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2013-05-25 12:57:08 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

I'm going to New Zealand in a few weeks and while I am there I will be giving a public talk on parasites and their roles in ecosystems. As a part of that talk I will be talking about Curtuteria australis (http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-15-curtuteria-australis.html), a parasitic fluke which I studied for a few years during my PhD. While putting my talk together today, in a moment of whimsy, I decided to make this thing. I'm going to put it in my presentation - just for the lolz.

2013-05-24 12:32:36 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 18 +1s)

Sweet Tooth No More
Cockroaches tend to have a sweet tooth and usually find glucose irresistible. Thus, the poison baits used for controlling cockroaches also contain glucose as a mean of attracting these insects to their death. However, evolution never stops and if you impose a strong enough selection pressure on a population, there is a good chance that it will evolve in response. So now there are cockroaches crawling around that have evolved an  aversion towards glucose.
Just how these roaches manage to lose their sweet tooth and avoid the baits and trap we have set out for them was the subject of a new paper published in Science.
To read more about it, follow the link below. You can also listen to the 24 May 2013 episode of the Science podcast where they interview the lead author of the study, available here: http://www.sciencemag.org/site/multimedia/
#... more »

2013-05-24 00:26:31 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

On unexamined privilege and why "Check your privilege" may in fact be a bit generous sometimes.
"...people tend to say “privilege” as a shorthand for “unexamined privilege”. It’s a useful concept in social justice, this notion that sometimes people behave in unjust ways because they don’t actually know how the other half lives."
"There’s another possibility besides unexamined privilege, usually just shortened to “privilege”. It could be that they have looked at their privileges, find them appealing, and would like to preserve them at the expense of basic decency and keeping the peace."

2013-05-23 13:28:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Psst, Pass This On
The brush-tail rock wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) is an endangered marsupial species which is currently the subject of a captive breeding program in an attempt to boost and save the wild population. But when these captive-bred individuals are released into the wild, could they also be carrying some nasty passengers? In a new study recently published in PLoS One, researchers found that the gut microbiota of captive-bred wallabies often contain a mobile genetic element call class 1 integron which can code for #antibioticresistance  in gram-negative bacteria. Which means when these animals are released and start mingling with the wild population, they might also pass on this antibiotic-resistant gene to the gut bacteria of wild wallabies, or even to other animals including ourselves.
#scienceeveryday   #microbiology   #endangeredspecies   #marsupials  

2013-05-23 13:12:09 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

Well, some of you might have heard the sad news that the Chicago Board of Education voted to close fifty Chicago Public schools (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/chicago-school-closings_n_3319755.html). But they didn't go down without a fight. Asean Johnson is a 9 year old who goes to Marcus Garvey Elementary School which is one of the schools on the chopping block, and he gave one of the most amazing speech I've heard from anyone (let alone a 9 year old kid).

2013-05-22 13:46:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Solar-Powered Animals
Also, in case you missed it earlier, I was on the local radio again a few days ago for their regular "Creepy but Curious" segment. This time, I talked about various different animals that have photosynthetic symbionts in their body which allows them to directly harness the power of the sun. Download the MP3 of that segment (and all the past episodes) at the link below
#scienceeveryday   #biology   #symbiosis   #photosynthesis   #solarenergy  

2013-05-22 13:11:41 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 10 +1s)

Brainy and Spineless
Cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish) are known for being the brainiest invertebrate animals around - so brainy that their intelligence rival that of some vertebrate animals. But just what does it mean to be "smart" or "intelligent" when you are an octopus, and just how did cephalopods get to be that way in the first place? To find out, see this video below.
#scienceeveryday   #biology   #cephalopod   #neurobiology   #behavioralecology  

2013-05-21 04:05:38 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Solar-Powered Animals
I was on the local radio again this morning for their regular Creepy but Curious segment. This time I was talking about various different animals that have photosynthetic symbionts in their body which allows them to do something which is usually found in plants - the ability to directly harness the power of the sun.
#scienceeveryday   #biology   #symbiosis   #photosynthesis  

2013-05-20 15:20:02 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

Oh look, Baroness Susan Greenfield is telling us (again) that the InterWebz is warping our lil' minds. What's more, when asked if she has any research supporting her claim - seeing how she's a scientist and all - she responded that:
...she doesn't feel she can do the whole theory justice in a single piece of work. "How can I publish just one paper?" she retorts.
Right, therefore she is going to publish zero papers instead.
To get up to speed on Baroness Greenfield and "Greenfieldism", see the following:
http://www.badscience.net/2011/11/why-wont-professor-greenfield-publish-this-theory-in-a-scientific-journal/
http://storify.com/carlzimmer/greenfieldism-i-point-to-a-twitter-stream-and-i-po
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/apr/09/susan-greenfield-article-how-to-guide
#Greenfieldism  

2013-05-19 14:46:45 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 15 +1s)

Modern Carnivorous Dinosaurs
For this #ScienceSunday , I am sharing another episode from the BBC series The Life of Bird, narrated by +Sir David Attenborough. The episode I am sharing today shows a variety of different carnivorous birds in action - this is especially for people who are under the impression that if you reconstruct theropod dinosaurs with feathers (which you should, because that is scientifically accurate), then it would somehow make them "less scary". That is anything but true - modern feather-covered carnivorous dinosaurs are brutal. Also, you should also have a look at this XKCD comic: http://www.xkcd.com/1211/
#biology   #ornithology   #birds   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-16 21:36:22 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

And Now, Beetles Bearing "Gifts"...
In ecological parasitology and disease ecology, there is a term call "spillover"  - this is where an introduced species also end up introducing its own parasite(s) to the native fauna/flora found at the new area that they have landed. The post I shared earlier on Xenopus and chytrid can be considered one such example, another is when the North American grey squirrel was introduced to the UK, it carried with it the squirrel pox virus - the grey squirrel is unaffected by the virus, but it is extremely virulent in the red squirrels which are native to the UK. Now, a new study indicates the Harlequin Ladybird has been doing something similar. See this post by +Ed Yong to read more about it.
#biology   #parasitology   #ecology   #entomology   #bugseveryday   #parasitismeveryday   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-16 13:03:46 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

Beware of Frogs Bearing Spores
This has been suspected for quite a while among the amphibian disease research circle...a new study published in PLoS One indicates that the devastating amphibian chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatis was indeed spread across the globe due to the live trade of the African Clawed Frog Xenopus laevis. Unlike most amphibians, Xenopus can carry the fungus without exhibiting any signs of illness. Originally endemic to Africa, the clawed frog has been transported across the world due to its usefulness in detecting human pregnancy. Even though that has become obsolete in the 1970s, Xenopus is still widely used as a model organism for research on developmental biology. Inadvertently, this unleashed a plague upon the amphibians of the world. On a related note, amphibian chytrid has now also been detected in the group of legless amphibians known as thec... more »

2013-05-15 12:08:58 (5 comments, 4 reshares, 13 +1s)

When I was a child (~6-7 years old), I once kept a caterpillar as a pet. I think it might have been a cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni) that I found amongst some cabbage or lettuce that my parents had bought. I fed it wel and kept a detailed diary of its development, taking notes everyday until it finally grew into a chrysalis, then metamorphosed into a moth. When it was a chrysalis, I had always wondered what went on inside it. Well now science has finally fulfilled something I've always wanted to do as a child - looking inside a developing chrysalis.
#biology   #entomology   #caterpillar   #butterflies   #scienceeveryday   

2013-05-14 12:21:19 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

From +AlterNet - men stepping up to support women's right and to fight violence against women. And it's about time too...

2013-05-13 22:48:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

The Worm Turns On Lizard Sexy Times
ICYMI: I have written a new Parasite of the Day post! So what does a bit of lizard hanky-panky have to do with how this nematode is transmitted between different hosts? Follow the link below to read all about it!
#biology   #parasitology   #lizard   #anole   #parasitismeveryday   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-13 13:35:35 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

Lizard Sexy Times As The Worm Turns
I have written a new Parasite of the Day post! So what does a bit of lizard hanky-panky have to do with the life-cycle of this nematode worm? Follow the link below to read all about it!
#biology   #parasitology   #lizard   #anole   #parasitismeveryday   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-12 14:20:29 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

The Maternal Tick
Another post fitting in the theme of #ScienceSunday  and #MothersDay , last September I wrote a post about Antricola marginatus, a tick which goes above and beyond to care for her young. While most people don't usually think of ticks and other parasites as being caring mothers, this one certain takes good care of her brood. I have also written about other maternal parasites that sacrifice everything to make sure their babies get the best start in life including a thorny-head worm that turns herself into ballast for her eggs: http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2012/02/acanthocephalus-dirus.html
And a nematode that turns herself into a shelter for her larvae and bait for ants (the parasite's next host): http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2011/08/skrjabinoptera-phrynosoma.html
#biology   #parasitology   #parasitismeveryday   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-12 12:56:52 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

Parenthood, Aves Style
For this #ScienceSunday , I am sharing a video which seems appropriate for #MothersDay  too. It is from the BBC series The Life of Bird, narrated by the one and only +Sir David Attenborough. The episode I am sharing today is "The Problems of Parenthood" which looks at the ways that different species of birds protect and bring up their brood, from cormorants to cuckoo, from parrots to plovers, and so much more.
#biology   #ornithology   #behavioralecology   #birds   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-11 14:19:17 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

I've never heard of this Eddie Cuffin bloke before, and now I wish I was back at that state of blissful ignorance mere hours ago. This guy is a real class act. What a catch! Right? Oops, my fingers slipped there, I actually meant to type " What a piece of shit ".

2013-05-11 13:32:53 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Life in the 21st century - watching astronauts doing a spacewalk and fixing problems on a space station live while writing a blog post and chatting to people on the other side of the world.

2013-05-10 04:54:53 (10 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

I am currently preparing some material for the practical class of a new first year unit zoology unit at my university call ZOOL100. For some of the lab classes they will be looking at specimen (or at least replicas) of some extinct beasties. For the ones that we don't have access to, I decided to put my passable drawing skill to work and ended up with these.

2013-05-08 13:12:41 (3 comments, 6 reshares, 18 +1s)

Bat Bunkers
In Maine, bunkers which formerly served as shelter from potential nuclear attacks during the Cold War are now being converted into shelters for bats to protect them from a deadly pathogen - the fungus which causes a disease call White Nose Syndrome (WNS). Two of the 43 bunkers at the former Loring Air Force Base are being turned into artificial hibernacula where scientists can monitor the bats and protect them against WNS which has so far killed 6.7 million bats.
The death of bats can have devastating consequences on agriculture as they eat pest species such as caterpillars, as well as contributing to pollination. In fact, it has been estimated that bats contribute $23 billion to the agriculture industry in the form of pest control and pollination... more »

2013-05-08 03:33:37 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

Your Amoeba - On Coffee
Some of us like to have coffee while we are working on something - but that might not be such a good thing if you are an Euglyphid amoeba trying to construct your shell. Some protists are capable of building intricate shells (see: http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2012/02/fine-reading-houses-made-by-protists.html) which shows that just because you are unicellular, it doesn't mean you can't make something beautiful. But it turns out if you mix in a bit of caffeine, things start getting a bit...wonky....
To read more about this, see the post below by +Psi Wavefunction in +Scientific American 
#biology   #microbiology   #protist   #protozoan   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-07 00:55:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Brace Yourselves, Funding Cuts Are Coming Here
I have previously written at length about this last year in October (http://goo.gl/lmwTB), so I won't write too much here, needless to say, let me just repeat: Australian scientists (like myself) and our research careers are BONED. So the kind of research like the one I just shared about amphibian chytrid? Forget about that, or at least forget about it coming from Australia - a country which has called itself the "lucky country" and the "clever country", showing itself to be neither.
#australianpolitics   #AustralianResearchCouncil   #australianscience   #scienceeveryday    

2013-05-07 00:43:24 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Globalisation Unleashed a Plague for Frogs
Some of you might be familiar with Amphibian Chytridiomycosis a disease caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and is causing decline in amphibian populations around the world. A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that this is a strain which has been around for a long time, but the global trade in amphibians has transported it around the world. But not all frogs are affected by it, indeed there are some species of amphibians such as American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) and African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis) that seem to be immune to the fungus and can act as asymptomatic carriers for the pathogen. Incidentally those two species have been widely traded around the world - bullfrogs are transported globally as food, and the African clawed frog is a widely used as a... more »

2013-05-06 15:12:50 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

I invited a bee scientist to publish a bit of a rant about CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) on my blog :) 

2013-05-06 15:00:49 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

The Lil' Cookie Monster
When most people think of sharks, they think of a fairly large, streamlined fish with a set of sharp teeth. However, the Cookiecutter Shark (Isistius brasiliensis) is a bit different from what most people think of when it comes to sharks. It does have a very sharp set of teeth, but it is a relatively small and it attacks its prey in a rather unusual way. To read more about this little guy, just follow the link below.
#biology   #marinebiology   #marinelife   #shark   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-05 12:59:27 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

A Feast At The Deep
Earlier in the week, I was on the local radio talking about whale falls and the community of organisms that live on whale carcasses in the deep sea (you can listen to it here: http://goo.gl/sr0KN). In this presentation, Diva Amon (http://www.southampton.ac.uk/oes/postgraduate/research_students/dja605.page) - a PhD student at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton - goes into more details and talked about her research on whale falls along with other organic falls and chemosynthetic ecosystem in the deep sea.
#biology   #ecology   #deepsea   #marinebiology   #marinelife   #scienceeveryday   #sciencesunday  

2013-05-02 09:01:46 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 8 +1s)

Acid-Secreting Bone Muncher
A few days ago I was on the local radio talking about the amazing ecology of whale falls in the deep sea (you can listen here: http://goo.gl/sr0KN). During that segment I mentioned Osedax - the bizarre polychaete worm with no digestive tract that is nevertheless able to drill into whale bones and draw nutrient from their content thanks to its symbiotic bacteria. But how does this worm burrow through the tough whale bone in the first place? It turns out that this worm ican secrete a type of acid that dissolve the matrix of the bone. This was just recently published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B here: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1761/20130625.abstract
#biology   #marinebiology   #marinelife   #deepsea   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-01 13:18:04 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Prosorhynchoides borealis
I have written a new Parasite of the Day post! Clams, #cod , and #monkfish  - do they sound like items on the menu of a seafood restaurant? Maybe. But they also happen to be hosts animals that the parasitic fluke Prosorhynchoides borealis uses to complete its life cycle. Follow the link below to find out more!
#biology   #parasitology   #marinebiology   #marinelife   #fish   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-01 03:43:41 (15 comments, 11 reshares, 14 +1s)

Feathered Dinosaurs > Scaly Dinosaurs
One of the things that have been occupying discussions between dinosaurs fans had been the apparent announcement that dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 4 will not have feathers. I don't really have any bird in this argument - I have pretty much given up on the franchise since the second film, but seeing as Jurassic Park had played such an important role in changing the public perception of dinosaurs and that the image of dinosaurs that it depicted 20 years ago was considered cutting edge for its time, it seems sad that it will become a sad parody of itself to not keep up with the latest discoveries.
One of the (lame) argument that JP fans (note: not necessarily dinosaur fans) level against the depiction of dinosaurs covered in feathers or similar features is that it will somehow make them look "less scary". I think those fans have not... more »

2013-04-30 04:58:32 (12 comments, 3 reshares, 17 +1s)

Death of a Leviathan and a Feast at the Abyss
I was on the local radio again this morning for their regular "Creepy but Curious" sgement. This time, I was talking about what happens to whales after they die and the deep sea community that thrive on whale carcasses (and as usual, I've drawn a little cartoon to go with it). To download an MP3 of that segment, follow this link here: http://goo.gl/sr0KN
#biology   #marinebiology   #marinelife   #deepsea   #whales   #ecology   #scienceeveryday  

2013-04-28 13:05:21 (0 comments, 7 reshares, 8 +1s)

A Fish Out Of Water
The phrase "a fish out of water" is often used to describe someone finding themselves in an utterly unfamiliar situation for which they are ill-prepared to handle. But that would not describe many of the fish that are discussed in this video, some of them are perfectly at home out of the water.
Apart from the well-known lungfish, there are many other fishes that have evolved to breath air. And while many of them don't have lungs like ours, through the course of evolution many fish had co-op different organs for air-breathing, (note: there is a species catfish which is discussed in this video that has a somewhat comical way of exhaling). If you have an hour to spare, be sure to watch this video as Scripps marine biologist, Dr. Jeffrey Graham take us through the fascinating world of air-breathing fish
Note: Sadly, Dr. Graham passed away in... more »

2013-04-27 00:30:14 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Stoned Loon
It in a recent study reported this month in Northeastern Naturalist, some wildlife biologists came across a possibly confused common loon (Gavia immer) trying to incubate some rock, treating them like they're eggs. So is this a case of a loon getting awfully confused? The researcher noted that the bird which was spending all that time incubating those rocks was a particularly young individual, so was this bird simply inexperienced, or was it "playing nest" and engaging in "mock" nesting to get more nesting experience?
#biology   #ornithology   #behavioralecology   #animalbehavior   #scienceeveryday  

2013-04-26 15:40:36 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 2 +1s)

Tiny Fairies and Grabby Genitals
Most people who have any passing familiarity with the biology of insects would know that some insects have rather...intimidating genitalia. Probably none more so than the forcepfly - an insect with genital pincers that are longer than its abdomen. This species from Brazil - Austromerope brasiliensis - is one of many fascinating insects which has just been newly described. To find out more, follow the link below.
#biology   #taxonomy   #entomology   #insects   #scienceeveryday  

2013-04-26 13:56:09 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Remember that video of the Cookie Monster "singing" Tom Wait's "God's Away On Business"? Oh look, here's a new one...

2013-04-26 02:16:50 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 5 +1s)

Wired For Sound
Bats are know to use echolocation to hunt down their insect prey, but did you know that some moths have also evolved various acoustic-based countermeasures to spoof the bats' tracking system? For more on this fascinating story of evolutionary arms race between the hunter and the hunted, follow the link below to the American Scientist article on this topic.
#biology   #evolutionarybiology   #coevolution   #scienceeveryday   #insects  

2013-04-25 22:09:06 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Cultured Animals
We humans like to take great pride in our ability to pass on knowledge, traditions, and ritual down the next generation through teaching. Indeed, some see it as what separates us from the rest of the animals - our ability to transmit non-genetic information to our offspring. But is it really that unique? This new blog post by +Ed Yong take a look at some of the latest studies on the ability of non-human animals to learn from each others and just what might constitute as "culture".
#biology   #behavioralecology   #animalbehavior   #scienceeveryday  

2013-04-23 22:46:46 (105 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

So, I finally got f^cking sick of all the f^cking copyright infringement on Facebook's I F^cking Love Science page and blogged about it:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/compound-eye/2013/04/23/facebooks-i-fcking-love-science-does-not-fcking-love-artists/

2013-04-22 13:37:50 (4 comments, 11 reshares, 8 +1s)

Sexual Tyrannosaurus
Many non-avian dinosaurs have elaborate and decorative structures on their head or other parts of their body. Those features seem to serve no obvious survival function, so it is not immediately clear why they have them. However, in living animals, such extravagant features are often the products of sexual selection - of which the most well-known example is the peacock's tail. So perhaps that is why dinosaurs have such elaborate accessories.
But paleontologist Jack Horner claims otherwise. He thinks that they are there so that different species of dinosaurs can tell each other apart - "species recognition" (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2010.00719.x/abstract). This is an idea which has also become popular among some palaeontologists.
Personally, I think it is, well, ridiculous and so does +Darren Naish. As hep... more »

2013-04-21 14:23:09 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

Living Coelacanths, Dead Fossils
The genome of the African coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) was recently sequenced and published in the journal Nature to some fanfare. While many headlines has touted the coelacanth as a "living fossil" (including Nature's own coverage of the paper: http://www.nature.com/news/living-fossil-genome-unlocked-1.12809), this is a term that has been apply to (too) many other animals including sharks, crocodiles, and tuataras. 
But not only is that term lazy and misleading, it is also ultimately meaningless. +Brian Switek has previously written about why science writer should stop using the term "living fossil" (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/a-rant-about-living-fossils/), and for #sciencesunday  I am sharing a recent post by +PZ Myers on the diversity of extinct coelacanths, how different they are when compared to livingcoe... more »

2013-04-20 01:55:59 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

So...this tweet from @Horse_ebooks pretty much describes how this week has been like...

2013-04-18 22:01:14 (2 comments, 13 reshares, 18 +1s)

The Changing Lives of Ants
Ants are well-known for their sophisticated society with distinctive division of labour between the reproductive queens and sterile workers and soldiers. But a new study which tracked the movement of individual ants in a colony reveals that there is more to their division of labour than just these physical castes. While the worker ants look superficially similar, they are actually further divided into separate groups with distinct roles - nursing the youngs, cleaning the nest, foraging for food - and that as they age, the role of individual worker ants also changed.
#biology   #entomology   #eusociality   #insects   #bugseveryday   #scienceeveryday  

2013-04-17 11:24:05 (4 comments, 4 reshares, 18 +1s)

Surgical Parasites
Researchers at Massachusetts have developed a microneedle-covered surgical patch with three times the adhesion strength of surgical staples which is inspired by the attachment structure of acanthocephalans - which are a group of intestinal parasites also known as thorny-head worms. For those who don't know what they are or how they look like, here are some post from the Parasite of the Day blog which featured acanthocephalans: http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/search/label/acanthocephalan
#biology   #biomimicry   #parasitology   #parasitismeveryday   #scienceeveryday  

2013-04-16 23:50:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Under Your Skin, Under Your Fins
I have written a new Parasite of the Day blog post! This post is about Philometroides paralichthydis, a nematode (roundworm) which infects the fin muscles of the southern #flounder . So how does this affect the host fish? Follow the link below to find out more!
#biology   #parasitology   #parasitismeveryday   #nematodes   #scienceeveryday  

2013-04-16 04:00:54 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

I've been staying off social media for the last 4 hours or so - because when a terrible tragedy occurs, it just bring out the worst in some people...
It can also bring out the best in some people, but those people usually are out helping others, and not posturing and spreading rumours on Twitter...

2013-04-15 13:24:55 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

It's truly a slug-eat-slug world out there. Here's a video of some nudibranch eating some smaller nudibranchs.
#marinelife   #seaslug   #mollusks  

2013-04-13 13:09:57 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 11 +1s)

An important and must-read post by +Kathryn Clancy on how sexual harassment and abuse in the field are being under-reported, and what must be done to change that culture. Note: While the post is focused on field-based anthropology, this is definitely not a problem which is just restricted to that field.

2013-04-13 00:20:46 (28 comments, 7 reshares, 15 +1s)

Vaccination and Herd Immunity
In some Sydney suburbs, the number of children who are being immunised is falling below the threshold necessary to protect the community. When you are immunised or vaccinated, you are doing more than just protecting yourself, you are playing your part in herd immunity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity), acting as "firewalls" to limit opportunities for the pathogen to spread so that it would eventually burn itself out. But when not enough individuals in a community is immunised, herd immunity is compromised and this increases the risk of disease outbreaks. That is exactly what is happening in some communities in Australia thanks to the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) - an ironically-named group which is actually anti-vaccination. To find out more, follow the link below.
#immunisation   #vaccination   #epidemiology  #i... more »

2013-04-11 23:52:48 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Playing The Glamour Game
This is probably only of interest to those who are working in science academia. This is a post written by DrugMonkey on "GlamourMags" (such as Nature and Science), Journal Impact Factors, and the meta-game that has developed around chasing after the Holy Grail of getting published in those GlamourMag journals. This is a good analysis of the situation, how it has affected the culture of science, and what we can possibly do about it.