dimorphism

Warm weather at the Winter Olympics played a major part in the $51 billion extravaganza. Greg Laden calls the Sochi games more of a "Fall Olympics" as competitors bit the slush on the slopes and the half pipe. At the Extreme Park, casualties among women outnumbered casualties among men by nearly 3 to 1. Why the gender imbalance? Greg wonders if the men's and women's courses are not suitably dimorphic, or if better training would make a difference. On The Pump Handle, Celeste Monforton takes the panoptic view with the official Olympic injury and illness surveillance system. During the last…

Strategus aloeus - Ox Beetles, female (left) and male Arizona, USA Impressive pronotal horns mark the male in these sexually dimorphic scarabs. Strategus aloeus is found in the southern United States from Florida to Arizona. photo details, top photo: Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens on a Canon 20D f/9, 1/200sec, ISO 100, indirect strobe in a white box bottom photo: Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens on a Canon 20D f/14, 1/200sec, ISO 200, indirect strobe in a white box