Gotta Make 'Em All!

Charmanders and Squirtles are fascinating creatures--but being fictional, they place pretty low on the relevancy scale. Still, kids of all ages are obsessed with Pokémon, and David Ng on The World's Fair wants to turn that admiration toward real creatures so that we might better learn and care about the lifeforms on our planet. The project is called Phylomon, and all creative and scientific types are invited to produce illustrations, write content, and design gameplay for the cause. Jessica Palmer sees big potential on Bioephemera, writing this is a chance for kids "to discover that real biology is also incredibly cool." Meanwhile, candidates for killer playing cards abound. On Living the Scientific Life, GrrlScientist presents the Arctic Tern, "the world's champion commuters." Researchers have recently discovered these little birds migrate a staggering 70,000 km each year. On Oscillator, Christina Agapakis wonders at Elysia chlorotica, a symbiotic slug which not only blends in with algae, but also ingests algal chloroplasts in order to photosynthesize energy. And on A Blog Around the Clock, Coturnix makes us double-take at a moth with venomous-looking wings. When real life is this incredible, who needs a Pikachu anyway?

Links below the fold.

• Do you kind of wish Pokemon cards had REAL creatures not FAKE creatures? on The World's Fair
• Pokemon + Phylogeny = Phylomon on Bioephemera
• Fly Me to the Moon: The Incredible Migratory Journey of the Arctic Tern on Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
• Solar Powered Leaves That Crawl on Oscillator
• Snake-mimicking Moth on A Blog Around The Clock