Penguins from Space!!!

It appears that there are way more emperor penguins in Antarctica than originally thought. In an article originally published in PLoSONE, a survey done using a Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite revealed that there may be twice as many penguins as originally thought. 

Because the penguins' black color stands out so visibly against the snow, they were easily spotted via satellite. Viewing from space allowed researchers to analyze 44 coastal colonies in Antarctica. You can read more about viewing penguins from space here.

An Emperor Penguin Population Estimate: The First Global, Synoptic Survey of a Species from Space

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School Daze

I finally went in to register for classes and the science gods were with me. I am lucky enough that in my senior year I get to do a semester of freshman level courses! Chemistry 2, Physics, Freshman Development Seminar, Social Science 100 and CPR. I never took these classes because I'm stubborn. Now that I am getting burned out on school, this will be a painless semester to help me get back into the swing of things. *sigh*

Now onto some devastating science news I read on Greg Laden's blog. Apparently baby penguins are being washed ashore hundreds of miles away from their native lands. 300 have been found dead or alive in Bahia state in Brazil. Some believe that it is due to overfishing in Patagonia a la Happy Feet and others believe it has to do with stronger than normal ocean currents. Whatever it is, they are getting closer and closer to the equator and it's a bit scary. If you want to find out more about penguins, PBS did a great job with this penguin series.

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