From the monthly archives:

May 2009

Attn Science Bloggers: 3 Quarks Daily Science Blog Post Contest

May 31, 2009

I’ve entered my first moss post into a science blog post contest over at 3 Quarks Daily judged by Stephen Pinker. If you’re a science blogger, it’s not too late to enter one of your posts either, although you have to hurry. The nominations close at midnight on June 1. Check it out!

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Films about Giant Isopods

May 31, 2009

Because you can never have too much David Attenborough . . . here is a short clip from Planet Earth that shows our giant isopod friends from my last post in action. It’s kinda like an all-you-can-eat buffet down at the Sizzler.
Mmmmmm. . . carcassy. . . .

Love that crab at the end.

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Coming to a Benthic Store Near You . . .

May 29, 2009

I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this one, folks. But I give you the Dave Barry Oath: I Am Not Making This Up. Yes, behold: “Songs About Giant Isopods”.

Who needs a rousing sea chanty when you can have a rousing isopod modern rock ballad?
You’ll recognize such hits as, “Isopod Love Song”, “Chitinous Tease”,  [...]

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The Six Million Dollar Moss: Why Biology is WAY Cooler Than Nuclear Physics

May 27, 2009

As mentioned in the last post, for some reason (actually quite a good reason we’ll get to soon) scientists at ETH Zurich and the University of Freiburg im Breisgau thought it’d be a great idea to splice some human genes into . . . er, moss . . .  and see what happened. Ordinarily, you’d [...]

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Moss That Swings Both (All?) Ways

May 23, 2009

I’m sometimes greatly amused by the quality of press release science writing that is taking the place of professional science writing these days, since no one will pay for us to do it full time anymore (Science Daily, a major source of  internet science news, is made almost entirely of press releases reprinted verbatim. And [...]

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What You See When You Drink Too Much in Thailand

May 20, 2009

Because nothing says, “Don’t Eat Me!” quite like a neon pink millipede (unless you’re two, in which case it says, “All You Can Eat Candy Buffet!”), I give you: The Pink Cyanide Millipede.
In addition to its easily pronounceable Thai (Mangkorn chomphoo) and Latin (Desmoxytes purpurosea) names, it features a pleasing almond aroma (courtesy of the [...]

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Ancient Egypt lives on — thanks to Trixie and Ralph

May 16, 2009

Though cattle wouldn’t ordinarily grace the pages of The Artful Amoeba (vertebrates in general being a bit boring for my taste), I make an exception today. In the Denver Post was an article about the birth of a new ankole calf named Belle at the Denver Zoo to proud parents Trixie and Ralph (yes, of [...]

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Unidentified feathery object (UFO)

May 10, 2009

Again via Deep Sea News, here’s a video of a “ninja seaweed” from the Red Sea. Prepare to be impressed:

This is what 600 million years of relentless predation will do for ya, folks.
Nothing to see here. These aren’t the . . . whatevers . . . we’re looking for. Move along.
Guesses on the identity of [...]

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New post tomorrow

May 9, 2009

Hi everyone. Sorry it’s been a while between posts but almost all of my free time this week was taken up by preparing for a talk on lichens to some local schoolgirls on Thursday and a presentation I’m giving today at the Denver Skepticamp called “Life on Earth: The Short, Short Version.” Hang in there! [...]

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Lesbian Necrophiliac Bdelloid Rotifers (and the Scientists who Love Them): Part 2

May 5, 2009

So what is a bdelloid rotifer anyway? As you can see from the photomicrographs in the previous post, they are not going to be trying out for the Flyers anytime soon. Rotifers are among the simplest, smallest animals. In less than half a millimeter they pack in about a thousand cells, including a primitive nervous [...]

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