cwilcox | May 14, 2009When the media first caught wind that people had gotten sick with an Avian influenza virus, they began spreading fear about a global epidemic. The strain in question, H5N1, is devastating to birds. It's killed millions of poultry in Asia alone, and disease experts worried that close contact with infected animals might give the virus the opportunity to exchange genetic material with a human influenza virus, allowing the deadly avian flu to be spread person to person.
All and all, 248 humans have died from the H5N1 according to WHO data as of January 2009. H5N1, as a strain, infects more…
cwilcox | May 13, 2009Ok - I confess. There's only one reason this parasite is even remotely sci-fi worthy. Though, to be fair, it's a pretty good one: it kills you by eating your brains.
Meet Naegleria fowleri. A happy, free-living protist that lives in warm fresh water - at least until a very unlucky person dunks their head in it.
Naegleria has three stages of its life: a flagellate, and amoeba, and a cyst. In the water, it is in its infectious, flagellate form called a "trophozoite". It reproduces asexually, and swims around quite happily if the water is fresh and warm (over 75 degrees). If conditions are poor…
cwilcox | May 12, 2009The alcohol industry decided to make it clear exactly how much alcohol was in their products. The theory was that visible, easy-to-read labels would promote responsible drinking by allowing consumers to make informed decisions about the drinks they're about make. But according to a a new study published in the Drug and Alcohol Review Journal, the plan has backfired.
In Australia, like other developed countries, drinking has become a big problem among the younger generation. From 1993-2002, over 2500 young people (15-24) have died from alcohol-attributable injury and disease, with another 100…
cwilcox | May 11, 2009The Times Online caught my attention today with this grizzly headline:
"Killer whales face cull after finding taste for rare otters"
The article talks about a possible culling of Orcas because a few of them have taken to eating endangered sea lions and sea otters. While there's no information about exactly how close biologists or wildlife leaders might be to agreeing to such a cull, it does say that the idea is being 'discussed.' Well, if there's a debate, here's my side of it.
Of course sea lions and sea otters are important. Steller's sea lions have been dying out in the Aleutian Islands…
cwilcox | May 11, 2009"Low emotional intelligence seems to be a significant risk factor for low orgasmic frequency," say researchers from the King's College in London. They studied over 2000 women to see if there was a link between low orgasm frequency and emotional intelligence ("EQ"). By looking at mental variables, they hoped to find new ways to treat female orgasmic disorder (FOD), which up to 30% of women suffer from.
The methodology was very simple: test women's EQs and survey their sexual habits to see how the two relate. The women were volunteer twins drawn from the TwinsUK London registry. The twins were…
cwilcox | May 11, 2009Following up on my Weekly Dose of Cute, here's another little spider that is sure to make you grin. Meet Theridion grallator, perhaps better known as the Hawaiian Happy Face Spider.
This little guy, like the peacock spider, only grows to about 5 mm long, so he's a just as pint-sized as the last one. They're endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian name is nananana makakiÊ»i (face-patterned spider). Its common name comes from the distinctive marking on its backside - but not all individuals have such a face. Markings are unique to each spider, and vary by region. There are quite a few…
cwilcox | May 10, 2009Ok, so this week's cutie might not be everyone's favorite to cuddle with, but standing at only a few millimeters, it's definitely cute. Just look at how small he is compared to a human thumb! I mean, he's positively tiny. Besides, you have to like him a bit because he's brightly colored! So he's small and pretty - what more could you ask for?
hat tip Ugly Overload Photos by Jurgen Otto
This vibrant little spider is the Peacock spider, Maratus volans. The peacock spider is also called the flying spider, as some thought that brilliant-colored flap was used somehow for flight or gliding. Alas,…
cwilcox | May 8, 2009Alrighty ladies and gents! Here's some fun for you all:
Carnival of the Blue #24 is up at Sea Notes, so definitely go check it out.
And if you enjoy carnivals, be sure to mosey on over to Oh For The Love Of Science! for the Carnival of Evolution #11.
While I'm at it, my boys over at Southern Fried Science have got the Shark O' The Week up for all of us to enjoy. They also make a great note about following them on facebook. It's a great idea! You can follow Observations of a Nerd, too. It's fun to follow on facebook because you can connect with other readers and authors, vote up stories, and…
cwilcox | May 7, 2009People are bad news for fish - yeah, we've known that for awhile. Just look at the decrease in size of catch off the Florida Keys from 1957 to the 1980s and 2007 (on right) and that conclusion is obvious. But, surprisingly, little research has been able to show how human populations affect a group of fish. Most studies focus on one type of fish or are contained to a small area because their manpower is limited to a small team of scientists diving and recording data themselves. Others simply look hypothetically at what increases or decreases in some variable like pollution would have. And even…
cwilcox | May 5, 2009The air felt thick and heavy in my lungs. As I drove further down the narrow strip of beach, my throat closed and my eyes burned. It wasn't normal sea air - it was toxic. Red tide was hitting the area in full force, killing off thousands of marine animals and filling the air with the neurotoxic compounds the algae Karenia brevis is known for. As the waves crash on shore, they break open the delicate algal cells, aerosolizing the odorless but noxious brevatoxins.
Many people have heard of red tide, but if you haven't experienced it, you should consider yourself lucky. A few years ago I was…
cwilcox | May 4, 2009Of course, the climate change won't help, either. At least that is the claim of a new study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The researchers used computer models using ecological modelling ("GARP") to project the distribution of dengue fever's carrier, the mosquito Aedes aegypti, under today's climate and under climate change scenarios for 2030 and 2050 given published temperature rises. They wanted to know if climate change was likely to expand the mosquito's range in Australia, leading to increased risk of dengue outbreaks.
Dengue fever is nothing to be trifled with. It's…
cwilcox | May 4, 2009In The Womb: Extreme Animals
Premiering Sunday, May 10th at 9 PM on National Geographic Channel
I first heard about this weekend's amazing special, In the Womb: Extreme Animals way back in October of last year. It was my interest in the incredible images that come from In The Womb that made me stand out to National Geographic in the first place, allowing me to preview all the other awesome specials. So it's with great pleasure that I annouce that finally, after waiting since October, you can see In The Womb: Extreme Animals this weekend, on Sunday, May 10th at 9 PM! The first In The Womb was…
cwilcox | May 4, 2009So those of you who don't twitter might not know what "Geek of the Week" is. It's a weekly feature done by The Science Channel to show off someone who goes above and beyond in geekiness, nerdiness or the like. And guess what?I'M THE GEEK OF THE WEEK!
That's right. So if you were to head on over to Science.Discovery.Com or their affiliate page NerdAbout and look at the front page, you'll see a lovely photo of me and a description of what made me the uber-geek this week (it's a new project, actually... you should check it out. I'll be talking about it more here soon, too).
Anyhow, I'm just…
cwilcox | May 4, 2009So I've had unicellular parasites, metazoan parasites, even fungi parasites featured every week here. But there is one kind of parasite I haven't talked about: parasitic plants.
The classic example of a parasitic plant is the ever-loved Christmas favorite: Mistletoe. "Mistletoe" is actually a fairly large group of hemi-parasitic plants in the order Santalales. They're called "hemi-parasites" because, in fact, they can produce some of their own food and nutrients, and aren't 100% dependent on their hosts for survival.
Mistletoe is dependent upon birds to spread from host to host. The berries…
cwilcox | May 3, 2009My brother's name is Kian, but ever since we were kids I've called him Kiwi. So, of course, I couldn't resist this little image, in light of his birthday:
Source: Daily Telegraph
Isn't it adorable? A wittle baby kiwi!
Kiwis are nocturnal, flightless birds that are indigenous to New Zealand - there are 5 species currently recognized. In the wild, the father takes care of the egg after it's lain (laid?). But you have to give props to Kiwi Moms, too: the Kiwi's egg is so large compared to its mother that it would be like us giving birth to a toddler. And just think how much hell we go through…
cwilcox | May 1, 2009I just read this on Denialism Blog, and simply had to send it out to all of you, just in case you don't subscribe to that awesome blog. What follows will scare and anger you - at least, that was my reaction. Some people are so self-deluding that they are willing to kill millions of people to support their own twisted mindset. Said people are sick, in that should-be-criminally-responsible-for-it kind of way.
The following is a chapter, removed from Ben Goldacre's new book Bad Science due to libel litigation from the quack, Matthias Rath, in response to Goldacre's description of his activities…
cwilcox | April 30, 2009Parasitic wasps are always an easy target as sci-fi parasites. After all, they were the main inspiration behind the film "Alien" - clearly they're 'sci-fi worthy'. They all do terrible, mean things to their hosts while they eat them alive from the inside out. And, simply, they're just really, really awesome parasites.
This week's wasp, however, is even more special: it's about to be featured in an upcoming National Geographic Channel event called In The Womb: Extreme Animals. Don't worry - I'll give you the down and dirty details on that soon (it premiers on May 10th, just for a head's up).…
cwilcox | April 30, 2009
One of the coolest dinosaurs you learn about as a kid are Pterodactyls (really Pterosaurs, but who's checking). As giant flying lizards, these guys are thought to have dominated the skies long before birds existed (from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous, 220-65 million years ago). The biggest of the bunch are Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus, which are thought to have weighed as much as 250 kg with wingspans in excess of 30 feet.
But a new study, published in PLoS ONE is casting doubt on the ability of these massive winged dinos to actually fly. Instead, their results add to others…
cwilcox | April 30, 2009Expedition Grizzlypremiering Sunday, May 3rd at 9 PM ET/PT
Did you know that a full grown grizzly is over 8 feet tall when it stands on its hind legs and can easily move a one ton boulder with its powerful arm muscles?
This Sunday is your chance to learn more about this fascinating animal. National Geographic Channel is premiering an up-close and in-depth look into the world of grizzly bears unlike any I've ever seen.
The special is hosted by biologist and bear expert Casey Anderson, who takes us along to look at what he does every year while tracking and monitoring the grizzly population in…
cwilcox | April 29, 2009The results are in from the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup, and boy, do we make a mess of our oceans and beaches. The Ocean Conservancy had almost 400,000 volunteers worldwide picking up trash on land and off shore for the annual event. Last year, they picked up 6.8 million - that's 6,800,000 - pounds of trash in 104 countries (including 42 of US states). That's about 17 lbs of trash per volunteer!
What they found was absolutely appalling. 3,216,991 cigarette butts, 1,377,141 plastic bags, and 942,620 food wrappers were littering the world's beaches and oceans. Worldwide, 11,439,086…