[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] Another week, another collection of brilliant stuff to talk about. This week, Elf and aimee talk about groups. Well, mostly groups, but also weta, astronomy, learning and why we don’t have a cure for AIDS. As for groups - we look into how StarCraft 2 […]
biology
Spongelab: game based learning
I awoke this morning to a rather epic amount of win. Included in this was an email from Spongelab asking if I’d like to register with them. I did, and I have. For those of you not suffering from attention issues (i.e. who didn’t immediately click on the hyperlink and will never read the rest […]
An ode to phytoplankton
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 LewinTaken from ‘The Fertile Sea’, by A.P Orr and S.M Marshall (1969)
Bacteria build pyramids
Yay! And true. Not the ones with which we’re all familiar, of course (and by these I am referring to the Giza structures). [Interesting sidenote: bacteria are capable of building structures with sand, which they turn into sandstone, and there’s a fascinating TED talk which looks at how this ability could be used to build […]
You know your 'type'? It's stress dependent…
A number of interesting revelations to be had here, and all to do with our choices of ‘mate’. And by mate, I don’t mean the antipodean colloquialism meaning ‘friend’. Nope, I mean mate as in, you know, someone you want to shag. As it were. The first revelation in this paper* is that, for the […]
Would you like something scanned with an electron microscope?
Of course you would! Who wouldn’t? And have it you can. As I came into the work this morning, blearily clearing emails as I attempted to mainline some caffeine, I came upon an email most arresting. From an American company, ASPEX, it said that the company in question had a bit of an offer going […]
Sperm of a feather clump together
I’m gobsmacked. And highly amused, as well (it’s the immature part of me, apologies). Credit: Phil Myers (photographer, copyright holder), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. More info here and here. (I tried to find a picture of sperm in question, but nothing seemed to be (c)-free) Research published in Nature this week has shown […]