grrlscientist | October 9, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) was just published recently. This edition is entitled Scientia Pro Publica 13: Nobel Prize Edition.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days.
The host for the upcoming 19 October edition will be Luke at Genetic…
grrlscientist | October 8, 2009The representative from the moving company is coming tomorrow evening to look over the things I plan to move so he can write an estimate for how much the move will cost and help me get the paperwork taken care of. Needless to say, I've been busy doing other things, so the place is as messy as it was one week ago, although the mess is distributed much differently than it was then.
I checked my apartment mailbox yesterday and was surprised to find a letter from USFWS regarding my application for CITES permits for the birds (don't they read their own instructions regarding mailing addresses…
grrlscientist | October 8, 2009tags: park, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Park in Helsinki, Finland.
Photographed as I walked through Helsinki, Finland, from Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I really like this image, and the bridge, too. It's very Monet-esque, don't you think?
Here's a closer look at that bridge. I am not sure what those pipes house, does anyone else have a guess? There's power lines (above) so clearly, it isn't that;
Park Bridge in Helsinki, Finland.
Photographed as I walked through Helsinki, Finland, from Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist…
grrlscientist | October 8, 2009tags: Western Willet, Tringa semipalmata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Willet, Tringa semipalmata, photographed at Galveston East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 25 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
Okay, I know this mystery bird is only intermediate in difficulty since the two subspecies are not visually…
grrlscientist | October 7, 2009tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Common Nighthawk, also commonly known as the Bullbat, Chordeiles minor, photographed at Smith Point Hawk Watch, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 23 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 7, 2009tags: Intelligent Alien Design, Discovery Institute, Gordon J. Glover, Casey Luskin, humor, parody, satire, Canadian cartoon, streaming video
This video is a hypothetical dialogue between Gordon J. Glover and the official spokesperson of the Intelligent Alien Intervention Institute on Science NEWS. They discuss the Academic Freedom legislation that recently became law in Louisiana and how it might also help various theories of Paleo-Contact to be taught alongside mainstream archaeology in the public science classroom.
Hint to the humor-impaired: this video is a parody mocking Intelligent…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) was just published recently. This edition is entitled Scientia Pro Publica 13: Nobel Prize Edition.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days.
The host for the upcoming 19 October edition will be Luke at Genetic…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009tags: dock, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Public dock in downtown Helsinki, Finland.
Photographed as I walked through Helsinki, Finland, from Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Here is a lovely public dock located in downtown Helsinki (yes, that's a waterfall in the center). Standing there reminded me -- powerfully -- of the day when I sailed across Lake Washington from Seattle to Bellevue, tied up in a waterpark there that looks remarkably similar to this while I got a cup of coffee before sailing back to Seattle.
Below is the…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I am focusing on this project, The Viking Shark Project, because there are only four days left to fund this proposal before the deadline passes and 70 students from an impoverished high-crime magnet classroom are left wanting -- AGAIN!
The teacher is asking for 35 dogfish for his 70 students to dissect and this proposal has already raised half of the required funds, but it still needs to raise the remaining $248.50 so these kids can enhance their educational experience.
Given the fact that sharks are so misunderstood…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
What better way is there to celebrate the Nobel Prizes than by helping kids in impoverished classrooms throughout the nation begin their own pursuit of their dreams? By helping kids improve their science education, you will be helping them focus on the positive aspects of their lives and give them an outlet for their energy so they realize that they do have a future! To learn about the proposals that I've chosen to be funded (I do add proposals to my Challenge every few days), click on the above widget (if you use…
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009tags: Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons, photographed at Tom Bass Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 11 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 6, 2009tags: comedy, humor, satire, funny, ONN, Onion News Network, streaming video
Here's the latest development in the anti-smoking campaign aimed at teens: television ads that claim smokers are gay (and of course, no one wants to be gay, right?)
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: Tree of Life, conservation, biodiversity, ecology, evolution, biology, statistics, teaching, streaming video
This video presents a very brief glimpse into what I do as a professional researcher studying "my birds" -- the parrots of the South Pacific Ocean (during those rare and beautiful times when I actually have a job!!). To say the least, it fills me with intense longing to reclaim my long lost life.
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: Scientia Pro Publica, Science for the People, biology, evolution, medicine, earth science, behavioral ecology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, blog carnival
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
As you know, the first full week of October is Nobel Prize week, the week when new discoveries and innovations that benefit humanity are celebrated on the worldwide stage. In short, this is the one week of the year when scientists get to be international "rock stars"! So in honor of the Nobels, I think it is appropriate to celebrate science…
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
The first day of Nobel Prize week has started off wonderfully: Diana from Omaha, Nebraska donated enough money to complete one DonorsChoose project that I included in my DonorsChallenge! Appropriately enough, in this project, Please Pass Me the Scalpel, Nurse, the teacher was asking for funds to help her students in a high-poverty classroom in Washington state gain more knowledge of medicine through the purchase of dissecting kits.
There are more proposals that need your help, so be sure to check them out by clicking on…
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: flowers, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland, image of the day
Canna Lily cultivar, probably "The President".
Photographed as I walked through Helsinki, Finland, to Seurasaari.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
"Magpie Menace"
Pete Marshall, 2009, Oil [larger view].
Birds in Science
By genetically modifying the brains of songbirds for the first time, scientists may have a devised useful new tool for studying neurological growth and healing in humans. "Songbirds have become a classic tool for studying vocal learning and neuron replacement. This will bring those two topics into the molecular age," said neuroscientist Fernando Nottebohm of Rockefeller University, author of a study published recently in the Proceedings of the…
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009
I receive a fair number of books to review each month, so I thought I should do what several magazines and other publications do; list those books that have arrived in my mailbox so you know that this is the pool of books from which I will be reading and reviewing on my blog.
I should point out that (sadly!), my book reviewing days may be ending soon because I will be relocating to Frankfurt, Germany in the next month or two. According to my experiences, postage to Germany is at least three times what it is to anywhere in the USA, and I get an impressive headache when I read electronic…
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regulus satrapa, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regulus satrapa, photographed in a backyard in Stanwood, Washington. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 27 September 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm Nikon VR lens ISO 800 1/80 f/5.6.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 5, 2009tags: kakapo, Strigops habroptilus, conservation, endangered species, humor, Stephen Fry, Mark Carwardine, Last Chance to See, streaming video
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine head to the ends of the earth in search of animals on the edge of extinction.
In New Zealand the travellers make their way through one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world. They are on a journey to find the last remaining kakapo, Strigops habroptilus, a fat, flightless parrot which, when threatened with attack, adopts a strategy of standing very still indeed.
This behavior is not uncommon among birds…