Nature
grrlscientist | February 4, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Suvi, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Suvi (Suomenlinna summer).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view].
awild | February 4, 2010
Termite mounds visible in Australia's Northern Territory- I've circled three, but dozens are in the image.
Central Illinois still resembles the frozen lifeless tundra, so to get my bug-hunting fix I've been surfing about on Google Earth. Here at -13.066783, 130.847383 I've found something: Australia's magnificent magnetic termites. The green things are trees, but the little black pimply bits? Those are the termites. On the ground they look like this:
A magnetic termite mound in north Queensland, Australia.
Why "magnetic"?
The mounds are shaped as thin blades along a north-south…
awild | February 1, 2010According to a new study by Olivier Roux et al in PLoS One, she is spreading pheromones from a previously unknown gland:
Abstract: In Oecophylla, an ant genus comprising two territorially dominant arboreal species, workers are known to (1) use anal spots to mark their territories, (2) drag their gaster along the substrate to deposit short-range recruitment trails, and (3) drag the extruded rectal gland along the substrate to deposit the trails used in long-range recruitment. Here we study an overlooked but important marking behavior in which O. longinoda workers first rub the underside of…
awild | January 30, 2010Pogonomyrmex badius Harvester Ants
Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA
Photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D.
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, diffused twin flash
awild | January 28, 2010I did not expect everyone to nearly instantaneously solve yesterday's termite ball mystery. I'm either going to have to post more difficult challenges (from now on, nothing will be in focus!) or attract a slower class of reader.
Cuckoo fungus grows in a termite nest.
As you surmised, those little orange balls are an egg-mimicking fungus. It is related to free-living soil fungi, but this one has adopted a novel growth form that is similar in diameter, texture, and surface chemistry to the eggs of Reticulitermes termites. These hardened sclerotia are carried about the termite nest as if…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: kinematics, kinetics, running,The Barefoot Professor, exercise physiology, barefoot running, NPG, peer-reviewed research, NATURE, 10.1038/nature08723, streaming video
Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman ditched his trainers and started running barefoot. His research shows that barefoot runners, who tend to land on their fore-foot, generate less impact shock than runners in sports shoes who land heel first. This makes barefoot running comfortable and could minimize running-related injuries.
This video is interesting to me because I was a cross-country runner and later, a long-distance…
awild | January 27, 2010...they're something far more interesting.
Ten points to the first person who identifies the orange balls. These were photographed inside a termite nest in southern Illinois last fall.
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Linnoitusta Suomenlinnassa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Kukka Suomenlinnassa (Suomenlinna blossom).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Story of Stuff, environment, pollution, climate change, global warming, recycling, social commentary, cultural observation, planned obsolescence, perceived obsolescence, fashion, advertizing, social psychology, streaming video
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental…
awild | January 25, 2010Tomorrow's NOVA on PBS covers the great orange butterflies on their migration to Mexico:
Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North America. NOVA's filmmakers followed monarchs on the wing throughout their extraordinary odyssey. To capture a butterfly's point of view, camera operators used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air balloon for aerial views along the butterflies' transcontinental route.
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: astronomy, cosmology, black obelisks, Dwarf Galaxy Dance, formation of dwarf galaxies, cold dark matter model, NPG, peer-reviewed research, NATURE, 10.1038/nature08640, streaming video
This beautiful animation shows how exploding stars are a key force in shaping dwarf galaxies. Fabio Governato and colleagues present computer simulations that appear to have solved a longstanding problem in cosmology -- namely, how the standard cold dark matter model of galaxy formation can give rise to the dwarf galaxies we see around us.
DOI: 10.1038/nature08640.
awild | January 24, 2010
Here's something new. Instead of trawling youtube to find the Sunday Night Movie, I've made my own. Click above to watch the compressed version, or if you have a speedy connection click here to see it in full HD glory.
I spent the afternoon experimenting with the video capabilities of the new Canon EOS 7d. The 7d is the newest camera in Canon's SLR lineup, and unlike earlier models it can shoot high-definition video as well as stills.
I've been very curious to see how the video performs with my macro lenses. A lab colony of Odontomachus chelifer trap-jaw ants at the University proved patient…
awild | January 23, 2010
Camponotus floridanus, the Florida Carpenter Ant
Photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D.
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, diffused twin flash
grrlscientist | January 23, 2010tags: Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party, astronomy, science, stars, Milky Way, streaming video
This fascinating video is a time lapse video of night sky as it passes over the 2009 Texas Star Party in Fort Davis, Texas. In this video, you will see the bright galactic core of the Milky Way crossing the Texas sky. Images taken with 15mm fisheye lens.
grrlscientist | January 22, 2010tags: Kivinen Kumpu, Suomenlinnassa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomelninnan kasa lika kiviä ja puita on (mound of dirt with rocks and trees on it on Suomenlinna).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Yes, this is a silly title, but I was told that "hillside" (rinnemailla? mäenrinne?) was not correct, but no proper word was provided to me. Instead, I was told to describe the picture more precisely, so .. I did that. The result is the title you see above, which makes me laugh until tears come out of my eyes, and I…
awild | January 22, 2010...and it's about ants, of course:
The Trailhead Queen was dead. At first, there was no overt sign that her long life was ending: no fever, no spasms, no farewells. She simply sat on the floor of the royal chamber and died. As in life, her body was prone and immobile, her legs and antennae relaxed. Her stillness alone failed to give warning to her daughters that a catastrophe had occurred for all of them. She lay there, in fact, as though nothing had happened. She had become a perfect statue of herself. While humans and other vertebrates have an internal skeleton surrounded by soft tissue…
cagapakis | January 20, 2010Nature News has an excellent article about the hype, the challenges, and the potential of synthetic biology. The article quotes Martin Fussenegger, a leader in mammalian cell synthetic biology as saying "The field has had its hype phase, now it needs to deliver." In order to do so researchers will have to overcome five main challenges:
Many of the parts are undefined
The circuitry is unpredictable
The complexity is unwieldy
Many parts are incompatible
Variability crashes the system
The article is a great read, and includes interviews with many of the big names in the field, as well as…
grrlscientist | January 19, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Ikkuna, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Ikkuna (Suomenlinna window).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 18, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Taivas, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Taivas (Suomenlinna sky).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 17, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Käytävällä, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Käytävällä (Suomenlinna passageway).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)