marine life

Last Week on ResearchBlogging.org

milhayser — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 11:02:24 +0000

Last Week on ResearchBlogging.org

Researchers observed tiny voids forming in silicon used for solar panels; these voids provide physical evidence of the Staebler-Wronski effect, "which reduces the solar cell efficiency by up to 15 percent within the first 1000 hours."

Using an online avatar with a skin color other than your own makes you less racist in real life; playing a hero makes you less cruel, and playing a villain less benevolent.

Old mouse muscles exhibit "elevated levels of activity in a biological cascade called the p38 MAP kinase pathway" which prevents stem cells from dividing and repairing muscle damage. By blocking this pathway with a drug, researchers grew a new generation of potent stem cells in a petri dish and transplanted them back into old mice. "Two months after transplantation, these muscles exhibited forces equivalent to young, uninjured muscles."

Continuing its exhaustive penetration into the ecosphere, plastic has been observed built into the hives of urban bees. The researcher notes, "although cells made with plastic may not hold together as well—and might have other, unseen effects on developing bees—they could have advantages too" such as keeping parasites away from eggs.

A protein normally necessary to shut down inflammation is undetectable in triple-negative breast cancer cells. Without the protein, these cells can proliferate rapidly, but a new drug treatment can prevent the protein degradation.

Boys playing football is not the only recipe for head trauma: girls playing soccer are also at risk. A total of 351 players were observed for one full season, and cumulatively suffered 59 concussions, mostly from player-to-player contact, heading the ball, and goal-tending.

A study surveying "leaky valves and pipes in the rapidly growing natural gas industry" observed 50% more methane leakage than expected, but the extra atmospheric contribution still causes less global warming than coal.

An isopod that infects California fish is the only known parasite to functionally replace a host's organ. The bug latches on to a fish's tongue and sucks out the blood, causing it to atrophy. After latching on to the diminished tongue it settles in for a life of "holding food up against the small teeth on the roof of the fish’s mouth" while also getting first dibs on all that fish food.

In the courtroom, weak evidence is strengthened by arbitrary precision. Precision (along with body language) communicates confidence, which makes people "more likely to believe what you are saying."

Engineered viruses can deliver instructions for making crucial growth factors to stem cells; when seeded onto a polymer scaffold incorporating the viruses, stem cells can achieve self-sufficient growth and replace the scaffold with (for example) a tailored piece of cartilage.

Alternatively, we could soon be able to print a piece of cartilage: researchers have "successfully printed two types of rat neural cells from the retina" through a piezoelectric inkjet printer without killing or sterilizing the cells.

Why oil spills are bad for fish: crude oil interrupts a cellular pathway "that allows fish heart cells to beat effectively," causing "slowed heart rate, reduced cardiac contractility and irregular heartbeats that can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death."

Following a stroke, exercise confers a 91% reduction in mortality risk, versus anticoagulants and antiplatelet therapy, which showed no statistically significant benefit.

Silicon nanoparticles packed into a carbon shell like seeds in a pomegranate (so as to prevent silicon degradation) may power a new generation of hyper-efficient lithium-ion batteries.

New fuel cell design can convert any biomass into electricity with a little help from sunlight or waste heat.

When responding to "virtual customer service agents," people showed equal social engagement with human images and animated helpers. The VCSAs were regarded as most helpful when they seemed most social.

Like mercury, ionic silver can build up in ocean-dwelling organisms. In algae cells, silver stows away on a transport protein usually used by copper, and once inside the cell membrane, continues to pose as copper, damaging many proteins including those critical to energy generation and photosynthesis. The cells do their best to get rid of the silver, but with silver added to everything from "air sanitisers to cleansing face creams to odourless socks," sea life may be fighting an upstream battle.

For more visit researchblogging.org.

milhayser Sun, 02/23/2014 - 06:02

Cruisin'....

cwilcox — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:10:05 +0000

Cruisin'....

So, you may have heard this rumor that I, on occasion, do things other than blog, tweet, or facebook. It may seem shocking, but I do have a day job (if you can call it that - a graduate student's job never seems to be restricted by sunlight).

For the past couple weeks, I've been getting my butt kicked into super shape by an intense 2-week scientific diver certification course, which covers from open water to master scuba diver at warp speed. It was intense, physically exhausting, and mentally draining. But it was well worth it, because now, I can do something even more intense, physically exhausting and mentally draining: spend a month aboard the NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai conducting research in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

My home for the next four weeks

Very few people get the opportunity to visit these isolated outposts, and I feel unbelievably lucky to be one of them. However, this trip is no pleasure cruise - I'm going to be diving all day pretty much every day, collecting samples and doing monitoring for ongoing coral reef research. I'll be up at 6am, carrying around close to 50 lbs of gear, and not back in bed until more than 12 hours later. The hours are grueling and the work is complex and laborious.

But, of course, the scenery couldn't be better.

Prepare to be Jealous

c/o the The PapahÄnaumokuÄkea Marine National Monument media website

The Northwestern Hawaiian islands, for those not familiar with the term, refers to the various miniature islands, atolls and reefs that lie, as the name implies, to the northwest of the main eight Hawaiian islands. They are all that remains of islands that formed 7 to 30 million years ago by the same volcanic hotspot that formed the islands of Hawaii. All 139,797 square miles are protected as a part of The PapahÄnaumokuÄkea Marine National Monument (try saying that five times fast).

In less than two days, I'll be departing from Pearl Harbor to start my month-long trek to the northwest. I promise that I will keep you involved to the best of my ability. In the meantime, aloha, and ahoy!

cwilcox Mon, 07/19/2010 - 23:10

Tags

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Hello Christie,

I am curious if you or anyone onboard Hi'ialakai will be writing software? I am looking to connect with people writing code "on the beach" or in other extreme or unusual locations.

I'm currently twitching with envy here.

Looking forward to hearing more about it!

Wow! That sounds (and looks) like it will be wonderful! I hope that you have a great, rewarding adventure - and keep us posted!

Is that video all your photos? Some of them look downright professional. It looks like an awesome place, and I'm glad for you. Keep us posted.

ah, I reached the end of the video and saw the credits. Well, looks like there's some awesome stuff to see.

I'm going to be diving all day pretty much every day, collecting samples and doing monitoring for ongoing coral reef research.

Sure this is not pleasure cruising, but i bet you really love it

hey did you meet my friend Viv that works for NOAA at the UH campus office? She is a British girl, a good friend of mine. I think she was on that boat with you?

Oil From BP Leak Threatens Life on a Nearby Seamount

grrlscientist — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:59:06 +0000

Oil From BP Leak Threatens Life on a Nearby Seamount

tags: Oil From BP Leak Threatens Life on a Nearby Seamount, animals, marine life, fishes, invertebrates, Salt Dome Seamount, oil drilling, oil spill, oil wells, petroleum, BP, British Petroleum, TransOcean, environment, streaming video

In 2002, ocean explorer Gale Mead was the first person to see and film the profusion of life 200 feet down on Salt Dome Seamount -- just 16 miles from where the BP oil well is now gushing out of control. Mead (daughter of oceanographer Sylvia Earle) describes the corals and fish she saw and the devastation that the oil is likely causing in a place that no other human has ever been.

grrlscientist Tue, 06/22/2010 - 00:59

Carnival of the Blue #36

cwilcox — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:46:07 +0000

Carnival of the Blue #36

Ahoy mates, and welcome aboard the 36^th edition of the Carnival of the Blue!

The Oceans as a whole:
As many of you might know, CITES had its once-every-three-years meeting during which it decides which organisms are to be regulated and how. As Rick MacPherson explains, the overall message was simple: FU, Ocean. He takes a closer look at the CITES listing process and digs a little deeper into the "secret ballots."

Maybe CITES will take note if the world made it clear that oceans matter. There's no better time than now to take Oceana's Ocean Pledge. If you do, $1 will be donated to Oceana to support their conservation work. Furthermore, the voting is open for their Ocean Heroes - so cast your vote!

On the plus side, Hawaii has taken the ocean's side and has recently banned shark finning. Included in that post is the entire text of the legislation that passed, in case you want all the details. Kudos, Hawaii, for stepping up!

While we're still talking about large-scale impacts, I want to take a moment to direct attention to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's scary to think how much damage is being done to the ecosystems down there.

Moving on to less depressing topics, GrrlScientist explains how the newest techonology can help us get the most out of marine fossils. Neat!

And of course, there are the organisms, from Big to Small:
Of course, nothing is bigger than the biggest mammals on Earth: the whales. We often think about how important they are to the ecosystem in terms of what they eat, but of course, what goes in must come out. Who would have thought whale poop would be so important? Thanks, Jason, for enlightening us.

One of the most fascinating biological phenomenons is that of parthenogenesis, where a female creates exact clones of herself in lieu of normal sexual reproduction. There have been a handful of cases of parthenogenesis in sharks, but now we can add bamboo sharks to the short list of species that can reproduce in this manner!

On a lower note, a new study recently came out which estimated the numbers of sea turtles caught globally. As Oceana's blog The Beacon explains, the numbers aren't pretty.

After that sobering news, here's a little pick me up to brighten your spirits: unbelievably adorable harbor seal pups. You're welcome.

Meanwhile, manta rays are confusing everything. How many species are there, anyway? And who cares? Alistair, does, and for good reason, as he explains in his post What's a Manta do?

And speaking of confused, what happens when you move things around in an Octopus' tank? They get very confused. Just ask Jason, as he explains how Octopi use visual cues to navigate in his post Who Moved My Garden? Spatial Learning in the Octopus.

It seems like the SeaWorld incident has stirred up doubts about the ethics of keeping wildlife in zoos and aquariums. It's not just big species that we have to consider - even some fish might not be good to keep in captivity. Two species that's been questioned are the Sea Dragons, the frilly and stunning relatives of sea horses. Waternotes gives its perspective on this interesting debate in Dragons Are Too Cute for Tanks? Absolutely Not.

Mantis shrimp are fascinating creatures. Of course, they are neither shrimp nor mantids - but they look like a strange cross between both. Did you know, though, that they glow in the dark? Michael over at Arthoropoda explains this amazing phenomenon. Michael also tells us about amazing behavior of lobsters, who form these long trains. Who knew?

Wanderin' Weeta recently discovered a bunch of worms in her hermit tank. Warning - the video is not for those who are creeped out by creepy-crawlies...

Ok, that's it for this edition of the Carnival of the Blue! Next month you can find this salty carnival at Blogfish. Got a wet post you want included? Use the handy BlogCarnival submission form! It's so easy, a echinoderm can do it. But if you really want, you can also submit posts directly to dotoftheblue@gmail.com .

cwilcox Sun, 05/02/2010 - 23:46

Tags

Life in the Aphotic Zone

grrlscientist — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:59:31 +0000

Life in the Aphotic Zone

tags: Life in the Aphotic Zone, animals, marine life, marine biology, bioluminescence, benthic zone, abyssal zone, streaming video

This fascinating video captures a glimpse of the weird and wonderful animals that live in the aphotic zone. The aphotic zone (aphotic from Greek prefix á¼- + Ïá¿¶Ï "without light") is the portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1% of sunlight penetrates. Consequently, bioluminescence is essentially the only light found in this zone. Most food comes from dead organisms sinking to the bottom of the lake or ocean from overlying waters.

grrlscientist Thu, 04/29/2010 - 23:59

Drill, Baby...Oops!

sastyk — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:18:13 +0000

Drill, Baby...Oops!

The news from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is not good. If the NOAA estimates are right about the size of the spill it could dwarf Exxon Valdez:

Over the last few days, estimates had held that the Gulf of Mexico oil spilling was leaking about 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, into the water each day--bad, but still not historically bad on a scale like the spill caused by the Exxon Valdez. Except now, after closer investigation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that oil company BP's estimate might in fact be five times too low.

Rear Adm. Mary Landry, the Coast Guard's point person, gave the new estimate yesterday as the Coast Guard began its planned controlled burn of some of the oil. While emphasizing that the estimates are rough given that the leak is at 5,000 feet below the surface, Admiral Landry said the new estimate came from observations made in flights over the slick, studying the trajectory of the spill and other variables [The New York Times]. Because the oil below the surface is so hard to measure or estimate, NOAA's numbers are still rough estimates, too. BP's chief operating officer told ABC News he thinks the number is probably somewhere between the two estimates.

But if NOAA's high-end number right, the oil spill caused by the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon just entered a new class of awful. Do the math: At the previous estimation--1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of oil per day--it would have taken this spill 261 days, or more than eight continuous months, to dump as much oil into the sea at the Exxon Valdez did near Alaska in 1989. But, if it's true that 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) are entering the Gulf each day, it would take just 53 days to top the Valdez' total of 11 million gallons. Already 9 days have passed since the explosion.

Moreover, as the Wall Street Journal Reports, the well doesn't have a particular sort of emergency automatic shut-off standard in Norway and Brazil - although there's some question of whether the shut off would have worked, the oil industry in the US apparently argued against the necessity of these devices:

The efficacy of the devices is unclear. Major offshore oil-well blowouts are rare, and it remained unclear Wednesday evening whether acoustic switches have ever been put to the test in a real-world accident. When wells do surge out of control, the primary shut-off systems almost always work. Remote control systems such as the acoustic switch, which have been tested in simulations, are intended as a last resort.

.Nevertheless, regulators in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil, in effect require them. Norway has had acoustic triggers on almost every offshore rig since 1993.

The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn't needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.

The U.K., where BP is headquartered, doesn't require the use of acoustic triggers.

On all offshore oil rigs, there is one main switch for cutting off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. Many rigs also have automatic systems, such as a "dead man" switch as a backup that is supposed to close the valve if it senses a catastrophic failure aboard the rig.

As a third line of defense, some rigs have the acoustic trigger: It's a football-sized remote control that uses sound waves to communicate with the valve on the seabed floor and close it.

Meanwhile, the potential effect on fisheries and associated livelihoods, thousands of unique species and residents are likely to be disastrous. Among the potential victims:

The Gulf region contains about five million acres of wetlands, which are an essential habitat for three quarters of all of the migrating waterfowl that cross the US.

There are more than 3,300 marine species in the Gulf, including six endangered species of whale. Its shores include the only known nesting beach of Kemp's Ridley, the world's most endangered sea turtle. There are also populations of protected Hawksbill, Loggerhead and Leatherback turtles, which are about to begin their nesting season and would be particularly vulnerable to oil washed up on beaches.

There are several shark species declared to be "of concern" because of declining populations. The Gulf is also home to one of the world's largest populations of bottlenose dolphins, with an estimated 45,000 in its waters.

It is interesting that this emerging situation is occurring at the same time as the final approval of Cape Wind, the controversial wind farm held up by NIMBYism and shortly following Obama's opening of offshore drilling. Our future as a society is going to involve a certain measure of raping the environment - we know this. We have been casual about the consequences we can see, and reluctant to make visible the full consequences of our extraction - we assume that our resources are clean if we don't have to live near the pollution they engender. This, of course is not true.

It is easy to cry "Drill, baby, drill" and harder to live with the real world consequences of our consumption - increasingly hard. And there aren't a lot of good answers - but one of the things I think is essential is that we understand what we are talking about. It is easy to march to close a coal plant - and it is necessary that we do close them. But unless we are prepared to bring our electrical generation home, to do with less and to find ways to live with less, that march is meaningless. We can't oppose offshore drilling and drive around as much as we like, nor can we support offshore drilling...except when it might affect our lives and livelihood.

Americans live in a world where there's so much "away" - we laud ourselves for reductions in pollutants that we have merely offshored, we laud ourselves for costs that we have merely deferred upon the next generation. We throw "away" so many things, and push "away" so much knowledge. I'm deeply grieved about this oil spill, and I hope from it may emerge a little more knowledge, a little more recognition that there is no such place as "away"

Sharon

sastyk Thu, 04/29/2010 - 05:18

Tags

consequences of our choices

Similar to the theme I was ranting about in your blog's comments section regarding the sense of entitlement some people have to government handouts, this time here we see the greater society's sense of entitlement. We in the US mainstream think we can have it all, and just push the pollution away onto somebody else.

Rich or poor, a a good, old-fashioned sense of humbleness about our real, material, personal needs would go a long way towards ameliorating our social and environmental situation.

But I am certainly part of the problem as of late. I have bought four tanks of gas in the past month, which is way over what I usually consume. It's a dirty feeling.

I am also deeply grieved. It's headed right for us.

I'm 2 miles from the Mississippi Coast. I went to bed last night thinking I needed to find time today to take what might be one last walk on our beloved beach before it starts becoming a tar pit.

I woke up this morning and stepped out my back door and came back in quickly. I can smell the oil. I don't know if I'm smelling the burn off they did yesterday, or if it's just the nearing of the oil monster and the direction of the breeze. We've had the windows open a lot recently with the lovely spring weather--summer is far too hot and humid to open the windows even at night, even with extremely low air conditioner use. But this morning I had to close the house up because of the stink.

I feel sick in my gut just like in the months after Katrina hit us. My heart is breaking. I'm thinking of the birds I love, of the fishing industry, of the impact on the economy, of the final wrecking of what beauty Katrina left us here in this really lovely place.

I keep hoping it will go away, not come to our shore, but as I smell it I know there's not much hope.

I want to be angry, but who to be angry with? No matter how much I've scaled back energy use, I'm still part of the demand for oil.

What a punch in the gut.

Sharon -- very well stated. The final 3 paragraphs are well-worth the small amount of time taken to read them. I wish more people got this message, and take it seriously.

Deanna-

You have my deep and sincere sympathy. For all that helps. As a kid I lived with the Gulf literally in my front yard, so I have some idea of what it would feel like to lose it.

Heard on the radio this morning that when this drilling platform was proposed, the company successfully fought off a proposed requirement for some sort of backup emergency shut off valve because it would have been "too expensive". Because, surely, it never would have been needed.

It is very difficult to keep making one's futile stabs at positive whatever in the face of overwhelming corporate power to totally fuck up everything. Well, I suppose I'll go back to rearranging deck chairs over at my blog anyway.

Deanna, you have all my sympathies - I'm so very sorry.

Sharon

I was in Corpus Christi, TX, when they were selling "Where were you, when the slick hit the sand?" t-shirts, about 1980. This isn't the first time for the region.

It seems funny that they haven't made plans for a temporary shelter and work area dome construction about the bottom of the well, just to address situations where they gotta get some people at the pipe and valve, and correct the situation.

It also seems strange no oil company is rigged up to gather and process that leaked oil. At some point it must become cheaper than working oil shale and oil sands.

I guess I have to acknowledge - those people counting on technology to solve problems tomorrow, are a bit short sighted about the problems of today that technology still hasn't solved. This whole topic casts another shadow on hopes for an unlimited future, free of resource, energy, and economic constraints.

Brad - hey, I used to live in Corpus as a kid. Went to Flour Bluff Elementary. :-)

"It seems funny that they haven't made plans for a temporary shelter and work area dome construction about the bottom of the well, just to address situations where they gotta get some people at the pipe and valve, and correct the situation."

You missed the bit where the well head is at 5,000 feet. Humans do not work there; ever, so far as I know. Machines only. Deepest record dive using any equipment is only around 1,000 feet- and they weren't working; they were in a hurry.

Too bad we can't require all those folks chanting "drill baby drill" to report to the gulf coast for cleanup duty. This is the real world though, so it will yet again be the "damned libruls" cleaning up.

doug

Oil spills have external costs. So do car crashes (even renewable fuel powered ones). Few consider driving to be fundamentally immoral, usually due to an implicit cost-benefit analysis recognising that the convenience of cars are worth their dangers.

I ask you to consider the same for oil drilling. That's not to say that oil spills shouldn't be punished, any more than reckless driving shouldn't be punished. But your argument appears to be that offshore drilling is a Bad Thing because of its costs, disregarding its benefits. Now even if you don't like the way those benefits will be distributed in a free market, that's not the only option! We live in a world of trade-offs: offshore drilling with taxes used for some environmental purpose may be well be "greener" than an expensive ostensibly "clean" technology.

One good thing has come out of this mess -- plans for drilling offshore have been banned by the president.

The grease is hitting the beach this morning. Oh well. The Gulf Coast is a sacrifice area anyway, what with the anoxic zone that forms every year due to fertilizer runoff from the American Midwest. People have to eat and farmers must use massive amounts of NPK in order to feed us all, so the "dead zone" is inevitable and just the price we pay for food in out bellies. People must drive also, so spills like this one will happen. Too bad but oh well, once again. The economy grew 3.2% this past quarter due to all of us doing our duty by driving to the mall and spending. We don't need shrimp anyway. And what's a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle done for any of us recently? "Drill, baby, drill"!! Globules of crude in anoxic sediments. Yummy! "Future's so bright, gotta wear shades..."

The oil industry - driven by our demand - has been despoiling local environments for a long time ... as stunningly documented in the photography of Edward Burtynsky.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/09/edward_burtynskys_oil

I was thinking the first oil spill from one of the closer-to-shore drills authorized by Obama should be named after him. Hey, he's got 3 names, same as me. Name the first three oil spills from these can be named after him.
-

This oil spill has just really affected me,and I'm not usually the crunchy granola type. I'm not an environmentalist or activist in any sense of the word. I've read about the fishermen who's livelihood is being affected and of course all of the wild life, our non-speaking partners with whom we share this world, and it just breaks my heart. I think, how could this have happened? How could we do this to where we live? I live farther from the spill, in Houston, Texas, but it is still in our gulf. It feels like genocide or murder - all I can think of in terms of this accidental oil spill is death - and we hurting and indeed slowly killing more than just the animals in the ocean and wetlands, etc. Animals that are endangered anyway who will now groom themselves and swallow the oil, which causes internal bleeding and other damages. Animals have to sit in our mess when long exposure to skins causes burns, and oil in feather prevents bird from insulating themselves.

Or what about the 100,000+ gallons of chemicals they are dumping in the water to break up the oil. We live, work, and eat from the sea, all of us, even if you don't live anywhere near this. This affects us all. I read a fisherman's quote who said he didn't know if should be angry at and blame the coast guard, the government, or BP.

We are all responsible for this - how have we let let this happen? How can we keep passing off our monstrous mistakes to our children with an oops and a sorry. We can't take this one back, the damage is done. What will we learn from this? Nothing? I expect superficial and never-ending political arguments over whether to continue with deep sea oil drills. What has happened to us??

Jayne Anne- I've thought long and hard about an answer for your passionate question.

There are, of course, a great many answers.

I'm going to give just one here, an ugly one that is an embarrassment to our species- but is also a nearly universal part of us. This is a very large piece of the puzzle.

Have you ever driven through a town with a commercial pulp mill nearby?

Few would stop to eat lunch in a town like this. The smell of the pulp mill is heavy, ubiquitous, and truly nauseating. It's equivalent to the overpowering miasma you'd experience standing in a commercial hog farm's sewage lagoon. Most folks can't wait to escape it.

If you ask someone who lives in a pulp mill town about the stench, though- their most common answer is a bright, cheerful,

"Smells like money to me!" - with a smile.

Greenpa: Why is that an "embarrassment" to our species? It makes sense that the sorts of people who live in towns with pulp mills will be those who don't much mind the smell and/or benefit from the jobs. Those who hated it would have long since sold their properties to those who don't mind it much. Now, you might not like the smell, but no-one is forcing you (or anyone else) to live there.

I imagine if you were given the power, you would probably mandate these pulp mills to be shut down. You would be going against the preferences of the vast majority of the town residents for what? To reduce some environmental costs that are overwhelming borne by the residents themselves.

Could this be the final straw for the camel?

Oil spills have external costs. So do car crashes (even renewable fuel powered ones). Few consider driving to be fundamentally immoral, usually due to an implicit cost-benefit analysis recognising that the convenience of cars are worth their dangers.

I'm going to guess that you've missed this rather relevant post Sharon made a while back.

Those who hated it would have long since sold their properties to those who don't mind it much.

where did you learn economics? the move from an undesirable location to a desirable location is a great cost, and can only be undertaken by those with a lot of resources (money, time, skills that will find them employment elsewhere), which are usually not the people working at pulp mills, to begin with.

What you're basically saying (and I hope it's merely out of ignorance) is that poor people deserve to suffer the consequences of their employment. That's kinda messed up, you know.

Jadehawk: In that post, Sharon does not advocate the abolition of private cars. This post, however, does not appear to advocate offshore drilling in moderation.

Jadehawk, 2nd comment:

If they really hated, the costs of moving would be lower than the costs of staying.

Your point is valid, though, in that the opening of a pulp mill does impose real costs on a number of existing residents. (Residents who migrate there later already have these costs internalised in the property/rental prices). However, are those sufficient grounds for preventing the construction of the mill? If the mill provides sufficient economic benefits, probably not. There are numerous ways in which everybody could be made better off - say, if the mill owners are required to give a one-off compensation payment to all residents.

If they really hated, the costs of moving would be lower than the costs of staying.

last I checked, hate is not a valid form of currency; therefore, that's a stupid statement. when you already barely make do, then moviong is only an option if you're planning to sacrifice one or more of your children to the gods.

and a one-off compensation, as you suggest, would be calculated on what, precisely? Something tells me no business would be willing to give their future employees enough money for them not to need to work there, and instead be able to go somewhere nicer.

Jadehawk: In that post, Sharon does not advocate the abolition of private cars. This post, however, does not appear to advocate offshore drilling in moderation.

are you aware of the difference between abolishing something already ingrained into a society's infrastructure, and preventing something new to be done?

In effect, both cars and offshore drilling shouldn't exist. However, it's completely impossible to get rid of all cars all at once, while it's perfectly doable to not build something.

IOW, it's to a large degree a matter of starting points.

" However, are those sufficient grounds for preventing the construction of the mill? If the mill provides sufficient economic benefits, probably not. "

Being familiar with corporate choices regarding placement of pulp mills- I assure you that finding a location where the present inhabitants are so poor as to be unable to protest effectively, unable to move away and escape, and so hungry they will jump at any work they can find- is #2 on their list of considerations. #1 being abundant availability of cheap substrates. #3 being ability to arrange cheap shipping.

And of course I was not intending it all to be limited to pulp mills; that's just an extremely obvious and intestinally urgent example. Of:

Our species' broad ability to accept situations known to exceptionally risky, or known to be hazardous to our children's health- for short term profits/benefits.

Any other primate living downwind of a pulp mill would leave the area quickly. For them the equation is much simpler; things that smell revolting- or taste very bad- are not healthy for you; they're toxic. That's why your body is telling you to leave it alone. The human primate though, for short gain, will listen to anybody with a fat wallet who assures them that, nah, that bad smell is not harmful at all, it just smells bad.

A properly designed species (I'm being humorous) would obviously always take the long view- the most benefits are there, always. But ours, with a really huge "thinking" apparatus, is not able to make that kind of a decision the default.

I think our thinker was ill thought out.

... Cape Wind, the controversial wind farm held up by NIMBYism ...

A minor correction is called for here: the windmill farm between Cape Cod and Nantucket Island was not blocked by Not-In-My-Back-Yardism, but by Not-In-Ted-Kennedy's-Back-Yardism.

Henry, I actually don't say what I think about offshore drilling in this post - you are assuming you know what I think.

Pierce, no, I'm from Massachusetts, have family on the Cape and I wish that was all it was. Hostility to Cape Wind crosses political barriers -people who wouldn't have been caught dead voting for Kennedy agreed with him. Cape Wind suffered from NIMBYism in a place where many people not just the Kennedy family, are rich enough to have an enormous influence. There's plenty of blame for this to rest on Ted K's coffin, but he isn't the only driving force here by any means.

Sharon

But wasn't it Kennedy's influence which (up until last year) made the difference in keeping the windmills back in flyover country? Without Teddy, all the rest of Hyannis(port) together couldn't stop Cape Wind: he made all the difference.

The K's were critical, of course, but as I understand it, had it come entirely from Ted and his clan, there would have been major oppositional political hay made. But the reality is that basically all the rich people assholes in the northeast summer on the cape ;-), at least the ones who don't go to the Hamptons. The reason this wasn't "lefty Ted throws the environmentalists overboard" was that the right wing hates the idea too.

Sharon

good to be open to interpretation

TEDTalks: Edith Widder: Glowing Life in an Underwater World

grrlscientist — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:59:15 +0000

TEDTalks: Edith Widder: Glowing Life in an Underwater World

tags: Glowing Life in an Underwater World, marine biology, bioluminescence, luciferase, luciferin, green fluorescent protein, eye-in-the-sea cam, ethology, evolution, Edith Widder, TEDTalks, streaming video

Some 80 to 90 percent of undersea creatures make light -- and we know very little about how or why. Bioluminescence expert Edith Widder explores this glowing, sparkling, luminous world, sharing glorious images and insight into the unseen depths (and brights) of the ocean.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts.

grrlscientist Thu, 04/22/2010 - 00:59

Hawaiian Submarine Canyons: Biodiversity Hotspots

cwilcox — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:31:47 +0000

Hawaiian Submarine Canyons: Biodiversity Hotspots

When we think about the vast diversity of life in the ocean, we automatically picture pristine coral reefs teeming with life. This is especially true for rich, tropical locations like Hawaii. What we don't think of are the deep, dark depths of the canyons that lie just beyond the shallow paradises we know and love. Scientists have known for years that these deep water locations may contain a wide variety of species, but don't talk about them as much because no one had ever explored them to see what species lived there. Now, thanks to researchers from the University of Hawaii's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and Hawaii Pacific University, someone has.

After 36 submersible dives into canyons off of four Hawaiian islands, scientists have a much better picture of what lives in Hawaii's depths. What they found is that there is much more in the deep than they previously thought! Moreover, these habitats may be key in replenishing biodiversity in nearby areas.

Submarine canyons extend 1,000 to 5,000 feet deep between the islands of the Hawaiian Archipelago. These deep ditches are only 50 to 300 feet wide and lie just a few miles from shore. To study the biodiversity in these deep depths, the researchers sent down UHM's subermibles Pisces IV and Pisces V to videotape and collect samples from the canyons. Canyons were examined off of Oahu, Molokai, Nihoa and Maro Reef (see the image on the right for exact locations).

Researchers found that despite their small size and lack of light, the canyons were filled with life. One of the reasons for this is that the canyons concentrate nutrients. As leaves, wood, algae and anything that falls into the canyon decays, they release nutrients that serve as food sources for a variety of small organisms. These creatures then feed the macroorganisms, including shrimp and invertebrates, which in turn attract fish and even larger creatures.

Compared to similar depths of the continental slops, the canyons contained not only more life but a higher diversity of it. This was particularly true for fast-moving, mobile species like sharks, fish, shrimp and squid. These large megafauna were twice as abundant in the canyons as on the slope, and there was a much wider variety of species in the canyons. They even encountered a rare sixgill shark during one of their dives off of Molokai! Many of these species likely feed in the canyons, and thus the canyons may be particularly key in ensuring the abundance of several commercially important fish species.

But there weren't just big critters from the surrounding reefs hiding in these canyons. One of the most intriguing finds of the research was that these canyons contained all kinds species not found anywhere else in Hawaii. During their surveys, the researchers found 41 species that were completely unique to the canyons, ranging from algae to fish, and may be endemic to specific canyons they were found in. Here's a table that summarized what they found:

Another thing that was surprising to the researchers was the abundance of land-derived artifacts. Kukui nuts, for example, littered the floor of the canyons off of Molokai (on right), even though they were miles from shore. The scientists hope to continue the research by looking at the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the tissues of shrimp and other canyon species. By doing so, they hope to determine how important the land-based organic matter is in providing a food source for the canyon's inhabitants.

The researchers also plan to use their new knowledge to help formulate conceptual models that will allow scientists to predict which features hold the keys to increased biological abundance and diversity.

And this is just the first attempt scientists have made into understanding the biology and ecology of Hawaii's submarine canyons. Who knows what else they'll find on subsequent dives into these dark depths!

Vetter, E., Smith, C., & De Leo, F. (2010). Hawaiian hotspots: enhanced megafaunal abundance and diversity in submarine canyons on the oceanic islands of Hawaii Marine Ecology, 31 (1), 183-199 DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2009.00351.x

Images c/o SOEST's Press Release

cwilcox Wed, 04/21/2010 - 00:31

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A Fresh Haul of Sea Life Posts

elerner — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:51:30 +0000

A Fresh Haul of Sea Life Posts

World Water Day may have come and gone, but ScienceBloggers re still searching the depths of the oceans and the rivers of tropical islands for great new research. Today, Nick Anthis of The Scientific Activist points to the discovery of the first truly anaerobic animal. These microscopic creatures don't need oxygen to make their home at bottom of the Mediterranean, so you'd be forgiven for thinking they're from another planet. For aquatic life in more familiar territory, Christine Wilcox of Observations of a Nerd follows up on a post she made in January about how farming Tilapia in Fiji puts pressure on native species. Now we get another side of the story from a Fijian environmental minister, which only goes to show that balancing issues of conservation, aquaculture, and local needs is no simple task.

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conservation

marine life

water

Getting to know crinoids through close-up photography

bnsullivan — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:57:48 +0000

Getting to know crinoids through close-up photography

Crinoids, a class of marine animals in the phylum Echinodermata, are pretty creatures. The photo at right shows a crinoid perched on a Malaysian reef with its fluffy arms extended for feeding. Looking at the photo, it's easy to see how they acquired their common name, Feather Stars.

This is how divers usually see crinoids, and this is how they are most often photographed. As pretty as crinoids are -- and they come in a vast array of colors -- photographs of the whole animal don't reveal much about the animal's structure or behavior. Whole-animal photos of creatures like this should be just a starting point. A photo study of an animal, or class of animals, should include close-up and macro photos as well.

Today I present three close-up photos of crinoids that show something of their structure. Tomorrow I will continue with some macro photos that reveal even more about crinoids.

In the photo above, you can see the arrangement of the animal's feathery, many-jointed arms around a central disc. The animal's mouth is in the disc, which is covered by many cirri. Crinoids are filter feeders. They capture tiny bits of organic matter suspended in the water that passes over the pinnules on their arms. The food is then transported inward, down the length of the arms to the mouth.

This second close-up photo is an aboral view of the same individual. (It can be difficult to photograph this view, but this very accommodating individual happened to choose a protruding strand of wire coral as its perch, so I was able to swim around behind it to take the photo!) Here we have a good view of the form and function of the cirri on the underside of this crinoid. These cirri are used for mobility: the crinoid can skitter along using the cirri like little feet. Then once the animal finds a suitable perch, it uses its cirri to hold itself in place. In this case, the cirri are wrapped around the wire coral in a tight grasp.

As filter feeders, crinoids optimally position themselves in places where currents -- tidal and otherwise -- pass over them. The cirri of crinoids have tiny hooks at the ends, which help them to hold on and stay in place during feeding. While this may be functional for the crinoids, should they decide to perch on a soft surface, those hooks on the cirri can do damage. In this final photo (a different individual and probably a different species than the previous two photos), a crinoid has decided to perch on a sponge and has dug into the sponge's flesh with its cirri. As you can see, the sponge has been damaged (although it will likely heal over in time).

About the photos: The crinoid in the image at the top of the page was photographed at Pulau Sipadan, Malaysia. The three close-up images were taken at Manado Tua, off the northeastern tip of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.

bnsullivan Wed, 08/12/2009 - 01:57

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Here we have a good view of the form and function of the cirri on the underside of this crinoid. These cirri are used for mobility: the crinoid can skitter along using the cirri like little feet. Then once the animal finds a suitable perch, it uses its cirri to hold itself in place.

I didn't know crinoids could move once they'd settled someplace. I'd like to see this - can someone direct me to a video? Thanks.

Hello Martin - There are some crinoids that are sessile; you may be thinking of those. They have a stem that is attached to the substrate, and they don't move about. The crinoids in these photos do move about, using their cirri for mobility. There are still other kinds of crinoids that move about not on cirri, but by using some of their arms to 'swim' (short distances, of course) and to push themselves/crawl along surfaces.

I don't know of a video showing crinoids moving about, but perhaps someone else does?

Pulau (with a u; it means island) Sipadan. But never mind - your photos are awesome.

Hello Sojournposse - Thanks for the kind words, and also for catching that typo. I just fixed it. I hate it when proper names are misspelled and I'm mortified that I didn't catch that myself!

These are absolutely fantastic! Way to pay attention to morphological detail. It makes a taxonomist like me squeal with delight!

For Martin, we've posted a brief video of a deep sea crinoid moving along the seafloor at Deep Sea News. It is very eerie. And yes it is absolutely real!
http://deepseanews.com/2008/10/the-27-best-deep-sea-species-25-stalked-…

Hi Kevin - Glad you like the photos, but no squealing please. :-D

Thanks very much for posting the link, which I encourage readers to click on. Not only is there a brief video clip of a stalked crinoid crawling (!), but some good still photos of stalked crinoids, too.

For Martin -
Earlier today I searched on YouTube to see if I could find any videos showing motile crinoids. I was amazed at how many crinoid videos there were. Here's a link to the YouTube search result: http://tinyurl.com/crinoid You can see videos of swimming, crawling, and 'flying' crinoids.

B.N. and Kevin Z., thanks very much for those links. That's quite possibly the coolest thing I've seen in a long while. Reminds me why I hang out here.

It's interesting that those tattoos do a better job of realistically representing the cephalopod eye (the one that's visible in each, anyway!) than most cartoons do. There are probably cartoony versions of cephalopods on tattoos too though.

clear clean water! A day in rice and that phone is as good as new.(Now if that's a solution of NaOH or HCL, well then, that's a different story.

You want bad, have that cell phone drop into a privvy on the Appalachian Trail

thanks...nice good post..