Oil Spill

I have been watching this story with a lot of interest for a while now and I have not a whole lot to say. I wanted to talk statistics and science and about what this means for wildlife in the Gulf, but I keep going back to politics and echoes of "Drill, baby, drill" run through my head. I can't bring myself to write about this travesty that is occurring because I think too many people, too many organizations, have tried so hard for and against this. So many people have risked their lives working on the rigs and protesting them. Who am I to say anything? I know biologically what this will mean to fisheries, wetlands, and bird nesting; but after I speak of all of those things, then what?

I guess, the only thing I really can say is that my thoughts go out to the people who lost family during the explosion. I will also be thinking of all the people that have livelihoods tied to wetlands and marine life and hope everything works out in the end. Not that my thoughts mean anything, they are just thoughts. Still.

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Birds of a Feather?

Circling the news sites is an article about Sinosauropteryx prima, a little dinosaur that has feathers. It was once thought that it was covered in bristles, but upon further inspection it was determined that these "bristles" are, in fact, feathers and orange ones at that. They also noticed that the pigment came in bands along the tail.

This carnivorous dino is the first one to have its exact feather colors determined. Now, while this may seem strange to many of you, dinosaurs have long been linked to prehistoric birds and the like. In fact, modern day birds are thought to have evolved from theropods, the group of dinosaurs our orange little buddy (only about four feet in length) belonged to back in the day. These findings aid in the debate of the evolution of feathers as well. This shows that feathers did not evolve out of necessity of flight, but were perhaps used for something else like displays or insulation.

You can read more about this awesome dinosaur here.

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Wolves, Birds, and Other Animal News

It has been a busy week for animals so lets get to it.

• The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is not making it easy on hunters in Idaho. This year, the state of Idaho sanctioned a wolf hunt and issued 14,000 wolf hunting permits. This large number of permits is despite the fact that the population of the wolves is only estimated at less than 900. In the first 11 days of the hunt, only three wolves have been tagged (legal kills). Montana is due to start their wolf hunting season (population is only 500 there) this week. There are talks occurring as to whether or not the gray wolf should be on the endangered species list again.

• A missing bird was found flying at sea. This is not the booby I mentioned last time. This time it is the Fiji petrel. The bird is incredibly rare and only through a very thorough bird "hunt" were researchers finally able to see them. The only known specimen was an immature one from Gau, Fiji in1855. It wasn't until 1984 that the bird had a confirmed sighting again. You can read more about this elusive bird here.
  

• Honeybees are telling ants to "buzz off" quite effectively. For the first time on tape, a bee has been caught using its wings to blow away ants that are attacking them and their nests. The bees actually change their wing beat pattern to one far more powerful and aggressive to blow the ants away.

• A few new species have been found inside a crater in Papua New Guinea. Among them were various species of amphibians, plants, and one of the world's largest rats. Mount Bosavi crater was the subject of a recent expedition set up by the BBC. Most of these new species are believed to not exist anywhere else on Earth!
  

• This last snippet is a bit of local news. Recently, I wrote about turtle nesting in the VI. Well, as luck would have it, Brewers Bay (the location of my opening credits for many Potspoon! videos) has a turtle nest! Not just any turtle nest either. I have lost of luck spotting green turtles at this beach, but the nest is a leatherback nest! Leatherbacks are the fourth largest reptilian species behind three crocodilians. They are endangered worldwide. The picture above is said nest. I am so excited!
  

That's it for your animal news snippets.

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A Birds Return From Extinction

Photograph by Paul Nicklen for National Geographic

There is a bird that has been considered extinct for a while is back. Don't worry. They didn't come back as zombies or undead minions of some sort. It was actually just a bizarre case of mistaken identity.

The Tasman booby had been considered extinct since the 1700's when sailors consumed what was thought to be the last colony of these birds. Many scientists thought that the Tasman booby and the masked booby were closely related, but it wasn't until recently that they were proven to be one and the same. Besides a bone study, they also studied the DNA and found a perfect match! Masked boobies are on the threatened species list so hopefully now we can save them from a second extinction. :D I'm just glad they weren't really zombies!

You can read more here.

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End of Week Animal News Snippets

This has been an exciting week for animals in the news so we will just get to it:

• First off, there was that weird spider thing in Oklahoma. In the end, the body was destroyed (stupid) so we still don't know if it really was a Brazilian wandering spider or a Huntsman spider. People from the University of Tulsa and the Tulsa Zoo seem to disagree on the identification of it. Since there is no body, we may never know.
  
  

• A lizard that had not been found on mainland New Zealand for 200 years was finally found! The tuatara can grow to be up to almost 3 feet in length from nose to begining of tail. That is about the size of our giant iguanas on island. It was found by people at the Karori Sanctuary.

• Brown University led research found that all bats land differently.

• Scientists are figuring out why some birds are disappearing. Many of the factors causing the disappearance of our feathered friends include climate change, disease, invasive species and habitat loss.

• A pink elephant has been caught on camera. The super cute thing may be an albino which does not bode well for the little calf. The harsh environment of Botswana may give the calf skin problems, blindness, and more. Elephants are smart though and the little calf already only walks in the shade of it's mother.

• More proof of primates using tools has been recorded on film. Chimps in the Republic of Congo are on video making clubs out of branches and breaking open hives to reach the honey inside. If that wasn't enough, they then scoop the honey out using "dipping wands."

I hope this helps with your science fix. I know it helped mine.

Sorry I have been so absent. More hours at work has me a bit exhausted by the time I come home. There is only so much science you can teach in a day.

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General Science Thingies

I really enjoyed doing my Animal News Snippets and other posts in that style. It really allows me to sum up some amazing things without having to spend all day on the computer! So without further ado, here is your update on general science (pretty much all kinds, not just animals like last time).

• Bahamas- Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin found a very large (grape-sized) single celled organism leaving trails. They had found similar single-celled organisms in the Arabian Sea, but they didn't move. These have definite trails behind them and the trails look like early fossilized trails. For a long time, scientists believed the fossilized trails were made by a multi-cellular organism.

• Antarctica- High energy electrons have been captured. Scientists believe the findings may help with theories on the elusive "dark-matter." This topic is very complicated so that is all I will leave you with. It hurts my head typing it. :D

• U.K.- A bird of prey that all but disappeared early last century will be reintroduced in England. The sea eagle is the U.K.'s largest bird of prey and if all goes as planned, they will be reintroduced in Norfolk next summer.

• Italy- Puppy smuggling is a growing concern in Rome, where a conference was held to face the challenges of this illegal industry. Poor puppies!

• World- Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology finds that contacts between new cells when we learn stay in place. That means that we never really forget anything. The brain reactivates these contacts when you are being taught these things again (refresher courses), making the knowledge a bit better.

• California- Researchers at the University of California, Berkley, found that learning the name of a color changes the part of the brain used in perception. Toddlers, for example, use the right half of the brain for color. After learning the name of the color, this perception and awareness switches to the left hemisphere.

If there is anything you guys really want to learn about, feel free to email me at moya [dot] marizela {at} gmail [dot] com. I welcome all comments and critiques! I guess I just want to know what I can do better. I hope you enjoyed your science news!


Picture of the Sea Eagle is in the Public Domain.

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Some "Happy" Pictures

So I am posting these pictures for a weekly event called "Thematic Photographic" over at Written, Inc. I was told about this a while ago and posted to this the first time with the "nature" theme. Well, the lovely lady at Sealaura inspired me yet again when I saw her "happy" pictures.

The first one is of the hubs at a shooting gallery on Coney Island. He looks so happy and almost nostalgic standing there with the fake rifle. The stuffed toys look like they are smiling, too.

To the right of that is a cake from my sister's bridal shower. I thought it was a happy looking cake.

The third one is a seagull that was hovering over us on a ferry to Virgin Gorda. If you click on the picture to see it bigger he looks very happy.

The quality doesn't look that great because these are ACTUAL PHOTOS! Remember those? I scanned them into my computer and I really had no idea how much my scanner sucked. The photos were taken with my trusty 35 mm Pentax ZX-7 35mm SLR Camera. I also typically use my Pentax 28-80 zoom lens. It is a pretty all purpose set up and sometimes this is all I want because I hate carrying around expensive gear. I'm clumsy and forgetful. Bad combo for my nice photo gear! I just wish these photos would have scanned better... they look great and crisp in person.

I am not sure why I just gave you all that techie jargon. I suppose it is because I hate my digital camera, but LOVE my 35 mm.

Now the legal stuff... same as before... The only reason I do this is because (believe it or not) I have had photos taken from me and credited to others.... grumble. Go ahead and use it... just give me credit please!


happy by Marizela Moya is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at scienceforfood.blogspot.com.

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Dropping the Ball, then Kicking the Heck Out of It!

So I didn't post yesterday even though I said I would post everyday in the month of October. It's also Wednesday, and I just do not have the inspiration to do my weekly Debate! again. Maybe it is because of all the political debates recently. I just don't have the patience for it. I do, however, have the energy to do a little bit of sciency news snippets! Here goes:

Fish with Fingers: Researchers have taken x-rays of a fish fossil, Panderichthys, and found that there are rudimentary fingers in the fins. This show that rudimentary fingers were first seen in development earlier than first thought. Weird, huh?

A "Nobel" Woman: The Nobel Prizes are being announced and this week the talk was all Chemistry. It seems to be on all the news sources. However, the award for physiology and medicine has already be granted and one of the winners was a woman! Françoise Barré-Sinoussi from France won the prize for her earlier work discovering HIV. I can't believe they are finally honoring her. Originally this was posted on Women in Science and apparently I missed it. (DOH!)

"Tubular" Solar Energy: A company in California, Solyndra, Inc., designs photovoltaic (solar) cells that are cylindrical in shape to capture light from many angles. This increases the amount of energy one can harness from the sun.

Life Saving Birds: A study done at Washington University in St. Louis shows that areas high in bird diversity have lower risks of West Nile Virus. Yay for mosquito eating birds!

Going Glacier Gone: A study done by United States Geological Survey (USGS) show that Alaska's glaciers are disappearing despite people's assumptions that climate change is a farce. More than 99% of the glaciers in Alaska are retreating at an alarming pace.

Now you guys are all filled with science news! Happy Wednesday!


Photo of Panderichthys courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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