lobster
dr. dolittle | August 20, 2013In honor of Maine Lobster month, this video from the American Chemical Society describes why lobsters always turn red when they are cooked, regardless of what color they were prior to being dropped into the stock pot. I don't know about you, but this video has made me crave lobster for dinner tonight!
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zooillogix | May 6, 2009I cannot train my dog Mathman not to pee on the damned carpet but New England Aquarium's senior trainer, cryptically known simply as "Erin", can teach a lobster to score higher on the GRE than me.
As some readers of this blog may know, I have long been concerned with growing Lobster / Human tensions as illustrated in this alarmist Geocities site I created in 2000 while hungover in Belgium at "work." So the question I pose is this: will training lobsters lead to mutual understanding or merely create more efficient killers ala the CIA and Taliban circa 1985?
Although it might not make…
zooillogix | January 30, 2009A couple of weeks ago we brought you the classic interweb hit from circa 2000 - Lobster Magnet.
Well now we bring you what might be our greatest interview ever. Forget about Jane Goodall and eminent biologists, today we have the sacred words of Ben Apgar, co-creator of Lobster Magnet. When we caught up with Ben, he was unemployed and apparently Canadian. And now without further ado, we bring you the briny stylings of Ben Apgar and the secret history behind Lobster Magnet:
Name: Ben Apgar
Sex: M
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Blood type: Unknown
Song: Lobster Magnet
By: Ben Apgar &…
zooillogix | January 10, 2009We are on a new Movable Type platform. You know what that means for you? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! .... maybe other than this. In celebration of the new, we offer the epically awesome old - Lobster Magnet
I'm gonna classify this as "medicine and health" just for kicks.
zooillogix | December 28, 2008We (I) here at Zooillogix have a thing for lobsters. It involves Belgium, pasta tongs, and a Dutch boy named Lourens. I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, this mutant lobster was pulled out of the briny depths near Newport, RI earlier this month. Lobsterman Patrick Marks sometimes releases lobster "when they look at him funny" and so this almost-Pokemon-character was returned to the sea after a day-long publicity tour.
zooillogix | July 28, 2008This is old but Oysters Garter reminded me of it and I still think it's pretty cool. Also, I love lobsters (see below below).
The Biomimetic Underwater Robot Program based out of Northeastern University seeks to develop "neurotechnology based on the neurophysiology and behavior of animal models." This particular lobster robot is meant to sniff out underwater mines or some such, but I suspect that's just what the researchers told DARPA to get a big check to build a badass robotic lobster.
Perhaps of equal interest are these pics of my wedding cake (for reals):
UPDATE: My lobster cake was…
eklemetti | June 19, 2008
The western Pacific basin is pockmarked with active and extinct volcanoes related to the subduction of the Pacific plate along almost all of its western boundary. An Australian National University research group recently discovered a pair of undersea volcanoes that would put any good mining geologist into a fit of joy. These volcanoes are spewing volcanic gases underwater that are very rich in metals like copper, lead, zinc and gold. All of these metals like to go into solution in acidic fluids like volcanic gases, and when these volcanic fluids meet the cold (and decidedly less acidic)…
zooillogix | December 17, 2007When it's served at Long John Silvers! I just saw an ad for LJS' new "Buttered Lobster Bites," basically a carton of popcorn-chicken-like-crustacean-parts for $2.99. Careful listeners may have paused when they heard that the lobster was "real langostino lobster." Huh? Now I know my lobster. In fact, I created the world's premier lobster site years ago while bored, working for the US Embassy in Belgium. However, even I, the great De Kreeft (The Lobster, as I was known in Dutch) was uncertain of which beast this referred to.
Well a little internet sleuthing proved that others also had their "…
zooillogix | September 27, 2007Undated, unidentified giant lobster picture from the crazy Russian news.
zooillogix | June 5, 2007Two-tone lobsters are rare, only about 1 in 50 million share this mutation. They would be wise to increase the frequency of this variation however as it inevitably saves the little guy from the pot. Lobster shells have three primary pigment colors, red, yellow and blue. Occasionally lobsters lack one or more of these colors and because the two sides of a lobster shell develop independently, startling two-tone specimens are possible. Their less fortunate plain-Jane family members turn red in the pot because the heat frees the red pigment molecules, uncoiling them from the dark protein…