My significant other is forever telling me that Facebook is a total time-waster. Sometimes I do tend to agree – but also, one can Find Out Stuff! Like the study I’ve just heard about via Science Alert, on how children get information about genetics and DNA – things we might regard as being in the […]
Continue readingMonth: September 2012
traumatic insemination? ooh that sounds painful!
Bedbugs. One of the critters that I’d prefer not to encounter on my travels. They come out at night and bite sleeping humans (& other animals), retreating during the day to their dark hideaways, often in cracks in furniture, walls, or floors. This sounds very insanitary but the species that bites humans, Cimex lectularius, isn’t generally regarded […]
Continue readingan ambulant toupee?
No, it’s a megalopygid moth caterpillar (via Science Alert on Facebook). Image: Rainforest Expeditions (on Facebook) Megalopygids are also called ‘flannel moths’ (you can see images of both adults and larvae here – the larvae are quite diverse in appearance). I do wonder, after looking at this adult, if they aren’t related to the poodle […]
Continue readingletting a good story get in the way of a few facts?
Today in the Herald I learned that eye colour can reflect personality. Apparently [r]esearchers from the University of Queensland and the University of NSW analysed the eye colour of 336 Australians – most with a northern European background. They answered a series of questionnaires measuring aspects of their personality like agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. The […]
Continue readingindonesia to host 2014 international biology olympiad
The dream is over! Dr Poonpipope Kasemsap, the IBO Chairperson, contacted NZIBO chair Dr Angela Sharples last night. The Indonesian government has stepped in to support the organisers and the 25th IBO will be hosted in Bali in either the 1st or 2nd week of July 2014. As Angela has said to me, on a […]
Continue readingthe sir paul callaghan science academy
Sir Paul Callaghan was a great scientist, a superb science communicator, and a visionary with a very clear idea of the importance of science and science education to New Zealand’s future: a future where our population is ‘science-savvy’ and where students are attracted to study for careers in science, technology and engineering. If that’s to […]
Continue readingscience: 1; society for textbook revise: 0
From Nature (& via a commenter at Silly Beliefs): science wins over creationism. In South Korea, the Society for Textbook Revise, STR [sic] – associated with the Korea Association for Creation Research – has apparently been pushing textbook publishers to remove two examples of evolution from school textbooks. You may be surprised to hear that […]
Continue readingif only…
A nice piece in Nature, by Tony Ballantyne (& hat-tip to PZ Myers, who somehow finds these things first), speculates on how things could be for those who selectively reject the bits of science they don’t like: in this instance, vaccination, but creationism could easily be substituted in this storyline. T.Ballantyne (2012) If only… Nature […]
Continue readingwalking on custard
This is not biology at all 🙂 I’ve previously seen (& linked to) videos of people walking on the surface of a mix of cornflour and water. (Marcus will be able to explain the physics behind it.) But now – via PZ Myers – we have: Walking on Custard! If my embedding skills fail, follow the […]
Continue readingmore on mosaics
A couple of days ago I posted a stunning photo of a peacock, and talked a bit about the possible genetic underpinnings of its colour patterns. My friend & blog-buddy Grant then pointed me at the story of a cat that has a similarly amazing colouration. Venus even has her own Facebook page! (I will […]
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