});
  1. Photos by Paul Nelson of birds released back into the wild. The set is found here.

    Photos by Paul Nelson of birds released back into the wild. The set is found here.

  2. nprglobalhealth: pritheworld: Cassava is a vital staple in Africa and one of the most climate-resilient crops anywhere. It’s also highly susceptible to viral diseases. In Uganda, scientists are testing a virus-resistant transgenic variety, which they hope to introduce for free. But it has run into a buzz saw of hostility towards genetically modified foods. Can this—or any—GMO succeed in the face of such determined opposition? Should it? http://ow.ly/m00cn “What’s for Lunch?” reporter Jon Miller is taking over our Facebook page on Friday to moderate a discussion about the idea of using genetically modified crops in a world affected by climate change. Come to PRI’s The World on Facebook from 12-1pm EDT to join in! A GMO lunch or no lunch at all? Probably take the former. For a sustainable world we cannot look at solutions as either-or. As I teach my students, technology should be considered, generally, value-free. It is what we do with the technology that determines the value. There is plenty of things wrong with GMO agriculture but most of these are due to how it is implemented, the failure to fully account for co-evolution and various policy implementations.

    nprglobalhealth:

    pritheworld:

    Cassava is a vital staple in Africa and one of the most climate-resilient crops anywhere. It’s also highly susceptible to viral diseases. In Uganda, scientists are testing a virus-resistant transgenic variety, which they hope to introduce for free. But it has run into a buzz saw of hostility towards genetically modified foods. Can this—or any—GMO succeed in the face of such determined opposition? Should it? http://ow.ly/m00cn 

    “What’s for Lunch?” reporter Jon Miller is taking over our Facebook page on Friday to moderate a discussion about the idea of using genetically modified crops in a world affected by climate change. Come to PRI’s The World on Facebook from 12-1pm EDT to join in!

    A GMO lunch or no lunch at all? Probably take the former.

    For a sustainable world we cannot look at solutions as either-or. As I teach my students, technology should be considered, generally, value-free. It is what we do with the technology that determines the value. There is plenty of things wrong with GMO agriculture but most of these are due to how it is implemented, the failure to fully account for co-evolution and various policy implementations.

  3. “Fiend without a Face” - saw it as a kid. As a 7 year old or so it was great.

    “Fiend without a Face” - saw it as a kid. As a 7 year old or so it was great.

  4. Life size photos from Wired.com.

    Life size photos from Wired.com.

  5. Nerdness for the day.

    Nerdness for the day.

  6. The Christmas Island Red Crab migration. The population in the tens of millions of crabs migrate annually from the uplands to the shore of the island. They mate and if the conditions are favorable the females release their eggs (up to 100,000 per female) into the ocean. The crabs then return to the forest where they live. Threats to the crabs include roads and vehicles and the invasive yellow crazy ant. The ant is responsible for the decline of crabs by the millions. The crab is a keystone species on the island, dispersing seeds and turning over the soil. The loss of crabs has already shifted the composition of the plant community on the island.

    The Christmas Island Red Crab migration. The population in the tens of millions of crabs migrate annually from the uplands to the shore of the island. They mate and if the conditions are favorable the females release their eggs (up to 100,000 per female) into the ocean. The crabs then return to the forest where they live.

    Threats to the crabs include roads and vehicles and the invasive yellow crazy ant. The ant is responsible for the decline of crabs by the millions.

    The crab is a keystone species on the island, dispersing seeds and turning over the soil. The loss of crabs has already shifted the composition of the plant community on the island.

  7. »  Dolphin-Assisted Birth: Nice, or Nuts?

    Is a carnivorous wild animal an ideal midwife?
    “It is about reconnecting as humans with the dolphins so we can coexist in this world together and learn from one another,”

    So apparently we used to hang with the dolphins (and they made excellent midwives).

    Giving birth in the presence of a carnivore seems natural to me… No worries about the placenta I suppose. For the real adrenaline junkies, the next level will be shark-assisted birth.

  8. Published in ZooKeys last week, this new-to-science species of ant was discovered in the Philippines. The researchers called it the Pirate ant because of the look of an eye patch marking on the head. If they were real pirates they would have been very bad at piracy since the stripe is on both sides of the head implying they have patches over both eyes.

    Published in ZooKeys last week, this new-to-science species of ant was discovered in the Philippines. The researchers called it the Pirate ant because of the look of an eye patch marking on the head. If they were real pirates they would have been very bad at piracy since the stripe is on both sides of the head implying they have patches over both eyes.

  9. Data published from NOAA showing the tornado tracks across the US from 1950 to 2011. The top map has the tracks overlaid with population density.

  10. Nice article that is just too late for my class (finals are done) discussing the discovery of parthenogenesis. This nifty bit of biology allows some species to forgo the necessity of males.

    Nice article that is just too late for my class (finals are done) discussing the discovery of parthenogenesis. This nifty bit of biology allows some species to forgo the necessity of males.

About me

I met the discoverer of Pluto. I have looked into a nuclear reactor and saw Cherenkov radiation. I did field work in shark-infested waters. I have an Erdos number of 5. I have launched satellites. You could say I like science.