grrlscientist | July 9, 2009tags: House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] House Finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 7 August 2006 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2006:07:08 08:30:57
Exposure Time: 1/249
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 9, 2009tags: blogosphere, meme, reader demographics meme
Every once in awhile, I ask my readers to identify themselves by demographic groups -- gender, age, what you do, what you aspire to do, favorite books, and anything else you'd like to tell me because honestly, I find you all to be quite fascinating. I think about you all nearly constantly -- what stories you might like to read, what photographs and videos might amuse you -- and I'd like to learn more about you. I am participating in the "Who are You?" meme, inspired by my ScienceBlogs colleagues [Ed, DrugMonkey, SciCurious, Janet Stemwedel,…
grrlscientist | July 9, 2009tags: Antarctica, South Pole, endurance training, extreme running, Ray Zahab, streaming video
In this video, extreme runner Ray Zahab shares an enthusiastic account of his record-breaking trek on foot to the South Pole -- a 33-day sprint through the snow. [5:54]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas…
grrlscientist | July 9, 2009tags: Onion News Network, research, monkeys, medical news, humor, satire, streaming video
In this video, ONN reports on a newly published study indicating that repeatedly stabbing monkeys with sharpened objects may have an adverse effect on their health and longevity [1:08]
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 865 - 654 - 610 - 540 - 452 out of 255 candidates registered. I am in second place, and third place is creeping up on me rather quickly. Wow, am I that undesirable as an official blogger?
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay; hopefully, you will agree that I am a very well-qualified…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009tags: Potentilla fruticosa, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Is this a wild rose or a close relative?
"Goldfinger" or the Buttercup Shrub, Potentilla fruticosa.
Photographed alongside a roadway in Pitäjänmäki in northern Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
"Goldfinger" -- which has a wide variety of common names, such as the Goldfinger shrubby Potentilla, Shrubby Cinquefoil and my favorite, the Buttercup Shrub -- is a hardy and dense shrub with dark green leaves and bright yellow flowers that are roughly 1 1…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009
Who: Dr. Jeff Schweitzer
What: free public presentation, "Moral Life in a Random World"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Thursday, 9 July
Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is a scientist who has written extensively on morality, religion, politics and science -- and who served as science advisor to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Schweitzer will talk about how we each have within us the awesome power to create our own meaning in life, our own sense of purpose, our own destiny. He will address how…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009
Image: appears here with the kind permission of Wetjens Dimmlich [Slow Loris Fickr site].
Send GrrlScientist instead!
Quark Expeditions is searching for an Official Blogger to join a voyage to Antarctica. Their goals, according to an email I received from their official spokesperson, Prisca, are to have their official blogger write a daily blog entry in English about their experience on this Antarctic trip, and to help raise public awareness of the environmental and conservation issues that pertain to the Antarctic. To select their official blogger, they are asking candidates to enter a…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009tags: dragonfly vision, facets, opsin, compound eyes, insects, dragonflies, Dennis Paulson, David O'Carroll, Robert Olberg
Male Megaloprepus caerulatus, PANAMA, Rio Chico Masambi, near Gamboa,
11 August 2005; photo by Julie Craves, a Natural Science Research Associate
at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Color vision in humans depends upon three light-sensitive proteins, called opsins, that are present in our retinas. Each type of opsin absorbs one color of light in the spectrum. In humans, the colors absorbed by these opsins are red, green or blue. The many wavelengths of light…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009Shortly after I arrived in Helsinki and was suffering from jet lag, my friend, Bora, published this interview he had with me via email. Bora -- "Coturnix" -- is the main organizer of the ScienceOnline conference series held in North Carolina in January. Each year, he interviews the speakers from that year's conference and publishes those interviews on his blog to help generate greater public interest in the conference and in science blogging in general, and to help the public learn more about the people who write the blogs that they enjoy. The best part of my interview is the featured image…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009tags: Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus, photographed at Brazos Bend State Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/200s 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 | July 8, 2009tags: Antarctica, Humpback Whales, Krill, David Attenborough, Planet Earth, BBC, streaming video
This beautifully done video shows breathtaking images of how Humpback Whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, hunt Krill, Euphausia superba, in Antarctic waters. This is a video clip from BBC's natural history masterpiece, Planet Earth. [3:50]
Quark Expeditions is searching for an Official Blogger to join a voyage to Antarctica. Their goals, according to an email I received from their official spokesperson, Prisca, are to have their official blogger write a daily blog entry in English about their…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009tags: Onion News Network, human kidneys, organ transplant donations, medical news, humor, satire, streaming video
In this video, ONN reports that an anonymous hero donates 200 human kidneys to a hospital. Hospital officials hope to locate the good Samaritan that dropped off a sack of human organs in the middle of the night so they can thank him. [1:11]
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009
Image: Wookey Hole.
There are moments in a person's life where they sit back and ask themselves; was [fill in the blank] worth it? Was it really worth it?
I ask myself this question often, especially when it comes to job hunting. There's nothing like a bout of unemployment punctuated with brief bouts as a below-poverty-wages throw-away worker to make a person contemplate the meaning of one's existence. So when an employment opportunity like this comes along for a job that actually pays a living wage, it makes me think that I should do something dramatic, like changing my name to Hermione…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 833 - 628 - 564 - 493 - 416 out of 248 candidates registered. I am in second place, and third place is creeping up on me. Wow, am I that undesirable as an official blogger?
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay; hopefully, you will agree that I am a very well-qualified candidate for this…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: Heartsease, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Heartsease is known by a wide variety of names, including the Wild Pansy, Ladies' Delight, Jump-Up-And-Kiss-Me, and Johnny Jump-Up, Viola tricolor.
Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Native over large areas of Europe and western Asia, this is the ancestor of the modern pansy. I remember Heartsease from watching a live performance of Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer's Night Dream in London last year, where Oberon claims that the…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: lunch, food, Ravintola Helsinge, Tekniikan Museo, travel, Helsinki, Finland
Coffee and Lunch (croissant with cheese, tomato and "rocket",
a tangy green that I've never seen nor heard of before now)
Photographed at Ravintola Helsinge, the cafe on the grounds
shared with the Tekniikan Museo (Technology Museum),
Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 6 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I am recovering, albeit slowly, from jet lag. This process is made more difficult because my sleep patterns had been seriously disturbed for several weeks before I left NYC, and further complicated…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Merops oreobates, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Merops oreobates, photographed at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 8 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 mm VR lens at 400. ISO 320, 1/400, f/5.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz, streaming video
A reader asked me to ask you to identify these [Mystery Birds], filmed in Wasilla, Alaska, USA, on 4 July 2009. Hint: Turn the sound off while viewing this video to prevent stimulating your gag reflex.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: Africa, Toto, Perpetuum Jazzile, music, streaming video
This video is a live recording of Toto's "Africa" (I love that song!) performed by Perpetuum Jazzile at Vokal Xtravaganzza 2008 (October 2008). This vocal group uses only their bodies to create these remarkable sounds, ranging from rain to thunder [6:17]