GrrlScientist

A witty and engaging children's book that tells the true story of an internationally famous cockatoo who changed the way scientists think about dancing."If life doesn't give you fruit, you can always eat nuts. And if you don't like nuts, at least you can throw them on the floor, which is highly entertaining." ~Snowball the dancing cockatoo (p. 14).A couple years ago, Snowball the dancing cockatoo burst upon the scene after one of his YouTube videos went viral, receiving over 200,000 views in […]

Compiled by an ardent bibliophile, this week's report includes Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy; Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the Ocean Floor; Birdfinding in British Columbia; and Birds of the Sierra Nevada: Their Natural History, Status, and Distribution; all of which were recently published in North America and the UK.Books to the ceiling, Books to the sky,My pile of books is a mile high.How I love them! How I need them!I'll have a long beard by the […]

Yet more fabulous reading to keep your mind engaged whilst laying around on the beach this summer.Below the jump, I mention the books that I received recently in the mail as gifts or as review copies, or that I purchased somewhere. These are the books that I may review in more depth later, either here or in print somewhere in the world. When I get new books, I like to share them with people. Unfortunately, you are all so far away, so I cannot host a book party in my crib where you can look […]

What do uranium, research laboratories and marine sediments share in common?This week's element is protactinium, which has the symbol Pa and the atomic number 91. This element was originally named proto-actinium ("parent of actinium") because it is transmuted into actinium by radioactive decay, but the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) shortened the name. Pure protactinium is a lustrous, pale silver-coloured metal that is quite dense. This element is intensely […]

The American illustrator and author of the classic children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, was born to 85 years ago today to Jewish-Polish parents in New York CityThere is much to love about Maurice Sendak and I am pleased to see that Google has reminded us of that by honouring him with a special Doodle today. Born 85 years ago today in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to Polish parents, Mr Sendak was an extraordinary artist who wrote and illustrated gorgeous and thought-provoking […]