fun
awild | October 11, 2009
Yeah, so I'm giving the Coca-Cola Corporation some free ad space. But it's a spectacular bit of animation, and they've paid a great deal of attention to getting the anatomical details right.
awild | September 26, 2009A: Check your house for any signs of ant-art. If, for instance, your garage sports a giant blue Azteca, you might have developed a myrmecological fixation.
On the other hand, if you consider yourself an ant-lover but lack any obvious ant adornments, you're falling behind. Pick up some paint and get to work!
(This garage belongs to myrmecologists Ivette Perfecto and John Vandermeer, who sent in the picture. Thanks guys!)
awild | September 17, 2009
Cimex lectularius - the common bedbug
Bed bugs are back. The resurgence of these blood-feeding pests is perhaps the biggest entomological story of the past decade. Take a look, for instance, at the Google search volume for "bed bugs" over the past few years:
Google Trends shows an increase in bed bug interest relative to other pests, 2004-2009
Why am I telling you all of this?
I've just posted a new online bed bug photo gallery. I was fortunate to get my hands on a vial of live bed bugs recently, and it turns out that the little guys are excellent entomological models. Cute, cuddly…
clock | September 8, 2009I know everyone in the sci-blogosphere is swooning over Carl Sagan. But as a kid I never cared much about him - I usually fell asleep halfway through each episode of 'Cosmos'. But I would not miss for anything an episode of 'The Underwater Odyssey of Commander Cousteau' with Jacques-Yves Cousteau. That was breathtaking. And what he and the crew of Calypso did was truly ground-breaking, both in terms of scientific discoveries and in terms of under-water filming. And those discoveries and breakthroughs were shared with us, the audience, in an intimate and immediate manner.
That was a long time…
stoat | September 5, 2009mt has been writing about religion and I even got Paul to comment. I'm going to do my take in a bit, but in the meantime a bit from Nude Scientist caught my eye: Another favourite climate nostrum was upturned when Pope warned that the dramatic Arctic ice loss in recent summers was partly a product of natural cycles rather than global warming. [1]. Yes, that is right: apparently we're supposed to take His Holiness seriously as an authority on climate change. So the question must be, Was he speaking infallibly at that point?.
[Update: I'm cr*p. See the comments :-) -W]
clock | August 27, 2009The first in a series by @RichardWiseman:
During the Edinburgh Festival I will invite some of my favourite magicians, skeptics, psychologists and comedians to join me for afternoon tea. Over a plentiful supply of cakes, pastries and sandwiches we will chat about this and that, and occasionally the other. I hope that you will feel moved to put on the kettle, relax and join us.
Five podcasts are already up....
awild | August 27, 2009Here's your chance!
Anheuser-Busch has invited consumers to pitch ideas for a Bud TV spot that will run during the Chinese New Year in February 2010, Advertising Age reported Wednesday.
The spots must feature ants, which have starred in A-B commercials during the Chinese New Year for the past decade.
From five finalists picked Tuesday, judges will name the grand winner, who collects a $14,637 cash prize and gets to help produce the ad.
clock | August 23, 2009
Does your iPhone have a tape measure? Eh? How can you beat that?
Hat-tip: Science Lush
awild | August 22, 2009Here's why blogging of late has been a little...uninspired:
Mingus plans his next paw print
We're busy with all those projects that are acquired with an old house. This weekend we are painting the kitchen and dining room. To the extent that Mingus the Cat will let us.