Random Thought of the Day

"Let men stew in their cities if they will.
It is in the lonely places,
in jungles and mountains,
in snows and fires,
in the still observatories and the silent laboratories,
in those secret and dangerous places where life probes into life,
it is there that the masters of the world,
the lords of the beast,
the rebel sons of Fate
come to their own."

-H.G. Wells

Random Thought of the Day

A fellow blogger just posted this.

I learned some stuff. It was great. Learning is always great. Go learn something fun about urchin anatomy!

For example, I bet you didn't know that urchins poop from the tops of their heads!

Yeah, well, now you know!

Oh, and the gonads really do splooge all over the screen when you click them...

Best Urchin anatomy quiz ever!

Random Thought of the Day

I have absolutely no idea what is going on here.

Usually, I can formulate some kind of scientific reasoning for anything I view on YouTube, but this one has me COMPLETELY baffled.

Why on earth is that ladybug playing with those sprinkles?!?!



I only have one thought. Perhaps he thinks they're little aphids. Prey items.

So baffled.

Random Thought of the Day

Have you ever heard of Olympus Mons?

It's the largest mountain in the solar system. And it also happens to be the largest volcano in the solar system.

Oh, and it's on Mars, by the way.

Someone's got an acne problem...

It also happens to be so large that as you approach its summit, you wouldn't even notice that you're climbing a mountain at all. The average slope of Olympus Mons is only 5 degrees!

But if you're approaching the mountain from afar, you'll encounter the shield escarpment, a huge 5-mile-high wall!

It's just so freaking big!

That's what she said...

Random Thought of the Day

Kiwis.

No...not those.

You've seen kiwis, right? Of course.

But did you know that...

Kiwi eggs can weigh up to a quarter of their body weight? These birds are about the size of chickens, but their eggs are generally six times larger than chicken eggs! This is the biggest egg-to-body size ratio of any animal in the world!

That would be like giving birth to a 40 pound baby.

Or, for those of you incapable of imagining birth, try this:

Imagine trying to poop out a whole watermelon.

Now imagine a watermelon five times larger...

Or a 40 pound pumpkin/5-year-old?

Yikes.

But wait, there's more!

These birds have quite a few mammal-like traits. For example their feathers are loose and hair-like. And they have whiskers! And their nostrils are on the tips of their beaks (only birds in the world with this trait)! And they have a highly developed sense of smell (extremely rare for birds)! And they forage in through the undergrowth looking for worms and grubs! And they're nocturnal! And they burrow!

And these guys don't actually have wings. Their forelimbs have evolved into tiny little nubs! There's basically nothing left!

And they smell really bad. Some kiwi experts claim to locate new kiwi burrows using smell alone! Or they just train dogs to sniff them out (so they can better protect these endangered organisms, of course).

They're just sooo coool!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

If biologists ruled the world, Valentines would regularly look like this:

And a few of my own creation, of course:

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

I'm a winner!

Oh hey. I won something!

Well, almost.

The University of Puget Sound has a photo contest every year for students who study abroad. Last year, I submitted 5 photos to the contest and the winners were finally announced this week!

I received honorable mention for two photographs in the "Most Artistic" category...whatever that means.

Check it out!

The blue Morpho butterfly, national symbol of Costa Rica and todo tranquilo.

A Saturniid moth caterpillar crawling along my windowsill at the Biological Field Station where I lived during my stay in Monteverde.

Here are some of the other photos I submitted to the contest. I think they're pretty great too.

You should check out the other winners as well! They're all amazing fotos!