Invertebrates
edyong | January 28, 2010In 1912, Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence Oates willingly walked to his death so that his failing health would not jeopardise his friends' odds of survival. Stepping from his tent into a raging blizzard, he left his men with the immortal words, "I am just going outside and may be some time." It was a legendary act of heroism but one that is mirrored by far tinier altruists on a regular basis - ants.
Like Captain Oates, workers of the ant species Temnothorax unifasciatus will also walk off to die in solitude, if they're carrying a fungal infection. In fact, Jurgen Heinze and Bartosz…
edyong | January 19, 2010Deep beneath the ocean's surface lie the "black smokers", undersea chimneys channelling superheated water from below the Earth's crust. Completely devoid of sunlight, they are some of the most extreme environments on the planet. Any creature that can survive their highly acidic water, scorching temperatures and crushing pressures still has to contend with assaults from predatory crabs. What better place, then, to look for the next generation of body armour technology?
The scaly-foot gastropod (Crysomalion squamiferum) was discovered just 9 years ago at an Indian black smoker and it may have…
edyong | January 18, 2010The mighty insect colonies of ants, termites and bees have been described as superorganisms. Through the concerted action of many bodies working towards a common goal, they can achieve great feats of architecture, agriculture and warfare that individual insects cannot.
That's more than just an evocative metaphor. Chen Hou from Arizona State University has found that the same mathematical principles govern the lives of insect colonies and individual animals. You could predict how quickly an individual insect grows or burn food, how much effort it puts into reproduction and how long it lives…
edyong | January 5, 2010
If you looked at the penis of a Drosophila fly under a microscope (for reasons best known only to yourself), you'd see an array of wince-inducing hooks and spines. These spines are present in all Drosophila and they're so varied that a trained biologist could use them to identify the species of the owner.
What's the purpose of these spines? Are they intended to actually wound the female during mating? Do they help the male fly to scrape out the sperm of his rivals? Do they actually pierce the walls of the female's genital tract, allowing the male to bypass any barriers to his sperm, as…
edyong | December 24, 2009This is an updated version of the first post I wrote this year. The scientists in question were looking at ways of recruiting bacteria in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever. They've just published new results that expand on their earlier experiments.
Mosquitoes are incredibly successful parasites and cause millions of human deaths every year through the infections they spread. But they are no match for the most successful parasite of all - a bacterium called Wolbachia. It infects around 60% of the world's insect species and it could be our newest recruit in the…
grrlscientist | December 23, 2009tags: invertebrates, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
This sweet video shows you how the spider and the fly celebrated Christmas this year.
clock | December 17, 2009Although I've known Craig McClain for a few years now, both online and offline, I only had some vague ideas about what kind of research he is doing. I knew it has something to do with the Deep Sea and with the evolution of body size, but I did not know the details. So, when the opportunity arose to hear him give a talk summarizing his work, I jumped to it and went to see him on Tuesday at Sigma Xi as a part of their pizza lunch series.
First I have to say that Craig is a great speaker (if you are looking for one for a seminar series, this is useful information for you) - it was fun and very…
edyong | December 14, 2009
Octopuses are masters of camouflage that can change their shape, colour and texture to perfectly blend into their environment. But the soft bodies that make them such excellent con artists also make them incredibly vulnerable, should they be spotted. Some species have solved that problem with their fierce intellect, which allows them to make use of other materials that are much harder. The veined octopus, for example, dons a suit of armour made of coconut shells.
The veined octopus (Amphioctus marginatus) lives in sandy, exposed habitats that have little in the way of cover. To protect…
edyong | December 13, 2009There's a great octopus story coming your way tomorrow. For that reason, I thought it was about time to republish this - the first ever post I wrote for Not Exactly Rocket Science, about the ever-amazing mimic octopus. This article was a game-changer for me. I submitted it to the Daily Telegraph's Young Science Writer competition in 2004, while still struggling with a failing attempt at research. It was awarded a runner-up prize - not a win, but enough to convince me that I could actually write and that I enjoyed it. Looking back on it now, it's decent but a bit rough. It also took forever to…
grrlscientist | November 23, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
This video shows honeybees at work, and suddenly discovering a pot of honey on a picnic table. What do they do? This video follows the secret life of these bees.
edyong | November 21, 2009
Hardly a natural history documentary goes by without some mention of leafcutter ants. So overexposed are these critters that I strongly suspect they're holding David Attenborough's relatives to ransom somewhere. But there is good reason for their fame - these charismatic insects are incredibly successful because of their skill as gardeners.
As their name suggests, the 41 species of leafcutter ants slice up leaves and carry them back to their nests in long columns of red and green. They don't eat the leaves - they use them to grow a fungus, and it's this crop that they feed on. It's an old…
grrlscientist | November 20, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
I love cicadas, and this video about a cicada who learns the "wrong" song is just so sweet! The star of this video was introduced to salsa music while still in his egg, but he still manages to find true love.
Can anyone tell me if there are cicadas in Frankfurt?
grrlscientist | November 19, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
About the true love of two apple worms becoming separated during harvest times, but like my love story, this one has a happy ending
grrlscientist | November 18, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
A love story, starring those sweet little ladybugs. But this love story has a hidden message under all the gooey kisses.
grrlscientist | November 18, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
Now this is a very cute video. It follows the story of a honeybee that flies into a house and becomes a prisoner inside. A fly discovers the trapped bee on the opposite side of the window glass and then the unexpected happens.
grrlscientist | November 17, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
This video shows ant culture and society as you've never seen it before!
These videos are so education, don't you think?
grrlscientist | November 16, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
This poor ladybug can't even find someone to play with! Those flies are just too greedy to be good playmates.
grrlscientist | November 15, 2009tags: insects, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
If only NASA had watched this video before spending billions of dollars on the space program!
clock | November 15, 2009A reader sent me this picture, asking for an ID - it was taken in upstate New York:
grrlscientist | November 13, 2009tags: invertebrates, comedy, humor, bentekr, animation, streaming video
Continuing with the food theme.... This video follows the adventures that ensue after a fly discovers an already chewed piece of gum on the road.