grrlscientist | March 20, 2007
A transgenic mosquito carrying a gene that confers resistance to the malaria parasite. These mosquitoes had another gene inserted into them to make their eyes fluoresce, to distinguish them from unmodified insects. (Image: PNAS)
A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.
The transgenic insect strain carries a gene that prevents infection by the malaria parasite. This provides new hope for one malaria control strategy where the transgenic insects are released into the wild and they then take…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2007
Okay, smartypants birders will enjoy this: can you name the species?
Last Sunday, the photographer took this image using his new Nikon took this image in a reader's backyard in rural central Kentucky. This new Nikon had a big ol' lens that he has started calling his BOLLYlens, for Big Ol Lens Looking Yonder.
Image: Bob Tigh.
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…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2007A massive mudflow that has displaced 15,000 Indonesians on the island of Java stopped flowing for approximately 30 minutes recently. The mud has covered entire villages since it began erupting at the end of last May near the city of Surabaya in east Java.
A team has been dropping concrete balls into the hole from where the mud was flowing in an effort to stop the eruption. Four concrete balls are attached to 1.5meter-long metal chains. The team plans to drop 1,500 balls, each weighing up to 250 kilograms (500lbs) into the hole.
Some experts doubted that the plan would work, but supporters…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2007Liverpool, which will be celebrated as the European Capital of Culture in 2008, is apparently disgusted with the flocks of oversized pigeons that live throughout the city and has opted to use a robotic peregrine falcon to scare them away.
Peregrine falcons are the natural predator of pigeons. The robotic peregrine falcon, known as a "robop", can move, flick its wings and squawk to scare away pigeons. Ten robotoc peregrines are being placed throughout the city center to scare the pigeons away and the public is being admonished not to feed the birds.
"We need to get the message across that…
grrlscientist | March 19, 2007
A flock of birds in the snow in Brooklyn NYC.
Okay, this might be easy for most of you, but I like asking you anyway; can any of you guess the species of birds in this picture?
Sent to me by a reader -- Orphaned image. Please contact me for proper credit and linkage.
grrlscientist | March 19, 2007
The masked tityra, Tityra semifasciata, is one of the species which has just sprung a scientific surprise. Researchers found animals and birds in temperate zones evolve faster than those in the tropics. Their suggestion is that extinctions happen more often in temperate regions where there is less species diversity.
Image: BBCNews.
People Hurting Birds
An Arizona Appeals Court has upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl, Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum (pictured, image: Bob Miles, USFWS), from the list of endangered species, paving…
grrlscientist | March 18, 2007
Adult Peromyscus eremicus, one of the animals that Matt studies.
The photo was taken near Palm Desert, California in 2006. Aside from being cute, these are interesting because they are one of the few monogamous mammals.
Image: Matthew D. MacManes
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…
grrlscientist | March 18, 2007
The island clouded leopard, Neofelis diardi on the prowl.
Image: WWF.
According to genetic research, clouded leopards found on Sumatra and Borneo are a new species. Until now it had been thought they belonged to the same species that is found on mainland southeast Asia. But genetic data indicate that the two species diverged 1.4 million years ago, and have remained separate since.
"Genetic research results clearly indicate that the clouded leopards of Borneo should be considered a separate species," said Stephen O'Brien, head of the Institute's Laboratory of Genomic Diversity.
"DNA tests…
grrlscientist | March 17, 2007The third edition of Oekologie is now available for your reading pleasure.
grrlscientist | March 17, 2007Over the course of the previous 20 years, Scottish Soay sheep have been studied on the island of Hirta in the Outer Hebrides. This study revealed that weather patterns were driving changes in body shape and population size. Harsh winters led to larger sheep, which brought about changes in population size, but these effects were not seen in milder winters.
"Until now, it has proven really quite difficult to show how ecology and evolutionary change are linked, but we have developed a way to tie them together," said Tim Coulson, an author of the Science paper and a scientist at Imperial College…
grrlscientist | March 17, 2007
Mount Baker, Washington State.
Image: Sylvain Duford.
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 search of short-term monetary gains. But if we decide to destroy these other life forms, the least we can do is…
grrlscientist | March 17, 2007Let's say what we really mean .. Courtesy of the Al Jazeera News station.
grrlscientist | March 17, 2007Today, I had to take care of some cats for a vacationing NYCer, so this meant that I had to brave the snow, slush and Lake Erie-sized mud-puddles in the process. Because today is the Saint Patrick's Day parade, I had to get out early, before all the streets were blocked off on the east side of town where my client lives.
After I had returned to the west side of town, I decided to reward myself for having beaten all the traffic chaos and went to Starbux for a coffee and cookie. While I was there, I met a German woman who was also having a coffee. She told me that she had a pigeon with a…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2007
The surface areas of Mars are colored blue to show lots of subsurface hydrogen, indicating the presence of water.
A spacecraft orbiting Mars has discovered deposits of ice at its south pole so thick that they would cover the planet in 36 feet of water if they were melted, said scientists. The scientists used the joint NASA-Italian Space Agency radar instrument on the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft to estimate the thickness and volume of ice deposits at the Martian south pole. These ice deposits cover an area larger than Texas.
The deposits, up to 2.3 miles thick, are…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2007For those of you who don't know, I am being sued by a person who took care of my birds while I was hospitalized. She had told me that the hospital Social Work department would cover her per diem costs (while I would cover the food costs), only later to discover that she was mistaken, so now she is suing me to recover her costs. So one night ago, I had my first appearance in small claims court. To say the least, I was incredibly stressed out, and barely able to think, and feeling ready to vomit much of the time.
The court appearance was scheduled for 610pm, but the courtroom did not unlock…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2007This Sunday, Pluto's shadow will be visible in Texas and California as it passes in front of a faint star. This is the first time such an occultation has been seen from North America. Naturally, astronomers are ready for this and will study how the star's light disappears and reappears to gain insight into why Pluto's atmosphere appears to be changing. (Pluto and moon Charon pictured, courtesy of NASA).
It was during a similar occultation, on June 9, 1988, that Pluto was found to be surrounded by tenuous wisps of nitrogen with an estimated surface pressure of just 50 microbars -- less than 1…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2007You might remember that last week, I wrote about the colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, that had been captured in Antarctica's Ross Sea in early February. This squid, which is three times the length of the average bus (see graphic, left; courtesy of BBC News), was frozen and transported to the national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, New Zealand.
Unfortunately for squid afficionados, any research on this specimen will probably be one year away because the museum's "wet" collections are being rennovated to accomodate the large animal. Only after there is an approriate…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2007As many of you undoubtedly know, a short video of what might be an ivory-billed woodpecker was captured in 2004 in an Arkansas swamp. However, further analysis casts more doubt as to the identity of the bird in the footage: the videoed bird appears to flap its wings at 8.6 times per second -- the rate of a pileated woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus. Additionally, Martin Collinson from Aberdeen University, UK, has re-analyzed the footage and says the bird in the pictures appears to have black trailing wing edges rather than the unique white features associated with the ivory-billed woodpecker,…