Brian Switek
Brian Switek is an ecology & evolution student at Rutgers University.
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Posts by this author
August 5, 2008
A female Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla). Photographed at the WCS-run Bronx zoo.
Nature still holds fascinating secrets that have yet to be discovered. Yesterday saw the announcement of the world's smallest known snake, for instance, but today a discovery of greater magnitude has been…
August 5, 2008
Thanks to a number of you purchasing books from amazon.com via this blog (every time someone clicks a link to an item on amazon and buys something I get a small percentage of the sale) I've got a substantial gift certificate to pick up a few new titles. During the past month, though, I've been…
August 5, 2008
Last week I wrote about how Rutgers university engaged in some secret dealings to retain head football coach Greg Schiano and some poor decisions that put the financial stability of the institution at risk by dumping over 100 million dollars into the football program. Investigations have been…
August 5, 2008
For those of you who are planning on coming to the Sb Reader Meet-Up this weekend in New York City, there's been a change in venue. The new details are;
2pm-4pm on Saturday, August 9
Social
795 8th Ave (close to 48th St.)
New York, NY 10019
I'll definitely be there, and I'm looking forward to…
August 5, 2008
Western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
August 4, 2008
If I believed what my high school teachers taught me, from them I received the distilled wisdom of the ages. The knowledge was compartmentalized and packaged; there was no need for history in science class, at least outside of snarky little asides like how foolish Lamarck must have been to think…
August 4, 2008
On Saturday it was announced that Polish paleontologists have uncovered the remains of an ancient predatory animal, heralded as an ancestor to Tyrannosaurus in the mass media accounts. Nicknamed "the Dragon" the fossil remains were recovered from Lisowice and are of Triassic age, the large size of…
August 4, 2008
Grace, a female lion (Panthera leo), watches the geese and kudu in the adjacent enclosure. Her mate George dozes nearby. (Photographed on July 23, 2008 at the Bronx Zoo.)
August 3, 2008
When I petsit for friends I get a chance to see what's on television. Most of the it is crap, but I did catch a NOVA special on "The Car of the Future" featuring the Tappet brothers from "Car Talk." It was a pretty interesting show, outlining a number of competing technologies that may (or may not…
August 3, 2008
Nubian ibex (Capra ibex nubiana), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
August 2, 2008
I'm a bit ambivalent about what I wrote yesterday. On the one hand I'm glad I finally got down to covering early tetrapods and think I came up with a pretty good foundation for the chapter (I wrote ~6 pages). On the other hand I'm not happy with most of what I wrote. I was writing away from my…
August 2, 2008
Forms Most Beautiful has an absolutely excellent interview with Kevin Zelnio. It's one of the best I've read in a long time and I urge you to check it out. Now where's my interview?
August 2, 2008
When I was a kid remembering "all" the dinosaurs was pretty easy. In the Jurassic you had Allosaurus going after "Brontosaurus" and Ceratosaurus trying to take a bite out of Stegosaurus, and the epic battles between Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops were the "main event" of the Cretaceous. As I sunk…
August 2, 2008
Two zebras, photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo. Any guesses as to what kind they are?
[Update: Those that said Grevy's zebra were right on the money. The think stripe pattern is a dead giveaway.]
August 1, 2008
Small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
July 31, 2008
Things have been a little slow here on the ol' blog as of late, but for good reason. Outside of a schedule change that has thrown my writing off, I've been hard at work on my Huxley paper (which I actually just finished). Many thanks to everyone who helped by offering encouragement, sending papers…
July 31, 2008
Western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
July 30, 2008
In 2005 the unexpected occurred; researchers reported what appeared to be preserved soft tissues inside the femur of a Tyrannosaurus rex excavated from the Hell Creek Formation. Structures that looked like blood vessels and blood cells were seen under the microscope, and although it is still…
July 30, 2008
A snow leopard (Panthera uncia), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
July 29, 2008
Tonight the first episode of the History channel program Jurassic Fight Club will air (I reviewed it here) and I definitely want to know what you think about it. Have at it in the comments.
July 29, 2008
Charlotte (the black one) and Dolly playing. Dolly went to the adoption center this past weekend.
Dolly
July 29, 2008
A black-crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
July 28, 2008
When I first started attending Rutgers in the Fall of 2001 the university had the football coach come to speak to all the incoming freshman. Offering free red t-shirts he pleaded with students to start coming to the games, our team needing the support of students to start winning. Few people went,…
July 28, 2008
A silverback Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), photographed on July 23, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
During my elementary school years I was spoon-fed the classic, textbook mythology about evolutionary theory. Although Jean Baptiste Lamarck had come up with a ridiculous notion to explain the neck of…
July 28, 2008
A small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
July 27, 2008
Here are a few other YouTube gems I just happened across; interviews with Stephen Jay Gould, Ernst Mayr, and E.O. Wilson conducted in the year 2000.
Stephen Jay Gould
Ernst Mayr
E.O. Wilson (part 1)
E.O. Wilson (part 2)
July 27, 2008
Rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
July 26, 2008
A female Majungasaurus as envisaged by the creators of Jurassic Fight Club.
Imagine, just for a moment, standing in the middle of a Cretaceous forest 70 million years ago. The sunlight streaming through the canopy catches dust motes in the hot Madagascar grove, the calls of birds making the…
July 26, 2008
I haven't interviewed Paul Sereno (yet) but there are a few short interview clips up on YouTube where he reflects on his career as a professional paleontologist;