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cmcclain | March 2, 2007
From MBARI: When MBARI researchers explore the seafloor below 1,000 meters, the most common fishes they see are rattail fish such as this Coryphaenoides acrolepis, which was photographed in Monterey Canyon. Rattails are are very curious and will come to investigate any disturbance on or around the seafloor. Presumably this helps them find food in the darkness of the deep sea. Rattail fish are caught and sold under the more palatable name, "grenadier." However, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program recommends that consumers do not purchase or eat grenadier because the…
grrlscientist | March 1, 2007This has been a rough week for me because I am having to deal with a bunch of bills, including hospital bills and another bill that I had no idea I was supposed to pay. This cryptic bill is for the care of my birds while I was in the hospital. Because the care-giver said that it would be covered by "an agency", I "had nothing to worry about" according to her, so as a result, I didn't worry about it. Well, now I am being sued for the entire bill, which is in the thousands of dollars -- money that I don't have, which is enough to cause me extreme anxiety and stress. The mounting debts are…
mikethemadbiologist | March 1, 2007I just finished reading NY Times columnist Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina. While it's a good recap of the last six years, there isn't much that's new in the book (if you've been paying attention), until you hit the last chapter where Rich lays out why he thinks the Bush administration pursued the Iraq War and Occupation.
Rich claims that the decision to go to war in Iraq was mostly motivated by political concerns. After a momentary popularity surge following the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush was beginning to receive damaging criticism…
cmcclain | March 1, 2007 The picture is of DEPTHX. It weighs about 1.2 tons, shaped like a mushroom, and navigate itself into your bedroom. Just kidding. No 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.
pharyngula | March 1, 2007Wilkins has a good introductory video to the concept of biodiversity—why isn't that post in your basic concepts list, John?
cmcclain | March 1, 2007That's right, its a giant squid ready to eat the ivory-billed woodpecker! It is this years poster for the True/False Film Festival.
tqa | February 28, 2007
I apologize for the way the blog looked earlier today, with all text appearing in bold and italic print. I screwed up the post before this one, and forgot to close a couple of html tags. The problem is fixed.
tqa | February 28, 2007Updated, ~16:00h EST 28 Feb. I somehow managed to post this without the "below the fold" material. I've added the missing remainder of the post, and adjusted the timestamp to match.
PZ Myers, Kevin Beck, and a host of others have weighed in on the reprehensible conduct of one Dr. Gary Merrill. The good doctor, who is a pediatrician, declined to care for a child with an ear infection because her mother has tattoos. The doctor claims to simply be following "standards Merrill has set based upon his Christian faith." In this particular case, though, I don't think we can blame his Christian faith…
cmcclain | February 28, 2007
Prologue: The act begins with the gang leitmotifs established musically. The curtain rises. A conflict between two rival gangs, the Lobstermen and the Fishermen , is enacted through dance. The tension between the gangs is quite visible. The men are struggling for control of selling lobster. When you are a Jet, your Jet!
Seriously, some turf wars are occuring in Maine over whether fisherman can sell their lobster bycatch from trawling for cod, haddock, and other groundfish. Things are not going to be pretty next week when all this goes before the Maine Legislature. The current law…
mikethemadbiologist | February 28, 2007John Emerson on David Brooks' most recent expedition in ersatz sociology--this time a rant about the parenting habits of Brooklynites:
I think that Brooks' problem is that he's an affirmative-action hire whose job description requires him to represent the conservative point of view. (His fluffiness is the unique NYT culture-page part of the mix).
Between the graft, the incompetence, and the military disaster, it's very hard to say anything Republican about the present political scene without seeming like an idiot. Not seeming like an idiot is important to Brooks in a way it isn't to Jonah…
petnoyer | February 28, 2007
Your definition of what's deep and what's not depends on your perspective. If you're an oceanographer, 200m is deep. If you're a snorkeler, 50 feet is deep. If you're a reef-building coral, 50 meters is deep.
Craig and I forego our usual definition of deep (200m) this week so we can alert you to live feeds forthcoming from the Secrets of the Gulf Expedition March 3-9 with the US Navy NR1 nuclear submarine (pictured above) and Bob Ballard's Argos tow sled as they survey the Flower Garden Banks region for paleo-shorelines and deep octocoral habitats at 100m depth. Tell your classmates,…
tqa | February 27, 2007
It looks like the right-wing noise machine is (again) trying to beat back reality with truthiness. The current target is our former vice-president, Al Gore. It's kind of hard to tell what they think his current sin is, exactly. As far as I can tell, it looks like conservatives are mostly mad at him for being rich, smart, and a liberal all at once. And, of course, for winning the "Best Documentary" Oscar the other night.
You can say what you want about the conservative nonsense machine, but if there is one thing that it's good at, it's getting everyone to sing from the same page. The song…
grrlscientist | February 27, 2007One of the problems with not owning a TV is that I am probably the last person on the planet to see most programs, but thanks to one of my readers who shall remain anonymous here, I now have seen the entire 10-episode series, The Life of Birds on DVD by David Attenborough (British Broadcasting Corporation; 1998). In short, this 550 minute-series is superbly done; it is educational, entertaining and awe-inspiring, and it relies on spectacular footage that leaves the viewer asking "how on earth did they get that on film?"
Each disc contains three or four episodes from the series. The series…
tqa | February 27, 2007
Jake Young just drew my attention to one of the most wonderful signs of Bronx revitalization I've heard of in years - a beaver is making its home on the banks of the Bronx River near the Bronx Zoo. This is absolutely fantastic news - more so than I think Jake, who is a fairly recent arrival to NYC, realizes.
I grew up in the Bronx, not all that far from the Bronx River. In fact, the river ran through French Charlie's Park, where my brothers and I played little league baseball. Back then, the thought of a beaver - or almost any other mammal - making a home in the Bronx River would have been…
cmcclain | February 27, 2007
From Bioluminescence Web Page: Nudibranchs are not generally thought of as bioluminescent organisms, but this pelagic form Phylliroe has the ability to produce light. (The head is on the left). (Length approx. 7 cm) See the SeaSlug Forum for more information
It has been a long time coming, but at last #16 is here! As I began to write this post, I soon realized that someone else had already compiled (and much better) the information on the web. Steve Haddock, Bioluminescent Expert Extraordinaire, maintains the Bioluminescence Web Page, which is chock-a-block full of information. Head…
cmcclain | February 27, 2007Some of my favorite science writers are not at National Geographic or Nature, but rather at the Monterey County Herald. They skillfully cover much of the fantastic science being conducted at MBARI, my current home. Karen Ravin, provides some of the importance and background of the hagfish story, covered by DSN last week.
tqa | February 26, 2007
Yesterday, a brief review of Conservapedia appeared on one of New Scientist's blogs. The review quoted two Sciencebloggers as well as the Schlafly responsible for the Hellerian, if not Orwellian, trainwreck of a website), and has sparked a second round of posts here. A sane reader (presuming, of course, that we have one) might wonder why we are so obsessed with a right-wing lunatic website that is, at first, second, third, and fourth glance indistinguishable from a parody of right-wing lunacy. The reason that a website like this should spark concern as much as laughter is simple: this…
tqa | February 26, 2007
Over the last couple of days, Dr. Michael Egnor, an anti-evolution neurosurgeon who recently signed on to the Discovery Institute's list of "scientists" who doubt evolution, has created quite a stir here at Scienceblogs. Quite a few Sciencebloggers have already weighed in on his specific arguments, with PZ and Orac leading the charge. They've already dealt with the basics of his information theory arguments, so I'm going to focus mostly on his basic appeal to complexity - and in particular on his analogy between Shakespeare and life.
In a recent comment on Pharyngula, Egnor writes:…
tqa | February 26, 2007
Amanda Adams of OMB Watch was kind enough to draw my attention to a post by Paul Sherman over at the blog of the Center for Competitive Politics. It appears that Mr. Sherman liked neither the tone nor the substance of my last post on astroturf disclosure legislation. He was appalled by some of the things I said about the fine folks at American Target Advertising, citing my post as an example of how "proponents of disclosure...can be downright nasty to those who disagree with them." The tone of my response to Fitzgibbons and the ATA folks, and the tone of the remainder of this response to Mr…
purepedantry | February 26, 2007Arrgh. Avast ye dogs. This Encephalon will have a pirate theme -- largely because I am coming off a wicked three day flu extravaganza, and I am still slightly delirious. Be like when the plague took me whole crew. Arrgh.
So enjoy your piracy and brains, say aye.
Ouroboros discusses the validity of a mutant mouse with oxygen radical repair defects as a model for Parkinson's. Once me an' me mates were discussing how to stop the Parkinson's. We decided that none of us would get it if we all walked the plank and were consigned to the Briny Deep. Ain't no oxygen down there. Only Davy…