Posts

March 07, 2013

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Some animals vent their anuses. And, no, I’m not referring to the act of waving a hand around ones posterior to diffuse the gaseous remnants of chilidogs. Some sea stars, sea cucumbers, crinoids, worms, and crustaceans all pump huge volumes of water into and out of their anus. Why would you do this outside of . . . → Read More: Butt munchers

March 06, 2013

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5:11 PM | Near real-time sharing of ocean glider data

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) are pleased to announce the delivery of near real-time oceanographic measurements from ocean gliders to the climate modelling community. Surface salinity from the Forecasting Ocean Assimilation Model (FOAM) © Ocean gliders are autonomous platforms that travel through the water column by altering their buoyancy and making subtle changes to their internal weight distribution, collecting oceanographic measurements as they go. They are […]

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3:42 PM | Guest blogging at DSN

A couple of days ago, my very first guest post went up on Deep Sea News. I am pretty excited about it, being a huge fan of DSN and all. The post is about the efforts that have gone into protecting North Atlantic right whales near the busy shipping channel that goes through the Stellwagen [...]

March 05, 2013

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8:17 PM | How salty is your ocean? How loose is your plume?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AQUARIUS! You’ve been measuring sea surface salinity from space for over a year now. It must feel good to be a grown up satellite giving oceanographers a whole new view of the ocean. Keep on tracking that fresh Amazon Plume, the salty subtropical seas and seasonal freshening in northern latitudes due to melting . . . → Read More: How salty is your ocean? How loose is your plume?

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5:06 PM | Data management for the FASTNEt consortium

The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) announces the launch, on its web site, of the data management area for the Fluxes Across Sloping Topography of the North East Atlantic (FASTNEt) consortium. UK Shelf as shown by GEBCO (the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) © The pages provide background information about FASTNEt, as well as inventories of the research cruises and associated datasets. These are designed to encourage data sharing and collaboration between consortium […]

March 04, 2013

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7:25 PM | What horrors await when you step outside the Bathysphere…a short film

As you might know, the other deeplings adore the beasties of the abyss. Unlike them, they just outright creep me out. While the horror short film “The Narrative of Victor Karloch” is an absolutely fantastical depiction of early deep sea exploration, it plays to all my deep seated fears of something icky touching me. Even . . . → Read More: What horrors await when you step outside the Bathysphere…a short film

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4:00 PM | Marine seismology with Robert Weekly

Introducing our very own Robert Weekly – that’s right, he’s the first science+comics interviewee from within our “quakes and whales” lab group! Name: Robert Weekly Job: Graduate student – Marine Geology & Geophysics, University of Washington School of Oceanography Research: Marine geophysics, mid-ocean ridge processes Fifty-some years ago, if you’d assumed that the seafloor was [...]

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2:11 PM | The truth behind that job advertisement for a professorship

Loving this post on this early Monday morning. H/T to Michelle Candidate Evaluation: The candidate must have a PhD from an institution where ivy grows up the sides of old historic buildings and 5-10 years of postdoctoral experience with all the world-experts in their chosen research area. The successful candidate will have published every experiment . . . → Read More: The truth behind that job advertisement for a professorship

March 03, 2013

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11:26 PM | Save the whales? There’s an app for that!

We here at DSN are big fan of Michelle Weirathmueller. She’s a Ph.D. at University of Washington, Department of Oceanography. You can catch her on Twitter at @michellejw At her website ( http://www.michw.com) she has been doing a great set of posts on blending science, interviews, and comics. We couldn’t allow that awesomeness to occur . . . → Read More: Save the whales? There’s an app for that!

March 02, 2013

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5:53 AM | Supermantis

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to crush prey with one swipe of his hand! Down in the Sea! Look! It’s a lobster! It’s a crab! No…it’s Supermantis! Odontodactylus scyllarusSource: Roy L. Caldwell …not who you were expecting was it. The mantis shrimp, also known as stomatopods, are a . . . → Read More: Supermantis

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12:18 AM | dear humans: shh!

I am a whale in the sea call me a hungry cetacean the fishies might try to flee but they can’t beat my echolocation I point that sound where I choose if it hits my prey I’ll hear it they don’t have a clue what to do if they knew what was coming they’d fear [...]

March 01, 2013

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7:11 PM | Sea Shepherd, Without A Doubt, Pirates

And no not in the romanticized, like to drink, and wears eyepatches kind of way. In the our activities put people’s live and ships endanger on the high seas kind of way. “When you ram ships, hurl glass containers of acid, drag metal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers and rudders, launch smoke . . . → Read More: Sea Shepherd, Without A Doubt, Pirates

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2:57 PM | Tongue-Eating Parasites

A nice little animation from my favorite television program, PBS’s NOVA

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12:30 PM | Battle of the living instrument platforms: Elephant Seals vs Narwhals

This is OCEAN THUNDERDOME! We pit two marine mammals, the Southern Elephant Seal and the Narwhal, against each other in an epic battle for marine sampling supremacy. These two creatures are some of the brave and the few that are specially selected to be living instrument platforms. In other words, we stick fancy oceanographic instrumentation . . . → Read More: Battle of the living instrument platforms: Elephant Seals vs Narwhals

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5:03 AM | Last of the leatherbacks? Majestic turtles closer to extinction

Leatherback turtles – one of those amazing large creatures that gives us a window into the world of prehistoric giants – have been reported to be in serious decline at its last stronghold in the Pacific. The University of Alabama (Birmingham) has helped provide recent data from Indonesian beach site visits: An international team led [...]

February 28, 2013

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9:48 AM | The truth behind that job advertisement for a lectureship/assistant professorship

Follow @D_Aldridge Location: Somewhere you don’t want to live Salary: Nowhere near enough given the ridiculous number of qualifications you have Contract type: Full-time permanent* Interview Date: Don’t worry, you probably won’t make this stage *”Permanent” refers to your expected working hours on campus, NOT … Continue reading →

February 27, 2013

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7:21 PM | Mysterious Mobula mass mortality

From the Italian news site La Repubblica comes this disturbing story (with 15 graphic pictures) of a mass stranding of “manta” rays on a beach in the Palestinian territories. According to Google Translate, the caption reads something like “For now only remains a mystery. Difficult to determine the cause, but the scenario that occurred on . . . → Read More: Mysterious Mobula mass mortality

February 26, 2013

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11:00 AM | When 2 becomes 12: Cryptic species need some love like they’ve never needed love before

A “species” is a hypothesis. And for microscopic critters, this hypothesis is very often wrong. Everyone knows I despise charismatic megafauna (especially dolphins). I will now secretly admit that I also don’t care much for charismatic invertebrates. I mean, Yeti crabs are pretty much the Lindsay Lohan of marine creatures – they’re just too damn . . . → Read More: When 2 becomes 12: Cryptic species need some love like they’ve never needed love before

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2:34 AM | Buy my son's book

My son (step son to be technical) is now published in book form. The first of, I expect, many. _The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right_, Lee Fang. It is available on Amazon. The publisher is www.thenewpress.comIn keeping with my blog, this is a research book. For Lee, that means research on money and messaging in politics. The text is good and readable. And there are plenty of citations to support the points in the text. As always, follow the citations. Another point for the book […]

February 25, 2013

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11:35 PM | Why does Shark Stanley and his friends need your help?

Hi, my name is Shark Stanley and I am a Hammerhead Shark. My friends, Reina the Manta Ray, Pierre the Porbeagle Shark, and Waqi the Oceanic Whitetip Shark, and I live on a coral reef. We are not only featured in a new (free!) children’s book called The Adventures of Shark Stanley and Friends, but [...]

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4:08 PM | Top 5 Tweet Links for February 18-24, 2013

Rare Octopus Breeding in Alameda (California) Bedroom via @SFGate Kenya Whale shark Safari Swims in Controversy via Yahoo! News May the Force Be With Them: Glowing Shark Scares off Predators with “Lightsabers” via @Oceanleadership Dolphins Call Each Other by Name via @Discovery_News California Winery Ages Wine on Ocean Floor via @ABC

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4:04 PM | Why the giant squid eye?

The largest measured giant squid eye is 27 centimeters (10.63 inches), roughly the size of a large dinner plate. Whereas all giant squids don’t have goliath fine china size eyeballs, most are between 5-15 centimeters (~2-6 inches), their peepers are huge. The swordfish has roughly the same body size as a giant squid, yet . . . → Read More: Why the giant squid eye?

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3:28 PM | Itty bitty echinoderms

Introducing my next science + comics interviewee: Name: Karen Chan Job: Postdoctoral scholar at WHOI Field of Study: Larval ecology Karen is a good friend of mine who has recently completed her PhD. Congrats, Karen! Karen’s overall research interest is in looking at how tiny little marine invertebrate larvae respond to climate change conditions. For [...]

February 23, 2013

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7:01 PM | Even corals heart fluid dynamics

I find the intersection of fluid dynamics and biology fascinating. How animals manipulate their surroundings to bring nutrients to them. And coral cilia is just one of these tricks! Coral polyps, sucking in the nutrients with their dastardly cilia (image via Stocker Group, Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT.) This shot is an incredible close-up of . . . → Read More: Even corals heart fluid dynamics

February 22, 2013

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9:58 PM | This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Why is it that we seem to have moved away from celebrating images like the one above left (a big game hunter posing over a dead African lion) yet seem to have no problem with the the image above right (a fishing party with their 1,320 pound dead Blue marlin caught off Ascension Island . . . → Read More: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

February 21, 2013

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11:10 PM | Can’t Touch This

Chromodoris posing for thecutest picture ever taken. Source: NatGeo Another epic post from Alex Warneke, aka lil’ A Disposable nudibranch penises are all the rage this month thanks to a study published in the Royal Society’s journal Biology Letters. Undoubtedly a unique skill in the animal kingdom, there is just something about the phrase “detachable . . . → Read More: Can’t Touch This

February 20, 2013

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4:47 AM | Perception

Texas is a big state.Note: I have been to more places in Germany than Texas.Image courtesy Reddit.Antarctica is bigger than Texas.Note: Someday Antarctica...someday.Image courtesy NASA.The South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ), a band of rainfall - bigger than Antarctica?Note: Unlike the Wiki article claims, the SPCZ is not part of the ITCZ.Image courtesy Jud Partin.

February 19, 2013

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6:32 PM | Lionfish: An Introduced Species Gone Awry

From Lionfish POV: Psst, humans. First they capture lionfish for their home aquariums and we are considered deadly beauties. Then a few aquarists let us go (accidentally or on purpose) in the Atlantic and Caribbean Oceans and poof! We have become the scourge of the oceans. That is because we reproduce prolifically and can eat [...]

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2:36 AM | Exaltation to Extinction for Sawfishes

At first glance, a sawfish appears otherworldly, lifted from the pages of Dr. Seuss book. One fish, two fish, blue fish, sawfish…there was a fish without a flaw but I was caught off guard by that saw. If one can get past the saw, used to unearth crustaceans from the mud for tasty treat, one . . . → Read More: Exaltation to Extinction for Sawfishes

February 18, 2013

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5:00 PM | Southern Resident killer whales with Juliana Houghton

It’s another science + comics interview! Name: Juliana Houghton Job: 2nd year Masters student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington Research: Southern Resident Killer Whales Southern Resident killer whales live in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean. They are popular with residents and tourists of the Pacific Northwest and [...]