Ecology & Zoology

It was the year 2000, I think, and I was on a college field trip to the tidepools. The class was Invertebrate Zoology, so we were flipping rocks over and listing off the phyla as fast as we could…

Most people don't know this, but there is a secret war going on in the animal kingdom; since before recorded history began, squirrels and rattlesnakes have been going at it.  Over time, some…

As a gullible sucker myself, I appreciate the cultural tradition of having one day out of the year when I know not to take anyone seriously. Technologists may produce the most labor-intensive April…

One of the more whimsical squid news stories I've seen in a while: A squid, a dog, and a mini-mystery solved at a Minnesota lake."Of course, squid are not found in Minnesota lakes," reports…

Could the big split among anti-science hippies occur over a cute little cat? PETA loves animals.  Greenpeace hates genetic modification and science in general because changes are only 'natural'…

An expedition to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has led to discovery of a new 'King of Wasps' - 80 years after it was first collected. Megalara garuda is pitch-black, has an enormous body size,…

The world's biggest squids (accurately named "giant" and "colossal") have the world's biggest eyes, which may seem like a no-brainer until you consider that they are by no means the world's …

Artist Laura Hines has done a couple of gorgeous illustrations of Humboldt squid. Humboldt Squid #1 (above) is a rendering of this photograph from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: It's a…

Thanks to my awesome brother, I have now acquired and read the full text of the paper I blogged about yesterday: "Purification and in vitro antioxidative effects of giant squid muscle peptides on…

UPDATE: I've learned more about how antioxidants work since writing this post. Maybe this is a sign that I've become cynical, but when I first read that peptides found in squid skin can slow aging,…