That’s whale fall — what happens when an enormous cetacean corpse hits the ocean floor — not whale fail — what happens when Twitter breaks.
You see, when the carcass lands on the bottom of the sea, a whole host of unpleasant critters come out to eat it in a process that can take months — [...]
Archive for the ‘Rant/Rave’ Category
Why I don’t go into the water…bone-eating worms at whale fall
October 5th, 2009
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Flacks exaggerate importance of medical research
July 15th, 2009
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I missed this earlier and, at the risk of getting myself into trouble, I’d like to say a few words. Ben Goldacre in The Guardian turned his eye toward a recent study about the quality of press releases from major American medical research centers. Having worked in at least one top research institute [...]
Why I don’t go into the water…Reason #1,768
June 9th, 2009
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I could not be in the same ocean as this creature and not be gripped by paralyzing fear (not to mention paralyzing tentacles!). Behold, a great big jelly, the likes of which are not meant to be seen.
Jellyfish, heading for Tokyo to do battle with Godzilla
As the Discovery News reports, monster jellyfish like this [...]
Massive Bat Die-off in NJ? Maybe…and another fungus to blame!
June 5th, 2009
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The Star-Ledger reports that 95% of NJ bats died off this winter from a fungal infection known as “white-nose syndrome.” That sounds pretty damned scary, until you read the article and find that the headline was taken from a single reported hibernaculum (cool word meaning place where critters hibernate), the Hibernia Mine in Rockaway Township. [...]
Keep Libel Laws out of Science
June 4th, 2009
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There’s a petition online in support of Simon Singh, the UK science writer being sued by the British Chiropractic Association for, essentially, using the word “bogus” in the same article as “chiropractic.” You can get the full scoop at Jack of Kent, a blog that has really nailed the issue from the start.
Here’s the [...]
Man, these viral movie promotions are going too far…
April 28th, 2009
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Robot attacked Swedish factory worker – The Local.
The incident took place in June 2007 at a factory in Bålsta, north of Stockholm, when the industrial worker was trying to carry out maintenance on a defective machine generally used to lift heavy rocks. Thinking he had cut off the power supply, the man approached the robot [...]
Why I don’t go in the water…Reason #1,766
March 19th, 2009
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A four foot-long reef worm capable of biting through a 20-pound fishing line.(link via Neatorama)
Dear god.
Why I don’t go in the water…Reason #1,765
March 17th, 2009
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A 15 meter-long pliosaur with jaws that put T-Rex to shame. Sure, it died out 140-some million years ago, but try telling my imagination that.
Also scary, blue holes. Pathway straight to Cthulhu, if you ask me.
Black Sheep, THE best grossout horror comedy I’ve seen in years
March 16th, 2009
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This Saturday we were graced by the lovely Liz and her charming Frank. We provided the pizza (pi for pie day. Sicilian, of course, because pi are square. I’ll keep saying that until its funny.) and they provided the love, in the form of Black Sheep.
After seeing a trailer for it in front another [...]
Fruitflies like the wind, time flies like a banana…
March 12th, 2009
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Stop. Wait, reverse that. OK…
Another neat Eurekalert! feed story, one that offers tips for catching flies:
Caltech scientists discover mechanism for wind detection in fruit flies
Tiny, lightweight fruit flies need to know when it’s windy out so they can steady themselves and avoid being knocked off their feet or blown off course. But how do they [...]
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