Strange Life
chaoticutopia | July 31, 2006In my recent post on a lady beetle colony, I posted a picture of a wasp which I'd identified as Polistes dominulus. Unfortunately, the wasp didn't exactly look like the prototypical P. dominulus, as one of my commenters, Julie Stahlhut also noticed. I'm still not exactly sure if it was the same species or not--I'm still looking into it. The rest of the wasps around are easy to identify, like the ones shown here. For a quick comparison, try the site that Julie suggested or check out the same species of wasp in her neighborhood (Rochester, NY.)
Another wasp, hunting remarkably close to a large…
chaoticutopia | July 10, 2006...or at least they would be if someone had cloned a person by now.
I've missed the last few "Ask a Science Blogger" questions, which I now regret. I can easily describe the qualities of an excellent science teacher, or discuss how the new science behind chaos and complexity has affected policy... but in order to answer this week's question, I need to pull out my views from the past. Ten years ago, to be specific:
On July 5, 1996, Dolly the sheep became the first successfully cloned mammal. Ten years on, has cloning developed the way you expected it to?
Ten years ago, I was rather shy…
chaoticutopia | July 7, 2006Today's fractal is so bushy and branching, that you might almost miss the regular curving patterns of a Julia set. (Actually, this is two Julia sets, but who's counting?) That seems fitting, as nature can be the same way. You might not notice a particular spot, even though you pass by every day. Then, one day, your eye happens to catch a familiar pattern, and suddenly the ordinary is strikingly beautiful. I created this fractal to honor that awestruck feeling that comes along with discovering a world right under your nose:
And here's a matching spot, which I pass by every day, while walking…
chaoticutopia | July 6, 2006Across our planet, ecosystems are changing, big and small. While I've been compiling my thoughts on small, local changes (check back next week for a series on the subject) I found a bit of news about some very drastic changes to large areas. According to an article in this week's Washington Post, coral reefs may be greatly affected by an increase in the acidity of the oceans, which correlate with the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Scientists are estimating that the acidity level will be sufficiently deadly by the end of this century:
Scientists expect ocean pH levels to…
chaoticutopia | July 5, 2006Every summer, great white pelicans make their way to Colorado to fish for trout in stocked reservoirs. I've always been fascinated by the fact that these giant sea birds come to Colorado, so far from an ocean. They don't breed here, they don't over winter here; they just hang out and eat. Awhile back, I tried to get some pictures of a flock of pelicans that fish at Standley Lake, near my home. With a 5-year old and a dachshund along to encourage them to the far corners, my best picture was of pelican butt, from a distance.
Not being the type to give up, I waited until yesterday, when I could…
chaoticutopia | June 23, 2006While visiting Two Ponds, a wildlife refuge here in Arvada, I captured these wonderful butterfly images, earlier today:
A two-tailed tiger swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata) feeding on a showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) blossom, along the banks of Little Dry Creek.
And a few more: (Click on any of the thumbnails to open in a new window.)
For a quick fact sheet on the butterfly, please visit eNature, or for the same on the milkweed, please visit the USDA.
chaoticutopia | June 23, 2006While crawling across the web this week, these stories of spiders just seemed to stick. So, when it came to making today's fractal, I knew exactly where to turn. The shape seen at right is an example of a "loom" style fractal, originally described by Cliff Pickover in his book, the Keys to Infinity. He calls it a mygalomorph pattern (sounds like something from King of the Hill, doesn't it?) or "Interactive Spider Geometry."
His webpage, found here, provides a simple java applet for exploring the various shapes. (Read: fun little web toy.) He also explains the math behind the image with a…
chaoticutopia | June 19, 2006The newspapers this last week were full of science stories, exhibiting the broad diversity and strangeness of life on our planet. Here are some of the highlights:
Seeds are preserved in an Arctic vault in Svalbard, preserving humankind's agricultural legacy:
Crop seeds are the source of human sustenance, the product of 10,000 years of selective breeding dating to the dawn of agriculture. The "doomsday vault," as some have come to call it, is to be the ultimate backup in the event of a global catastrophe -- the go-to place after an asteroid hit or nuclear or biowarfare holocaust so that,…
chaoticutopia | June 16, 2006The phoenix is one of those enduring symbols from ancient mythology that occurs frequently in modern culture. Phoenix is a name for places and stars (Hollywood and constellations alike.) It shows up in movies and literature (including the Harry Potter series.) Most importantly (at least for the context used here) this name for a mighty bird, which perished in flame, is a type of fractal. A phoenix set seemed rather fitting for today's image, as we'll soon see.
This set (seen whole, at right) is a modification of the original phoenix sets, discovered by
Shigehiro Ushiki. Essentially, I began…
chaoticutopia | June 10, 2006The fungal fate awaiting our amphibian friends has frog-lovers everywhere concerned. Now, a group of biologists from the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago are preparing to help the endangered species the best way they know--providing an artificial habitat:
Now scientists are scurrying to collect frogs and put them in temporary tanks in hotel rooms and people's houses until the building's ready, Caballero said. Plans to save 65 species have been downscaled to the dozen or so most endangered--including the beautiful, iridescent Panamanian golden frog. The species is a cultural icon for its people as…
chaoticutopia | June 10, 2006.Imagine, you're standing in line at an airport security checkpoint, waiting for your shoes to be searched, when you notice something strange about the gentlemen in front of you. Their carry-on luggage is croaking It could happen. In fact, it did happen, as herpetologist Joseph R. Mendleson and Ron Gagliardo, rescuing endangered frogs from the Panamanian rain forest, asked to bring their specimen-packed suitcases aboard as carry-on.
In April, I wrote about a program starting in Chicago, in which scientists were racing to beat the extinction of frogs, by collecting them into an "ark." (I'll…
chaoticutopia | June 9, 2006When I joined the crew here at ScienceBlogs, I was given a pledge name: Fractal. Now, you can see why: I'm in love with fractals. As a close friend of mine put it, a fractal is essentially "a tangent off on a tangent off on a tangent off on a tangent...," which described me rather well. It describes nature rather well, too. In living beings or solid rock, there are often many layers of complexity, each reliant on other layers.
I used this idea with today's fractal, by layering two separate Julia sets on top of one another. In the upper set, I used a formula which masked certain areas,…
sb admin | June 9, 2006With a click of your mouse, you find yourself in a chaotic utopia.
That click sent an electrical signal inside your computer,
passing through circuits, joined by a contact made of gold.
The gold, you may find, was mined from a mafic vein,
deep within the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by Precambrian gneiss.
The gneiss, disguised by the mountains for billions of years,
lays exposed to the north in a shaded canyon.
The canyon, still being carved by the creek below,
crumbles with age, loosening a piece of milky quartz.
The quartz, lured by gravity, tumbles from the canyon wall,
and lands with a…
chaoticutopia | June 9, 2006With the creation of national parks and wildlife preserves, we hope to cling to the nature of yesteryear. Perhaps if we section off this area, we say, we can save it from ecological change. Pffft. I think it is going to change, no matter what... and lines drawn on a map won't block all the effects of humanity. Here in Colorado, with parks and preserves all around, it shows... and everyone has an opinion on what should be done.
First, take, for example, Rocky Mountain National Park. A sad chain of events may leave parts of the park high and dry and endanger its wetland inhabitants. More or…