biology ← Alex Acks: Sound and Nerdery

The new arthropod invasion

Aug

17

2012

I’ve been seeing fewer pillbugs these days, but more millipedes. While I wish the little guys would find somewhere else to hang out, I don’t have a problem with them. I actually have a lot of fond memories of millipedes. I used to volunteer at the Butterfly Pavilion and Insect Center in Westminster, Colorado. Back then ...

I find it galling

Mar

8

2010

There was an aspen tree in front of the house where I group up. Every year, it got galls on its branches. I remember my mom explaining what galls were to me, but I don’t remember there ever being anything all that gross (read: interesting) in them when I tried to break or cut them ...

Beautiful… poop.

Nov

24

2009

Lava Cave Minerals Actually Microbe Poop Actually, that’s the real title of the article, too. National Geographic tells it like it is, baby. My two main thoughts upon reading this: 1) So wait, we may be able to find evidence that life once existed on Mars by hunting down ancient lava tubes and scouring them ...

Cats are manipulative little brats. 2

Nov

24

2009

But we already knew this. Cats ‘exploit’ humans by purring; apparently there is a particular sort of purr – or tone that can be put in a purr – that motivates humans to get moving and fill the food bowl because it’s just that annoying. It’s plausible, considering the “soliciting purr” does have similarities in ...

A bouquet of Jellyfish and Algae

Nov

19

2009

Jellyfish swarm northward in warming world Harmful Algal Blooms – HABs So, Japan is being invaded by swarms of jellyfish, and we’re being inundated with stinking, toxin oozing slime of the variety that doesn’t carry firearms to townhall meetings. The simple fact sheet on the algae doesn’t speculate as to cause, but the jellyfish are ...

My favorite dino debate

Nov

12

2009

Bones Show Biggest Dinosaurs Had Hot Blood The first time I ever heard about the warm-blooded/cold-blooded debate was when I was quite little, courtesy of my older brother. He was going through his dinosaur phase at the time. (I’m convinced that all little kids – particularly of the male variety – go through a dinosaur ...

Save the Weenies!

Nov

10

2009

Penis tissue replaced in the lab You know, this story just begs for clever things to be said about it, ranging from the cute to sarcastic, about the surgical answer to bunny Viagra. But honestly, today I don’t have the heart, which is sad because I’m sure I could normally think of an at least ...

Algae… OF DEATH

Nov

4

2009

There are a lot of things I think about, on the topic of algae. The intensely creepy hair-like strands of it that live in the McCauley Warm Springs near Valles Caldera spring instantly to mind, for example. It was a nice hike and a fun soak, but I’ve seen The Ring and Ju-On too many ...

The Tsavo Man-Eaters

Nov

3

2009

I really love the movie The Ghost and the Darkness; if you’ve never seen it, go forth and do so. I’ll wait. The topic of the movie is the two man-eating lions that terrorized the railroad camp in Tsavo, in Kenya. The movie itself is based off of the account by the engineer in charge ...

A couple of cool things for Tuesday!

Oct

13

2009

50 Years of Exploration – Space exploration, that is. This infographic appeared in National Geographic and it’s very, very cool as a representation of where we’ve been in our own neighborhood and just how many times. Vegetarian Spider is first of its kind: This sounded pretty cool to me, but what do I know, I’m ...

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