Organisms
pharyngula | March 12, 2012As long as we're thinking about gorillas, what do gorillas think about?
(via NatGeo)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | March 9, 2012
Are you intimidated, or do you see this as a challenge?
(via TONMO, which has the whole explicit sequence of octopus mating captured in exquisite photographic detail)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | March 5, 2012Feeling cranky on a Monday morning? Read this story, and not only will it cheer you right up, but you'll understand why this man is smiling.
Lord Howe Island Stick Insect hatching from Zoos Victoria on Vimeo.
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | March 2, 2012
(Image without watermark available commercially from CoolWaterPhoto)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | February 29, 2012This is a plant germinated from 32,000 year old tissue recovered from permafrost. I'll take their word for it, but I'd like to see some ID.
(via NatGeo)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | February 24, 2012It had to by flying squid today, because of this story in Nature about squid locomotor energetics. Scientists measured the velocities of flying squid in air, and noted that they can move five times faster in a less dense/viscous medium (as we say in our technical discussions of this issue…no duh.) So they are proposing that maybe these species of squid do it to travel long distances efficiently.
Querulous voices were raised to point out something equally obvious: then where are they all? Photos of squid in flight are extraordinarily rare — they don't do it routinely, it seems. It's more…
pharyngula | February 3, 2012Next step: lasers mounted on squid mantles.
You puny humans are so screwed.
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | January 30, 2012Ah, the 19th century…when mad scientists were really mad, and not only that, they were popular at parties. In 1818, Dr Ure and Professor Jeffray obtained the freshly killed corpse of Matthew Clydesdale, only an hour from the hangman's noose, and proceeded to experiment on it with a battery in the Glasgow University anatomy theater before a crowd of spectators. In my youth, I had to settle for recent roadkill, a 9 volt battery, and a dark basement, all by my lonesome — my jealousy is acute.
Here is a small portion of the account of that day's fun.
The supra-orbital nerve was laid bare in the…
pharyngula | January 27, 2012The gang at Skepticon are running a poll to design the World's Most Innocuous Atheist Billboard, and they've settled on the message — "Baby Animals Are Cute" — and they've got some choices for you to pick from. I thought I'd help and offer my own suggestion:
See? Far superior to the kittens and puppies they suggest, and it's much more in the spirit of atheism.
DO NOT ARGUE WITH ME. Or Baby Octopus will devour you.
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | January 25, 2012Tremble in fear, and behold this terrifying homicidal vegetable!
The larger denizens of Brazil may be unaware of the carnage beneath their feet, but trust me — the far more numerous inhabitants of the country, roundworms and such, feel nothing but terror at encountering their roots.
(via NatGeo)
(Also on FtB)