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gregladen | April 6, 2008"A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism."
-Carl Sagan
cortex | April 6, 2008It seems that you can't go to a chic restaurant nowadays without encountering octopus on the menu. Like its cephalopod cousins, octotpus is best cooked according to the "two-minute or two-hour" rule. You can either grill the octopus quickly, imbuing it with a meaty smoke flavor, or you can braise it for hours until its tentacle chewiness gives way to a pleasing tenderness. Serve with some bold Mediterranean flavors, like tapenade, paprika or oily beans.
Now I happen to really enjoy eating octopus. But I can't help but wonder if it's an ethically dubious proposition. The problem is that…
cmcclain | April 6, 2008
I am so f'n excited that we funded two Donor's Choose projects with the last challenge. This week's challenge is more recreational than work. This week's challenge is is to enjoy the ocean. We are going to foster our connection with the ocean. Spring is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere and what better time to go enjoy the ocean. If you live near the coast plan next weekend to spend the day with your family at the beach. Tidepool, sift beach rubble, look for organisms, picnic, and enjoy! Pick a guidebook for the flora and fauna you might see. Take a bag and pick up trash while you…
esiegel | April 6, 2008Ever seen the Horsehead Nebula? If you look at the easternmost star in Orion's Belt through a telescope, you're likely to see something like this (the star is just off the image to your left):
A pretty little nebula, to be sure, but it doesn't look all that spectacular. I mean really, there's a fancy emission nebula behind some dust, that happens to look like a horse's head. It's mostly cloud-watching in space.
But then I saw a picture where Star Shadows Remote Observatory decided to over-expose the horsehead nebula and the area around it. Now, overexposing a region of sky is how you see…
grrlscientist | April 6, 2008tags: The Lake Isle of Innisfree, William Butler Yeats, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day, this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and friend.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes…
kevin z | April 6, 2008Just in time for the big Spring Thaw, grab your Avenging Narwhal Playset!
"The narwhal is an arctic-dwelling whale that has been called "the unicorn of the sea" due to its long pointy tusk. There is debate about the true purpose of this tusk, but finally the truth is revealed! The narwhal uses its tusk to impale the cute animals of the world, specifically baby seals, baby penguins and koalas. This 5-1/2" long, hard vinyl narwhal comes with four magic tusks (crystal, onyx, ruby and ice) to impale the three 1-1/2" long, soft vinyl cuties. Don't let cute overrun the world, fight back with your…
gregladen | April 6, 2008Quick! Send me your submission for The BoneYard!
I've got a bunch of good ones, but there is still time for more. I'll finalize it tonight.
cmcclain | April 6, 2008
Adrian Glover, deep-sea scientist and polychaete expert, is live blogging his experience aboard the RRS James Clark Ross in Antarctica. Posts will cover the expedition with occasional rants about his research including that on whale falls communities. I have to say the British know how to conduct science in style
Nevertheless, this being the RRS James Clark Ross on a Saturday night, dinner was shirt and tie, with cocktails in the bar before dinner, wine on the tables and fine silver to eat with. With teamwork, we made rounds of bloody marys, possibly not the easiest thing to do when…
cmcclain | April 6, 2008The rights to name an Osedax species is up for grabs for $25,000.
To set the prices, Scripps researchers considered several factors, including rarity, the species' importance to science and how expensive and difficult it was to collect. Also for $25,000, one's name can be on a deep sea worm affectionately called the green bomber, which drops luminescent green particles to distract predators.
Not that I have the answers and I make no comment on ramifications of such, but what are you thoughts on auctioning off species names? More at the San Diego Union Tribune.
pharyngula | April 6, 2008
It was nothing but gray skies and intermittent rain while I was there. It was so beautiful … it felt like home. It was also good seeing my old mentors from grad school days, Chuck Kimmel and John Postlethwait.
Patrick Phillips played this video on the big screen. In my presence. I thought about hiding under a table.
The wackaloons of the Oregon Right to Life group were meeting in the same hotel with us. They should have snuck into our talks and seen all the pretty embryos we were looking at. Or maybe some of us should have snuck into their sessions, so there'd be at least a few people…
gregladen | April 5, 2008"A fool is a man who never tried an experiment in his life."
-Erasmus Darwin
grrlscientist | April 5, 2008tags: God, A Poem, James Fenton, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day, this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and friend.
God, A Poem
A nasty surprise in a sandwich,
A drawing-pin caught in your sock,
The limpest of shakes from a hand which
You'd thought would be firm as a rock,
A serious mistake in a nightie,
A grave disappointment all round
Is all that you'll get from th'Almighty,
Is all that you'll get underground.
Oh…
petnoyer | April 4, 2008
For many years, the Japanese were accused of exploiting the 'scientific whaling' loophole at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for the purposes of commercial harvest to satisfy a seemingly insatiable appetite for seafood. But, until now, there was little evidence to support the claim.
Dr. Nick Gales, head of the Australian scientific delegation to IWC says a scientific review of 43 research papers produced in Japan over 18 years revealed "bizarre and strange experiments with sheep and pigs and eggs" such as efforts to inject minke whale sperm into cows eggs to produce test-tube…
gregladen | April 4, 2008"I have no dress except the one I wear every day. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one, please let it be practical and dark so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory."
"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
-Marie Curie
cortex | April 4, 2008Sorry for the light posting - I've been flitting about, spending way too much time in airports. (My carbon footprint is a constant source of guilt.) I've recently spent a lot of time hanging around various universities, which always reminds me of just how good undergraduates have it. They manage to live a purely intellectual life, with nothing to do but explore the world of ideas and wander around libraries so vast they'd make Borges blush. (Meanwhile, their professors are begging for grants and grading piles of papers.) The students also have schedules fit for philosopher-kings, with every…
grrlscientist | April 4, 2008tags: A Dream Deferred, Langston Hughes, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day, this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader who wrote; "My favorite poem has always been 'A Dream Deferred' by Langston Hughes, even before I was old enough to know the context behind it." I agree with my reader, I also loved this poem as a child, and still do.
A Dream Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun…
pharyngula | April 4, 2008The Sykes family has my sympathy — they have an autistic child, and that has to be difficult. My sympathy is limited, however, by the fact that are lashing out seeking to blame someone, have bought into the thimerosal hysteria, have hired a bottom-feeding shyster to sue various pharmaceutical companies, and said unethical ambulance-chaser is now using the power of the subpoena to harrass and intimidate bloggers who aren't at all involved in the case, but have simply written about the absence of a thimerosal-autism link.
They have subpoenaed Kathleen Seidel of the Neurodiversity blog for,…
petnoyer | April 4, 2008Surfrider Foundation says.... you have the power to help preserve and protect our oceans, waves and beaches by asking your Congressional Representative to support the Oceans Conservation, Education and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act ("Oceans-21"). Oceans-21 provides common sense legislation to ensure that our ocean water and marine life remain healthy.
The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans is considering Oceans-21 this month. YOUR representative sits on this subcommittee!! Please CALL your Congressional Representative Today! Click here to…
cmcclain | April 3, 2008The structure of the gastropod shell forms a logarithmic spiral first described by Descartes and later by Bernoulli. Good ol' Jakob called it the "marvelous sprial" or the Spira mirabilis. Those who believe in crystals also believe the logarithmic spiral is part of the "sacred geometry". Nothing displays this beautiful coiling in gastropods like x-rays of the shells. Pictures are from here and here. The second link contains several x-rays worth looking at.
cmcclain | April 3, 2008Been awhile since we talked about Mollusks here at DSN. A couple of Friday movies to rectify that problem. The first one not so serious...the second serious (and in high res).