For my next Nature Walk, on my Friday lunch break I decided to take a quick stroll around the lake at the NIEHS campus, camera in hand. Over the past couple of month several coworkers have spotted two river otters in the lake (which is strange indeed). I even managed to spot one while staring [...]

Okay, my excuse is that I have yet to participate in a “meme” yet (despite being tagged by several).
The infamous Rick MacPherson of Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice & Sunsets came up with his own little game wherein he determined a set of search terms that would result in his own blog ranking as the top [...]

Heart the size of a Mini Cooper.
Mouth big enough to hold 100 people.
Longer than a basketball court.
Weighing as much as 25 large elephants.
It is the largest creature ever to inhabit the earth.
But we know precious little about it.
Yes, I am now an advertising pawn of big media. But it’s a particular medium that I have [...]

This week’s installment of the Great Darwin Beard Challenge is live over at Southern Fried Science. We are in week two now, our sandpaper faces replaced by millimeter stubble.
It seems a long way from here to our bushy-bearded Darwinian goals. The “contest” will end on October 1st, the 150th anniversary of the inside cover date [...]

Most biologists at one time or another in their training have learned of the 19th century theory expounded upon by Ernst Haeckel called “Recapitulation Theory“.
The theory’s thesis: “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” Don’t worry – it’s not as complicated as the biological jargon might imply.
The idea boils down to a simple one – one that seemed to [...]

As an actively researching scientist, I generally call this blog a “science blog.” However, I would argue that most scientists are first and foremost “naturalists.” As such, much of my time outside of the lab is not necessarily spent dwelling on all the intricate details of my own research (I try to limit how much [...]

I’ve decided – it’s time for me to come out of my pseudonymous virtual closet.
Earlier this year I attended the ScienceOnline09 conference – a conference attended by over 200 science bloggers, educators, journalists, and researchers.
One of the sessions concerned online identity and posed the question “should individual bloggers keep their online identity anonymous or pseudonymous, [...]

For the first time ever, I have been included in the blog carnival for the birds: I and the Bird #94!  And wow are there alot of people who are into birding! Each edition is jam packed with stories of birds, pictures of birds, and recipes of birds (not really).
So set aside some time over [...]

Okay, so technically this is Day 5 (I’m two days behind the other guys). But for consistency’s sake, I’ll just fudge the data a little bit and call it day 7, at the risk of looking relatively less manly.
This week’s Great Darwin Beard Challenge update is hosted by Kevin Zelnio of Deep-Sea News.
Just to remind [...]

“In the gloom it came along the branches towards me, its round, hypnotic eyes blazing, its spoon-like ears turning to and fro like radar dishes, its white whiskers twitching and moving like sensors; its black hands, with their thin fingers, the third seeming terribly elongated, tapping delicately on the branches as it moved along.”
- Gerald [...]

For awhile anyway.
As some of you may know, Andrew, the Southern Fried Scientist, and Kevin Zelnio of The Other 95% and Deep Sea News have begun a Darwinian celebratory challenge of manly proportions. Between February 12th (Darwin’s 200th birthday) and October 1st (The 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, according to [...]

Here’s a big congratulations to Miriam Goldstein of The Oyster’s Garter fame, who managed to get a truly fascination article published on Slate.com.
Her article, entitled “Motion in the Ocean” is all about the Valentine woo-pitching (quote: “making the beast with two beaks”) of squids off the California coast. I highly recommend the read, and be [...]

Though we are nearing the end of the “official” Darwin Day celebration, considering Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, 2009 is sure to be the Year of Darwin. In fact, a slew of events will be filling the entire month of February and there are [...]

Happy 200th birthday, Charles Darwin!
Happy 200th birthday, Abraham Lincoln!
Happy 150th anniversary, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life!
And here’s to a happy Darwin Day and upcoming Valentine’s Day to everyone else.
As a part of my own contribution to the Blog for [...]

Since, it seems that I’ve been on an art post kick for the last two days, I thought I’d toss one more out for you. This is on oldie for me, but I’m betting that few if any of my current readers have seen it.
Way back in 2006, a buddy of mine (Joshua Robertson) was [...]

I recently offered to put in a design for a new blog banner for the extraordinarily nerdy and equally awesome ocean blogger, Miriam, of The Oyster’s Garter.
She didn’t hate my design, which now adorns her digital abode.
If you haven’t been to The Oyster’s Garter, or if you find yourself thinking “what the hell is an [...]

It is well past time that I used my connection with you ocean/invertebrate blogging types to point you all to one of the most artistically talented branches of my family tree.
My cousin, Steven Garrison, has been an accomplished sculptor and artistic engineer for as far back as I can remember. My favorite of his types [...]

Note: If you do nothing else, check out the videos at the very bottom before leaving!!
What a day! A two post day for sure.
The morning started off with an entertaining and educational tour of the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, NC (blog post to follow).
Next, my wife and I were off to the Sarah [...]

Once, again the past decades of developmental biology research has been forgotten amidst the layman’s limited understanding of the potential wonders of genetic technology.
It started off innocently enough: Time.com began a series of articles on “Visions of the 21st Century.”
With daily headlines on the rampant success of molecular, genetic, organismal, and evolutionary biology, it seems [...]

Because it needs to be shouted out to the world, I am reposting this from The Panda’s Thumb. I find this utterly baffling. How can any American not see the vast impact of science on our lifestyles, our economy, our health, our environment, and our existence?!
Science Getting the Shaft
US Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan [...]

I’m jealous!
Christie over at Observations of a Nerd (one of my favorite science blogs), somehow got noticed by the National Geographic Channel and received her own early DVD copy of their upcoming Darwin Specials for review. I highly recommend everyone read her sneak-peek at the upcoming “Morphed” series, which explores the evolution from ancestor beasts [...]

Hat tip to Bora at A Blog Around the Clock for this one.
The Michigan Daily has an excellent article written by Caitlin Schneider on the movement of University Professors to the blogosphere.  Many articles have been written on the burgeoning importance of blogs in teaching, writing, and information dissemination. This one serves as a great [...]

Tell me – what’s cooler than talking about science?
How about hanging out with a bunch of elementary school kids?
And what’s cooler than that?
Hanging out with a bunch of elementary school kids talking about their own science at an elementary science fair!
Yes, on January 30th I was privileged to be one of six judges at the [...]

Welcome back to the Carnival of Evolution – the place where the sideshow freaks of nature, the genetic mutants of the Tree of Life, run the show. Yes – we are all mutants, each of us with our own mutant powers, whether that be gripping plastic electronic mice with opposable thumbs or using specialized spiny [...]

Do you love invertebrates as much as I?
If so, make your way now over to the resurrected Circus of the Spineless, a blog carnival devoted to the world of invertebrates, hosted this 35th edition by Kevin Zelnio of The Other 95% and Deep Sea News.
And to my old ecology/zoology professor, Dr. Matt Moran – thank [...]