cmcclain
Posts by this author
...but there is more than one species of bone-eating worm! The genus Osedax (Annedida: Siboglinidae) are common features of dead whale falls and obtain their nutrition through bone-penetrating roots that host symbiotic bacteria. Whale bones don't have chance! The first species was described in…
I am holding the two beloved Friday features, that I know you all love, for ransom. Unless $100 in donations roll in by late Thursday PM, your Friday will not be as interesting!
So after the first day we already at 5% of our total amount in 2007 DSN Education Fundapalooza. It's a great start but we have a long way to go. For the highest donor and the random donor, there will be prizes! You will get your choice of some Monterey Bay Aquarium swag or a vial of mud from the…
Last year DSN, although not a Sb'ling, participated in the Donor's Choose Campaign. Various bloggers here at Sb, with the help of our readers, raised money for classrooms across the US. DonorsChoose is an organization that helps teachers fund classroom projects and other student learning…
Last year DSN and our readers raised money to send 53 seventh and eigth grade sciences students of Kipp Academy of Opportunity to the Aquarium of the Pacific.
KIPP Academy of Opportunity is a free public middle school of choice, which opened in the Summer of 2003 in South Los Angeles. This new…
To kick off the new badge "I'm a marine biologist and, to be honest, I kind of hate dolphins", Science Creative Quarterly has published an article about the realities of being a marine biologist. Milton states it clearly.
Just be honest with yourself. If you want to talk to dolphins you don't…
The Washington Post is sponsoring the onBeing project that
is a project based on the simple notion that we should get to know one another a little better. What you'll find here is a series of videos that takes you into the musings, passions, histories and quirks of all sorts of people. The essence…
Yo DIC (Dissolved Inorganic Carbon), Let's Kick It! Hat tip to Christina Kellogg for pointing this out to me.
The question is whether crops belong in your mouth or your gastank? Bioscience has a interesting article from June with National Geographic following on their heals this month. Both are very interesting and worth the read. Nash in Bioscience lays out what are the potential ill effects of moving…
Tardigrades are a paradox. There are less than 1,000 species globally yet they can survive anything-temperature extremes, starvation, irradiation, dehydration, vacuums, and the pressures of the deep sea. So the obvious question is whether tardigrades can survive space.? The program is called…
If the title doesn't drive the Google hits in then hopefully word of mouth will. Sheril has the low down on this iconographic video of our field, red hot barnacle sex. Keep in mind that barnacles as a percentage of body length may have the largest penis in nature.
SeaWiFS turns 10 this year. What is SeaWiFS? It is one of the most important advances of science in the last 20 years. The SeaWiFS is an instrument on a sattelite (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) that circles the planet 14 times every day. By measuring iridescence and color, among other…
Corsair generously sent along their 8GB Survivor Flash Drive midsummer for me to field test at the behesting of this post. Over the last few months I have done everything I can to beat this flash drive to hell. The flash drive comes in its own CNC-milled, anodized aircraft-grade aluminum case.…
Rick at Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunset recently reviewed Kona Deep awhile back and promised to send along a bottle to taste. Previously, I made a rather bold claim...
Imagine yourself laying on a sandy beach. As you take in the supple views and iconic air, you reach for your multi-fruit,…
Sunday evening the intelligent and lovely Sheril Kirshenbaum posited a question that I have received many times. The question is always a good one because it stems from knowledge and deductive reasoning. The said question requires one to know that one of the most extreme environmental gradients…
Pangea Ultima: Earth in 250 Million Years?
Credit & Copyright: C. R. Scotese (U. Texas at Arlington), PALEOMAP
In 250 million years from now, my research will be a little easier. Besides the insights that I will derive from a long-term database and 250 million years of publications, my…
My absence from DSN is soon to come to an end as I head back to California today. Part of my hiatus is due to this and other because of this. The Research Triangle being the epicenter of the blogging universe meant the oppurtunity to bag some fellow Sb'lings. I shared a fantastic evening with…
The Johnsen Lab at Duke University has several great high resolution (warning: slow loading) photographs of specimens from the Gulf of Mexico (Brine Pool, Garden Bank, Vioska Knoll, Green Canyon) between 1000 and 3000 feet. Photos are courtesy of their of the Johnsen Lab.
The crab Paralomis…
A spectacular entrance: The Queen Mary 2 luxury liner made its maiden call to the Port of San Francisco on February 4, 2007. Surrounded by a flotilla of ships, yachts and escorted by a San Francisco fire boat, Queen Mary 2 circled the harbor before docking at Pier 27. Six cameras were used.
CNN as an interesting article on plastic.
We now consume around 100 million tons of plastic annually, compared to five million tons in the 1950s when American housewives were just discovering the wonders of Tupperware. To put that into perspective, one ton of plastic represents around 20,000 two-…
The son of famous Lucha Libre wrestler is tackling enemies of the environment. The aptly name El Hijo del Santo, already a success in the ring, is positioning to take on 'Sewage Man' among others in the ring. In partnership with Wildcoast, El Hijo is launching a new campaign to raise awareness…
How do you find squid in the dark depths if you are a toothed whale or dolphin? Lindberg an expert on molluscs and Pyenson an expert on whale evolution propose that ecolocation in the ondontocetes, or toothed whales, arose as mechanism to locate squid buffets. To view this story we need to go…
Presumably if you are reading this you enjoy my ramblings about the deep sea. What if you could get more of me? What if I was on your TV? Wouldn't that be great! Recently, I found out about an opportunity with a production company that is developing a show on the deep sea for a major cable…
CK in garbage bag darkroom, credit Stéphane HourdezThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy advises that it is always useful to have your own towel. Sea-going microscopists are similarly advised to bring a large black garbage bag and duct tape.
Viral particles are very small, often less than 200 nm…
Radiolaria are marine protists that are most abundant in tropical waters. The remains of their beautiful houses can be found on the bottom of the ocean as well as in fossilised rock.
Direct link: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/micropolitan/index.html
From the Institute for the Promotion of the…
Move over Angelina Jolie-according to University of Delaware marine biologists, the Pompeii worm is "Earth's Hottest Animal." And how could it not be...an invertebrate with a pimp-tastic bacteria fur coat?! Well that, and it can survive even when its butt is bathed in hydrothermal vent fluids as…
A garden of healthy, orange-coloured Eunicella verrucosa (sea fans) providing habitat for fish off Plymouth in the UK. Photographer: Sally Sharrock
It's great that you're having a Microbial Week on your blog; makes for a change from those pesky charismatic invertebrates hogging all the lime-light…