Uncategorized
signout | May 21, 2007Someone told me at a wine-tasting the other night that this blog is "good, but really depressing."
Depressing, my eye! This blog is all sweetness and light. Just behold this entry from my first month of residency; the last thing it makes me want to do is jump off a bridge.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I got a spot of blood on my dress today. It happened as I was on my way out of the hospital and heard the code bells ring. I ran, cursing, past two women clutching each other in a hallway, into a room where a man was lying unconscious in a chair,…
cmcclain | May 21, 2007 From Yahoo News...
An Indonesian fisherman hooked a rare coelacanth...and briefly kept the "living fossil" alive in a quarantined pool. Justinus Lahama caught the four-foot, 110-pound fish early Saturday off Sulawesi island near Bunaken National Marine Park, which has some of the highest marine biodiversity in the world. The fish died 17 hours later, an extraordinary survival time, marine biologist Lucky Lumingas said Sunday. "The fish should have died within two hours because this species only lives in deep, cold-sea environment," he said.
cmcclain | May 20, 2007 Via Neatorama..
Jellyfish Lake is an isolated saltwater lake in the Pacific island of Palau. In the geologic past it was tied to the ocean acquring jellyfish. These jellyfish have become an isolated population lossing thier nematocysts (stinging cells). They thrive in the lake at high number due to the lack of predators. [from Rick Macpherson] The jellies have acquired algal endosymbionts in their tissue (same genus as the zooxanthellae in coral)... during the day, the jellies rise to the surface in masses and track along the surface of the lake as the earth rotates... at…
grrlscientist | May 20, 2007tags: beetle, insects, physiology, respiration
An X-ray of a yellow mealworm beetle showing the system of white tubes, or tracheae, running through its body.
When I worked with and dissected insects as a graduate student, I always found their breathing apparatus to be fascinating and beautiful, although mysterious because I could only guess how their tracheae functioned while they were alive. Even though insects have a small body size, they need more than a simple, small respiratory system to provide enough oxygen to sustain their lives. Using X-rays to visualize what lies beneath their…
grrlscientist | May 19, 2007tags: blogosphere, 100 books, meme
I ran across this book meme at The Library Diva -- a blog pal of mine whom I met through Craigslist -- and thought it was interesting.
Look at the list of books below:
Bold the ones you've read
Italicize the ones you want to read
Leave unaltered the ones that you aren't interested in or haven't heard of
The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (JRR Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (JRR…
signout | May 18, 2007In my second month of internship, when I was a brand new intern on the medicine floors, I took care of a very sick man with a complicated family dynamic. I knew at the time that this made it unpleasant and difficult to take care of him--so much so that I wrote about it here. I remember thinking, "This is one of many complicated family dynamics with which I will deal. It's good that I'm getting some practice."
Several days ago, there was a conference at my hospital to talk about the case, and I attended. I settled into my chair in the auditorium and regarded the panel at the front of the room…
cmcclain | May 18, 2007If marine biologist are the rock stars of science then marine archaeologists may be the millionaires.
Deep-sea explorers said Friday they have mined what could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history, bringing home 17 tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins from an undisclosed site in the Atlantic Ocean. Estimated value: $500 million.
In this photo provided by Odyssey Marine Exploration, Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm, left, examines coins recovered from the "Black Swan" shipwreck with an unidentified member of the conservation team Thursday, May 17, 2007, at an undisclosed…
cmcclain | May 17, 2007
These beautiful illustrations are from the Challenger Reports available online. The first is of the very large, deep water, pycnogonid sea spider, Colossendeis gigas. The second (below the fold) contains Octopus levis and Octopus bermudensis both new species described on the expedition. The last contains at center a gastropod from the genus Xenophora that glues other shells onto its own shell as it is produced. Around the edge are various species from the genus Natica.
cmcclain | May 17, 2007 David over at the World's Fair poses
1. Can you show us your coffee cup?
2. Can you comment on it? Do you think it reflects on your personality?
3. Do you have any interesting anecdotes resulting from coffee cup commentary?
4. Can you try to get others to comment on it?
Well judge for yourself...I will say that I purchased it at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute after my first research cruise and my first dive in a submersible (the one on the mug). Needlessly to say I am a bit sentimental and coffee tastes o' the so much sweeter out of it.
cmcclain | May 17, 2007The Mineral Management Service under the Bush Administration is running wild on the PR campaign about the benefits of deep-sea oil platforms. Thanks to Scientific American and Reuters the MMS and big oil are getting some good press.
Deep-sea oil platforms may aid sea life: study HOUSTON (Reuters) - Deep-water oil and natural gas platforms may become be as beneficial as a federal study has shown shipwrecks to be in creating habitats for undersea plants and animals, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said on Thursday. "The biological analyses conducted during this investigation concluded that…
grrlscientist | May 17, 2007tags: blog carnival, birds
The 49th edition of I and the Bird is now available. This blog carnival focuses on recent blog essays about birds and, as usual, there's plenty there to read, including a piece that I sent along to them.
tlambert | May 17, 2007Via Angry Toxicologist, John Gravois on The Secret:
Oprah, I don't think you've done quite enough to make up for turning the Law of Attraction into the biggest thing since TomKat. Since you gave it your endorsement, The Secret has become one of the fastest-selling books and probably the most successful infomercial in history. The gaggle of gurus who peddle The Secret's message all over the world are still out there, arguing that it is the answer to every atrocity and tragedy. One went so far as to blame the suffering in Darfur on stinkin' thinkin'.
That's a lot to answer for. But don't worry…
cortex | May 17, 2007Help Hillary pick her campaign song. The music fan in me would vote for U2's "City of Blinding Lights" or The Staple Singers "I'll Take You There". The political strategist in me would vote for The Dixie Chicks "Ready to Run," since they give you credibility with the anti-Bush, anti-war bloc and have that charming Top-40 Country sound that plays so well in the battleground states.
What song would you pick? If I was thinking outside the box, I'd go with a solemn classic: Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin". That song (one of the few protest songs from the 60's that has aged well) would…
mikethemadbiologist | May 17, 2007Biologist Lewis Wolpert talks about memes:
What about Daniel Dennett's idea that religion is a kind of "meme" -- an idea that has infected human cultures and keeps on spreading?
If you could tell me what a meme is, and how useful it is, I'd be very grateful. [Laughs] Please don't misunderstand, I'm a great admirer of Richard Dawkins [who developed the concept of memes]. But what are memes? How do you decide whether something is a meme or not? And what you really want to understand is, how is it passed on and why does it persist? This is never discussed. So for Daniel Dennett -- who's a…
nisbetmc | May 17, 2007
I've got my DVR set to 830pm EST tonight in order to record in high definition the world television premiere of Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus.
This past spring, I contributed to a Center for Social Media and Ford Foundation report evaluating the social impact of documentary film. Beyond any influence on general audiences, Randy Olson's Dodos has had what I describe in the report as a significant "social movement" impact, and in this case, by movement I mean scientists. As we noted in our Framing Science thesis, the film painfully demonstrates the tendency for…
petnoyer | May 17, 2007
Speaking of incredible deep-working freshwater robots (Texas rocks), LA Times Science section has a great story on the Canadian underwater lumberjacks at Triton Logging. Inc. The enterprise has developed a remote-controlled chainsaw-wielding submarine called the Sawfish to harvest cedar, pine, spruce and Douglas fir from water 200 foot deep in freshwater reservoirs created by dam construction.
Triton's founder claims 45,000 untapped submerged forests exist in the world, and he's developing a fleet of remote controlled submersible chainsaws to harvest them.
The whole operation is apparently…
moleculeoftheday | May 16, 2007In the most common form of silica chromatography, more polar molecules stick to the stationary phase. Silica is just sand, and the polar silanol groups (-Si-OH) interact with the polar parts of the molecule. You can "reverse" the properties of silica by converting the silanols into something nonpolar.
ODS-Cl was the first reagent commonly used to do this - it converts the -Si-OH into -Si-O-Si-O-(CH2)15CH3. This means that polar molecules are effectively indifferent to this modified silica and will flow right past, while greasy things will stick like crazy. This is often a useful thing, and "…
cmcclain | May 16, 2007Orlean's The Orchid Thief delves in to the psychosis for some that is orchid collecting. In this example, she covers John Laroche's arrest for poaching rare orchids in a Florida state preserve and his obsession to find and clone the uber rare Ghost Orchid. The mindset of a collector is not limited to orchids and is pervasive through our culture. McIntosh & Schmeichel (2004) suggest that "collectors are drawn to collecting as a means of bolstering the self by setting up goals that are tangible and attainable and provide the collector with concrete feedback of progress." Alternatively,…
cmcclain | May 16, 2007At the beginning of March, DSN reported on DEPTHX.
The picture is of DEPTHX. It weighs about 1.2 tons, shaped like a mushroom, and can navigate itself into your bedroom. Just kidding. Not really. It can swim through a water-filled cavern creating its own map. It has already explored La Pilita, a 115 meter sink. So be weary not to let your house fill up with water.
This week, DEPTHX explores the 1,000ft deep Zacaton Lake in Mexico, the world's deepest sinkhole. The goal is to both comprehensively 3-D map the Zacaton but collect water samples as well. However exciting this may be, the…
grrlscientist | May 15, 2007tags: Oekologie, blog carnival
The fifth issue of the new blog carnival, Oekologie is now available for you to read. Even though this is a new blog carnival, it is already receiving lots of submissions, so go over there and check it out!