I am SO going to this - should be great fun! Kermadec Adventures: A special Blue Wellington event: Dr Tom Trnski of Auckland museum is coming to town! Dr Trnski led the awesome marine survey trip earlier in the year, which found several fish species completely new to science. Come and hear his presentation and […]
Environment and Ecology
How deep is the snow at your place?
The NIWA peeps are well curious about the nigh-on unprecedented amount of frozen precipitation (read: snow) falling all over NZ. In Wellington, and as we speak: it’s snowing _in_ the CBD and also at sea level (Greta Point, for example). This is pretty darned unusual*. And the scientists are keen to get some data, from […]
Introducing a new blog: Waiology
w00t! we have a new blog :) Welcome, Waiology! You’ll notice my use of the term ‘blog’ as opposed to ‘blogger’ as this is a joint effort by a team of hydrologists (water scientists) at NIWA. We welcome our new watery knowledge overlords, and look forward to getting to know quite a bit more about […]
On the subject of phytoplankton
Discovered this morning in a beautiful old book :) Diatoms have lacy cases Of material silicaceous, Perforated lids and bases Made to fit like Petri dishes. Nursed on Nature’s hydroponic They’re prolific and nutritious Making bouillabase planktonic For the sustenance of fishes. - Ralph Lewin Taken from ‘The Fertile Sea’, by A.P. Orr and S.M. […]
Peacock spiders FTW
Cutest. Spider. Ever. Well, possibly. Not being familiar with all the spiders on this or any other world(s), I realise I cannot definitely make such a statement. However, the peacock spider (Maratus volans) is one seriously, seriously cute little critter. For those with short attention spans, the action really starts getting going at about the […]
New things!
I’m back! [UPDATE: Sorry, realised that I may have inadvertently caused confusion over the people responsible for naming the seamounts. Stand by for clarity (and in the meantime, I’ve removed any specific references)] [FURTHER UPDATE: Right, so it appears that the naming of the seamounts was done both by fishers _and_ scientists. More details on […]
Christchurch Earthquake: Holy ****!
NOTE: I’m updating this constantly as new stuff comes in, with resources, accommodation stuff, etc I didn’t feel yesterday’s quake*. Sitting in Wellington, I would still have expected to (our building shakes pretty easily), but I was instantly aware that something was afoot when Twitter lit up with variations on the theme ‘holy ***, HUGE […]
Fresh out: extraterrestrial life _not_ discovered!
You can thank the rampant speculation caused by NASA’s press release for this blog post’s title1. [UPDATE: There’s now a lot of controversy over the paper, which a number of microbiologists says it’s not, um, terribly good…] And the thing is, the discovery in question is a really awesome and important one. But it’s also […]
Introducing a new blog: Infectious Thoughts
And, we have another! We’re pleased as punch (and various other expressions of joy) to introduce our newest blogger, Siouxsie Wiles, to all of you. She’ll be penning Infectious Thoughts, a blog devoted to skepticism, debunking pseudoscientific medical claims, and other forms of clear thinking. No doubt, it’ll be covering other subjects too, given that […]
Introducing a new blogger: Shaken Not Stirred
Man, what a week! We are most proud and yayfull to be introducing our second new blog this wee: Shaken Not Stirred (first post up in about 15 minutes). To be penned by Jesse Dykstra, who’s down south at Canterbury University, it’ll be focusing on natural hazards. Of which New Zealand is full. And also […]