chaoticutopia | June 12, 2006I've been eager to answer my first "Ask a Science Blogger" question:
Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?
If I could pursue my dream science job, you'd find me off in some remote region, hacking at rocks, looking for transitional fossils. One of the biggest reasons I'd study paleontology is the severe shortage of specialists out there. So many untold stories lie between layers of rock--organisms which lived from thousands to billions of years ago--and relatively few people who…
chaoticutopia | June 12, 2006What a trip! We arrived home from Las Vegas late last night, exhausted and overwhelmed. We were only gone four days, but those four days had an incredible impact on me. Between the convention and some intriguing sights along the way, it will take me a few posts to share all that I've learned.
Also, I've been thinking about my first "Ask a Science Blogger" response, which I'm eager to get to. On top of all of that, there is a meme floating about. Whew... I have plenty of writing to look forward to.
First, however, I need to pick up my son from his grandparents' house in Colorado Springs. I…
chaoticutopia | June 10, 2006The fungal fate awaiting our amphibian friends has frog-lovers everywhere concerned. Now, a group of biologists from the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago are preparing to help the endangered species the best way they know--providing an artificial habitat:
Now scientists are scurrying to collect frogs and put them in temporary tanks in hotel rooms and people's houses until the building's ready, Caballero said. Plans to save 65 species have been downscaled to the dozen or so most endangered--including the beautiful, iridescent Panamanian golden frog. The species is a cultural icon for its people as…
chaoticutopia | June 10, 2006.Imagine, you're standing in line at an airport security checkpoint, waiting for your shoes to be searched, when you notice something strange about the gentlemen in front of you. Their carry-on luggage is croaking It could happen. In fact, it did happen, as herpetologist Joseph R. Mendleson and Ron Gagliardo, rescuing endangered frogs from the Panamanian rain forest, asked to bring their specimen-packed suitcases aboard as carry-on.
In April, I wrote about a program starting in Chicago, in which scientists were racing to beat the extinction of frogs, by collecting them into an "ark." (I'll…
chaoticutopia | June 9, 2006When I first decided to go to Las Vegas for YearlyKos, I thought I would just tag along with my husband, who was representing Progress Now. I figured I'd do some shopping, maybe some sightseeing, and definitely some rockhounding along the drive there and back. When I saw a number of science related discussions popping up on the YearlyKos schedule, I changed my mind, and registered. (Ok, so, I still plan to do a bit of the tourist bit, too.) Now, I'm so glad that I did.
So far, this has been an incredible experience. Most of the people I've talked to have been bright and enthusiastic, thinking…
chaoticutopia | June 9, 2006When I joined the crew here at ScienceBlogs, I was given a pledge name: Fractal. Now, you can see why: I'm in love with fractals. As a close friend of mine put it, a fractal is essentially "a tangent off on a tangent off on a tangent off on a tangent...," which described me rather well. It describes nature rather well, too. In living beings or solid rock, there are often many layers of complexity, each reliant on other layers.
I used this idea with today's fractal, by layering two separate Julia sets on top of one another. In the upper set, I used a formula which masked certain areas,…
chaoticutopia | June 9, 2006With a click of your mouse, you find yourself in a chaotic utopia.
That click sent an electrical signal inside your computer,
passing through circuits, joined by a contact made of gold.
The gold, you may find, was mined from a mafic vein,
deep within the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by Precambrian gneiss.
The gneiss, disguised by the mountains for billions of years,
lays exposed to the north in a shaded canyon.
The canyon, still being carved by the creek below,
crumbles with age, loosening a piece of milky quartz.
The quartz, lured by gravity, tumbles from the canyon wall,
and lands with a…
chaoticutopia | June 9, 2006With the creation of national parks and wildlife preserves, we hope to cling to the nature of yesteryear. Perhaps if we section off this area, we say, we can save it from ecological change. Pffft. I think it is going to change, no matter what... and lines drawn on a map won't block all the effects of humanity. Here in Colorado, with parks and preserves all around, it shows... and everyone has an opinion on what should be done.
First, take, for example, Rocky Mountain National Park. A sad chain of events may leave parts of the park high and dry and endanger its wetland inhabitants. More or…
chaoticutopia | June 9, 2006Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to adapt. I made this "adapt fish", which you can see sitting beneath my blogroll. However, aside from the obvious-finding a way to live that isn't so dependant on fossil fuels-I'm not exactly sure what it means. This has dragged out a whole hoard of philosophical questions hidden within the big one: Do we know when we are adapting? Why do we react so badly to change, if change can bring improvement? It seems clear that it isn't a black and white issue... there's a swath of grayness, where our dependence on technology clashes with our…