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kevin z | July 29, 2008Thanks to Michael Barton, FCD we would have almost forgotten to honor the anniversary of William Beebe's birth. He lived from July 29, 1877 to June 4, 1962. Here is a little info:
"William Beebe was an American biologist, explorer, and writer on natural history who combined careful biological research with a rare literary skill. As director of tropical research for the New York Zoological Society from 1919, he led scientific expeditions to many parts of the world. He was the coinventor of the bathysphere, a spherical diving-vessel for use in underwater observations. In 1934, with Otis Barton…
petnoyer | July 29, 2008West Coast politics are hot. Senator Ted Stevens of the four seas of Alaska (Chukchi, Bering, Beaufort, and the Pacific) was indicted for false statements while the Governators of California, Oregon and Washington launched a historic action plan to address challenging ocean and coastal management issues along the Pacific Coast of the United States.
From the Ocean Public mailing list:
The action plan released today is the result of three states working side-by-side to identify problems and develop a comprehensive action plan to solve them. It commits three states to collaborate closely with…
grrlscientist | July 29, 2008
I receive a fair number of books to review each week, so I thought I should do what several magazines and other publications do; list those books that have arrived in my mailbox so you know that this is the pool of books from which I will be reading and reviewing on my blog. You may have noticed that some weeks, I am at the top of my game and read one book per day and review it within two or so days after I've finished it. Other weeks, like this one, I am unable to concentrate long enough to read a paragraph, so obviously, reading these books, all of which are worthy of a careful reading…
kevin z | July 29, 2008SEED Magazine has put my article up on their website! Go there and take a read. Let me know what you think or address any questions, comments and concerns below!
cortex | July 29, 2008Sheena Iyengar has done some very cool studies on the debilitating effects of excessive choice. In one experiment, she ushered some undergraduates into a room with a variety of Godiva chocolates on a table. The students were then given vivid descriptions of each candy. They learned, for example, that the "Grand Marnier Truffle" consists of a "luxurious milk chocolate butter cream with a hint of liquor, housed in a dark chocolate shell and rolled in cocoa powder." After being told about all of their delectable options, the students chose the best sounding chocolate and rated it on a scale of…
cortex | July 29, 2008I was on The Takeaway this morning talking about irrational voters, Peter Jennings and why trying to multi-task is like running Microsoft Vista on an old computer.
kevin z | July 28, 2008... in a freshwater lake. I know, its not the deep sea but it is deep and it involves ocean-going submersibles! Lake Baikal is pretty interesting in its own right though. Its home to one fifth of the worlds liquid freshwater, hundreds of unique flora and fauna including the Baikal Seal and was declared a UNESCO World heritage Site in 1996.
BBC News reports:
"Russian news reports said two manned mini-submarines successfully plunged 1,680m (5,512ft) to the lake's bed.
The mission is part of a two-year plan aimed at conserving the ecosystem of Lake Baikal, which contains about one-fifth of the…
grrlscientist | July 28, 2008Here are a few blog carnivals for you to read and enjoy;
Carnival of the Elitist Bastards, issue number three. This new blog carnival celebrates excessive arrogance and bare-knuckle commentary, where smart-assed brutes with swords for tongues receive their rightful acknowledgment.
All Things Eco blog carnival, issue number ten. This blog carnival focuses on providing information to others on living in an earth-friendly way.
cmcclain | July 28, 2008Russ comments in our previous post
Au contrair. The record shows that Planktos was long advocating and involved in ecorestoration not merely recently. The Way Back machine easily proves this. The strawman of Planktos that was created and the ad hominem attacks that were and are the hallmark of those opposed to this work for selfish reasons continue here. For example the fact that the Planktos ship Weatherbird was staffed by top scientists from around the world seems not only missing but refused. That Weatherbird was equipped and maintained by the same academic organizations that equip and…
cortex | July 28, 2008Do you scoff at those pale Tofu dogs in the health food aisles of the supermarket? Are you one of those people who taunt vegans by talking about Big Macs? A new study suggests that you should think about biting your tongue: According to the researchers, how we feel about a sausage, regardless of whether it's soy-based or beef, says more about our personal values than about what the sausage actually tastes like. In fact, most people can't even tell the difference between an ersatz vegan sausage and the real thing. (It should be noted, though, that not all vegan products are equally deceptive:…
cmcclain | July 28, 2008Telegraph UK is running an amazing series of photos of great white attacking a seal.
That's going to leave a mark.
cmcclain | July 28, 2008Rick points out that Planktos is back. Planktos is one of those groups who wanted to fertilize the oceans with iron to sequester C02 out of the atmosphere. Both Rick and I were skeptical. Of course we weren't the only ones.
This group feels it is premature to sell carbon offsets from the first generation of commercial-scale OIF experiments unless there is better demonstration that OIF effectively removes CO2, retains that carbon in the ocean for a quantifiable amount of time, and has acceptable and predictable environmental impacts. As with any human manipulation of the environment, OIF…
petnoyer | July 28, 2008When Andrea Marshall began studying the manta rays of Mozambique for her dissertation five years ago, she never expected to discover a new species, let alone a globally cosmopolitan, highly migratory ocean wanderer. She was "awestruck by their beauty," studied the rays, and then gradually noticed subtle differences between them. Species can be cryptic; hard to recognize from others. Individuals are identified by their unique patterns of marking on the body and underside.
The clue to Marshall's discovery was lifestyle.
"The two species have mainly overlapping distributions, but their…
gregladen | July 27, 2008Strangest thing I've seen all weekend:
The octopuses of the genus Grimpoteuthis are also known as "Dumbo octopuses" from the ear-like fins protruding from the top of their head-like bodies, resembling the ears of Walt Disney's flying elephant. They are benthic creatures, living at extreme depths: 300-400 meters, and are some of the rarest of the Octopoda species. They can flush the transparent layer of their skin at will, and are pelagic animals, as with all other cirrate octopuses, and unlike many other incirrate octopuses. source
kevin z | July 26, 2008It was only 3 years ago when the northernmost vents were found in the Arctic Ocean at 71 degrees, just above Iceland. Dr. Rolf Pedersen is a geologist at the Centre for Geobiology at Norway's University of Bergen and led that expedition that discovered extensive vent fields with vibrant animal communities.
Just this month, Dr. Pedersen and his team has done it again. Only days before the expedition's end, researchers went speechless in the control room of the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) as the first trails of bacterial mats and black 'smoke' wafted across their monitors. In moments, an…
cortex | July 25, 2008The latest report on home sales is bleak:
Sales of new homes fell in June for the seventh time in the past eight months, more proof that the worst housing slump in decades is getting deeper.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 0.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 530,000 units following an even bigger 1.7 percent fall in May.
The decline was slightly smaller than had been expected and sales were revised up a bit for May. Even with those changes, new home sales are down by a sharp 33.2 percent from a year ago.
At…
kevin z | July 25, 2008Earlier this year, I highlighted a post from the amazing dive blog The Right Blue. Their story about the "cave where turtles die" was one of their most popular. Now they bring us video from dutch diver Paul Vermuelen! Be sure to read the original, well-written and photo-laden turtle graveyard post.
kevin z | July 25, 2008Robotic sea bream from researchers at the University of Kitakyushu, Japan. Go to the Pink Tentacle to get the full story!
gregladen | July 25, 2008Enough monkeys banging on keyboards over enough time should produce, through random chance alone, sensible prose now and then.
But if the monkeys are bloggers and reporters and other people, the noise they generate would become merely pseudo-sensible because of (highly unlikely) chance events, but it should actually contain some information. With a little tweaking and a lot of filtering and analysis, it is possible to monitor the chatter for signs of emerging infectious diseases and quite possibly get on top of some of these events faster than otherwise possible.
In one of the most…
kevin z | July 25, 2008Thanks to Jives, frequent commenter who is embedded in the New England Aquarium, for relaying my love note to the rockhopper penguins there. I just received a message back from them this morning.
Long-time DSN readers may know, I have an affinity for penguins having volunteered at the Monterey Bay Aquarium long ago taking care of 15 blackfoots!