insects
awild | August 19, 2009
In case you were wondering, ants turn out to be ambidextrous.
Instead of favoring one side or the other as we humans do with our hands, ants show no preference for working with either mandible. That's the conclusion of a new study by Cassill & Singh:
Abstract: The elongation and sharp teeth of ant mandibles are considered important adaptations that have contributed to ants successful colonization of terrestrial habitats worldwide. In extant ant species, mandibles function as hunting and defense weapons, as well as multipurpose tools for excavating soil, cutting leaves, capturing and…
awild | August 19, 2009The best way to cook a certain kind of caterpillar and make it taste really nice may not be the very best thing to do with a grasshopper. One you might want to parboil, the other one you might want to stir fry. Iâll give you a good example. A friend of mine and I cooked a certain type of scarab beetle for the first time ever last summer, and we simultaneously boiled, sautéed in a skillet, and toasted them. We all liked the toasted ones best.
-Zach Lemann, the Bug Chef
Philly2Philly has more. Zach Lemann, by the way, is one of the people behind the amazing Insectarium in New Orleans.
edyong | August 12, 2009In a French laboratory, a team of ants is attempting a daring rescue. One of their colony-mates is trapped in a snare - a nylon thread that dastardly researchers have looped around its waist and half-buried in some sand. Thankfully, help is at hand. A crack squad of rescuers work together to dig away at the sand, expose the snare, and bite at the threads until their colleague is liberated.
Many animals help each other but actual rescue attempts, even between individuals of the same species, are rarely documented. Among back-boned animals, dolphins are famously said to help injured comrades…
clock | August 7, 2009The World is a radio show co-produced by WGBH Boston, Public Radio International and BBC. You can probably hear it on your local NPR station - if not, you can find all the shows recorded on the website.
You may remember that I went to Boston a few months ago, as a part of a team of people helping the show do something special: use the NSF grant they recently received to expand their science coverage and, in collaboration with Sigma Xi and NOVA, tie their radio science coverage to their online offerings.
The result is The World: Science website, a series of weekly science podcasts with Elsa…
edyong | August 3, 2009Right, back from holiday and back to blogging. Something new about malaria coming up in a few hours but for now, I thought you might enjoy a couple of snaps taken at Oxford's Botanical Gardens.
grrlscientist | August 1, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Glass-Winged Butterfly.
Glass-Winged Butterfly (endemic to Ecuador) in the
Natural History Museum in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Yes, you are reading the actual specimen tag through
the butterfly's wings.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
edyong | July 31, 2009This article is reposted from the old Wordpress incarnation of Not Exactly Rocket Science.
An ant nest is sheltered, well defended and stocked with food, but one that takes time to build and protect. That's why some species of ants don't bother to do it themselves - they just squat in the nests of others.
These ants are 'social parasites' - they don't feed off their hosts' tissues, but instead steal their food, sleep in their homes and use their resources. They're like six-legged cuckoos
An ant colony is too dangerous a target to victimise lightly and the social parasites use several…
edyong | July 30, 2009This article is reposted from the old Wordpress incarnation of Not Exactly Rocket Science.
A humble species of fruit fly is the genetic equivalent of a Russian doll - peer inside its DNA and you will see the entire genome of a species of bacteria hidden within.
The bacteria in question is Wolbachia, the most successful parasite on earth and infects about 20% of the world's species of insects. It's a poster child for selfishness. To further its own dynasty, it has evolved a series of remarkable techniques for ensuring that it gets passed on from host to host. Sometimes it gives infected…
grrlscientist | July 30, 2009tags: biodiversity, conservation, endangered species, Encyclopedia of Life, TEDTalks, E.O. Wilson, streaming video
As E.O. Wilson accepts his 2007 TEDTalks Prize, he makes a plea on behalf of all creatures that we learn more about our biosphere -- and build a networked encyclopedia of all the world's knowledge about life [24:22]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
edyong | July 29, 2009This article is reposted from the old Wordpress incarnation of Not Exactly Rocket Science.
Fizzy drinks like Perrier and Coca-Cola are targeted at a huge range of social groups, but if fruit flies had any capital to spend, they'd be at the top of the list. Unlike posh diners or hyperactive kids, flies have taste sensors that are specially tuned to the flavour of carbonated water.
Humans can pick up five basic tastes - sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (savoury). But other animals, with very different diets, can probably expand on this set. And what better place to start looking for these…
grrlscientist | July 17, 2009tags: Tvärminne, zoological field research station, Finland, nature, image of the day
Wildflowers with beetle photographed at Tvärminnen eläintieteellinen asema
(Tvärminne Zoological field research station) in southwestern Finland.
[read more about it: English Suomeksi PÃ¥ Svenska]
Image: GrrlScientist, 16 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Can you name the species?
edyong | July 17, 2009
Bats view the world in echoes, timing the reflections of their own ultrasonic calls to navigate and hunt. This biological sonar, or echolocation, has made them masters of the night sky; it's so sensitive that some species take moths and other insects on the wing, while others pluck spiders from their webs without entangling themselves in silk. But with such an efficient technology, it was only a matter of time before their quarry developed countermeasures.
Some insects gained ears; others simply rely on outmanoeuvring their attackers. But one group, the tiger moths, play bats at their own…
grrlscientist | July 14, 2009tags: Tvärminne, zoological field research station, Finland, nature
Hornet Moth, Sesia apiformis: Hymenopteran biomimic.
Tvärminnen eläintieteellinen asema
(Tvärminne Zoological field research station) in southwestern Finland.
[read more about it: English :: Suomeksi :: PÃ¥ Svenska]
Image: Bob O'Hara, 15 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
This insect is sitting on my camera (to give you a sense of size). I would happily share all my gorgeous photographs with you (several of which were stunning), but my camera batteries died while I was photographing and didn't save roughly 100…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009tags: dragonfly vision, facets, opsin, compound eyes, insects, dragonflies, Dennis Paulson, David O'Carroll, Robert Olberg
Male Megaloprepus caerulatus, PANAMA, Rio Chico Masambi, near Gamboa,
11 August 2005; photo by Julie Craves, a Natural Science Research Associate
at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Color vision in humans depends upon three light-sensitive proteins, called opsins, that are present in our retinas. Each type of opsin absorbs one color of light in the spectrum. In humans, the colors absorbed by these opsins are red, green or blue. The many wavelengths of light…
clock | July 6, 2009A couple of German bloggers and I went to see the Butterfly House on the Island of Mainau. They had good cameras with lenses that allowed them to take extreme close-ups. I had to do with a little pocket camera, but a few pictures turned out decent enough to show:
edyong | July 5, 2009
Earlier today, I published a post on how Japanese honeybees defend themselves from hornets with a mass defence that relies on heat and carbon dioxide. This article was originally written two years ago, and describes the slightly different tactic of Cyprian honeybees.
When Oriental hornets attack, Cyprian honeybees mob them in a huge ball that targets the breathing apparatus in the hornet's abdomen. The hornets can't breathe without expanding their abdomens and with sheer numbers, the bees strangle the hornets to death.
Hornets are giant wasps that pack a powerful sting. To most…
edyong | July 5, 2009Rising temperatures and high carbon dioxide emissions are the means through which humans are inadvertently causing the decline of several species. But one animal actively uses both heat and carbon dioxide as murderous weapons - the unassuming honeybee.
With their stings and numbers, bees already seem to be well-defended but they are completely outgunned by giant hornets (right). These two-inch long monsters are three times longer than several times heavier than tiny honeybees and raiding parties can decimate entire hives. European bees mount little in the way of an effective defence, but…
edyong | July 4, 2009Walks through a forest are often made all the more enjoyable by the chance to watch brightly coloured birds flit between the trees. But birds are not just mere inhabitants of forests - in some parts of the world, they are the key to the trees' survival.
The Serengeti is one such place. Since 1950, around 70-80% of riverside forests have disappeared from this area. Fires seem to be a particular problem, opening large gaps in the canopy that forests can't seem to recover from. To understand why Gregory Sharam from the University of British Columbia has been monitoring the density of the…
edyong | July 1, 2009It's been just three weeks since I last wrote about the dark-footed ant-spider Myrmarachne melanotarsa, but this is one species that just keeps getting more and more interesting. To quickly recap, M.melanotarsa is a jumping spider that protects itself from predators (like other jumping spiders) by resembling an ant. Earlier this month, Ximena Nelson and Robert Jackson showed that they bolster this illusion by living in silken apartment complexes and travelling in groups, mimicking not just the bodies of ants but their social lives too.
Now Nelson and Robert are back with another side to the…
sjurvetson | June 26, 2009As I prepare to hand off this photoblog to Cobalt123, I thought I would share my favorite non-rocket photos. Each clicks through to a story or geeky observation.
Last Thoughts
Magic Toes
Fire & Ice
A Beautiful Computation
in the Wolfram sense
Curiosity
Diamond Age & Eyes
and even some people
Namaste.