cwilcox | February 12, 2009I'm going to do my best to keep up for the next week, but my boyfriend's family (parents, two brothers, and brother's fiancee!) are going to be in town for the next week or so, so I'm going to be a little distracted and busy.
So, if you're really bored and I'm just not cutting it for entertaining and informative reading material, be sure to check out the newest science blogger, Anna. Her blog, Anna's Bones, is a new evolution/anthropology blog, and it's really great! Of course, I wish I was an anthropologist (Prof Meyers, if only I'd taken your course my freshman year! Things would be…
cwilcox | February 11, 2009I keep reading articles for and against Darwin Day Celebrations spouting about "Darwinists" and "Darwinism". As I sat down to write my own post to "Blog for Darwin", I couldn't get these "-isms" and "-ists" out of my head. I really wanted to write more about the man behind the theory or the amazing journey he undertook, especially after reviewing the National Geographic Darwin Specials (#1 and #2), but I simply couldn't get this nagging post out of my head. So I have to leave the historical stories to someone else, or at least until tomorrow. I decided that my only choice was to explain, once…
cwilcox | February 11, 2009Hey there! Like the nice, shiny new logo?
You can blame Irradiatus at Biochemical Soul for that. Clearly my attempts were far less elegant, so he bailed me out. He's a professional*!
Anyhow, just wanted to thank him publicly. He's awesome.
*maybe not a professional graphics artist, but a professional something. And a damn good graphics artist, anyhow :)
cwilcox | February 10, 2009With Darwin Day right around the corner, it seems most science blogs have forgotten the other, insignificant holiday on the horizon - yes, I mean Valentine's Day. So, since my post for Darwin Day will go up tomorrow anyhow, I thought I'd give at least a little attention to the big V as well.
Here's a fun set of links:
See which male or female scientist would be a good date for you.
If you're a nice guy who always finishes last, maybe this year you should try to be a bit badder. Even female chimps like bad boys, so being a bit riskier might serve you well.
Single and stuck choosing between…
cwilcox | February 10, 2009Don't forget to watch the National Geographic Darwin Specials tonight! I really, strongly encourage you to watch Darwin's Secret Notebooks if you can!!!
cwilcox | February 9, 2009I don't really have an intro to these guys, as they're just too cute for words!
They're baby fennec foxes, for those of you who aren't familiar with those large ears. The fennec fox lives in the Sahara desert, where they use those massive acoustic organs to both hear its prey from far away and cool off. It's nocturnal, and hunts rodents, insects and just about anything it can get its adorable little paws on. Interestingly, it's one of the only species of Fox that is able to be properly kept as a pet - just ask Jeff Corwin - but most areas require special exotic animal permits to do so. Of…
cwilcox | February 8, 2009Iâve been tagged by Allie over at Oh For The Love of Science! with a science book meme!
Imagine: YOU are asked to assign a half-dozen-or-so books as required reading for ALL science majors at a college as part of their 4-year degree; NOT technical or text books, but other works, old or new, touching upon the nature of science, philosophy, thought, or methodology in a way that a practicing scientist might gain from.Post your list, and forward the meme to a half-dozen-or-so other science-oriented bloggers of your choosing.
So, hereâs my book list:1. Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams - I agree…
cwilcox | February 7, 2009Tonight, I presume, you all are going to tune in and check out National Geographic's Morphed series. It was truly a blast to watch!
But, what are your plans for this Tuesday? Because the fun's only just begun, and let me tell you, they saved the best for last.
On Feb 10th starting at 9 PM, the National Geographic Channel premiers two other Darwin special features, and they are AMAZING.
Technically, I watched the second one first, so I'm going to review it that way. You'll just have to deal.
At 10 PM on Tuesday you should tune in to catch Monster Fish of the Congo. It tracks a team of…
cwilcox | February 6, 2009OK, OK, I know I already did one sci-fi worthy parasite this week. But they published a paper about a parasite! Ed and other people already beat me to the punch, but I have to write about it! It's a parasite! I love parasites!
So anyway. Here it is.
Maculinea rebeli, the Mountain Acon Blue Butterfly, is a rather pretty creature as an adult. It's young, however, are gluttonous, lazy pigs. They don't like to feed themselves, or even move around much. They just want to sit there and have someone wait on them hand and foot. So, of course, like any master con artist, they found a nice family to do…
cwilcox | February 6, 2009Thanks to Panda's Thumb and Biochemical Soul I've been informed of some sneaky senatorial crap going down in DC. Here's the info:
Science Getting the Shaft
US Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are proposing to cut the stimulus/spending package by roughly 10%. Their staff have identified several âuselessâ programs included in the bill, and it appears that they consider science funding to be one of those useless pursuits.
Over the last 50 years, much of our economic development has been driven by science, and at a time when the US is faced with losing its scientific dominance…
cwilcox | February 5, 2009Ok, to date, all the paraites I've mentioned are invertebrates. So, to be fair, I'm going to make the next two weeks parasites that are vertebrates - after all, it's not like having a backbone makes you somehow a nicer animal.
Take the pearlfish.
I first heard about the pearlfish in my freshman year of college during an Invert Bio course, when it became the brunt of nerdy bio jokes. Technically, by just calling it a "pearlfish", I'm not being very specific - pearlfish refers to any member of the Carapidae family, a group of 6" long eel-looking fish. Most, in general, just happen to live in…
cwilcox | February 5, 2009Paleontologists have found a new fossil of a whale ancestor - and its announced just after I finish watching my preview DVD of Nat Geo's Morphed on whale evolution. I smell fate.
Anyhow, the new whale predecessor was unveiled in a PLoS One article this week. Donned "Maiacetus inuus", the species is described from two adult fossil finds, and reveals even more about whales evolved.
Maiacetus inuus is a new species of Protocetid whale, roughly 2.6 m long and dated to be about 47.5 million years old. Like other Protocetids, Maiacetus' limbs are relatively short and pelvic girdles provide a…
cwilcox | February 4, 2009So maybe this is how I'm statistically significant...
(hat tip Bob O'Hara's Deep Thoughts and Silliness)
cwilcox | February 3, 2009Somehow my self-indulgent writings managed to attract the attention of some very cool people - specifically, someone who works for the National Geographic Channel.
What this means for me is that I got to see their upcoming Darwin Specials in honor of his 200th b-day premiering next weekend. I have proof - the picture is of me with my preview DVDs! What this means for you is that you get to read my reviews of them, to get you all pumped up and ready to watch them for yourself next week. I got a total of 5 DVDs, but figure that would be a really long review post, so this first review is of the…
cwilcox | February 2, 2009OK, keeping with the wildlife theme: I recently found a photoset on Flickr called Tiny Things On Fingers.
So yeah, here's a nice little subset.
Baby Sugar Glider. Look at the paws on that guy! He's got hulk hands.
I don't care what you say. Even baby insects, like this mantis here, are cute.
Nothing cuter than a baby pygmy anything, like this baby pygmy marmoset.
A baby octopus to make the hearts of the mollusk-lovin' boys at Other 95% and the cephalopod-obsessed PZ Myers skip a beat.
cwilcox | January 29, 2009For those of you that don't know, I live in Florida. Specifically, I live near Tampa - so right now life is getting a lot more difficult.
That's because the Steelers and Cardinals are in town for the Super Bowl.
And, amidst all this chaos, amusingly, I open my Google Reader this morning to see headlines like this: "Football Players Are Not The Only Ones Who Get Hurt On Super Bowl Sunday". The claim? The players are hardly the most at-risk on Sunday. The Fans are really the ones who are getting hurt - literally.
Apparently, hospitals in the area are having to brace themselves for all kinds of…
cwilcox | January 28, 2009We all feel bad for those poor kids whose parents have some sick sense of humor - you know, like poor little Talula does the Hula from Hawaii or Adolf. But new research suggests there might be even more to it. Male teens with unpopular names are more likely to commit crime, regardless of race.
A new study in the journal Social Science Quarterly compared the first names of juvenile delinquents to other teens in the population. The names were given a Popularity-Name Index (PNI) based on how frequently that name was chosen by the population - a kid named Michael, for example, had a high PNI…
cwilcox | January 27, 2009What could be more sci-fi than a case of replacing body parts? Sure, we might figure to do it with machines or cloning instead of another species, but fish don't get that luxury. Snappers have a wonderful parasite that works with them, to a point, to replace a part of their bodies.
Of course, the parasite - a crustacean (Cymothoa exigua) - first causes the part it's replacing to die - so it's not exactly a voluntary procedure. And what part does this lovely parasite replace?
The tongue.
Cymothoa exigua enters the fish's mouth through the gills and latches on to the base of the tongue. From…
cwilcox | January 27, 2009OK, I couldn't help myself. I see all these super-special bloggers making their own gear, and I want some too!
So, I cafepressed.
Here's the designs available, if you need a nerdy gift:
Definitely A Nerd (example, tote bag)
I always wanted one, so FINALLY, here's the "I am Statistically Significant!" shirt:
And, of course, Observations of a Nerd!
cwilcox | January 26, 2009This week's cute is a newborn Sifaka (Propithecus coronatus) named Tahina from a French Zoo. She's a beautiful baby girl, whose name means "needs to be protected."
In the wild, this little girl would be carried in her mother's mouth until she was strong enough to hold onto her fur by herself. Devoid of a mother, the little lemur was given a teddy to cling to. Like all lemur species, Sifakas are found only on Madagascar, and are on the verge of extinction. This little girl is one of only 17 in captivity, and her species natural habitat is shrinking every day. The IUCN Red List states the wild…