toxicity
grrlscientist | December 5, 2008tags: evolution, Phylogeny, ornithology, chemical defense, Batrachotoxin, poisonous birds, Pitohui, Ifrita, Pachycephalidae, New Guinea
The Hooded Pitohui, Pitohui dichrous,
endemic to New Guinea, is very unusual
because it has poisonous plumage and skin.
Image: John Dumbacher.
I have been in love with New Guinea since I first read about it as a kid. Everything about this tropical island is exotic and fascinating to me, from the large numbers of endemic bird and plant species to the tremendous number of spoken languages -- more than anywhere else on the planet. So I was immediately…
angrytoxicologist | June 30, 2008Do you ever wonder how some people can simply dismiss the risks of toxic products that they keep around them? This is a constant source of wonderment in the public health community. The reflexive answer is usually that people in question are just uninformed. Therefore we put lots of effort into education. This doesn't jibe with my experience. What usually happens is that when someone is informed about some risk, they treat the risk like it is either for other people or that the risk is overblown/not real. Think this isn't true? You should stop into a toxicology lab someday. On second thought…