Posts tagged as:

Charismatic microfauna

The Hungry Amoeba

August 2, 2009

Oh, those wily amoebae. I think we’ve all had days like this at the office. Some sensitive viewers may find this disturbing, although no more disturbing, I suppose, than watching a gazelle get chased down by a cheetah on the Discovery Channel.

The poor little guy who gets it in this video is a little ciliate [...]

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Lesbian Necrophiliac Bdelloid Rotifers (and the Scientists who Love Them): Part 1

April 30, 2009

So you’ve been having a rough decade eking out a living as a bdelloid rotifer, living in the soil, some moss, or a small vernal pool. First, it stopped raining a few days after you hatched. Then you entered a period of dried-up stasis in which your cell membranes ruptured, metabolism ground to a halt, [...]

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Thwarting “Beaver Fever”

March 30, 2009

I give you . . . Giardia.
Also known as *cough* beaver fever (since the dam rodents are common carriers) to those hikers unlucky enough to have a run-in with this extremely unpleasant organism. Symptoms include such pleasantries as “projectile vomiting” and “explosive diarrhea”. Fortunately, I do not speak from personal experience.
This baby is the [...]

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Today this leaf . . . tomorrow the world!

March 30, 2009

Ed. note: This is a repost from facebook. I’ll be reposting a few things to get this blog kicked off. Apologies to those who have already seen it! j.f.
Many of you know about my slightly (ok, entirely) unnatural slime mold obsession. They’re weird, cool-looking, and semi-sentient. And they’re even here in Colorado! I found three [...]

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