watches as a tour boat from Seward slowly passes by on Resurrection Bay, Alaska.
Image: Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News.
The weather has triggered a sad situation on the Alaskan peninsula. An extra-cold winter has forced sea otters to leave the sea at Resurrection Bay and go onto the frozen tundra near Port Heiden in search of food. Some of the starving animals have crawled or belly-slid several miles inland. Others have been attacked by wolves, by dogs near houses, killed by villagers for their hides, or have died on sea ice where eagles and foxes eat their bodies.
No one…
grrlscientist | April 9, 2007
The spider Enoplognatha ovata photographed fluorescing under ultraviolet light. Scientists at Portland State University in the US discovered that many spiders from different families fluoresce. They suggest it has something to do with getting food and avoiding being eaten.
Source: BBCNews.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We…
grrlscientist | April 9, 2007
Of other birds found in Harapan Rainforest, 66 species are at risk of extinction, including the rhinoceros hornbill, Buceros rhinoceros (Sumatra, Indonesia).
Source: BBCNews.
People Hurting Birds
West Coast seabirds are dying, apparently from a lack of food -- and some researchers think the phenomenon may be linked to global climate change. This is the third year that scientists have found unusually large numbers of marine birds -- mainly common murres, but also rhinoceros auklets and tufted puffins -- washed up on beaches in California, Oregon and Washington. In 2005, the first year of…
grrlscientist | April 9, 2007tags: ravens, intelligence, behavior, birds, ornithology
Common Raven, Corvus corax.
Image: John James Audubon.
Some of you know that Bernd Heinrich has spent many winters studying ravens and their behavior. This month, Heinrich and his colleague, Thomas Bugnyar, published an article in Scientific American that explores the intelligence of ravens. In this article, they investigate the question; do the birds consciously contemplate alternative behaviors and choose the most appropriate ones, or are they merely relying on instinct or learning to perform specific actions by rote?
They begin by…
grrlscientist | April 8, 2007A reader sent a link to a movie that she wanted me to see -- she said it made her think of my blog and all she has learned as a result of reading it. When I watched the film, I was surprised because I had no idea that writing a blog made a difference for anyone, except for me. Because I do love writing and I do love an audience for my writing.
Thanks, Diane.
grrlscientist | April 8, 2007
The Storm's stork, Ciconia stormi, is the most threatened bird species found so far - there may be only 250 left in the wild. (Sumatra, Indonesia)
Source: BBCNews.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world whether we like it or not: we have a choice to either preserve these species or to destroy them in…
grrlscientist | April 8, 2007You might enjoy this streaming video this Easter morning. I thought the music was quite good .. below the fold.
grrlscientist | April 7, 2007Since tomorrow is Easter, I think a story about rabbits is appropriate: I'll bet that none of you knew that there are striped rabbits in the world, and I'll bet that none of you have heard of the Sumatran striped rabbit, Nesolagus netscheri (pictured right). This is because the Sumatran striped rabbit is one of the rarest species of rabbit in the world. It has only been seen three times in the last 35 years.
The Sumatran Striped Rabbit -- also known as the Sumatra Short-eared Rabbit or Sumatran Rabbit -- is found only in forest in the Barisan Mountains in western Sumatra, Indonesia. It is…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2007
Conservationists expect to find thousands of plant and animal species in Harapan Rainforest. Sumatran lowland rainforest is already known to boast more diverse flora than any other place in the world. Pictured: Red-naped Trogon, Harpactes kasumba.
Source: BBCNews.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2007Did you know that there is no shortage of American citizens who are fully-trained scientists and engineers who are currently unemployed or underemployed? Instead of hiring well-trained and fully-qualified scientists and engineers at home, American employers are looking overseas to meet their employment needs because they wish to pay substandard wages, reduced or no benefits, or they wish to otherwise abuse their scientist-employees with little or no accountability for their actions. As one of these unemployed scientists, I have experienced all of these scenarios first-hand at one time or…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2007I am sure I am the last person on Planet Earth to see this streaming video, but just in case I am not, I thought I'd share it with you. This is a pair of otters, one of which survived the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, that live at the Vancouver Aquarium. They are floating around their tank, asleep and holding paws. Why would they hold paws like this? Is it so a mated pair can remain together on rough seas? Or maybe you have another idea -- well, besides giving the watching public something to oooo and aaaa over!
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tags: sea otters, Vancouver Aquarium, hand-holding