grrlscientist

Sleeping flamingos, Phoenicopterus ruber. Orphaned image, please contact me for proper credit. People Hurting Birds Avian pathologists have determined that the deaths of 63 birds in downtown Austin, Texas, this month were the result of natural causes. Texas A&M University pathologists…

If you are like most people, you wonder about the existence of god, if there is an afterlife and whether there is any meaning to life. Certainly, our thoughts regarding these matters profoundly influence our behavior and our lives. But when there are so many conflicting faiths, how can any person…

This finger-tip sized Cyphochilus beetle, found in south-east Asia, has a shell whiter than most materials found in nature. Image: Pete Vukusic. Researchers found that the Cyphochilus beetle, endemic to south-east Asia, was much brighter and whiter than either milk or the average human tooth…

Unknown beetle species on wild prickly rose at the photographer's house in Eagle River, Alaska 25 June 2006 using a Canon 5D, with a 100mm macro lens. Image: David Lee. As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My…

The 10th Carnival of Children's Literature has been posted for your (and your kids') reading pleasure. Be sure to check it out for good book recommendations for your kids! . tags: children's literature, blog carnival, books

Juvenile green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, rescued from a shallow bay off South Padre Bay, Texas. At least three dozen juvenile sea turtles were rescued from an arctic blast that caused the water temperature in a part of the Gulf of Mexico off South Padre Bay, Texas, to fall 18 degrees in 48…

The previous story about global warming has an interesting background story regarding how the data were obtained. Basically, these data (pictured, right) were the result of the 250,000 people around the world helping the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists by downloading their…

Well, I finally have something to look forward to; the movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released on 13 July, 2007. In the film, Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community has been denied the truth about the…

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio canadensis, on rhubarb at the photographer's house in Eagle River, Alaska 22 June 2002. Photo was taken using a Kodak DC-4800, some images with a lens adapter and a 7x or 10x (or both) lens, at full camera resolution (2160x1440). Image: David Lee. As long…

Image: Union of Concerned Scientists. In its last report, published in 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that there was a 66 to 90 percent chance that human activities were driving the most recent climate warming. But in its most recent report, which will be released…

tags: Cambodia, wild girl,jungle girl A Cambodian girl who disappeared while tending buffalo when she was eight years old has apparently been found after living in the wild for 19 years. A man identified himself as her father after recognizing a scar on her right arm, and plans to have DNA tests…

Bumble Bee, Bombus species, on wild geranium at the Eagle River Nature Center in Alaska, 29 June 2002. Photo was taken using a Kodak DC-4800, some images with a lens adapter and a 7x or 10x (or both) lens, at full camera resolution (2160x1440). Image: David Lee. As long as you send images to…

Lisa Gherardini was born in May 1479, and is thought to have been the second wife of Del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant, with whom she had five children. Giuseppe Pallanti found a death notice in the archives of a church in Florence that referred to "the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, deceased…

In a city of 8 million people, who found me out of the blue at my watering hole? A hint ...

. I received an early birthday gift of a book yesterday, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and already, I am halfway through it!

Even though we will never know for sure, it is estimated that approximately 50 million people died in the 1918 influenza pandemic -- more than died in World War One -- but the reason this virus was so deadly has remained elusive. However, scientists recently discovered that this particular strain…

Calypso Orchid, Calypso bulbosa. Photo taken on 26 May 2002 using a Kodak DC-4800, some images with a lens adapter and a 7x or 10x (or both) lens, at full camera resolution (2160x1440). This image was taken at the Eagle River Nature Center in Eagle River, Alaska. Image: David Lee. As long as…

What can you get for $1.2 trillion? Universal health care for uninsured Americans? Hey, as an uninsured American, I'd sure like that! How about universal preschool for all American children? Enough money to fulfill post 9-11 security recommendations? Or how about more money for cancer research?…

This graphic shows how close to the midnight of humanity's annihilation that the minute hand approached in the 60 years since the "Doomsday Clock" has been kept. Individual minutes until midnight are depicted as squares on the y-axis, while each year is on the x-axis. The closest the minute hand…

A prairie falcon, Falco mexicanus. This photo was taken on Christmas Eve in north-central Kansas. Image: David A. Rintoul. As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind…

For those of you who were looking for a lot of good science writing, you should check out the latest issue of Tangled Bank, issue 71. This blog carnival celebrates the best science writing recently published in the blogosphere. . tags: blog carnivals, tangled bank,science

tags: Napoleon, stomach cancer,poisoning After careful study, scientists revealed that the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, died from an advanced case of gastric cancer and not arsenic poisoning as had been widely speculated. At the time of his death, an autopsy determined that stomach cancer…

The NY Times poll found that, for the first time in American history, more women are single than married, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000. Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of all American households for the first time, the trend could…

When I mentioned to a bartender friend of mine that Barack Obama was considering a run for the presidency, he replied, "Who's Barack Obama? He'll never win with a name like that!" Well, as of today, Obama is investigating whether he could make a respectable run at the presidency. In a video…

A couple of grunion on a sandy beach, spawning. The photographer said, "I like how colorful they turn out to be - honestly, when you're standing there looking at them late at night with flashlights they don't look much more than gray." This photo is one of a series. Image: Carl Manaster. As…

Thanks to my sitemeter trackbacks, I discovered that the English 12 class at UNC is analyzing my blog as part of a class assignment. Needless to say, I think this is really fun! I am curious to know what your opinions are regarding what I am doing with my blog, so feel free to comment here or to…

I am pleased to see that NY is entering the era of modern medical research. In his first speech to the Legislature, Governor Eliot Spitzer called for passage of a $2 billion 10-year bond initiative for research and development, at least half of which would be set aside to pay for stem cell research…

A peninsula long thought to be part of Greenland's mainland turned out to be an island when a glacier retreated. Increasing global temperatures are not simply melting glaciers; they are changing the very geography of coastlines of Greenland and the Arctic. Nunataks -- "lonely mountains" in Inuit…

Did you know that the first edition of Oekologie was published last Sunday? Well, I didn't, but now I do. Oekologie is a blog carnival devoted to the best ecology and environmental science posts from across the blogosphere, so you will probably find it to be quite interesting. . tags: blog…

Scientists at the Imperial College of London are developing a drug based on a natural gut hormone that mimics the body's satiation response. An injectible treatment of pancreatic polypeptide (PP) could be available in five to eight years, but the long-term goal is to produce a form that can be…