fun
clock | March 20, 2008Here we go again! Who is cooler, Echinoderms or Molluscs? You decide for yourself, but I have decided a long time ago:
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
Sea Cucumber
clock | March 20, 2008Remember this study from last month? Well, apparently NYTimes picked up on it and now all the bloggers are picking it apart - see what Dave Bacon, Jake Young and Mark Hoofnagle have to say. I think this study, started as a joke, is about to be revisited seriously with a huge data-set and various strict controls. As long as someone manages to get NIH to pay for all the beer.
awild | March 11, 2008
Myrmecologist and artist Andrea Lucky sent me this picture, depicting her controversial view that Adam Ant was really a Myrmecia.
awild | March 2, 2008
istockphoto lists their over-submitted subjects:
Your dog or cat
Flowers
Flags
Feet
Immediate environment - computer equipment
Light blurs
Brick Walls
Fire
Eyes
Symbols
Sunsets and clouds
Forests
Airplane wings
Your shadow
Backgrounds
stoat | March 2, 2008Who's there?
Cows-go.
Cow-go who?
No, cows go moo!
By Miranda and Vivian, aged 6.
clock | February 24, 2008You may remember a few days ago I posted a link to the list of Obsolete skills (the links were to this post, this wiki and this wiki). The growing list is certainly fun to read and check off your own skills against it. Archy adds some more.
But, what I really liked, especially since this is a science blog, was this comment by Barn Owl, suggesting we list our science-related and laboratory skills that are either useless outside of the lab or now obsolete even in a science lab.
For instance, Anna has developed strength in in the muscles used in vial opening as well as the ability to eye-ball…
clock | February 18, 2008What is the difference between Free Access Beer and Open Access Beer?
You go to a bar to get your Free Access Beer. You sit down. You show your ID. The barista gives you a bottle. You don't need to pay anything for it - it's free, after all. You take your own bottle-opener from your pocket and open the bottle. You drink the beer from the bottle. You return the empty bottle to the barista. You go home.
You order you Open Access Beer online or by phone. You pick what kind of beer you want. It gets delivered to your door really fast. The delivery man opens the bottle for you. You are…
clock | February 14, 2008We have already covered, in quite some detail the problems of passing gas in space. Not so much a problem inside a spaceship, but potentially a problem on a space walk, especially if the said activity, if particularly powerful, produces a rip in the scafander. The air leaves and it's all over for you. Perhaps those beans tasted too well last night, eh?
The holes in the hulls of spaceships and in space-suits are incompatible with human life.
Then, there is the perennial question about sex in space. Did they or didn't they? Officially, nothing ever happened. Unofficially, sure it did.…
awild | February 12, 2008Not the real thing of course, but look how cute the plush version is:
The company GiantMicrobes has a delightful line of plush plagues and pestilences. I've pasted a few more below, but you really should visit their site.
stoat | February 5, 2008Seen in a local Oxfam bookshop. Are you familiar with the Profanisaurus? Mind you, its better than Trinny and Susannah.