Ecology & Zoology

California Squid Are Doing Just Dandy--This Year

I have been known to admit that I fell in love with cephalopods because they are the closest things to aliens coexisting with us on our home planet. (I love aliens.) Clearly I am not the only person to come to this conclusion: The giant Humboldt squid coul ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Jan 27 2010 - 1:58am

Where's the Pooh Squid?

The LA Times is way more awesome than I ever realized. First, they have this section called " LA Unleashed: All things animal in southern California and beyond." That's one awesome. Next, LA Unleashed includes a daily feature called " Y ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Jan 28 2010 - 8:04pm

Arctic Extremophile Winter Pep Talk

The return of biting arctic air to southeastern Wisconsin froze my enthusiasm for strolling the block, but activated my wondering about kinds of organisms that thrive in icy ecosystems, or arctic extremophiles. Crustaceans, worms, diatom chains, unicellula ...

Blog Post - Anonymous - Jan 31 2010 - 3:28pm

The Quantum Mechanics Of Photosynthesis

Quantum biology?   Sure, it doesn't get as much attention as its physics counterpart but special proteins called light-harvesting complexes are getting some attention for the field and a team of University of Toronto chemists say they have observed qu ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 3 2010 - 2:59pm

Politicians Need A Lesson In Zoology

Former failed CEO and current political candidate Carly Fiorina has campaign staff who don't mind thinking outside the box a little. How far outside?   Portraying your opponent as a demonic animal with red glowing eyes and your constituents as sheep i ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Feb 6 2010 - 3:13pm

Humboldt Squid Are Still Not Giant Squid

Oh criminy, are we still confused? Didn't we go over this like a zillion times? Wasn't Deep-Sea News' excellent primer on how Humboldt Squid are Not The Same Thing as Giant Squid clear enough? Sigh. Just let a few fishermen catch a few hundr ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Feb 9 2010 - 4:32pm

Earlier Springs May Throw Nature Out Of Step

A collaborative study involving scientists from 12 UK research institutions, universities and conservation organizations suggests that the trend towards earlier UK springs and summers has been accelerating. The study, published recently in Global Change Bi ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 9 2010 - 11:59am

Do Disturbed Snails Have Panic Attacks?

Do Disturbed Snails Have Panic Attacks? Whilst researching some applications of the laws of thermodynamics to the biochemical processes in living things, I came across some very intriguing facts about snails.  Living things react to changes of heat in the ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 10 2010 - 7:05pm

Honey Bees Warn Of Danger With 'Stop Sign' Signal

A series of experiments on honey bees foraging for food has revealed that the bees warn their nest mates about dangers they encounter while feeding with a special signal that is akin to a 'stop sign' for bees. The bees were attacked by nearby col ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2010 - 7:02pm

Bonobos Show Sharing's Not Exclusive To The Human Experience

It appears that the act of voluntarily sharing something with another is not entirely exclusive to the human experience. Researchers writing in Current Biology observe that bonobos—a sister species of chimpanzees--consistently chose to share their food wit ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 12 2010 - 12:54pm