Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
tags: book review, biotechnology, biomedicine, stem cells, ethics, Cloning: A Beginner's Guide, Aaron Levine
Would you drink milk from a cloned cow?
Should we clone extinct or endangered species?
Are we justified in using stem cells to develop cures?
When will we clone the first human?
Ever since…
tags: art, Rufino Tamayo, Tres Personajes, discarded masterpiece
"Tres Personajes" (1970) by Mexican artist, Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991).
Oil on canvas with marble dust and sand worked into the paint.
Image: Sotheby's [slightly larger view].
I am one of those people who pokes through other people'…
tags: Secretary bird, Sagittarius serpentarius, Africa, birds, Image of the Day
Secretary bird, Sagittarius serpentarius.
Image: Basia Kruszewska, author of India Ink. [larger view]
The photographer writes: Mix the face of an eagle with the legs of a stork, and you have the Secretary bird.…
tags: wildfire, California, aviculture, evacuation
Southern California state wildfires (red dots) as seen from a satellite. The smoke plumes are being blown out over the Pacific Ocean. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that 12 large, uncontained fires have burned over 335,000 acres in…
tags: Tangled Bank, blog carnival
The 91st edition of my favorite blog carnival, Tangled Bank, is now available for your enjoyment. This blog carnival is devoted to linking the best blog essays about science, nature and medicine. The editor included two of my submissions, so you should go there to…
tags: Carnival of the Feminists, blog carnival
The 46th edition of the Carnival of the Feminists is now available for you to read and learn from. In addition to all the other essays they linked to, I am pleased to say that the editor also included an essay that I wrote. So get on over there and…
tags: oceans, shrimp farming, fish, streaming video
Gorgeous imagery of the planet's many oceans, interspersed with footage of humans overexpoiting them. Narrated by British actor Anthony May. Brought to you by GreenPeace [15:51]
tags: cartoon, humor, cats, streaming video
Below the fold is an amusing streaming video. In this video, the mirror in the bathroom was replaced with a window pane, then a pair of identical twins stood in identical rooms opposite each other and proceed to prank everyone who walks in. Everyone,…
tags: Black-necked weaver, Ploceus nigricollis, Africa, birds, Image of the Day
Black-necked weaver, Ploceus nigricollis.
Image: Basia Kruszewska, author of India Ink. [Wallpaper size]
tags: microcosmos, sexy boy, snail sex, streaming video
This video shows some amazing footage of a variety of invertebrates as they go about their lives, including a snail sex scene. Footage: Microcosmos. "Sexy Boy" by Air sets the mood. (Safe for work) [4:58]
tags: humor, cartoon, abortion, anti-choice, women, religion, blogging
Image: Jesus and Mo.
tags: family life carnival, blog carnival
Is living with your family something like living at a carnival, you know, with the bearded woman and the sword-swallowing man? Well, you will probably enjoy the fall festival of the Carnival of Family Life, where they link to essays about well, um, family…
tags: humor, cartoon, blogging
Image: Isabella Bannerman [slightly larger view].
tags: Gene Genie, blog carnival
The 18th edition of Gene Genie is now available. This blog carnival links to essays about DNA technology. Interestingly, this carnival also includes a streaming video of the Personal Genomics (PG) Tips Chimp!
tags: boxfish, fish, Image of the Day
This young boxfish was one of the specimens collected by a team of Filipino and US scientists during a survey of the Celebes Sea, Philippines, organised by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the National Geographic Society-led Inner Space…
tags: books carnival, blog carnival
The 21 October issue of the Books Carnival is now available for you to read and enjoy. I am pleased to say that they included two pieces written by me!
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
A pair of Moluccan Red Lories, Eos bornea rothschildi (upper right and lower left (upside down)), and a pair of Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus haematodus (center; one bird is hanging upside down), near the north…
tags: cartoon, humor, cats, streaming video
Below the fold is an amusing video that shows you why cats are evil [1:26]
tags: Central Park turtles, reptiles, Image of the Day
Central Park Turtle performing the pencil pose.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes: Here another practitioner demonstrates a position hitherto unknown to me. I bet you never saw it either. I…
tags: Central Park turtles, reptiles, Image of the Day
Central Park Turtle performing the Cat Stretch.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes: After a few days of cool fall weather I found the Turtle Yoga classroom deserted for days. So I wondered if…
tags: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, JK Rowling
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
[Albus Dumbledore portrayed by Michael Gambon in HP films 3-5]
Image: Warner Bros (2003).
JK Rowling was in NYC's Carnegie Hall last night, giving a reading from the…
Some of you may have noticed that there is another award on my left sideboard, the Intellectual Blogger Award. Part of the requirements for receiving this award is that the award recipient (me, in this case) must choose five blogs that make her think. I decided that I would choose blogs that…
tags: northern cardinal, birds, Image of the Day
Female Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, feeds her chick in Central Park.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
I came upon Mama Castle foraging with her youngest fledgling in Central Park's Shakespeare Garden. Mama…
tags: Friday Ark, blog carnival
The 161st edition of the Friday Ark is now available. This blog carnival focuses on linking to images of animals. Some of those images have stories associated with them, but the main emphasis is the image itself.
tags: humor, Nobel Prize in Literature, Doris Lessing, streaming video
This streaming video shows Doris Lessing's reaction upon learning that she won the Nobel Prize in Literature [0:10]
"Oh, Christ!"
British writer Doris Lessing won the Nobel Literature Prize for five decades of epic novels that…
tags: grammar, punctuation, online quiz
You Scored an A
You got 10/10 questions correct.
It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors.
If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs.
As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only…
tags: hawk-headed parrot, red-fan parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus, streaming video
As some of you know, I will soon be adding a four-month-old young parrot to my household. For those of you who have not heard of a hawk-headed (red-fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, or who are not familiar with…
tags: I and the Bird, blog carnival
The 60th edition of the blog carnival, I and the Bird is now available for your reading pleasure. This one, as usual, is huge. I am so astonished at how this particular blog carnival has taken off and become so popular among birders. I am pleased that they…
I have been following this furor over Nobel laureate Jim Watson's comments about blacks, women and homosexuals and I am astonished that he would walk around, openly spouting such stupid and irrational prejudices when his beliefs are easily disproven scientifically! Has he read anything in the…
tags: northern cardinal, birds, Image of the Day
Moulting Female Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis,
in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
About a month ago, I found an adult female [Northern cardinal that] I call Mama Castle in a decidedly…