cwilcox | September 28, 2009Most of the time, marine conservation entails convincing people not to eat the over-exploited seafoods they love. We tell people to stop eating the fried grouper sandwiches, spicy tuna rolls and shark-fin soup that they crave. Well, we don't have to avoid seafood altogether to help marine life - in fact, we should be eating more of it - so long as we eat the right species.
There is a fish you can crave guilt-free and eat to your heart's content because eating more of it will actually help Caribbean reefs. No, I'm not kidding. What is the most ecologically responsible fish choice you can make…
cwilcox | September 27, 2009So, Barry, his brother Brian, and I decided to spend our Saturday tooling around the Wai'anae coast. For those of you who aren't familiar with Hawai'i, the Wai'anae coast extends west of Pearl Harbor up to Kaena point, shown in the map on the right in orange. It's drier than most of the island, which leads to less polluted runoff, making the water there spectacular.
So we had a nice day. We played at the beach. We laid out in the sun. And, we decided to play some football on a nice stretch of green near one of the Ko Olina lagoons. Here's some action footage that I thought was just amazing:…
cwilcox | September 24, 2009I stumbled across this little story at Snuzzy.Com and simply had to share it. How's this for a brave little rodent?
Photos taken by Casey Gutteridge
As the story goes, what was initially identified as a mouse (though closer inspection identifies as a young rat) decided that it wanted some of what Sheena, a 12 year old African leopard at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire, was about to eat for lunch. The leopard was quite stunned by the creature's boldness, and at first she was taken back and even acted a little frightened according to photographer Casey Gutteridge. She then…
cwilcox | September 23, 2009I believe that most of my readers are very environmentally-conscious people. After all, how could you stand reading the ravings of a clearly tree-and-animal-hugging girl like me unless you had a soft spot for things that are green. So you all might like to know about a brand new, volunteer-based conservation group called OCEAN: the Online Community Environmental Action Network.
Here's what OCEAN's creator, David Shiffman, had to say:
I am proud to live in a time when more people care about protecting the environment than ever before. However, even with all of the amazing people working in…
cwilcox | September 18, 2009Wow, I can't believe it - it's my first blogiversary! One year ago today, I posted my very first blog about why it's Obeservations of a "Nerd". I can't believe a whole year has gone by... it seems like just yesterday!
The blog growing up so fast. In just one year, I've already had my first political post, my first published post, and my first troll. The moments just seem to be flying by!
Well, since it's my blogiversary, I'm going to go do what I want to... have some drinks and celebrate! You should all join me in a toast with your favorite alcoholic beverage. Cheers to another wonderful…
cwilcox | September 17, 2009Introduced and invasive species are a hot topic in ecology. Even when brought in for good reason, introduced species can have unforeseen negative impacts on the environment and the species around them. Take Cane Toads, for example. They were introduced to Australia to control a particular bug, but ended up eating everything they could fit in their mouths, especially native, endangered species. Or look at the mongoose, brought to Hawaii to control rat populations. While it does enjoy the invasive rodents, it also feeds on the eggs of native birds, decimating their populations. Now, there's…
cwilcox | September 15, 2009I did a guest post for Paw-Talk.Net, a great blog about animals of all kinds. It's about eight of the cutest endangered species - so go check it out for your weekly dose!
cwilcox | September 9, 2009Last night I had this wonderful dream. It was a normal day in just about every way except I had this amazing ability. When I jumped, I was able to leap great distances and almost fly. No wings were involved - it was almost like I was able to levitate, and slowly drift between places. It was a very calm, serene feeling.
Perhaps that's how the mice in Dr. Liu's lab felt. Advances in Space Research has published online today an accepted manuscript where researchers levitated mice. And, according to their observations, the mice took to the free-floating existence quite readily.
The team first…
cwilcox | September 5, 2009Sometimes, when I get bored, I play around with sites like Google. Barry was sitting there talking about how much he missed seeing the Steelers play, and before long, we were Googling how to get from Hawaii to Pittsburgh, including a quick and dirty Google Maps. So what's the best way to get from Honolulu to Pittsburgh according to Google Maps?
That doesn't look so bad. But, let's take a closer look at step 14:
That's right - Google recommends we kayak across the Pacific Ocean - all 2,756 miles from the north shore of Oahu to some park in Seattle. It'll only take us just over 15 days…
cwilcox | September 2, 2009Sure, there's the cute accent. There's the funny hats. There's the feeling of intellectual superiority when it comes to humor. There's even the fact that I could ignore painful dental visits without becoming socially ostracized. But mostly, I occasionally want to be British because of things like this:
Last Chance to See, BBC2, from Sunday 6 September, 8pm
Mark has joined forces with Stephen Fry to present a new series about threatened species, as inspired by the best-selling book which Mark wrote some 20 years ago with Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See.
The six-part series - which is…
cwilcox | September 2, 2009As every year we humans pump out more and more carbon dioxide, our climate is changing. While select few in their fields disagree that any alterations are human-induced, the majority of the scientific community accepts the data which shows global warming and other changes - ocean acidification, for example - are occurring, and it's our fault. Even still, we hotly debate exactly what needs to be done, and meanwhile, the ecosystems are shifting.
While we argue who should cut what emissions or who's to blame, species are going extinct, and others are moving. Exactly how much is changing is…
cwilcox | August 31, 2009Every month, the blog at BioData.com features one scientist. They delve into the scientist's background, motivations for doing what they do, and general awesomeness. And guess who is the scientist of the month for August 2009?
... Yeah, that's right. You know you're jealous.
So if you want to know any more about me than you already do, feel free to check it out!
cwilcox | August 31, 2009NutritionWonderland is a fantastic site which looks at nutrition from all angles, from health to ecological impact to hard science. Right now, they're running a special feature called "Plastic Troubles" about all those things that plastics make possible, like smaller testes, cancer, and marine debris. So far, you've only missed articles on BPA and Phthalates, so if you hurry, you'll catch up pretty quickly. Some horror stories about brominated flame retardants and dioxin are on the way, as well as a nice piece written by yours truly about the ecological impacts of plastics.
cwilcox | August 31, 2009Puppies are cute. Kittens are cute. Puppies DRESSED AS KITTENS: cute overload!
Conan O'Brien, you are the cute master.
(H/T @KSuzJ via twitter)
cwilcox | August 29, 2009For centuries, people have wondered about our existence. Where did we come from? How did we get to where we are today? This kind of self-reflection has founded religions and spurred the greatest achievements in science. But only recently have we had the technology to truly trace backward and unravel the mystery of our origins. We have discovered our ancestors, and found clues as to how and when we branched from the other primates. But what about after that? How did we go from a small group of hominids in East Africa to a globally dominating species?
Enter Kevin Bacon.
No, seriously.
Tomorrow…
cwilcox | August 27, 2009Sure adult fish are rarely considered cute. But c'mon - their babies are downright adorable!
A little Convict Tang in Hanauma Bay (photo by moi)Baby puffer c/o AndreaHarner.comLittle Guppies c/o Maddie's Home
cwilcox | August 24, 2009Ah, the joys of a tropical getaway. There's warm, clear waters, soft, sandy beaches, and of course, a whole ton of amazing parasites waiting to gorge on your delicious flesh.
Anyone who has traveled out of the US has been told horror stories of the disgusting creatures that await them. Take a nice trip to Brazil for some sightseeing, for example, and you might find yourself at the mercy of a small, intracellular protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania.
There are many species of Leishmania living all over the world, from Saudi Arabia to Texas. No one's entirely sure how the parasites ended…
cwilcox | August 22, 2009Sure, you know your face in a mirror. But what do you look like to the internet?
Let's be honest - you've probably Googled yourself to see what comes up. Who hasn't? Well, now MIT has come out with an online program called "Personas" which artistically "uses sophisticated natural language processing and the Internet to create a data portrait of one's aggregated online identity." Simply put, it shows you how the internet sees you.
The developers explain exactly what it does:
"Enter your name, and Personas scours the web for information and attempts to characterize the person - to fit them…
cwilcox | August 20, 2009Animals don't have to be adorable adults to be cute when they're kids. A classic example, as pointed out by my favorite French blogger (who also happens to have a fascination with parasites), is the sloth. As adults they're underwhelming in the cuddle department (unless you're a weirdo like me who thinks just about everything is cute). But as babies they're just darned adorable!Like their name suggests, the six living species of sloths which live exclusively in Central and South America tend to be slow-moving, even to the point of seeming lazy. But that lack of energy isn't without purpose.…
cwilcox | August 20, 2009You might have noticed I've been posting a little less frequently. In part, this is because being a grad student is far more busying than being on vacation. But another part is that I've started really using Google's Shared Items. Instead of writing a ton of posts on everything I find intriguing, I pass along some of the stuff that other people have written well about. So if you're looking for even more super science news or interesting tid-bits, subscribe to my Google Shared Item's Feed (click on the "atom feed" on the right hand side).
I also re-tweet interesting articles or items that I…