biology
grrlscientist | November 6, 2006
Queen Butterfly, Danaus gilippus.
from the Butterfly Room at the Phipps Conservatory (Pittsburgh).
Image: Rehana Rodrigues.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: butterfly, queen butterfly, insect, Lepidoptera, zoology
revere | November 6, 2006Currently estimated bird flu case fatality ratio remains catastrophically high, somewhere around 60%. This may or may not be an accurate estimate. Case fatality is the ratio of cases that die to the number of people diagnosed with H5N1 infection. If we are missing many cases then our estimates of case fatality will be biased upwards. On the other hand, it is possible we are missing many deaths from H5N1 for the same reason: the case was not diagnosed. In Indonesia, for example, there are hundreds of thousands of deaths yearly from severe pneumonia. While the overwhelming majority are not bird…
revere | November 5, 2006Genes and bird flu are being talked about again. A WHO study is "stating" some kind of genetic factor may be at work, but it appears it is only an observation that in the notorious Indonesian Karo cluster of eight family members, only those "related by blood" were affected by the human-to-human spread:
Only blood relatives were infected in the Karo district of North Sumatra, the largest cluster known to date worldwide, "despite multiple opportunities for the virus to spread to spouses or into the general community," it added.
The theory - which it said merited further study - was contained in…
grrlscientist | November 5, 2006
Ambush Bug, Genus Phymata.
Found on a raspberry bush,
Upper Arlington, Franklin County, Ohio.
Summer, 2006.
Image: Dave Schreiber.
I have been receving some gorgeous images from you, dear readers, images that I can hardly wait to share with you! If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: ambush bug, insect, Phymatidae, zoology
grrlscientist | November 4, 2006
Thornbush Dasher, Micrathyria hagenii.
Valley Nature Center, Weslaco, Texas, October 2003.
Image: Biosparite.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: dragonfly, thornbush dancer, insect, Odonata, zoology
grrlscientist | November 3, 2006
Red-bordered Pixie, Melanis cephise,
23 October 2004.
Image: Biosparite.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: butterfly, red-bordered pixie butterfly, insect, Lepidoptera, zoology
grrlscientist | November 2, 200629% of all fish stocks have collapsed.
32% of all amphibians globally are threatened with extinction, and 43% of all amphibian species are in decline.
14% of all bird species are predicted to be extinct by 2100 (as opposed to 1.3% for the 500 years previous), and total number of birds globally estimated to have dropped by 20-25%.
.
tags: extinction, endangered species, fish, amphibian, bird
grrlscientist | November 2, 2006
White Peacock, Anartia jatrophae,
Valley Nature Center, Weslaco, Texas,
23 October 2004.
Image: Biosparite.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: butterfly, white peacock butterfly, insect, Lepidoptera, zoology
revere | November 2, 2006[This is the last post in a series about viral and cell surface glycoproteins and their role in the influenza story. It's a slightly updated series from the archives on the old site. Links to all four posts: part I, part II, part III, part IV]
In the first three posts of this series we have given an overview of what the cell surface looks like to the influenza virus and set out the ideas and vocabulary virologists use to discuss the sugar molecules on the cell's surface the virus hooks on to, the viral receptor. The many possible configurations of sugars on a cell's surface serve important…
revere | November 1, 2006The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported last week that scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology found H5N1 in the feces of sparrow, non-migratory urban birds two years ago (via Reuters). The brief news report only says the discovery followed an outbreak among poultry in nearby Henan province. It's not clear what took so long to report this or whether the H5N1 strain in sparrows differs from that in poultry.
Is this good or bad for public health?
It's hard to think of ways it could be good for public health to have another endemic source of a virus potentially capable of infecting humans…
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006
Blue Metalmark, Rivina humilis,
Laguna Atascosa NWR, Texas. Oct. 2004.
Image: Biosparite.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: butterfly, blue metalmark butterfly, insect, Lepidoptera, zoology
revere | November 1, 2006[This is the third in a reprise from the archives about some of the science of the influenza virus. Links to all four posts: part I, part II, part III, part IV]
An influenza virus does only one thing: tries to make many copies of itself. And it does it poorly, although prolifically. Instead of making exact copies it is liable to make inexact copies and this is one of the sources of genetic variation which produces the parallel "random experiments" characteristic of viral replication. Lots of the copies it makes are fine, but many are fatally flawed, and also many that are more or less…
grrlscientist | October 31, 2006
Mystery Caterpillar on Gaura,
Nelson Farms Preserve, Katy Prairie Conservancy, Texas.
NABA Butterfly Count, 4 September 2006.
Image: Biosparite.
I thought this image was appropriate for the day, given this caterpillar's sporty Hallowe'en stripes.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: butterfly, caterpillar, Lepidoptera, insect, zoology
revere | October 31, 2006[This is the second installment from the archives of a series of posts giving some scientific background on the influenza virus, in this case the terminology basics on viral receptors. Technical but not beyond the range of most well educated readers. Links to all four posts: part I, part II, part III, part IV]
In the last post we discussed the dense canopy of sugars linked to cell surface proteins that covers most cells. This outer fur-like sugar surface is called the glycocalyx and plays an important biological role, including cell-cell recognition and communication, interacting with and…
tfk | October 30, 2006A series of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act:
show that [deputy assistant Secretary of the Interior Julie] MacDonald has repeatedly refused to go along with staff reports concluding that species such as the white-tailed prairie dog and the Gunnison sage grouse are at risk of extinction. Career officials and scientists urged the department to identify the species as either threatened or endangered.
MacDonald is a civil engineer by training, and does not have direct power to approve or reject petitions for listing a species. Instead, she applied pressure to the experts…
tfk | October 30, 2006Since 2000, scientists have been working to identify every species occurring in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Just down the road from Dollywood, the researchers and volunteers have cataloged 12,000 species, 651 of them unknown to science. They expect to find 100,000 species in the park.
This week's Ask a ScienceBlogger:
What's the most underfunded scientific field that shouldn't be underfunded?
Like John Wilkins, I can't ignore the importance of research in systematics and biodiversity (a field once referred to as taxonomy).
The best estimates we have suggest that there are…
revere | October 30, 2006[Back in January we did a series of posts on the old site giving some background science on the influenza virus for the general reader. The Reveres are traveling (for a change) and so we thought it was an appropriate time to dig around in the old archives and update some of the posts thought useful by readers. Here's the first installment of a set of posts on cell surface and HA protein of the influenza virus and where they fit in the picture. Links to all four posts: part I, part II, part III, part IV]
Avian influenza, as its name suggests, is a disease of birds. Most aquatic waterfowl…
grrlscientist | October 29, 2006
Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus,
Nelson Farms Preserve, Katy Prairie Butterfly Count,
4 September 2006.
Image: Biosparite.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: butterfly, fiery skipper butterfly, insect, lepidoptery, zoology
jlynch | October 28, 2006Since everyone is talking about the sequencing of the honeybee genome*, it seems appropriate (isn't it always?) to post some Monty Python. Ladies & gentlemen, I present, "Eric The Half A Bee":
(Speaks)
Half a bee, philosophically,Must, ipso facto, half not be.But half the bee has got to beVis a vis, its entity. D'you see?
But can a bee be said to beOr not to be an entire beeWhen half the bee is not a beeDue to some ancient injury?
(Sings)
La dee dee, one two three,Eric the half a bee.A B C D E F G,Eric the half a bee.
Is this wretched demi-bee,Half-asleep upon my knee,Some freak from a…
tfk | October 27, 2006As you know, the name of the original and best carnival o' science comes from Charles Darwin's opus. What you may not know is that the great work in which he first presented that analogy was not meant to stand alone. Charles Darwin had two qualities that made him a great and a frustrating scientist. He was fastidious, and the On the Origin of Species demonstrates the importance he placed on gathering all the evidence. This is part (but only part) of the reason it took decades between his conception of the intellectual core of that book and when he actually published it.
The Origin was not…