cwilcox | December 8, 2008Are you a really dedicated Greenie? Do you eat, sleep, and dream renewable resources? Well then, I think I have a gift you could feel good buying.
Eco-Gifting at its best:Elephant Crap Recycled
How about journals, stationary, and other paper products made entirely from Elephant Dung? No, seriously. The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Comapany Limited offers stylish, affordable recycled paper products that are unlike any other. They've been recycled through an elephant!
"Our purpose is to successfully sell our goods in order to complete a truly creative sustainable cycle" touts their…
cwilcox | December 8, 2008I've decided the "Daily Dose" is a bit misleading... seeing as I usually find something weekly.
Meet Flocke.Yeah, this little girl is competing for cutest baby ever. And winning.
cwilcox | December 8, 2008
Now tell me this place doesn't look like a cool place to live. It's a concept idea for an entirely self-sufficient, green city for over 75,000 people. The design, by MVRDV, recently won the Gwanggyo City Centre Competition.
Construction for the environmentally-friendly metropolis could begin as early as 2011 in an area just south of Seoul, Korea
Now, if they don't call it "The Emerald City," I am going to be really disappointed.
cwilcox | December 7, 2008Maybe people aren't listening when scientists talk about how Bisphenol A, a chemical used in plastics, is a pseudo-estrogen. Maybe others think that there are no side effects to flushing their extra or expired birth control down the toilet. Whoever is to blame, one thing is for certain: the male gender is threatened, and gravely.
A new report released today by CHEMtrust is the most comprehensive review to date of gender-bending chemicals and their effects on males of all species, from road kill to humans, drawn from over 250 studies worldwide - and it doesn't have good news. Still not…
cwilcox | December 7, 2008Got a lovely nerdette in your life and desperately trying to sweep her off her feet this holiday season? I've got a few ideas that might bail you out...
If you can't think of a better way to show her how you light up when you see her? How about a T-Shirt! Well, this one, anyway. These shirts show a set of hearts that, when separated, are only half-lit. But magically, or, you know, scientifically, when the two are brought together the hearts on the shirt - like your own - light up!
Of course, nerdettes are still women, and there's a gift all women love: Jewelry. But if you're going to buy…
cwilcox | December 5, 20085 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago: well, I was all of 13, so...Freezing in WardsboroFinishing 8th grade (I'm just a baby!)Watching Saved By The BellListening to 'N Sync (hey, I was 13!)Getting my first iBook (A blueberry one!)
5 Things On My To-Do List Today:Take barry to the airportTake the dog to the vetGet cat foodGet my oil changedGo to the doctor (I'm a sickie)
5 Snacks I Love:CheezitsRice CrackersChips & SalsaCheese. In general.Poke
5 Things Iâd do if I was a Millionaire:Buy a house in HawaiiInvest enough to live comfortablyDonate someEat a lot of sushiPay off my family and my debts…
cwilcox | December 5, 2008A twelve year old boarder collie mix survived being frozen to the sidewalk for a whole night in Wisconsin. The overnight temperature dropped into the single digits, yet the elderly animal survived. How?
Jiffy, the unfortunate dog, is morbidly obese. "Being insulated as well as he was with the layers of fat he had probably saved the dog's life," said the Humane Society Shelter Manager, Carey Payne, in a news story
The dog's owner said she couldn't get the dog inside herself, and checked on him every few hours to make sure he was ok. The animal care workers poured warm water over the dog's back…
cwilcox | December 5, 2008As the holidays draw ever nearer, I've been trying desperately to put together a Christmas list for my family and friends. After a lot of internet-searching and idea-hunting, I've stumbled upon some great nerdy gifts, and I figured I might as well share them with you all. After all, if you read this blog you're either a science-nerd or a nerd-lover, so these gift ideas just might come in handy. Here's part one of nerdy gift ideas for the holidays, with gifts for any nerd you love
A simple gift for any science nerd is a piece of the lab they can use anywhere, like this classic Beaker Mug. It's…
cwilcox | December 4, 2008The. Cutest. Kitten. Ever.
EVER.
Photo of the little ocelot kitten care of Zooborns, the best source on the internet for cute doses.
cwilcox | December 3, 2008
First Mammalian Casualty of Climate Change?
It may be time to pay our respects to the White Lemuroid Possum. It appears that the fuzzy white animal beat out Polar Bears to become the first mammalian victim of climate change, according to Australian scientists.
White Lemuroid Possums are a very rare subspecies of Hemibelideus lemuroides, found only in the upper altitudes of Queensland's northern rainforests.
"Prior to 2005 we were seeing a lemuroid every 45 minutes of spotlighting at one main site at Mt Lewis," Professor Stephen Williams, director of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity…
cwilcox | December 2, 2008In 1982, criminologists George Kelling and James Q. Wilson published an article in The Atlantic Monthly called "Broken Windows." The theory they laid out became known as the Broken Windows Theory. It holds that people are more likely to commit crimes in areas that appear unwatched and uncared for - i.e., "if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken...[because] one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing," as put in the Atlantic article.
In other words, perceptions alter…
cwilcox | December 1, 2008A few years ago, there was a lot of debate around a penguin couple at the Central Park Zoo. The couple were clearly very much in love - at least as much as any penguin couple can be, and had been for years. They spent their days making love, singing sweet penguin nothings, and cuddling. They even raised a child - and did a "great job", according to their primary keeper, Rob Gramzay (as quoted in the San Fransisco Chronicle). But still people felt they should not be together, and even tried to ban the book in the gift store about their life. Why? Because Roy and Silo are both males.
Read The…
cwilcox | November 30, 2008Hello everyone! Happy Carnival!
evâoâluâtionâ [ev-uh-loo-shuhn or, especially Brit., ee-vuh-]ânoun1. A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. Most of the time, when we think 'evolution', we think about animals and genetic diversity. Sure, we've heard the term "Chemical Evolution" thrown around a bit, too, but only about events before life began. Well, not everyone uses such a narrow definition of evolution. For example, a group of scientists claim that Rocks Evolve, Too. The international team detailed their theory of…
cwilcox | November 28, 2008If you've been reading the news, people are reacting strongly to a new study which reported ocean acidification due to CO2 output is occurring at a faster rate than expected. But what is the deal with acidification, anyway?
The worst part of a change in ocean pH is that it shifts the balance of carbonate ions. As the pH of the oceans drops, it is harder for animals to fix calcium carbonate. Therefore, with oceans acidifying at an alarming rate, the threat to calcified organisms is also rising faster than previously thought - and 2005 estimates were bad enough.
Luckily, some calcifying…
cwilcox | November 26, 2008I've decided to sit down and write out a few things I'm thankful for. I'd like to say that this decision is 'in light if the holiday', because it should be, but to be honest, it's not. It's due to reading studies that have found the effects of grattitude extend far beyond previously thought. (see the rest of this post for more details by clicking the link in the title)
So, with those studies in mind, and the holiday as inspiration, here are five things (in no particular order) that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving:
1) Being able to spend the holiday with my grandparents - especially so…
cwilcox | November 25, 2008Viva Viagra - but not if you're an athlete.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering banning the drug because of its capability to be used as a "performance enhancer" (yeah, yeah).
Viagra (sildenafil citrate) works to increase blood flow by causing blood vessels to become wider, which, in theory, could provide an extra boost to sporting performance. For example, high-altitude studies have shown viagra to restore oxygen levels or lung capacity - which would be a huge help if your team's playing in mile-high stadium. New York papers already reported in June that several well-known athletes…
cwilcox | November 25, 2008In the animal world, the ability to live off of solar power is virtually unheard of. Sure, most would say corals do it, but the truth is that the corals themselves aren't the ones soaking up the sun - it's tiny dinoflagellates called 'zooxanthellae' that actually perform the photosynthesis. In fact, that is the case with most other arguments for solar-powered animals. Most have some form of plant-like symbiont doing the hard work for them.
Not so with the green sea slug Elysia chlorotica, claims biologist James Manhart and his colleagues at Texas A&M University who have been studying the…
cwilcox | November 24, 2008Wow! It's that time of year already! That is, it's almost time for Observations of a Nerd to host the Carnival of Evolution!
If you have a post you think deserves mention, feel free to submit it via this form. It doesn't have to be your own work - anything that catches your eye, let me know!
I'm due to post it on Dec 1st, so get submitting!
PS Happy 149th, The Origin of Species!
cwilcox | November 23, 2008Well, we might not be able to prove 'love at first sight', but hopeless romantics out there can defend their belief in long-lasting true love - physiologically.
Cynics and single girls tend to argue that love fades in a relationship, and married couples don't really feel the same way about each other as they once did. Well, that's not necessarily true.
A new study, presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, has found that couples that have been together for a long time and claim to be "madly in love" still actually are, at least as far as brain scans can tell.
Most…