grrlscientist | October 16, 2009tags: FLOW, For the Love of Water, pollution, bottled water, film trailer, streaming video
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century: The World Water Crisis.
Next week, starting Monday, I will show you the entire film because this film is not yet in general circulation.
The critics say:
"An astonishingly wide-ranging film. An informed and heartfelt examination of the tug of war between public health and private interests." - New York Times
"Lively and engaging...Smartly Done" - Los…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Have you read an especially good essay about science, nature or medicine lately? If so, why not share it with the world by submitting the URL for this essay to a blog carnival designed to share excellent writing with others? You don't need to be the author of an essay to submit it for consideration, and this is one way that blog carnivals grow in size and influence: by sharing with others.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2009tags: Memorial to the Synagogue, Platz der Synagoge, Göttingen, Germany, image of the day
The memorial to the Synagogue in Göttingen, Germany, burnt down 1938 during the Kristallnacht, at the Platz der Synagoge (Synagogue Square) as seen from the inside looking straight up.
Image: Bob O'Hara, October 2009 [larger view].
Synagogue Memorial, Obere-Masch-Str. and Untere-Masch-Str. This memorial, designed by Corrado Cagli in 1973, stands on the site of a synagogue that was destroyed in 1938. The names of Göttingen's Jewish residents who were murdered during the "dark time" are listed below…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
National Wildlife Refuges Week (11-17 October 2009) is almost over already, but we've made good progress because four projects in my "Biology is Life" Challenge have been fully funded! The teachers for each project have posted thank you letters that you can read here: The Viking Shark Project, the Cow Eye Dissection project, the Please Pass Me the Scalpel, Nurse project, and the A Room Without A View project.
There are more proposals in the "Biology is Life" Challenge that need your help, so be sure to check them out by…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2009tags: Orange Bishop, Grenadier Weaver, Orange Weaver, Euplectes franciscana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Orange Bishop, also known as the Orange Weaver or sometimes as the Grenadier Weaver, Euplectes franciscana, photographed at Arthur Storey Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 September 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This species is monochromatic during the…
grrlscientist | October 16, 2009tags: Lab Trash, recycle, molecular biology, cell biology, streaming video
I've been telling you about the perils of plastics, but some of the worst plastics offenders are molecular and cell biologists. Nearly every experiment that we do uses incredible amounts of plastics. In cell biology or molecular biology labs the emphasis is on working sterile, quickly and reproducibly. So companies have been selling all these incredibly useful products to life science labs: sterile plastic tubes of all shapes and sizes, single wrap multi-well tissue culture plates, sterile plastic dishes, sterile…
grrlscientist | October 15, 2009tags: plastics, oceanography, pollution, environnment, streaming video
This is a message by Captain Charles Moore, an oceanographer who pioneered the study of plastic debris, and was recorded during the Strategic Council on Plastic Pollution convened at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California on June 4, 2009. It was the first meeting for the council on plastic pollution, which was recently formed to raise awareness of this rising threat to the world's oceans. Council member and marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, noted that "we are finding plastic in the stomachs of sea turtles,…
grrlscientist | October 15, 2009tags: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, photographed in the photographer's back yard in Houston,Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 June 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 15, 2009tags: North Pacific Gyre, plastics, pollution, Pacific Ocean, streaming video
The center of the North Pacific Gyre is a relatively stationary region of the Pacific Ocean (the area it occupies is often referred to as the horse latitudes). The circular rotation around it draws waste material in and has led to the accumulation of flotsam and other debris. While historically this debris has biodegraded, the gyre is now accumulating vast quantities of plastic and marine debris. Rather than biodegrading, plastic photodegrades, disintegrating in the ocean into smaller and smaller pieces. These…
grrlscientist | October 14, 2009tags: animals, hummingbirds, insects, biology, streaming video
This is a lesson in observation. This is a North American animal. I know what this is (and I knew as soon as I saw the still image on the video) but I am asking you: what is this; hummingbird or insect? And for a bonus, can you tell me the species?
This is a Common Clearwing, also known as the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth, Hemaris thysbe.
grrlscientist | October 14, 2009Today was another day spent entirely on the telephone, talking to people and clearing up my misunderstandings (or theirs) about this moving process. If you hate telephones, as I do, then today is one of those days that you avoid for as long as possible. Originally, I was going to reward myself for sticking to my telephone plan by going out for a beer after wards, but I cannot do this because I have to bring my sick yellow-bibbed lory to the veterinarian tomorrow morning to see if she's really diabetic, and then develop a treatment plan to keep her alive and healthy.
The first thing this…
grrlscientist | October 14, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Have you read an especially good essay about psychology, behavior or neurobiology lately? If so, why not share it with the world by submitting the URL for this essay to a blog carnival designed to share excellent writing with others? You don't need to be the author of an essay to submit it for consideration, and this is one way that blog carnivals grow in size and influence: by sharing with others.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog…
grrlscientist | October 14, 2009tags: paddleboat, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Paddleboat on Helsinki waterfront.
Photographed in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | October 14, 2009tags: American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, photographed at Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, southwestern Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 January 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009tags: honeybee life cycle, natural history, insects, biology, streaming video
The life cycle of a honey bee is presented in this video as an example of complete metamorphosis, the development of an insect from egg to larva, then pupa, then adult. Moths, butterflies and wasps also develop with complete metamorphosis. Some aspects of beekeeping are also discussed in this video.
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009Today was a breakthrough because I view everything very differently than I did yesterday or three days ago, and because I made significant progress towards my goal. In fact, I made so much progress today that I even decided upon a tentative target departure week that I am working towards (I've even narrowed my departure down to three days within that week). But more about that later; let me tell you what I've managed to accomplish today.
First, I called my USFWS agent, Katherine, and I learned that I have my CITES permit (she gave me the CITES permit number, which I need to begin working…
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
National Wildlife Refuges Week (11-17 October 2009) has is half over already, but we've made good progress because four projects in my "Biology is Life" Challenge have been fully funded! The teachers for each project have posted thank you letters that you can read here: The Viking Shark Project, the Cow Eye Dissection project, the Please Pass Me the Scalpel, Nurse project, and the A Room Without A View project.
There are more proposals in the "Biology is Life" Challenge that need your help, so be sure to check them out…
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009tags: Rautatientori, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
The Sun doesn't go down on a Helsinki Summer Day.
Photographed in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009tags: Olive Sparrow, Arremonops rufivirgatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Olive Sparrow, Arremonops rufivirgatus, photographed at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, Alamo, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 4 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/60s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 13, 2009tags: hummingbird, physics, science, surface tension, Keith Johnson, streaming video
A flying hummingbird flaps its wings up to 70 times per second (its heart rate can reach 1,260 beats per minute). This video slows down a flying hummingbird so we can watch how it flies and hovers in front of a hummingbird feeder.
Here's what hummingbirds look like when not slowed down;
This was filmed in British Columbia, Canada. Soundtrack is 'The Orient' by Alex Yiannaras.